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INKABOUTGREASEPAINTaThe Truth About BlaydsHaving pulled an awful boner afew months ago with “Distant Drums,” Guthrie McClintic tries a safer bet. This time he presents a really good production of “The Truth About Blayds,” but he makes the same old mistake of engaging Pauline Lord to play a part in it.AdByAlice Alworthof Mr. Bosworth’s Miracle Man is perfect for the portrayal of the patri-How any sane theatre-goer can sit j arch who heals by faith. Chester Mor-and watch Miss Lord wave her hands ! Hg gylvia sicjney and several otherabout and whine through a few lines I 5 f £ i 11r i • -1 , .11 featured players play second nddle lOof whimsy is beyond mv not-at-all- iedLUlt:u ¥ia7 ^ ^ 7the older man’s work.A gang of thieves plan to stage aphony miracle in a small town and \ thus get the inhabitants to put money ! into a fund for a proposed cathedral.| They find that the staged miracle leads | to a real one, and after many changes ! of heart they all follow the straight : and narrow path pointed out to them ; by the old man.whimsy is beyond my limited comprehension. They tell me that the lady in question did well in“Anna Christie,” so maybe there willbe another part sometime that she can play.O. P. Heggie gives an excellent, though short performance as old Blayds, the phony poet. He wears a convincing old-age make-up, and keeps his voice and manner characteristic of a ninety-year-old.Shortly before his death, Blayds, the patriarchal poet, reveals to his younger daughter (Pauline Lord) the fact that all the beautiful poetry credited to him, and for which he became world famous, was really the work of another man. In a burst of righteousness, Isobel, the only person who knows of the fraud after the death of her father, decides to try to find the heirs of the man from whom the poetry was “stolen.” The family of Blayds objects to that move, however, and even refuses to believe that old Blayds didn’t write the stuff. Isobel finally decides to let the matter stand; and also thinks maybe it would be a good idea to marry. Her boyhood sweetheart still wants to marry her, it seems. Ah, well, there’s no accounting for taste.Frederic Worlock plays the man whose love is still flowering after eighteen years of waiting for his lady love. He plays the part well. Ernest Lawford and Effie Shannon do very good work with their roles—both unsympathetic parts, at that. Others in the cast are not only competent, but pleasing.The play, as you probably know, was written several years ago by A. A. Milne. Someone suggested the possibility that Miss Lord had been given the wrong play—and learned !Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” instead.This production of “The Truth About Blayds” was directed by Guthrie McClintic, who next season will present Katherine Cornell (Mrs. Guthrie McClintic) in “Alien Corn.”The Belasco Theatre on 44th Street, East of Broadway, is housing the play about the Blayds. Cleon Throckmorton designed a perfect set for the production. *“Symphony in Six Million”A novelty is the Radio picture showing twice daily at the Gaiety Theatre on Broadway.It’s a story about a young doctor who is happy only when he is doing charity work in a clinic, but whose family makes such demands for money that he is forced to take up practice in a Park Avenue office. He no longer has time to see the little tenement cripple whom he loves, and the undermining of his character is completed when he performs an unsuccessful operation upon his own father. Thoroughly unhappy he wanders downtown to the Ghetto, and there learns that his little crippled sweetheart is in need of a spinal operation. As she trusts only him he agrees to perform the operation, which, as the public would have it, is successful.Ricardo Cortez and Irene Dunn play the parts of the doctor and his sweetheart. I knew when I saw “Cim-maron” that Miss Dunn would turn out some fine work, but in all the years I’ve seen Mr. Cortez I’ve never given him credit for the ability he reveals in this RKO picture. Others— mostly Jewish characters—in the cast do fine work.The story is an original by Fanny Hurst. Throughout the film a symphonic orchestra plays an accompaniment to the action. It is most effective—especially when the scene calls for complete pantomime.The only fault in the picture is the dialogue—and then only in spots. It seems impossible to make a picture of | Jewish family life without using old | lines. I have heard Eddie Cantor,! George Jessel, The Goldbergs, Smith | and Dale, and numerous other com-I edians use exactly the same laugh lines as were used in parts of the Hearst picture.But “Symphony in Six Million” is| decidedly worth seeing. *_IAt The RivoliParamount casting directors couldn t have done better than they did when they gave the title role of “The Miracle Man” to that grand actor HobartBosworth.The strong, kind, sensitive old faceIf,thmofAreertrlt;Tlrereticvathanweticco19T(iTcDEDInN.FrA(HiM'SuM;Aistabemiofnitwa$3stacoithebeeinsmaotlveiatilt;eleed.ageampitoftirrvietoilysurRoiJnuiwelt;moL.
Newspaper Details
Bronxville Press
Bronxville, New York, US
Fri, Apr 29, 1932
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Rotten T.
USA 08 Sep 2021
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