Critical Moments

“The Sky’s the Limit,” with Joe Smith and Charles Dale, which will have a very limited run at the Fulton Theatre, made me very sad.

I was overcome with a slight, piercing nostalgia for my boyhood days when the week was not complete unless I had seen at least one vaudeville show. In those seemingly distant days the Avon Comedy Four (you remember—”One glass of milk. It shouldn’t smell from herring”), was one of my favorite acts and in that quartette Joe Smith and Charles Dale were to me excruciatingly funny. After sitting through the above-mentioned play and witnessing the antics of these hard-working comedians, I feared that something must have happened to my sense of humor, for I could find very little to laugh at.

Perhaps it was the play itself, which boisterously concerns itself with a satire on radio advertising and tells what happened when the public is asked to choose a bride for a radio crooner. I hope, very selfishly, that my feelings about “The Sky’s the Limit” were caused by the inadequacy of the play-rights rather than a petrification of my sense of humor.

MAGIC

On the afternoons of December 26 and 28, the morning of the twenty-ninth and Sunday afternoon, December 30, Robert Reinhart, a tall, amiable young man out of Harvard not so many years, who earns his living writing sketches of prominent people for the Literary Digest, will give his annual “magic” show for children at the Guild Theatre.

In addition to Mr. Reinhart’s tricks, there will be Al Baker, the ventriloquist, a Punch and Judy Show and a real circus brass band. If your kid doesn’t like this entertainment he has either an Einsteinian “I.Q.” or needs medical attention.

DON QUIXOTE

The American Premiere of Don Quixote at the Cameo Theatre, originally scheduled for Christmas Day, has been moved forward to this Saturday. In the title role of this newest Pabst film is Feodor Chaliapin, and the supporting cast includes George Robey and Sydney Fox. The French novelist, Paul Morand, was responsible for the adaptation of the Cervantes novel. Arias and incidental music were furnished especially for this film by Jacques Ibert. Both arias and dialogue are in English.

REVIEWS FOR BIRTHDAY

“Birthday,” Peggy Woods’ new play which is on schedule for next week, will be given three times before it opens. Tonight and Saturday evening, benefit performances will be played for the Young Folks League Aid to Hebrew Infants and on Friday night proceeds will go to the Sunnyside Play School.

GOSSIP MORE OR LESS TRUE

Lew Brown is worried. His “Calling All Stars” is not doing nearly enough business, with the result that the producer is tinkering with his production in an attempt to make it palatable to New Yorkers who have been nibbling on such tid-bits as “Say When” and “Anything Goes.” … “The Gay Bride,” a film that is making audiences roar with laughter at the Rialto, was originally fated to be a typical gangster picture. Adapted from Charles Coe’s “sociological” novel, “Repeal” adaptors in the M-G-M Studios very brightly decided that a serious gangster film was old stuff. Bella and Samuel Spewack, who wrote the picture, got to work and turned it into a satirical farce with gratifying results….

The picture business may have its faults, but publicizing a film is not one of them. In fact, the publicity and exploitation of films is so good that the public takes it as a matter of course. However, in the case of “The Mighty Barnum,” United Artists is to be congratulated. I do not remember seeing a more dignified and sustained campaign than was prepared for this film, and incidentally, it deserves it. …