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This horrendous schedule, with three more Maisies larded in, does not faze Miss Sothern. Says she: "For years I've been begging for a decent leading man in a solid picture. Always I've had to carry a small-time male lead. . . . Well, things are going to change. After Tracy I'm going to do Come and Get It with Clark Gable. Hot dog!"
Charley's Aunt (20th Century-Fox) is one of the most successful trust funds ever written. Since its first performance in London in 1892, this unsinkable farce has earned some $25,000,000 in royalties for Author Brandon Thomas and his heirs. It has been translated into 18 languages (including Esperanto) and has been played oftener than any other drama except Hamlet, which had a three-century start.
So it is not extraordinary that Jack Benny, radio's best-paid comic, should turn up in the role of Lord Fancourt Babberley, the young Oxonian who agrees to help one of his pals out of a sentimental dilemma by impersonating his aunt. Aunt Benny, the female impersonator, looks and acts exactly like Comic Benny, the cigar-chewing gagman. Without Benny, Charley's Aunt would have been funnier; and vice versa.
It cost 2Oth Century-Fox $125,000 to lease Charley's Aunt from the Thomas estate, and the transaction will undoubtedly be worth the money. Apparently anyone could play its leading role and get away with it. Now that Benny has turned the trick, Donald Duck may well be next.