DAMON RUNYON RIOT

Evening Star, Issue 23687, 21 September 1940, Page 7

DAMON RUNYON RIOT

HGPALONG CASSIDY AGAIN ‘ Joe and Ktitc 1 Turp Call on the President,’ whicli heads the new bill at the Strand, needs no more recommendation than that the theme is from the pen of Damon Runyon, and therefore can be relied upon to be good. With a cast including Ann Sothern, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan, and William Gargan, the result of the fusion is a riotous comedy. William Boyd is up to his usual high standard in the Clarence E. Mulford western, ‘ Santa he Marshal,’ which supports. Joe Turp and his good wife, Ethel, make their screen debut in ‘ Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President,’ and their “ Daddy,” Damon Runyon, should be proud of them. It is a picture to rank alongside of such other Runyon successes as 1 A Lady for a Day ’ and ‘ Little Miss Marker.’ With Ann Sothern and William Gargan playing the Turps, better choices for the characters, made famous in printed form, could not have been made. Lgwis Stone as the President oflJ.S.A.'leilds that appealing, sympathetic, and whimsical tone to the chief executive that has endeared him to millions as “ Judge Hardy.” ‘ Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President ’ is much more than the title implies. Although it concerns the visit of Joe and Ethel Turp to sec the president to get a job back for Jim, the postman, who has been fired for destroying a letter, it tells in retrospect a homely, dramatic story of the love of Jim for a woman that transcends everything. Losing her to another man, ho still worships her from afar. When she becomes a widow, he watches over her through the years. It is this ardent vigil that leads to his downfall when he attempts to keep from her the news that her son is a criminal and has been killed in a prison break. As for the Turps, they figure prominently in the story, besides in those scenes with the president when they plead the case of Jim. Incidentally, Joe_ gives the president a little characteristic advice that helps to keep the nation out of war. Ann Sothern and William Gargan both distinguish themselves in the difficult assignment of bringing to life two characters about whom millions already have formed impressions. Others in the cast are Tom Neal, James Bush, Don Costello, and Muriel Hutchinson. Robert Sinclair directed 1 with an experienced and knowing hand. Tlie stars of the earlier days of Hollywood are making their way to prominence on the screen again, coming back to storm the citadels of fame in outdoor action romances, the pictures familiarly known to movie-goers as westerns. Three of them, no less, have prominent roles in ‘ Santa Fe Marshal,’ latest film of the thrilling “ Hopalong Cassidy ” series, featuring William Boyd. ‘ Santa Fc Marshal ’ tells a thrilling story of Boyd’s efforts to capture a gang of outlaws who have stolen the payroll of a silver mine and committed a murder in the bargain.