Evening star., 1941-04-25

a reproduction of the marquee of the
old New Amsterdam Theater, a
thing to brush the heart with
sadness.
It's bignesS is both blessing and
a handicap to "ziegfeld." The sheer
quantity of it's entertainment as
sures many moment of quality, but
by the same token, it allows dull and
static passages to creep into the flow
of the story, or stories.
X x
"ziegfeld Girl which really
should be plural, undertakes to tell
the whole story of the type. 1t looks
behind her magnificent facade to
find a human being. Behind one,
that of Hedy Lamar, is a dear,
sweet, wholesome girl wife, who is in
show business only to make enough
to launch her proud young hus-
bands career as a Carnegie Hall
violinist. Behind another, Lana
Turner's, is a weak and beautiful
wench, girl fated for ermine and
tragedy. Behind the third. this
time Judy Garland, is the bright,
bubbling off-shoot of vaudeville, a
stage kid destined 'for the heights
which make a proper setting for
youngsters with hearts of gold and
voices of angels. The late William
Anthony Mcclure, who knew the
theater of Ziggy's time like a book,
laid it all down for M-G-M and it,
in turn, lays it all down that we may
marvel at what life was like in those
good old days.
McGuire's story is as simple as its
setting its StatueSque. The latter,
Of course, is inevitable. When Zieg-
field set out to glorify girl, his
imagination knew mo limits. If it
required a stairway to the stars, the
lumber and the architectural genius
were always there awaiting the
masters order. If she looked better,
in any given season, floating on a
tuft of shimmering cloud, it was a
cloud she got for chariot. She gets
precisely the same thing from
M-G-M, only bigger, better and
more shimmering.
X X y
The acting surprise of "ziegfeld
Girl" is Miss Turner, of all people.
AS the Ziegfeld girl who could not
stand glorification and retain her
old equilibrium as a policeman's
daughter, she is the one called upon
really to twist her. beautiful face
into signs of emotion. That she
does all the way through the gamut
from anger to sizzling-wen, just
sizzling. It is Miss Turner's best
assignment to date and she handles
it with praiseworthy skill for the
most part.
Miss Lamar has little to do save
look serenely beautiful and little
puzzled by life. Somehow, prob
ably because it is Miss Lamar, that
seems to be enough.
AS the third of the Ziegfeld girls,
Miss Garland has a generous part,
a thing which gives her a chance
to show the rm-heartedneSS of
stage children, and voice which
improves with every picture. Miss
Garland is teamed in the father
daughter act with Charles Win
ninger, who later teams with Al
Shean for a revival of the famous
old Gallagher and Shean song. That
is another nostalgia touch which
doesn't hurt the picture in the
slightest.
The music of "ziegfeld Girl" is a
neat combination of both the old
and the new; the former taken
straight from the score of the orig
inal ziegfeld girl operas. The lat
ter, sung engagingly enough by
Tony Martin, is composition in the
best tenor tradition of the late
masters shows. "Out of a Dream"
is the most likely one to be heard
drifting across the moonlit waters
of the creeks and rivers of Amer
lea this summer-if there is room
for song in the heart this sum-
mer.
Robert z. Leonard, batting no