The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 23

Buffalo Evening News Saturday December 13 Amusements Auspicious The Return Of Shirley That Veteran of 12 Still Best And of Movies the family First of the Christ- father These are the Spences and children as massy bills at Shea's Great Lakes will be "One portrayed by: Elizabeth Fraser Fredric Foot in Heavn" from Ilartzell Spence's best- March Casey Johnson Martha Scott and selling biography of his own country preacher Frankie Thomas The film opens next Thursday Dashingly Fresh Thriller Is John The Five I) lack Crows launch Master Dumbo viewpoint (pathetic because of his outsize cars with Timothy Mouse as pilot on a most re- you know) is the 20th Century Christmas at-markable flight to fame Mr Disney's latest of traction opening next Thursday It's the first circus life from a pathetic little pachyderm's major Disney film from an original source Mr Hammett Gets A True Reading In Hipp Melodrama by Mr Bogart and the full-flavored heinousness and variety of the criminal element Samuel is a disreputable figure as sleuths of the cinema go The Hays people By HAROLD HEFFERXAN Sprrial to the Bnmu Erwins Km Hollywood Dec sidelights on new Films: almost two years since she closed accounts at 20th Century-Fox a studio that developed her Into the world's box office darling Shirley Temple comes back on another lot (MGM) for new bid at screen fame This late 1941 edition of Shirley Is a well-developed normal and attractive girl now approaching her 13th birthday (April 23) The once-golden hair has been allowed to settle back to natural brunette shade An original story by Kay Van Riper "Kathleen" gives Shirley split-personality role revolving around sensitive lonely youngster who finds happiness only in dreams which eventually come true One dream sequence is pointed up as opportunity for Shirley to sing and dance again Still considered best "study" In Hollywood Shirley reported on set after long absence with more than half her dialog ready to be spoken into mike Shirley always was one to weep at a moment's notice and without resorting to menthol mixtures commonly applied to adult actresses No Onion Tears When first of crying scenes came up Director Hal Bucquet asked if she didn't want to try the "dropper" Shirley waved him aside been a long time" she said "but just give me a couple of minutes" She stared at one spot for a minute or so concentrating and then large crocodile tears began flowing down cheeks Shirley was still a good "study" and first rate When Shirley comes down to dinner with "Dr" Laraine Day and Herbert Marshall she wears first screen almost a duplicate mother said of an evening dress she wore to first school dance last Spring Glamour Boy Jackie "Glamour making this picture burlesque on Hollywood kid stars) on the Faramount lot must have brought memories old and dear to Jackie Cooper one of movietowns "oldest" veterans It was here he made "Skippy" his first starring film In 1931 Sentimental Paramount executives fixed Jackie up with same old dressing room he used In that memorable career-starter Now-going on 19 the son of vaudeville troupers Jackie's been In pictures since five Mother who guided his career practically ail this time died recently Teamed with him is 16-year-oid Susanna Foster who gained fame aa singing juvenile on strength of ability to reach Above high She sings two songs "The Magic of Magnolia" and "Love Is Such an Old Fashioned Thing" both composed by late director Victor Schertzinger In one novel sequence of a movie Inside a movie scenes showing Jackie Cooper and Jackie Searl in the 10-year-oid "Skippy" are projected Searl played the "brat" role in the old film and enacts the same in "Glamour Boy" After hunting the town Paramount found Searl working as riveter in Los Angeles airplane factory He took leave of absence to accept and has since won parts in three other movies Imaginations Ran Wild In Filming Disney Unpublished Tale Freed the Artists Of All Restraint must frown on his special morals a bit Yet he has a code and he lives by it though it hurts his crusty soul The Excellent Astor Mary Astor has seldom been so attractive and never so helpful to suspense as in the chameleon role of rigid O'Shaughnessy the adventuress who enlists Mr Spade with a $200 fee and some glib lying one afternoon Sydney Green-street of the St Nicholas figure who was playing Sibelius with the Lunts last season in "There Shall Be No Night" Elisha Cook Jr and Peter Lorre are further excellent! in the skein John Huston Walter's son as you have heard directed (Walter appears for a moment as a murdered man) A notable feature of John Huston's show is the reasonable plainness of the settings No chromium offices or tpiral Hollywood elegance is allowed to make the counleifeit movie-like glitter that is standard in the affairs of Nick and Nora Charles Lighting and inventive photography by Arthur Edeson serve to make it all piclorially stimulating It has the Hitchcock gift of scene without perhaps that worthy's bizarre touch Indeed it is quite as good as good Hitchcock with something in the writing even crisper and neater than the great Mr Hitch can alwajs manage Iluston wrote the screen piay following Ham' mett line for line he says Involuntary Invisibility Voluntary invisibility oull recall has been the staple of the "Invisible Man" movies In the liipp's No 2 "The Body folks fade into thin air most unwillingly creating a bit of farcicality for Jeffrey Lynn Jane Wyman and E-Horton The Warner brothers seem to lack the thorough technique of Universal invisibility Their invisibility sort of shows around the edges at times A Chiller Tops Play Of A Broadway Entrant Of Consequence Is Street By IRA WOLFERT Sprrtal la tha Brrftu Mm Nm and North American Newapaper Alltoncr VTEW YORK Dec In the first week of our war the theater produced a successful thriller a formula operetta a play about the It A and one casualty The casuauy was "The Admiral Had a Wife" scheduled to open Wednesday evening and smothered aborning because its subject matter was a satirical commentary on our naval forces at Pearl Harbor All this adds up to two escapist entertainments and one grapple with reality The grapple turned out to be a lame thing hardly more than a finger exercise around the throat of history hope violently managers will not conclude from this that people want only escapist drama because they are at war I hope they will remember that London during its worst blitzing made a hit out of Robert Ardrey's "Thunder Rock" a play that spoke earnestly against escape Truth Builds Morale Too The chances are this is a forlorn hope Tired businessmen always have dominated a large part of our theater As a matter of fact most managers are tired businessmen themselves Already the John Goldens and William A Bradys around the Brock Pembertons too when it comes to are announcing that our wartime theater will consist exclusively of fluff and tickle No one can argue against a certain amount of escape as being wholesome and morale building But neither can anyone argue against large-scale examinations Into realities and illuminations of subjective truths as being even more wholesome and even better morale builders Providing at (130 the kind of esecape that can be found in dime rental libraries 25-cent movie theaters and $110 athletic arenas is only a small part of that duty Illuminating the present upon which our future will be based is the better half of it Acting Makes a Thriller The thriller which Is off to a good start in our midst is called "Angel Street" and was written by Patrick Hamilton Most of the quality of the play seemed to me to come from the acting and directing-directing by Shepard Traube acting particularly by Leo Carroll and Judith Evelyn There Is a kind of unwritten law in the profession barring a thriller plot from being unveiled in public So well have to let the plot go Its principal character (Vincent Price) has married his wife for her money (although she seemed quite charming to me) wanted her money in the first place for a shockingly dangerous purpose and attempts none too subtly to drive her crazy by convincing her that she is crazy A Superb Sleuth At the conclusion of the first act made up my mind that this play was going to' win my heart over my dead body It had violated the primary rule of thrillers The rule is that the author after getting you to accept his original premise must make everything after that absolutely logical Mr Hamilton's logic was strained steadily throughout but his play gave me heart murmurs and 1 could recover myself only in the third act Mr Carroll plays the part of a detective one of those smug pipesmoking square-booted solid and by some magic of his own makes it seem like the part of his lifetime The formula operetta Is a Ham-merstein-Romburg intrigue yclept "Sunny River" and as old-fashioned seeming as Joy in an airplane Nothing is out of no curl of the score no twist of the plot Sweet and Dear I don't happen to know anybody who ever liked an unless it had been written by Gilbert and Sullivan or Offenbach But there must be operetta fans else operettas wouldn't get produced quite so often Well the sweet dear people who like these dull taffy-pull contrivances very likely will find "Sunny River" both sweet and dear This brings us down to the serious business of the "Golden Wings" by William Jay and Guy Bolton Unfortunately the play is much less about the A than It is about the loveiife of the boys therein About how erratic the amatory emotions of young men become when they climb out of murderous clouds and get down to the murdered earth Rehearsal It occurred to us abruptly the other day under rather special circumstances that there are certain things about wartime fliers which are more absorbing to the onlooker than their love life The thought popped Into our mind as we were driving to Mitchel Field during an air raid alarm Mitchel Field is regarded as the primary bombing objective around these parts We were going along at better than 80 when six planes came alongside us in a V-echelon They were war planes in war paint and we couldn't tell whether they were theirs or ours We were pretty sure they were ours until they broke out of formation and into a straight line and began to dive bomb Then we were pretty sure they were theirs and it wasn't until 130 pounds of blood pressure later that we realized the boys were only practicing From Saddle To the Hoof Hollywood Dec is Ma -jorie Reynolds a nobody leading lady in westerns up to Nov 10 has become Fred Astaire's sixth screen dancing partner in Inn" Fred says second only to Rita Hayworth Marjorie still can't believe her good fortune "Just think" she told us "five years ago when I was trying to get places my dancing my agent kept ridiculing and promising it would get me nothing but tough lurk" So Marjorie "went western" and played in 35 boss operas in as many weeks The Studio Players Plan Christmas Play "The Legend of the Christmas a new musical dramatization by Ireene Wicker the Singing Lady of the radio will be staged at the annual Christmas Party of the 20th Century Club Dec 17 by the Studio Theater Players Fifteen players and a choir of nine are being directed in the piece by Miss Jane Keeler and Mrs Sidney Wertimer Bach and Handel excerpts well known Christmas carols and original lullabies by Milton Rettenberg make up the musical program crows who teach Dumbo to use hia ears for flying and particularly Casey Junior the brick competent little engine that pulla the circua train Brophy the Rodent The human actors chosen to lend their voices to this new band of Disney character! came from both screen and radio An old friend Cliff Edwards who "spoke" Jiminy Cricket In "Pinocchio" does the leader of the crows Burly screen comedian Edward Brophy wound up as the smallest of the new casL Timothy Mouse Well-known character comedian Herman Bing did the Ringmaster while the commanding voice of the bossy elephant dowager belongs to Verna Felton well-known to radio audiences for her characterization of Dennis Day's overbearing mother on the Jack Benny program Chrysanthemum top Sterling Holloway spoke for the wacky stork who delivers Dumbo in a parachute Another radio personality Eddie Holden creator of the character of Frank Watanabe on the air took the part of a clown And importantly furnishing much of the choral work for the musical sequences in "Dumbo" were The King's Men featured in many of radio's biggest variety shows Nine New Songs No account of "Dumbo" is complete without reference to the nine new songs making up the score Six were composed by Frank Churchill who wrote the unforgettable "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Woir and the entire score for "Snow White" Churchill's new ones for "Dumbo" include Look Out for Mr Stork Casey Junior Song of the Roustabouts Baby Mine It's Cir- rus Day Again and Spread Your Wings Other provocative titles are When I See an Elephant Fly Clown Song and Pink Elephants all describing in beguiling rhythmic form one or another of the adventures little sail-eared Dumbo experiences before he wins fame and fortune These were composed by Oliver Wallace An interesting experiment in recording dialogue was performed for the hilarious Five Black Crows sequence The script of "Dumbo" called for a lot of spontaneous Negro dialogue be spoken by the quintet of crows In order to capture perfect naturalness in this dialogue the Hall Johnson Choir and spangleeyed dialectician Cliff Edwards were told to speak ad lib between recordings of Negro songs In this way 600 feet of dialogue were recorded without a word of It having been written down beforehand So far as is known this is the first time in Hollywood that such a procedure has been followed Programs in the Community Theaters develop the types of characters lie likes best: lovabie ugly duckling little Dumbo himself the addle-pated stork who delivers him via parachute to his grieving mother Dumbo's gentle mother herself Mrs Jumbo the formidable social leaders of the elephant clique: the Matriarch Giggles Prissy and Catty whose names give a delightful sense of anticipation to Then there Is the pompous bellowing Ringmaster the dizzy clowns ail warranted true clown typea travestied from the real tan bark the humorous raggle-taggie Now Stars Clowns IJOLLYWOOD Dec 13 1 1 You'll scarcely recognize your old friend "Rio Rita" in her new 1942 garb A dozen years ago Bebe Daniels and John Boles sang through the tale of cops and robbers south of the border Today Kathryn Grayson and John Carroll handling the ditties and the tale no longer is cops and robbers but Texas Rangers versus Nazi agents just north of the border A dozen years ago Bert Wheeler and the late Robert Woolsey supplied the comedy relief thus inaugurating a long series of co-starring spots for themselves Today the comedy relief ranks in billing above the singing stars "Rio Rita" now is a starring vehicle for Abbott and Costello There should be a moral in this somewhere Here are two bright muggs from burlesque stepping up in one year to a pinnacle where their tried-and-true routines demonstrably carry more punch than all the "screen art" ever canned! Directing these two products of the hard education of burlesque is Sylvan Simon a young man who trails college degrees Simon's degrees he admits were not acquired so much from a thirst for knowledge as from practical urgency He was bequeathed an income of $1800 a year so long as he should remain in school For a long time he had wanted to direct theatricals and was looking for opportunities while he studied When the chance came he terminated his formal education in favor of the haphazard course in experience He came to Hollywood as a director of movie tests soon was making features It was in his "Three Girls on Broadway" and "Dancing Coed" that Lana Turner began her climb at MGM "Rio Rita" Is his first major musical THE MALTESE A Warner picture at the Hippodrome: dimin! by Jnlm Huston srrorn piay by John liuniix from the lladiell Hammett luncL The featured players: Samuet Spade Humphrey Bcaii Brijjwi Mary Ator Iva An-her (j'aii (forge Lieut Dundy Barton Mu-Lane Kffie IVrine Iae Pairs'll Kasper Gutman Sjilney Greenstreet timer Cook Elisha Cuuk Jr THE BODY A Warner tuctui at the Hippodrome: directed by Ross Lederman: screen play by Scott Darling and Enu Iaranis The featured players: Ieer Dc Itaven Jeffrey Lynn Lynn Shnteshury Jane Wyman Prof Shotesbury Edward Everett Horton By APDIS SMITH Maltese Falcon" belongs with thew year's superior movies of all classes In the crime and mystery categories it makes its competitors look like the Little Peppers series Despite those Thin Man slapsticks with characters attributed to Dashiell Hammett the most casual movie-goer along with the Hammett reader will perceive in a very few minutes at the Hippodrome that the true and genuine Dashiell is on the screen for the first time A Hard Mind Mr Hammett has a hard mind and writes about hard folks Samuel Spade his private detective is constructed of iron springs A dark reticent figure with no airs or blarney no clever palaver he is a cool delight whipping along through the perils arranged by the assorted killers of the entertainment a wolfish and fascinating pack on the trail of an antique treasure of fabulous value sealed up In a black statuette that has caused murders and other foul deeds since the days it was created by the Knights of Malta for Charles of Spain It is not a lack of the fantastic you see that makes "The Falcon" a humdinger but the reasonable and close-to-the-chest game of Samuel Spade wonderfully played ALLENDALE Life Begins For Andy Hardy A Margie Sun-Mon Lady From Cheyenne A Where Did You Get That Girl? Tues-Thur Navy Blue and Gold A Mata Hari Fri-Sat APOLLO Yank In A A Two Latins From Manhattan Sun-Wed When Ladies Meet A New Wine Thur-Sat BAILEY Belle Star A Groat Guns Sun-Tues: Target For Tonight A Niagara Falls Wed-Thur: Smiling Through A Three Sons of Guns Fri-Sat BROADWAY (Basil) Dive Bomber Sun-Tues Ice-Capades A Man at Large Wcd-Thur Unfinished Business A Border Vigilantes Fri-Sat CENTRAL Wild Geese Calling A Ladies in Retirement Sun-Tues Navy Blues A We Go Fast Wed-Thur Parachute Battalion A Chan in Rio Fri-Sat CIRCLE Blossoms In the Dust A Ringside Maisie Sun-Tues Reaching For the Sun A Strange Alibi Wed-Thur Angels With Dirty Faces A Arizona Bound Fri-Sat COLONIAL (Caramel Wild Geese Calling A Footlight Fever Sun-Mon Aloma of South Seas A Bad Men of Missouri Tues-Thur Next Time We Love A Parson of Panamint Fri-Sat COLUMBIA (Gammel) Citizen Kane A Dr Wedding Day Sun-Mon Here Comes Mr Jordan A Footlight Fever Tues-Thur Dive Bomber A Repent at Leisure Fri-Sat Hold That Ghost A Bullets for OTIara Sun-Tues City of Missing Girls A South of Panama Wed-Thur Eagle and Hawk A Along the Rio Grande Fri-SaL ELLEN TERRY Sun Valley Serenade A Perfect Crime Sun-Tues Daytime Wife A Repent at Leisure Wed-Thur Parachute Battalion A Reluctant Dragon FrL-SaL ELMWOOD Weed-End in Havana A Henry Aldrich For President Sun -Wed Married Bachelor A Lydia Thur-Sat EMBASSY Dive Bomber A Take the Air Sun-Tues Never Get Rich and Dangerous Game Film Ved-Thur Hamilton Woman A Great Swindle Fri-SaL FRANKLIN You'll Never Gel Rich A llarmon of Michigan Sun- Turs love Thy Neighbor A Navy Born Wed-Thur Rangers of Fortune A Join the Marines Fri-Sat GENESEE Yank in IITALT DISNEY'S newest pro-' duction "Dumbo" opening next Thursday at the 20th Century is the first Disney-made long feature in which Disney and his staff were at liberty to let their imaginations run riot without fear of stepping on the public's toes For in the case of the unforgettable "Snow White" and of the Disney staff had to be scrupulously careful not to offend those legions of readers of these classics who maintained definite mental pictures of the characters drawn perhaps from the book illustrations or from written descriptions But the story of Dumbo the lovable baby elephant born with saillike ears was bought in manuscript form from a publisher before the public had seen it So successful was this free method of working that the picture produced for release by RKO Radio sets on all-time Disney production record The entire picture was completed in a year and a half Actual production took only a year a fairly startling improvement over the twao and a half- to throe-year records of previous full-length Disney pictures Tanbark Travesty In the captivating circus story Disney had ample opportunity to Large Wed-Thur College Swing A Anthony Adverse Fri-Sat RIALTO Lady From Cheyenne A Shot in the Dark Sun-Mon Life iSegins for Andy Hardy A Prisoner on Devil's Island Tues-Thur Jungle Love A Pony Post FrL-Sat Nothing but the Truth A Bowery Blitzkrieg Mon-Tues Too Many Blondes A Buy Me That Town Wed-Thur: Smiling Through A Three Sons of Guns Fri-Sat Feminine Touch A Unholy Partners Sun-Tues Target for Tonight A Call for Quantity Wed-Thur New York Town A Secret of Wastelands FrL-Sat Dive Bomber A Bowery Blitzkrieg Sun-Mon: Gentleman From Dixie A Redhead Tues Lady Be Good A Father Takes a Wife Wed-Thur World Premiere A We Go Fast FrL-Sat ROOSEVELT Nothing hut the Truth A Buy Me That Town Sun-Wed The Little Foxes A Niagara Falls Thur-SaL ROXY (Basil) Charley's Aunt A Down in San Diego Sun-Tues Citizen Kane A Chan in Rio Wed-Thur Ice-Capades A Perfect Crime Fri-Sat Dive Bomber A Great Swindle Sun-Mon Affectionately Yours A Bowery Boy Tues-Thur Broadway Limited A Lone Star Raiders Fri-Sat SENECA Same bill as Elmwood's Life Begins for Andy Hardy A Master Detective Sun-Mon Life With Caroline A They Meet Again Tues-Thur Adventure in Washington A Reluctant Dragon FrL-Sat UNITY Sun Valley Serenade A Mutiny in the Arctic Sun-Mon Life With Caroline A Hello Sucker Tues-Thur Dive Bomber A Where Did You Get That GirL FrL-Sat VARSITY Our Wife A Dangerous Game Sun-Mon Citizen Kane Tues-Thur Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde A San Antonio Rose FrL-Sat VICTORIA Yank In A A Moonlight in Hawaii Sun-Tues That Woman Is Mine A Bowery Blitzkrieg Wed-Thur Invisible Ghost A King of Zombies FrL-SaL A A Latins From Manhattan Sun-Tues Lady Be Good A Angels With Broken Wings Wed-Thur Invisible Ghost A King of Zombies Fri-Sat Yank In A A Smiling Ghost Mon-Tues Father Takes a Wife A Burma Convoy Wed-Thur: When Indies Meet A Bowery Blitzkrieg Fri-Sat Here Comes Mr Jordan A Private Nurse Sun-Mon Great Swindle A First Romance Tues-Wed Dressed to Kill A Fugitive Valley Thur-Fri Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Sat JEFFERSON (Basil) Strawberry Blonde A llarmon of Michigan Sun-Tues Wild Geese Calling A Whistling in the Dark Wed-Thur Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde A Tanks a Million Fri-Sat Man-Power A Petticoat Politics Sun-Mon Hamilton Woman A Mr Dynamite Tues-Thur Reaching for the Sun A Doomed Caravan Fri-Sat KENMORE A Yank In the A A The Smiling Ghost Sun-Tues Burma Convoy A The Vacation Wed-Thur When Ladies Meet A Too Many Blondes Fri-Sat KENSINGTON (Shea) Same bill as Elmwood's LACKAWANNA Nothing But the Truth A Buy Me That Town Sun-Thur When Ladies Meet A Secret Evidence Fri-Sat MARLOWE Here Comes Mr Jordan A Harmon of Michigan Sun-Mon Affectionately Yours A Strange Alibi Tues-Thur Prisoner on Devil's Island A Wyoming Wildcat Fri-SaL NEW ARIEL (Gammel) Sun Valley Serenade A Mutiny in the Arctic Sun-Mon Next Time We Love A Footlight Fever Tues-Thur San Antonio Rose A Fargo Kid FrL-Sat NIAGARA Lady Be Good A We Go Fast Sun-Tues Mystery in Room 13 A The Terror Wed-Thur Unfinished Business A Man at Large Fri-Sat NORTH PARK Honky Tonk A Superman Sun-Wed All That Money Can Buy A The Gay Falcon Thur-SaL Trail of the Lonesome Pine A Chan in Rio Sun-Tues Tropic Holiday A Man at 3 72XX1AS DAY POPULAR MATINEE SATURDAY The Theatre Guild's Event oi 1942 HADir aoudd nnnPEsn la Itarldaa's Siwtait Caaedf Tha Divals with HELEN FORD! DONALD BURR! HAILA STODDARD! PHILIP BOURNEUF! Dimcfas EVA LE GALLIENNE HAIL ORDERS DOW It is Mary Boland as Madame Malaprop of Sheridan's wild cavort "The Rivals" which comes to the Erlanger Christmas evening for four.