Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 187, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 December 1934 — Page 16

PAGE 16

APOLLO SCREEN PRESENTS 'MUSIC IN THE AIR'

Film Marks Gloria Swanson's Return to Movies; John Boles Portrays-Role of Co-Star Picture Is Classed as First Real Operetta Aside from Stage Productions; Score Written by Jerome Kern. Gloria Swanson, returning to pictures after a two years absence, is seen opposite John Boles in the new Fox film, "Music in the Air,” which is appearing currently upon the screen of the Apollo.

With a score contributed by that master of light music, Jerome Kern, and that brilliant lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein 11, the new film is reputed to be an innovation in screen musicals. Not only is the picture one of the first real operettas to be presented on the screen, as distinguished from the usual filmed musical comedy, but it promises to be one of the funniest offerings, musical or otherwise, to come from the Fox studios In months. The extraordinarily successful Oscar Hammerstein 11-Jerome Kern stage production of the same name is thought to have shattered all depression records by running continuously on Broadway for eleven months, and continuing for four more in Chicago. This was due to the fact that it introduced an unusual amount of comedy in its tuneful story. From this magnetic stage production the film version was adapted. Miss Swanson and Boles are seen as a pair of highly temperamental and jealous operatic stars. Douglass Montgomery, who soared to Stardom as a dramatic actor in ' Little Man, What Now?” is seen in one of the featured roles. ’Other members of the large cast are June Lang, Al Shean of the famous Gallagher and Shean comedy team; Reginald Owen, Joseph Cawthorn, Hobart Bosworth, Sara Hadon and Roger Imhoff. Erich Pommer, producer, is said to have retained much of the "musical charm of the stage piece and allows Boles to sing nine songs, either in solo or in duet with Miss Swanson. The more popular of these numbers are said to be “I've Told Every Little Star,” “The Song Ls You,” “One More Dance,” “There’s & Hill Beyond a Hill,” and “We Belong Together.” Supplementing the featured attraction is a Broadway brevity entitled, “Will Osborn and Band:” Movietone News with Lowell Thomas announcing, and a "See America First” subject entitled '‘Gem of the Ocean.”

Film Ramblings

Spencer Tracy at the Fox Film Studio . . . for the first time since he returned from his Honolulu vacation . . . Lew Ayres dreaming of a honeymoon trip with Ginger Rogers . . . but giving up the idea when discovering that his bride had but four days between pictures ... following their wedding . . . Rosemary Ames relating how she visited 14 different states during her vacation trip to the east and south . . . and how she learned to make mint juleps ... in the home of one of her southern friends . . . insisting, however. that she never drinks the potent- concoction. John Boles dropping in on the "Music in the Air" set at the Fox Film studio . . . and spending half an hour autographing everything from dinner buckets to paper bags for a swarm of kids that were working in added scenes for the production . . . Jane Duggan attempting to manage a pug dog on a leash and her flowing skirts at the same time * . . on “The County Chairman” set . . . the pug being one of the only three left of an almost extinct breed in this neck of the woods. Herbert Mundin playing golf and -jawing to himself. I NOW! 1 1 PALACE L,25c to 6 i CAROU 'l.jlji LOMBARD theGayßride | CHESTER MORRIS/ \ ZASU PITTS I Fentnre 1 “L. MAT PCMDCCTOM I l'rorm I iLtzo CAIWIUO J —Start* M

Oratorio Will Start Season Handel’s ‘Messiah’ to Be Given in New York. By Time* Special NEW YORK, Dec. 15.—The Oratorio Society of New York will open its sixty-first season with a presentation of Handel’s "Messiah” on Friday evening Dec. 28, at Carnegie Hall More than 300 trained amateurs will sing in the chorus, and an orchestra and quartet of professional singers, will assist under the direction of Albert Stoessel. This performance of the Handel masterpiece, which has come to be a regular part of New York’s Christmas season, will inaugurate a series of concerts to be devoted exclusively to works by Handel and Bach, in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of both composers. The Oratorio society will present Bach s B minor Mass in its entirety in March at Carnegie Hall, and will join with the Juilliard School of Music in a six-day Bach-Handel festival at the Juilliard Concert Hall in the spring. Subscriptions and individual tickets are obtainable at the offices of the society, Steinway Hall, 113 W. 57th-st. The box office sale of tickets to “The Messiah” will open at Carnegie Hal] next week. Walter Damrosch, son of the society’s founder, Dr. Leopold Damrosch, again serves on the board of directors this year. Other prominent New Yorkers actively associated with the organization include Mme. Olga Samaroff Stokowski, Ernest Hutcheson, Rubin Goldmark and Dr. T. Tertius Noble. Song Writers Flay Errors in Grammar Referring to a magazine article listing a number of songs in which the lyrics were ungrammatical, Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, song writers, today declared that bad grammar has no more place in music than it has in literature. "We do not use bad grammar, except where the character calls for it,” said Robin, who with Rainger wrote the songs for Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle in Paramount’s "Here Is My Heart.” "Naturally, slang is used whetle the role calls for slangy phrases, but there axe no other exceptions,” he said. Beery Daughter Has Toy Plane Carol Ann Beery, Wallace Beery’s 4-year-old daughter, i6 getting her flying lessons early. Her father has presented her with a pedal wagon built exactly like a small airplane with wing controls and a propeller. SWANSON* JOHN BOLES

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Likes Own Name Best

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Britain offers this girl as the child star of its enlarged movie world. She’s Nova Pilbeam. Recently, the British movie houses and newspapers held a contest among Nova’s fans for a screen name that would fit her personality. Hundreds of names were suggested, but Nova and her advisers decided finally that her own name sounded best.

Ohio to Show Twin Feature Will Rogers, Burns and Allen Starred. The Ohio theater will offer two features starting tomorrow and continuing through Wednesday, the headliner being Will Rogers and Za.su Pitts in "Mr. Skitch,’ and the

■■■l STARTS TODAY! wm RICHARD DIX woman in dis“WEST WPECOS” with MARTHA SLEEPER • FRED KOHLER 25c | > winr3 40c Tilt 6 I 4Ky| B ora VH pS After 6

companion piece, Jack Oakie. Burns and Allen in “Sitting Pretty.” “Mr. Skitcn” features the whimsical comedy of the gum-chewing humorist together with the antics of Miss Pitts. “Sitting Pretty” is full of music and comedy provided by Oakie and the Burns and Allen team. Dance Director Gets Contract The contract for the services of Jack Donohue, Fox Film dance director, has been renewed by the company for an additional year. Donohue’s next assignment will be George White’s “Scandals.”

DEC. 15, 1934

Dix Acting in Star Role on Circle Screen ‘West of the Pecos,’ Tale by Zane Grey, Has Texas Locale. Through a last-minute change in bookings, the Circle theater opened today with Richard Dix's latest starring picture, "West of the Pecos.” "West of the Pecos” is from the pen of Zane G/ey, and is the story of a Southern Civil War colonel who, finding his fortune swept away by the war, decides to take his daughter west and start anew. The daughter, portrayed by Martha Sleeper, believes that being a woman in the days of the old west is too great a handicap so she cuts her hair, dons the breeches, boots, six-guns and sombrero which were the masculine mode of the day, and tries to live the life of a young cowpuncher. Djx is seen in the role of Pecos Smith a colorful character of the wild Texas cow country, who, realizing the unfitness of the newcomers to cope with the wild new country, sticks to them through a series of adventures with cattle rustlers and Indians, never suspecting that the colonel’s "son” is really his daughter. Comedy in the turbulent story is by "Sleep ’n Eat” and Louise Beavers, two negro players. Fred Kohler is seen as chief of the cattle rustleis. Plays Uniform Leads Gary Cooper, Paramount star in ‘%ives of a Bengal Lancer,” seldom has played a leading role in which he did not wear a uniform of some type.

HQ Iqy i o \ e *. <• a strong it V HA T E so V sjfr JIT % savage it GENE RAYMOND (BEHOLD MY WIFE F JULIETTE COMPTON // MONROE OWSLEY // Mm JMA H. B. WARNER Yes! It’s the Best Show! Just Follow the Crowd 2-DE LUXE SHOWS—2 THE ll<; MCttICAE. MENTATION “SITTING PRETTY” IC. Everythin* Bi* But the Price. IC r •Jt Oeroc Early! Brin* the Family! '•