Murphy’s Town Hall Cinema Athenry 24 9th May 1940 – King Kong, the Classic 1933 RKO Radio Pictures Monster movie was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). It stars Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot. NB: The screenplay was based on a story by Edgar Wallace & Merian C Cooper. 16th May 1940 – Wise Girl was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: the Hall Journal). This 1937 RKO Radio Pictures Romantic Comedy stars Miriam Hopkins, Ray Milland, Walter Abel, Margaret Dumont and James Finlayson. 23rd May 1940 – Mad About Music, a 1938 Universal Pictures Musical starring Deanna Durbin, Herbert Marshall and Gail Patrick was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). 30th May 1940 – Radio City Revels, a 1938 RKO Radio Pictures Musical Comedy starring Bob Burns, Jack Oakie and Ann Miller was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). 6th June 1940 – Comet over Broadway, a 1938 Warner Bros Drama starring Kay Francis, Ian Hunter and Donald Crisp was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). 13th June 1940 – She's Got Everything, a 1937 RKO Radio Pictures Romantic Comedy was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin, as part of a Double Feature. It stars Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Harry Einstein, Billy Gilbert, William Brisbane and Solly Ward. Another RKO Radio Pictures Romantic Comedy, titled Maid's Night Out (1938), was also shown by Caslin on this date (source: Hall Journal). This film stars Joan Fontaine, Allan Lane, Billy Gilbert, Cecil Kellaway, Hedda Hopper and Solly Ward. 28th June 1940 – Racket Busters, a 1938 Warner Bros Gangster Film starring Humphrey Bogart, George Brent and Gloria Dickson was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). 5th July 1940 – Condemned Women, a 1938 RKO Radio Pictures Drama starring Sally Eilers, Louis Hayward, Anne Shirley, Esther Dale and Lee Patrick was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). NB: The Hall Journal records the title as, Condemned Men, but we were unable to identify a film with that title from this era, so settled on this movie as the most likely candidate. 14th July 1940 – This Marriage Business, a 1938 RKO Radio Pictures Comedy starring Allan Lane, Jack Carson, Victor Moore and Vicki Lester was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). Men are Such Fools, a 1938 Warner Bros Romantic Comedy, directed by Busby Berkeley and starring Wayne Morris, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Hugh Herbert and Penny Singleton was also shown by Caslin on this date. 21st July 1940 – Hawaii Calls, a 1938 RKO Radio Pictures Musical starring Bobby Breen, Ned Sparks, Irvin S Cobb, Gloria Holden, Warren Hull and Mamo Clark, along with Raymond Paige & His Orchestra, was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). 28th July 1940 – Valley of the Giants, a 1938 Warner Bros Adventure Film was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). It stars Wayne Morris, Claire Trevor, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale Sr, Donald Crisp and Charles Bickford. Movie Poster Quote: “Mighty Men in a Land of Adventure!” 9th August 1940 – Romance is Sacred (aka The King and the Chorus Girl) a 1937 Warner Bros Romantic Comedy starring Fernand Gravet, Joan Blondell and Edward Everett Horton was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). NB: Groucho Marx co-wrote the screenplay. The storyline here is strikingly similar to The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), starring Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier, (which was purportedly based on Terence Rattigan’s 1953 stageplay, The Sleeping Prince), and which would be screened in the Hall on 22nd May 1960. 11th August 1940 – Dracula, a 1931 Universal Pictures Horror film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel of the same name, starring Bela Lugosi (as Count Dracula), David Manners, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan was screened by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). NB: Previously screened in the Hall on 27th February 1933, see above. 18th August 1940 – Little Tough Guy, a 1938 Universal Pictures Crime Drama was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). It stars Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsly, David Gorcey and Hally Chester. 27th August 1940 – Letter of Introduction, a 1938 Universal Pictures Comedy Drama starring Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, George Murphy, Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Rita Johnson, Ann Sheridan and Ernest Cossart was screened in the Hall by Leo Caslin (source: Hall Journal). NB: Would be screened again on 3rd July 1947 by McGovern.
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