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Zazu and Thelma impart great chemistry as best friends, a precursor of Laverne and Shirley one might say; unfortunately, as in the case of the latter pair, they are dependent on quality material from one script to the next, and this basic story line is pretty mundane: a millionaire playboy splashes mud on the girls and makes good by buying them new ensembles and taking them to Coney Island (to the playboy, slumming is chic, but we've established in an earlier scene that Thelma and Zazu are sick to death of cheapskate boyfriends taking them to Coney). Jokes just don't hit right even when they have potential, like the effeminate coutourier who talks like a cigar-chewing mug whenever the customers aren't around, or the cameo by Laurel and Hardy that drags a bit (in all fairness, these comedies were probably edited to anticipate audience response, with long silent pauses in order to avoid talking over the laughter). What works for a modern audience is the girls' friendship and their ability to laugh at their own dilemma -- a surprisingly believable reaction, although the microphone doesn't consistently pick up the humorous asides they're sharing. Also valuable is the slice-of-life account of a Coney Island visit, circa 1931. Chicagoans will no doubt also shed a nostalgic tear, recalling the now-defunct Riverview amusement park, which offered a lot of the same rides we see here, not to mention authentic sense of carnival atmosphere. Thelma is lovely, and obliges the camera with a little cheesecake as she gets ready for bed; the fact that she would die a few years hence adds a languid touch to the fun she seems to have onscreen. I'd like to research the "mystery" surrounding her alleged suicide, or at least see the 1991 TV movie about it starring Loni Anderson.
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