FIFTH AVENUE GIRL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 23, 1 December 1939, Page 30

FIFTH AVENUE GIRL

(RKO Radio) Craziness comes back to the screen after a short vacation; but what suave, delightful craziness! Everyone in the cast plays his part with such delicious gravity that sometimes you have to pinch yourself to wake up and be sure that people don’t really behave like that. The whole merry muddle starts when Mr. Borden (Walter Connolly, in his part like a fish in water) discovers that — he isn’t getting any fun out of life. Mrs. Borden (Verree Teasdale) has long since ceased to be aware of his existence,

and his son and daughter play polo and go to bottle parties, apparently oblivious of father. So the disconsolate magnate (in the Pump business) wanders down to Central Park to watch the buds bursting on the trees. This he has been solemnly advised to do by his perfect butler (Franklin Pangborn), as relaxation for the mind. In the park, while idly watching seals, the lonesome Mr. Bordon gets into conversation with a charming blonde named Mary Grey (Ginger Rogers). The upshot is that they go to the Flamingo Club (very expensive), and Have Wonderful Time with bottles of champagne, arriving at the Borden mansion at one of the very small hours. Next day, Mr. Borden having found in Miss Grey the perfect antidote for his loneliness, he engages her to be his little playmate, so to speak. The family of Borden, filled with wrath and indignation, sits up, takes notice, and the fun begins. With three members of the Borden menage finding her presence unwelcome, Mary has a hard time keeping her philanthropy for oppressed Papa Borden functioning. Function it does, however, and she aids and abets him in a wild round of revelry which no gentleman of his years can indulge in with impunity to his liver. Papa begins to feel the strain; meantime, Mrs. Borden, having discovered that she has a real, live-and-kicking husband of whom she is really fond, seeks to gain his affections once more by a bait of his favourite Beef Stew. This is, incidentally, successful. Daughter marries the classconscious chauffeur, Mr. and Mrs. go into a sophisticated bill-and-coo, and son (who is not a bad sort of chap, even if he does play polo) discovers what a pretty girl Mary Grey is. If you like an occasional bout of mild, sophisticated insanity, go and see " Fifth Avenue Girl." The acting is uniformly excellent. James" Ellison, as the leftist chauffeur, does a splendid job with his fiery indictment of capitalists in a millionaire’s kitchen. Franklin Pangborn is perfect as the butler who, after having received a black eye from the inebriated Mr. Borden, remarks "I do not mind the discoloration, sir,’ in a way that will make you squirm with joy. And Verree Teasdale, Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly and the others all make this a really funny and delightful picture.