AMUSEMENTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20128, 23 December 1939, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE FINAL DAY: “DEATH OF A CIIAM--1 PION” AND “THANKS FOR THE MEMORY” Crowded audiences yesterday enjoyed to the full the rollicking holiday double programme at the Majestic Theatre. “Death of a Champion” is a merry mystery drama starring Lynne Overman, Donald O’Connor and Virginia Dale. “Thanks For the Memory” is a bright romantic comedy starring Bob Hope and Shirley Ross. “Those Sleepy People,” a new song “hit,” is featured. An added attraction is the serial, “Oregon Trail.” —Monday, Christmas Day: Comedy Classic, “East Side of Heaven”— Down to earth humanness combined with music so catchy that, you just naturally hum it as you leave the theatre is a movie formula guaranteed to please. And it more than pleases in Universal’s new picture. “East Side of Heaven,” which comes direct from the Regent. Auckland, to commence a three-day session at 7.45 o’clock on Monday night. Bing Crosby is a cruising troubadour, or to put it more plainly a singing taxi driver. Joan Blondeli, his sweetheart, is a hotel telephone operator. Mischa Auer is Bing’s unemployed roommate who has learned from reading the stars that he should not even look for work until 1942. There -is your background for the story. And all three players do a successful job of making you like them because you know them so well. You have known them for years—the girl down the block, the boy in that cheap fourth-floor room, and that other likeable fellow who will go to no end of trouble to keep away from work. This trio would be sufficient in any picture, but in “East Side of Heaven” they are aided, and very materially, by “Sandy,” an attractive infant. “Sandy” is “deposited” with 'Crosby by Irene Hervey, who takes this means of keeping flier baby from her wealthy and hard-fisted father-in-law, portrayed by C. Aubrey Smith, That is when the fun really starts. Then there is the music, four hew lilting tunes of the kind you want, to sing, whistle or hum. They are “East Side of Heaven,” “Sing a Song of Sunbeams,” "That Sly Old Gentleman from Featherbed Lane,” and “Hang Your Heart on a Hickory Limb.” A specially selected array of featurettes includes “Here and There,” “Little Tough Mice,” "Stranger Than Fiction,” the thrilling serial. “Lone Ranger,” and the latest news-reels,