Evening star., 1953-04-03

W 1S41OEC ECdI1Cys III dL Op1dCG Is
PaSternak supplies them at the ,
Small Town Girl" which stars
Jane Powell and Farley Granger
is as colorful as a cherry bios
som and as improbable as q
Soviet peace offer.
That the musical is straight
from Pasternak'S candy kitchen
is evident In the opening Sc
quence. In this scene. the small
town Of Duck Creek, Conn. Con
the parkway. no doubt) is stag
ing q, box social. Now preSum-
ably a box social IS a coy, cheer
ful little community frolic but
not in a Pasternak musical.
This one Is about the size Of
q medium coronation, every bit
as well dressed, and so infested
with talent that the town kids
stage an irnpromptu show that
the late Flo Ziegf1eld could envy.
If there is a Duck Creek. Conn,
on or off the parkway, every one
will want to- live there after
seeing Small Town Girl"
Broadway, itself. could not put
on a box social as lavish and tall
ent-strewn as this one Of Duck
Creeks
Hk \ \
The great thing about the
town. however, is not the way it
can spin off a summer evenings
whoop-de-do. Nothing like that.
The places virtue is that the en-
tire population is perfect. Every
body loves everybody. IN a neigh
borly way. This goes even for
Granger, a rich playboy, who dis
covers what a Utopia Duck Greek
is by being tossed into the town
clink-naturally for his own
good-for driving through main
street at IS miles an hour.
At the end of his term, he mar
ries Miss Powell who plays the
daughter of the Judge who i'm
posed the 30-day sentence.
In the course of acting out this
idyll written by a couple of
Dorothys, Kingsley and Cooper,
Miss Powell finds occasion to
sing several songs, including
couple of hymns. AS might be
expected, she does this quite at
tractively in a voice that is i'm
proving with age and vocal les
sons.
There is nothing particularly
distinguished about the score she
has been given in Small Town
Girl" There Is. however. one
surprise in the musical aspects
of the Aim. This occurs in a Sc
quence in which Miss Powell ap-
proahceS what looks like a dis
tinguished chamber music group
and asks the leader If he knows
''The Fellow I'll Follow"
To the CONSERVATION Of at
least one spectator at the Capitol,
the answer was Eyes"
The dancing that is part Of
the Pasternak formula is not ig-
nored in Small Town Girl" A
pair of lively and lavisf11y staged
numbers are danced by Ann
Miller, and a fledgling named
Bobby Van proves that Metro is
storing away young males against
the day Fred Astaire and Gene
Kelly vanish into retirement.
Don Howard, the singer who
may or may not have written
"Oh Happy Day." headlines the
stage show at the Capitol this
week and makes the tune the
highlight Of his act.
His support is provided by the
comedy Of Anthony Allyn and
Hodges, the satirical novelty rou-
tine Of The Chords, Arnold and
Gilbert. and the acrobatics of
Don Francisco.
\ + \ 4
BULLETIN BOARD - Mary
Stewart French of the Depart
ment Of State and Father Gill
bert v. Hartke, head Of Cath
olic University's speech and
drama department, have been
elected to the new board Of the
American National Theater and
Academy. The new board
Is representative of the profess
Sional, educational and commu-
nifty theater, as well as of the
geographical scope Of ANITA
throughout the United States.