“SHOW BOAT”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 724, 25 July 1929, Page 15

“SHOW BOAT”

COSTLY PRODUCTION With virtually every large motionpicture company in the industry bidding, Universal Pictures Corporation was the one which obtained the motion-picture rights to Edna Berber's best-selling novel, “Show Boat.” Made into a million dollar supertalking picture, “Show Boat” will be screened at the Strand Theatre shortly, .with Laura La Plante and Joseph Schildkraut in the roles of the great lovers, Magnolia Hawks and Gaylord Ravenal, a show-boat star and a Mississippi River gambler, respectively. Universal considers that it bought the motion picture rights at a bargain for £14,000. These rghts were bought before the book had reached the peak of its sensational selling record and before Florenz Ziegfeld had purchased it and made it into a musical extravaganza. However, the original £14,000 was exceeded several times over in a deal with Ziegfeld by which the music and highlights of his sensational musical show have been combined with the Universal production. Harry Pollard directed “Show Boat,” while the supporting cast includes Otis Harlan, Alma Rubens, Emily Fitzroy, Elise Bartlett, Neely Edwards, Jane La Verne, Blanche Craig, Theodore Lorch, and many others. Helen Morgan, Jules Bledsoe, Aunt Jemina and the Plantation Singers, from the Ziegfeld show, appear in songs a.nd choruses. CANARY SHOW TOMORROW The annual show of the Auckland Canary and Cage-Bird Club will be held in the Epiphany Hall, Karangahape Road, on Friday and Saturday of this week. Entries of canaries- have been received from all over New Zealand, and over 300 birds will be on exhibition.