Crazy Comedy of Stage Folk

Radio Record, 1 July 1938, Page 27

Crazy Comedy of Stage Folk

["Good-bye, Broadway." Universal, Directed by Ray McCarey. Starring Alice Brady, Charles Winninger. First release: Wellington, July 1.]

6% OOD-BYE BROADWAY" is -based .on . James Gleason’s play, "The Shannons of Broadway," which, I seem to remember, was made as a film a good many years ago. This time the stars are Alice Brady and Charles. Winninger, who have changed their screen names from Shannon toe Malloy. They are, I think, worthy of better material than this picture gives them. On the other hand, it would hardly. be a picture without them. They try hard and often succeed-in putting life into a series of" old-fashioned and often very noisy situations. Bad > Investment T is some time since I saw "Good-bye, Broadway," and I’m afraid it,didn’t make a very deep impression On -me. But I do remember that Alice Brady and Winninger are husband and wife, and members of -a once-successful vaudeville act which has come down in the world. It’s a case of stiff upper lips, smiling in the face of adversity, and hoping that better luck is just around the corner-but at-last they’re

ready to admit that the Merry Malloys have had their day, and would be better raising eggs on a chicken farm than facing them on the stage. It is not to be. In a moment of pique, Pat Malloy spends the family’s hardearned savings on buying a country hotel just to give himself the satisfaction of sacking the clerk who bas insulted him. The hotel is a relic of Revolutionary days; arid its clientele apparently disappeared about the same time. The rest of the story is mainly loquacious nonsense devoted to the -frantic efforts of the Malloys to make their investment pay or unload it on someone else. Brightest supporting turns are those of Donald Meek, as an eccentrie antiquarian, and Tommy Riggs, . "double-voiced" radio star.

Where Are Warners? "Two readers (one in Auckland, one in Hamilton) have written to me in the past week wanting to know why they have not seen any new Warner Bros. films for several months, "The position is alarming," says one correspondent, "because among Warners’ 1938 line-up are such promising titles as ‘Tovarich,’ ‘Gold is Where You Find It,’ ‘Jezebel,’ ‘Hollyweod ‘Hotel,’ ‘Varsity Show, ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood,’ and many others. The answer is simply this: that, for various internal reasons, Warner Bros. have not yet sold their product . for: this year. I am given to understand, however, that satisfactory arrangements for releasing the pictures are likely to be completed almost any day now.