Evening star., 1940-01-09


Whiting, Stepin Fetchit and various
other talented people is close enough
to sound entertainment to create a
yearning that its yawning moments
might be eliminated.
On the credit side, in addition to
its slick cast and visual excellence.
Three After Three" boasts Of .
satisfactory score. some bright and
broad comedy. a workmanlike If not
artistlike collection Of voices. and
several dancing intervals that ap-
proach excellence. But these assets,
sound, If not brilliant, cannot keep
1t from banality, awkwardness and
dullness Of proportions that might
well dismay those charged with
working it into genuine hit.
\ X X 4
It is an impressive medley of per-
sonalities that has been assembled
between Miss Simon and the foot of
the class Of Three After Three"
There is a deal of fascination in
seeing just how each has been
placed in the guileless charade so
that each may be his, or her, own
more or less well-known self and
yet play q part in the story being
unfolded. Miss Simon, for example,
is saucy sprite on safari among
the male animals Of Palm Beach:
Miss Green a nice, unstreamlined
kid with a talent for singing, dane.
ing and mimicry and Miss Brian, a
sweet girl who is not so simple that
she cannot dash of a satisfying
dance or say a dramatic thing
dramatically.
Hoagy Carmichael. the Star
Dust" man, is the composer behind
the music of Three After Three"
and in turning out an adequate
score. he has little chance to drop
into the threnodic spirit Of his
greatest hit. That is not the mood
Of the latest Shubert musical, 50
Mr.. Carmichael has a chance to
branch out into livelier tempo. He
does it most successfully In couple
of numbers already somewhat well
known, 1000, What You Said" and
Way Back in 1899 AID" Most orig
inal of the numerous tunes in the
show, however. is the comedy song,
"Darned Clever These Chinese" to
which Johnny Mercer provided
enough amusing lyrics to have the
thing reprised with never a taint
of dullness.
Although billed at the top of the
cast, Miss Simon's opportunities in
the show are considerably more
limited than those of Miss Green
or Miss Brian. She is a mere mink
df a mink is ever "mere"), while
Miss Green sings, dances, mimics
and shoulders a buxom share of the
both quick and ribald In
her turn, Miss Brian not only carries
a major character in the slim little
story, but tosses of bit of pleasing.
If not too varied, tap dancing.
Strictly within the limits of the per-
sonality which she created on the
screen. however, Miss Simon con-
tributes pleasantly to the goings-on
in spite of her smaller part.
Next to Miss Green, the show
really belongs to Fetchit, whose ap-
proach to non-moving motion and
non-speaking speech is invariably
amusing, more so than it Is on the
screen, and in spite of the fact that
his connection with the affairs of the
others is extraordinarily loose.
Frances Williams is another per-
son of considerable Importance to
the brighter areas of Three After
Three In the role of a frayed,
quadruple widow who would like
to make it quintuple, Miss Williams
some skilled hard-boiled
comedy. She also sings two of the
better numbers of the show. First
of these is Everything Happens
to Me-" the other a hot bit. THE
Rhumba Jumps" which drifts into
the best ensemble dance of the
evening and, instrumentally, a fine
thing for Mr.. Carmichael to have
written for the younger and more
violent set.
There are some capable males
scattered around the stage, but
outside of Marty May in the part
of a rake with a cherchez la femme
complex, they have little to do. That
is true both of Mr.. Whiting and
Art Jarrett, both present for the