ST. JAMES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 861, 3 January 1930, Page 15

ST. JAMES

FINE TALKIE PROGRAMME All-talking comedy, produced entirely in colour, with, quaint ballets and fine music, are some of the good things provided in the big talkie which heads th© current programme at the St. James Theatre. “The Gold Diggers of Broadway,” starring Nancy Welford, Conway Tearle, Winnie Lightner, and Albert Gran, is the picture, and it alone is an evening’s laughter. There are dresses that even the mere male must admire; there are catchy tunes which are introduced by Nick Lucas, known on gramophone records as the “Crooning Troubadour.” Among the most enjoyable of these are “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” and “Painting the Clouds With Sunshine.”

Winnie Lightner carries the whole of the comedy, and also sings a number of humorous songs. The story is a flimsy tale concerning a boy who, wishing to marry a chorus girl, fears the refusal of his uncle, upon whom he ia entirely dependent. Another girl undertakes to persuade him that chorines are not so bad as most people would insist. The uncle’s reaction to this scheme is not what was bargained for, and through most of the story it seems that the little plan will fail miserably. There are entertaining supports on the same programme. Van and Schenk contribute several humorous songs, and there is a clever Yiddish comedy. The Vitaphone Orchestra of 60 instruments plays Offenbach’s “Orpheus” as an overture. Eddie Peabody, banjoist, contributes several enjoyable numbers, and some unusually good ballet and formation work is done by the Vitaphone girls in a presentation entitled “Serpentine.”