KING’S THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 25, 24 October 1942, Page 10

KING’S THEATRE

While George Formbyb, keepin- Americans and New Zcala nuers howling with glee at the King s last night this critic’s mind went back to a uaj ui tlm little studios at Baling 5 " neaceful da vs of llkfc, George was iiiakiu» 2 film "I See Ico” and we Had lune i together. He is a simple soul, delighting ?n doubles on the the colour of his ice cream and the latest storj. II the simple shrewdness (if one may use the expression) of the average LaiKUbtrian, .nm<> ouick wit and easy manner. . Gracie Fields, In pants, .seemed the right wav to describe him. ~ * In those days his films were, email affairs designed im the . first place to keep him 'busy between broadcasts and .vaudeville, and to keep him in touch, via the screen ■ with his fans in the north of Ln oland One or two of his pictures found their way to New Zealand, and thrown in' as. make-weight for a big Un" At that time a 1 orinby picture had little chance of obtaining a release in the Vies End of London. Slowly filmgoers to whom .the. name of Bormby meant' little more than a-voice on the radio, began to sit up and take notice. George Formby- was on the way up. The slim budgets allocated to ins shows were stretched a little;, his films were given pride of place on the .programme, they jumped from second-rate; houses to the big theatres; his appeal began to widen, to take in audiences who formerly passed him' by., Today he. is still .the same funny, lithe, man with the guitar, still getting into scrapes and untangling himself with a great deal of slapstick. But he is a "big star with a. salary greater than that of. Leslie Howard, or Laurence. Olivier. Last night he. made his; first appearance l on the. screen at the King s in “South American George,” a comedj that is like its predecessors, but is, never-, theless, as fresh, and. blooming as spring Pa The plot is practically told in . the title, there are more girls and glamour than is usual in a Formby comedy, and there are songs, that the radio is likely- to plug for months to come. One m particular has all the earmarks of a number that will be sung in army barracks everywhere—‘,‘The Barmaid at the Rose and Garden.”