"SPECIAL DELIVERY."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19158, 15 November 1927, Page 13

"SPECIAL DELIVERY."

A CONVULSING COMEDY. LAUGHTER AT THE LIBERTY.

"Special Delivery," a rare effusion of merriment, is the principal picture in an all-comedy programme showing at the Liberty Theatre this week. Eddie Cantor was a misfit, according to his father. Eddie got into the secret service, and it was considered by his father the service's greatest secret how he " got there "Don't come home till you have rounded up Blackie Morgan," warned lub father. Eddie did not, and the story of how he came to round up Blackie is an entortaining one. First Eddio is the eccentric postman who delivers his letters per balloon to any story above the first, and hies daily to the quick-lunch counter, where the coffee gains an added flavour when prepared by the winsome girl behind the counter (Miss Jobyna Ralston). It is through her he gets a line on Blackie, alias Harold Jones, now a shady share seller. More eccentricity and farcical situation and we find Edijie at the Mailman's Ball clothed in borrowed finery for the occasion. He is the star performer in the "Blackbottom," and wins the prize. Here also evolutions with a life-size doll convulse the audience. On a sunny morning comes the shadow. He repairs to partake of Mb buns and coffee and smile at his pretty lass, when he finds she has suddenly disappeared. Investigation shows that she has accepted a post as private secretary, in the suite of the notorious Mr Jones, Blackie. ..Then he shows his saving common sense. 'He finds Blackie and his sweetheart are sailing for America. Nest he finds himself as a fireman riding on the top of n collapsible ladder post haßte to the steamer's Bide. It is here that he thwarts the notorious Blackie and hands him over to the police. Then' his father arrives and the self-satisfied Eddie complacently exclaims, "Blackie Morgan, dad, by special delivery." Thero is no doubt about tho worth of "Special Delivery" ss a comedy, and Eddie Cantor as a comedian. His doings are so genuinely foolish that one cannot but ripple with laughter. Not only this, but they are amazingly clever. Misß Jobyna Ralston, as the feminine lead, does sot have a big part, but her exhibition is a first-class one. William Powell, as the "bad man" Blackie, gives a convincing interpretation of his part. For a display of sheer dare-devil exploits, a Mermaid comedy, the supporting picture, would be hard to beat. Seldom have so many thrills been crowded into so short a space as in this picture. Increasing their popularity- with artistic renderings of favourite classical and popular numbers, the Liberty Concert Orchestra, under tho baton o£ Mr Ernest Jamieson, created a record in the picture world last night by having both the overture "Highland Echoes" (Koster), and "The Doll Dance" (Brown) enthusiastically encored.