REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 January 1939, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“VARSITY SHOW." "Varsity Show,” a musical comedy along altogether new lines, and possessed of a sparkling cast, will bo shown at the Regent Theatre tonight. A star individual —Dick Powell —and a star organisation—Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians—are the top-liners in this melodious, laughable, fast-paced tale of college life as the moviemakers see it—and as, doubtless, all college boys and-girls wish it were. II is the talc of how the undergraduates of a little fresh-water educational institution try to put on a show under the supervision of a dignified and gloomy professor, only to realise that he’s ruining it with his highbrow notions. Then they go to the city and dig up Dick Powell, a graduate, who by now is a successful Broadway producer. and induce him to come back to school and supervise a real show. Dick and his partner —none other than the goofy Ted Healy—take over the job. And after many a battle between the modern and old-fogey elements in the school, a show is put on —and what a show! Maybe you can imagine Fred Waring himself and all his bandsmen, some 50 odd, as college students and the negro pair Buck and Bubbles as singing and dancing janitors of the school. Rosemary Lane is Dick Powell's romantic feminine interest, while her sister Priscilla is one of the most original and adept dancers to be seen upon the screen in recent years. There are, of course, plenty of dances, both solo and chorus. Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, impersonating the college band, have plenty to do in the musical way. and there are half a dozen hit songs.