MUSICAL COMEDY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 17, 12 September 1931, Page 5

MUSICAL COMEDY

"BE YOURSEF" BWARFS PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS IN REVUE. j FANNY BRICE STARS. Tuneful, dramatie and with elabo-r rate sets dvmrfing those of the greatest Broadway revues, ".Be Yourself," starring Fannie Brice in an all-dia-logue musical-comedy, opening at the Majestic Theatre on September 17. Out of an elaborate night club setting which gives Miss Brice an opportunity to sing- several "hit" numbers in in that amusing and distinctive manner of hers, and a prize-ring background, Thornton Freeland, directing for United Artists, has woven an original sound film — a comedy with dramatie highlights and a musical extravaganza that does not bore one with recurrences of theme songs. I The amusing and fast-movirig story eoncerns a night club entertainer and hostess who falls in love with a lazy prize-figihteir. She forces herself upon him, trains him and eventually sees him win the championship. IIowever, the fighter, played by that excellent actor of he-man parts, Robert Armstrong, falls for the wiles of a ehorus girl, Gertrude Astor, and al•lows his battered nose to be remodelled so that he may appear more attractive to her eyes. He jilts Miss Brice, who, seeking both revenge and salvation for him, rematehes him with the former champion and sees to it that he is soundly whipped. Remorseful, Armstrong goes back to his first love. j Harry Green, whose impersonations have made him an artist of international scope, contributes hilarious comedy in his role of a lawyer-mana-ger. G. Pat Collins, Budd Fine and Jimmy Tolson, fourteen-year-old singer, complete the cast.