Evening star., 1938-04-06


if Miss Leeds doesn't mind terribly,
we shall go on record as having said
that Miss Brady is very fine. Oh, very,
very fine! Even worth the prize. And,
as between their ages, Miss Leeds still
has all that time in which to win
academy awards not only for best
supporting performances but undoubt-
edly for best star performances. Un-
less every one is cockeyed about Holly
wood, you can't keep Miss Leeds from
winning both versions of the famous
Oscar. Time and events, about which
Edward Arlington Robinson once wrote
a bit of his famous verse, will take
care of that.
But to return to Mrs. OLeary and
Miss Brady, they are combination
that will be remembered. History,
about which We would not know, may
have been distorted in order to make
them so. The fact remains, however,
that Miss Brady gives a completely
convincing performance as the Irish
mother whose COW not only kicked
over the lantern which started the
Chicago fire in 1878, but whose sons
turned out to be the heroes of that
memorable disaster.
1t will be at least another 10 DAYS
before the Twentieth Century-Fox
spectacle comes up for review in these
columns, but the fact remains that,
having seen the film, even now this
department is ready to go overheard
on Miss Brady's performance. There
are times when her accent. supposedly
Irish immigrant. may slip here and
there, but in the main she is the
f1ercely loyal, fiercely believing Mrs.
OLeary who dreams her dreams and
is not going to have them upset by any
circumstances which she does not un-
derstand. Unless the Irish, and Miss
Brady, have been like that through
out human history. this department
has been sadly misled.
Her performance, then, even as a
thing OF hearsay which. we refuse to
credit, is something to remember.
There are number Of things In I'm
Old Chicago" which can be guaranteed
TO be surprising. but the most surpris-
ing Of them, We suspect, is Miss
Brady's performance as Mrs. OLeary,
the Irish mother whose COW not onlv
is supposed to have kicked over the
lamp which started the famous fire.
but whose sons, in this film, are his
torically responsible for having given
the Midwest metropolis its start in the
world. X Il
MAYBE it is nothing to boast about,
but Warner Bros. are boasting
about the fact that Dick Foran steps
out of the saddle in which he has
sung so plaintively in order to sing
even more plaintively behind prison
walls in over the WALL" which comes
to the Earle on Friday. In case any
one is curious to know the origin of
the screen play in which Mr.. Foran,
Princeton of not so long ago, achieves
this metamorphosis, 1t happens to be
the product Of the pen with ink on
it, Of Warden Lewis E. Iawes. warden
OF Sing Sing. 1t is based upon q sub
ject very near to the heart of the man
who heads the Nations best known
State penitentiary, namely, the inno-
cent man who is convicted Of murder.
That has been one of the warden's
most valid and famous obsessions since
he took the job of bossing Sing Sing
long, long ago. He has written about
it for a long time in some of the ma
tions most cerebral magazines. This,
however. is the first time he has writ
ten about it for pictures.
X
IF YOU can believe Miss Hilda Cole
and we can-you can't keep