Evening star., 1952-07-04

AAoV1S u UNLIKELY 20 come along
Carson Kanin, who wrote 'E
In this hilarious spool Of how spoI
great help to the stars of Pat an
as useful to moviegoers looking fol
Q happy holiday.
Everybody concerned with the
Capitol'S picture, in truth, is likely
to md himself in line for prizes
at the end Of the year. If not, it
will be only because Hollywood
goes crazy with genius in the
Screenplays it turns out during the
second semester of 1852.
Moreover, in its burst Of feeling
that nothing is too good for WASH
ingtonians who stayed home over
the Fourth, the Capitol's manage
ment has been generous also in its
stage program. It has provided
such headliners as the dancers,
Mario and Floria. and Buddy Gre
co and backed these up with two
other Hewarding acts.
Not since Adams Rib" at the
very least. have Miss Hepburn and
Tracy been 80 jolly as In their
newest comedy. Moreover, as con-
ceived by Kanin and his wife,
Ruth Gordon, the Aim represents
o complete change Of pace for its
principals.
Miss Hepburn's role in 1t is
none Of those patrician intellec-
tuals she has played before. This
time, she is q thin, neurotic girl
who Is q demon at both golf and
tennis and Tracy is the hard
bitten promoter who makes her a
champion-and makes both of
them rich. His success with her
Is counter balanced by his fail
ure with Aldo Ray as the worlds
dumbest heavyweight and a.
thoroughbred 1llly named Little
Nell.
These latter two are also funny
characters in the plot Of Pat
and Mike"
i -
Miss Hepburn Is q physical ed
faculty member at coed college
when Tracy finds her. When he
sees her smack a few golf balls,
a game about which he knows
nothing, she strikes him as a.
dame with promotional posi-
bilities. His possibilities hit her
with far less impact.sThe way he
crinkles the English language
startles her and she is unimpressedI
by his notions of how much a
girl can make by deliberately los
ing games.
To escape briefly from the in
tolerable dominance Of her hand
some lover. Miss Hepburn makes
a deal with Promoter Mike
Conovan.
Their professional relationship
Is full Of vastly amusing incident,
a hot game of give-and-take that
ends in a tie. It is also full of
some highly dramatic sports shots
of both golf and tennis in which
Miss Hepburn meets such actual
stars as GuSsie Moran and Babe
Zaharias. She seems quite at home
with the caliber of these in games
that are photographed with COM
plete conviction they are on the
up-an-up.
X X x r
The stars of "Pat and Mike"
play their refreshing roles with a
contagious relish. Tracy has not
been so happy in years as in the
role Of the fast talking, word
blurring sports promoter who
knows deep down that he has
got lady on his hands.
She is literally on his hands in
that he assumes the job not
merely Of making her tournament
dates, but of actually keeping her
in condition. This involves watch
ing her weight and her diet, mas
saying her muscles. and tucking
her in bed at night. These are
things to be approached gingerly
and Tracy and Miss Hepburn work
them out with comic guSto.
Two more unlikely business as
sociateS are inconceiyable, but
Kanin has been clever enough to
introduce an equally incongruous
third figure. This is a classically |
dumb heavyweight. a gentle dope |
who was born to die punch-drunk |
until Miss Hepburn gives him the
key to success. Ray, a natural
actor if there ever was one,. plays
this character perfectly into the
merriment of "Pat and Mike"
George Cukor, who also directed |
Born Yesterday" is at his artful
best in the latest Kanin screen
script. He has made an impress
sive lot of the actual sports shots
in the film. He has made far the
most, however, out of the odd re-
lationship of the principal charac-
ters and the best of this in the
slow drift of their emotions into
love.
It would be plain folly for any
one to miss Pat and Mike"
y y
The CapitorS stage show gets
one of its most brilliant headline
ADJUSTMENTS.