Evening star., 1943-11-19

On the SOund economic premise
that it is shame for Mickey
Rooney to grow up, marry. unmarry
and otherwise mature, Hollywood
has been looking around excitedly
for his successor. 1t clearly has
found something of the sort in
Donald O'Connor who also Is the
ugly duckling type and endowed
with the ability to mug "a form Of
acting), sing. dance and display q
furious quality of energy. II the
Rooney public thinks the time ripe
for a change Of administration, 1t
could do lot worse than O'Connor
for its manor near man.
Donald makes his second open
bid for the old Rooney support in
Top Man. whirling dervish of a
musical, which opened yesterday at
the Capitol Theater. In the fashion
of vehicles designed for cinema
youth, it is frankly kind of lit
erary rattle trap which moves at
such a clip that nothing else is
deemed to matter. Hollywood can
deem, can't it? OTIS bad pun,
but wait until you hear some Of the
lines in the picture)
Top Man" resembles the old
Rooney musicals in still another
important way, casting balance. In
the leading feminine role, the one
which Judy Garland used to play,
Universal has inserted Susanna
Foster. Miss Foster who can sing
like anything is beginning to look
little too mature to become q
permanent doubles partner for
Donald, but she adds considerably
to the melodiousness of things on
this occasion. Much more his type
from this distance is a wild Utter
bug of a thing named Peggy Ryan
who can sing a bit and dance a lot.
The three Of them, plus two score
others of the same age, should keep
the younger generation quite i'm
pressed at the Capitol this week.
AS for the adults, Top Man" offers
them an arresting display Of the
utterly incomprehensible things
that can be done to the English
language by today's juveniles.
* \
Although the degree of improve
ment Is extremely dubious, Top
Man" offers the variant of a diff
ferent background from that OF the
old Rooney musicals.
It will be recalled without strain
ing that they were concerned with a
group of vaudeville offspring always
dying for a chance to put together
big show and make fortune. In
Top Man. the locale is a Junior
College, so It's intimated, but nearly
all the action takes place in Higgins
ice cream parlor, kind Of daylight
night club where the hepcats gather
for mad revels to the harmonica
music of Borah Minnevich.
The speciality acts, of course, are
provided by the youngsters them
selves. O'Connor clowns, sings and
dances, Miss Foster sings and plays
the piano, Miss Ryan tap dances
and clowns and tosses off mocking
imitation of Carmen Miranda. The
others just try to keep up to the
best of their limited abilities.
In a lame sort OF way, TOP Man
offers minor plea for attention by
intimating that while it is all right
for the kids to have their filings
there is a war on and they should
recognize that fact. Accordingly
the story takes turn toward the
end when they all, regardless Of sex
don overalls and then go to work
four hours a day in a nearby air.
plane factory While they rivet like
mad and their pneumatic hammers
get hotter than their favorite bands
a chart on the superintendent
wall shows production going up and
up until they have earned an Army
and Navy E for effort. 1t was brave
of Universal to think of that, but II
only looks silly.
and clowning Of O'Connor and Miss
Ryan, and sounds the singing OF
Miss Foster. Those are the things
that are supposed to count, OF
course.
X X
Gene Ford has decided to make
this completely a week for the young
In years and/or spirit by headlining
his stage show with Milt Britton's
wacky band. an OUTFIT whose music