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The Stage in Review

June 30, 1935
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Love Me Forever, based on a story by Victor Schertzinger; screen play by Jo Swerling and Sidney Buchman; thematic music by Mr. Schertzinger and Gus Kahn; directed by Mr. Schertzinger; a Columbia production.

Margaret Howard Grace Moore

Steve Corelli Leo Carrillo

Michael Bartlett Michael Bartlett

Philip Cameron Robert Allen

Fields Spring Byington

Maurizzio Thurston Hall

Miller Douglas Dumbrille

Luigi Luis Alberni

It is no exaggeration to say that “Love Me Forever,” starring Grace Moore, at the Radio City Music Hall, is the best musical photoplay of the season. It is superior even to “One Night of Love” in which Miss Moore scored such a success.

“Love Me Forever” is a successful combination of cinema and opera. Miss Moore, with her glorious soprano voice, brings the audience to such a pitch of enthusiasm that many forget that they are in a cinema and succumb to the illusion that they are at an opera. No screen production has ever inspired such applause as breaks out from time to time during the performance of “Love Me Forever.”

One can see this picture more than once and be enthusiastic about it. Miss Moore is superb not only in her singing but also in her acting. Her leading man, Leo Carillo, is exceptionally good. So is Michael Bartlett with his joyous voice.

The story deals with a middle-aged man of the underworld who falls in love with a young woman, disillusioned with life. The gambler promotes his protegee’s musical career. The young singer discovers in the long run that she loves her patron. She gives up her attractive young aristocratic lover and decides to devote herself to the middle-aged gambler for life.

Almost two acts of the opera “La Boheme” are beautifully performed in the production. The quartet from “Rigoletto” is also performed. Though in its contents the play is melodramatic, it is at the same time perfect both from its musical and dramatic viewpoint.

The eighteenth opening of the series of Summer concerts at the Lewisohn Stadium Wednesday night was one of the most inspiring musical occasions of the year, provoking great enthusiasm among the 12,000 persons who crowded the Stadium.

Addressed by Mayor LaGuardia and by Adolph Lewisohn, the concert was attended by the elite of New York. Among the guests seen were Mr. and Mrs. Felix M. Warburg, Mr. and Mrs. George Backer, and other well-known Jewish leaders.

Jose Iturbi, who arrived in the United States a day before the opening concert, displayed marvelous ability in conducting the orchestra, despite the fact that he had practically no time for rereasals.

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