REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 February 1941, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

‘■FORTY LITTLE MOTHERS." In “Forty Little Mothers.’’ which will be shown tonight. Eddie j Cantor proves that he doesn't need a chorus of a hundred beautiful girls! to entertain his public. Play-i ing a real human being without pulling; one gag and singing only one song, the' lilting lullaby, “Little Curly Hair in a ; High Chair.” Cantor scores a distinct I personal triumph as an actor. The, story of “Forty Little Mothers" is the; story of a timid professor who pre- 1 vents a despondent mother from com- ; mitting suicide and then inadvertently ; inherits her baby which he finds aban- I cloned in a waiting-room. When the ' professor gets a job at a girls' boarding; school he surreptitiously takes the. baby with him and attempts to keep it secretly in his rooms. The girls, who think he isn't as handsome as his pre--decessor. plot to have him fired. Then. they find the baby and. instead, be-, come forty little mothers. The story blends comedy, pathos, and. at times.; real drama. Cantor displays a side of his histrionics that he has been hiding' from his public. Judith Anderson, no- , ted Broadway star, plays the school: mistress and gives a very convincingj performance in an unsympathetic part. • Heading the rebellious schoolgirls are 1 Bonita Granville and Diana Lewis, i Others in the cast are Rita Johnson.; Ralph Morgan, Margaret Early. Martha ’ O’Driscoll, Charlotte Munier and Lou-' ise Seidel. The eight-months-old babyi “Chum.” the infant around whom most I of the action centres, is one of the! most appealing babies yet to reach the I screen.