The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-23
CHARLEY'S AUNT
IS WELL RECEIVED
large Crowd Attends Presen'
tation Of Old Favorite
BY High Faculty
ov GLENWARD BLOOME

.r,arlev'S Aunt. pelelliial iaSoi-
f.rce.loving audiences from
"s Roadway to guff-hawing
quo greet. had a revival in Will
'..on Friday night, and Whining
o'"s will be talking about it for
'V', ono time to come.
q lvu5 production was the annual
,.1 dns presentation of the Faculty
d. au' club of the New Hanover
P!a! ..booI, and the curtain went up
h,s . capacity house; so capacity, n
t Oh that dozens of late-comers WITH
far'' m,otions we're disappointingly
tN1neT wrisht Brandon Thomas took
~ "a ,hc,ne-a man impersonatihg'
81" gave it a few unusual
a.t "r. many years ago, and presto!
h,d 2 smash New York hit. Since
nav "charley's Aunt has CONFUSED
1pen nces of three continents. This
S'u. II was returned to the New
va, stage, and currently is one OF
l"H o,.orites along Broadway.
'D1 Tram the time the first curtain
won't M Friday night, and the crowd
~r' Floyd Bumgarner and Louis
will Williams as Jack Chesney and Bras
yosnecrively, to the final scene
fs. the whole plot was exposed
Nn', o,ditorium rang with laughter,
a .,S was Sometimes screaming.
S'' TIM much cannot be said of the
-. If each member of the cast.
Wv they really did a fine job from
~ finish, and although HOY
1 Mcdonald, as Lord tancourt
n.thor,y-and also the victim o the
an,. as substitute Tor Charley
w,.Eobam's real aunt-was the cen
If attraction during the whole
~ ,he plav, every player stood out
,.to,,o tho audience in his or her par
ticular part. -.
T 7. Hamilton, Jr.. carried ms
n.rt as Colonel Sir Francis Chesney
rirb veteran sUreness and MS llrst
..n,o,a, re brought the crowd to It's
too+ Not a sign of stage fright
ia the school principal show as he
u,lked through the play bringing
snaIIs q laughter and applause from
tho crowd and adding contiden x L.
the re! of the players.
Edward Blakeslee, as Stephen opet-
tigre. did a commendable JOB IN MS
olest for the hand of Howard Nc
nonall much to the embarrassment
nj the latter, who gave his hard
vorkinc swain a run for his money.
me of the funniest parts of the play
WIS ire chas., between the two play
ers in the second act as Blakeslee
pursued Mcdonald across the stage
and out into the audience.
Archie Ayers and the two Lovely
ladies who had leading parts, Mis-
Mary Lee Brockington and Miss ruth
Davis, brought signs and also laughs
from the audience. Ayers was much
disturbed by the actions of Howard
Mcdonald who took advantage his
lady's makeup to receive much at
tention from the ladies'.
Floyd Bumgarner. as Jack Ches-
ney. delichted the assembly with his
work and also brought the camera
fans 10 their feet with flashing bulbs
10 record his little love scene with
Miss Davis.
Louis Williams, as Brassett, Ger
tainly looked and played the part of
a valet and his advice on love af-
fairs to Mr. Bumgarner Vas very
touching and historical. Although
Miss Fannie O'Keef was only on the
stage for a few moments as Maud, a
parlormaid, she made her mark in
the theatre of her flat refusal of an
offer Of courtship from Williams as
she put him behind the %proverbial
eight ball in quick fashion.
Miss Formy-DuvaI, as the real
aunt, kept Howard Mcdonald in hot
water from her first appearance by
questioning the latter about her late
husband and also catching "her'
smoking a cigar, The appearance of
MISS Elizabeth Montgomery as Ella
Delahay, companion of Miss Formy-
DuFaIs and sweetheart of McDon-
ADS added to the misery through
winch the fosey aunt was going. But
III the end everything turned out as
Planned with the exception Of Blakes-
lee Who lost his quest for love and
lelt the scene in a disguised huff.