The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-02-19
Hollywood Shorts
BY JOHN R. CHAPLIN

Letters from theater-goers in New
York have warmed the hearts O
friends OF the Hollywood Theater ALI
ance. The local actors musical revue
Meet the People, drew only lukewarn
praise from New York critics, but the
audience reaction has ranged from
1907 praise to 1890 enthusiasm.
The idea of putting ideas into the
usually non-intellectual stuff that re.
vues are made of is not a new one.
But it has never been favorite form
ula of producers, who seem to think
that the safest plan from the box
office point of view is to shoot for
the mental level of fourth-graders.
The Hollywood Theater Alliance is
composed chiefly of professional ac-
tors who have been overlooked by the
movie studios. Instead of spending
their days sitting and signing in re-
ception rooms, these young men and
women created their own show-a re-
vue that is as fresh as first day
picket line, as lively as an employer
getting a whiff of his own teargas.
They put into Meet the People
everything that anybody could ask
for: strip-teasers male and female),
pickets, senators, the President and
fishing rod, southern tories, couple
of philosophical cannibals, the Joads,
Guatemalan senoritas, psychoanal-
yst, the Ford Motor Co., the Bill of
Rights and a dictator-to list only a
few of the 80 numbers.
Meet the People has good deal
more than food for the mind 1t has
first-class lyrics by Henry Myers with
first-class tunes by Jay Gorney, and
it has girls who are first-class from
any angle, If you can find one.
Several of the individual perform
ers are of top caliber-notably Jack
who takes the movies apart |
and shows you all of the pieces; Eliz-
abeth Talbot-Martin, whose blonde |
oveliness makes it no harder to fol- |
ow her excellent representations of |
1reta Carlo and Eleanor Roosevelt; |
ind Doodles Weaver, who makes the
'abbit an immortal animal.
Also worth watching is Nanette
the hot woman in the tri-
lngle. 1t is typical of the theme of
Meet the People that when the hus-
,and comes home he shoots her lover
or violation of the unwritten law
The guy had no union label in his
oat.
People in Hollywood who saw the
how for many months before it
moved to New York hope that the
heater Alliance idea will spread. In
act, it has already spread to San
francisco and Chicago. 1t may well
evelop into a nationwide enterprise
hat would fill the gap left when the
'ederal Theater Project was killed by i,
who couldn't take it.
HE CURRENT FILMS
Fantasia Disney: Magnificent
lassical music concert accompanied
y Disney cartoons. A startling in
ovation in film entertainment that (,
GU should see at the first opportun-
y. Tops in art and amusement.
Come Live With Me IN. G. M:
comedy of the current hus-
and in name only formula. Well
ayed by Jimmy Stewart; LAMAR is
vely; the film entertains fairly but !
not quite a standout.
Western Union (20th-Fox): Blood
riding cowboy-and-Inju stuff, in y
agnificent technicolor, which right
wv is a blurb for w. u, which is Z
ghting against unionization. Good u
ltertainment, but don't fall for its u
of the telegraph monop- Il
y. -
Virginia (Par): Stupid story Ia Z
enting the passing of the Old South. L
ISIS it, despite Madeleine Carroll, Il
cd technicolor and an impressive p
w actor named Stirling Hayden. u
RECENT BEST BETS: Victory, W
ur Mothers, Chad Hanna, Love Thy
sighbor, This Thing Called Love, M
light from Destiny, Invisible Wom- n
Kitty Foyle, Keeping Company re
gh Sierra. ey