Fannie Hurst Novel Comes To Screen At Keith's With Claudette Colbert As Star By DONALD KIRKLF.V CERTAIN ASPECTS of life are tabu in Hollywood, and must be tacitly ignored by photoplay makers. When a studio, no matter how, or why, finds the courage to break a taboo, as in "Imitation of Life," it is big news. nd an occasion for rejoicing. Universale film version of the Fannie Hurst novel, now showing at Keith's Theater, takes up the vexed problem of relations between the Negroes of America and the white citi-tens. Two of the principal characters are colored. Aunt Delilah is a Southern "mammy," described as "200 pounds of mother love, fighting for her child." Placid, cheerful, loyal to death, she attaches herself to her white mistress, Bea Pullman, and her baby, in the capacities of servant, nurse and confidante. A deep affection grows between them. Aunt Delilah, has a daughter, Peola, whose fair skin conceals the racial mixture in her blood. Beared in the North, sent to school with white children, Peola comes to be ashamed of her dark-skinned mammy. Embittered by her predicament, Peola runs away, renounces her mother, and is accepted as a white girl in another city. The mother's heart is broken. This delicate theme has been handled with care, and some of the knottier portions of the problem have been glossed over. In the film, for instance, Peola is forced to observe an illogical repentance for her desertion whereas in the book she married a white man and, Miss Hurst left the reader to suppose, lived happily ever after. Tact Rewarded IN THIS CASE, the producers will probably discover that pioneering in the field of sociology pays. Miss Hurst is a shrewd judge of public taste, and this is a much better film than the popular "Back Street." The racial angle adds novelty to a double-barreled story of mother love, and yesterday's audi ence, moved by Aunt Delilah's demise and tragi-comic funeral, indicated that sympathy for a grieving mother crosses the color line. With due respect to the performances of more famous stars, Louise Beaver wins first acting honors. She has appeared in scores of pictures in small comedy roles, and her sense of humor is amply displayed in the first part of the current film. Unaffected, naive, pious and intensely emotional, she is the perfect type of Southern house servant', and it is probable that "Imitation of Life" will be well received even in the deep South. Claudette Colbert, as Bea Pullman, has mother troubles of her own, and offers a more subtle sacrifice to the happiness of her child. She gives a gracious and intelligent performance, and is ably assisted, among others, by Warren William, Ned Sparks and other celebrities.