STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 June 1939, Page 2

STATE THEATRE

“TOPPER TAKES A TRIP.”

The current programme headed bj “Topper Takes a Trip.” will be finally shown tonight. /

“HEY! HEY! U.S.A.”

A new Will Hay film is always an eagerly anticipated event. This peerless comedian, whose facial antics and irresistible wise-cracks are always hailed with uproarious enthusiasm by filmgoers of every age and type, will be seen in his latest comedy, "Hey! Hey! U.5.A.,” at the State Theatre tomorrow. Bringing to the screen that unique blend of simultaneous suspense and hilarity peculiar to a Will Hay film, “Hey! Hey! U.S.A.” shows how this famous character starts out in the guise of a harmless hotel porter who is drugged, and awakes to find himself on board an American-bound liner. In an attempt-to achieve his only possible salvation he is compelled to impersonate a distinguished professor of education, becoming a tutor to a spoilt American brat whose subsequent kidnapping provides the exciting central theme of the film. With the ac-tion-packed sequences of the picture ranging in the background from the giant interior of a trans-Atlantic luxury liner to the bustling thoroughfares and sinister gangster quarters of Chicago, the star is aided and abetted in his madcap mirth-making by that famous American screen personality, Edgar Kennedy, bald seventeen-stone comedian renowned for his "slowburn” method of expressing rage—a brand of humour identified solely with him. The combined antics of this perfectly matched pair provide highlights of hilarity which set a new record in laughter scores. The second big attraction is “Annabel Takes a Tour.” Recent highlypublicised romances between American girls and foreign title-holders inspire a hectic love affair between Lucille Ball and Ralph Forbes (as a film star and a viscount) in "Annabel Takes a Tour,” which stars Jack Oakie and Miss Ball. Started as a publicity gag. the romance soon gets *out of control, threatening to wreck the movie star s career when she decides to forsake her art for love. Ruth Donnelly, Bradley Page, Frances Mercer and Alice White appear in important supporting roles.