The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 10, 1926, Page 8

To a Certain Dick By JIM WATERS. got your number; I know you from the neck up. I was there when you squelched on a prostitute Because she wouldn’t kick-in with booze and money: She got six months in the work house. I was there when you forgot the evidence Against (Muggs) McGuire, pinched for pandering A sixteen year old girl to a gang of Hunkies: He went free to pander again.. I was there when you said: “This is the truth, Nothing but the truth, so help me God.” But IT got your number; I know you from the neck up. In the Shadow of the Chair By SAMUEL A. HERMAN. (inspired by the picture drawn by Fred Ellis, the noted cartoonist, for the defense of Sacco and Vanzetti.) Solid as a Gibraltar rock, Square set—it’s four legs With bull-dog tenacity Firmly gripping the ground, Patrenched in place, immovable, As grim as Death, as fearful And awe-inspiring as a Tomb at night On some far-off burial ground When shadows prance in mad revel; With horrible arms that clutch to kill, Rests the lone Chair of the Executioner. Look! See its murderous stare, . See its blood-shod eyes, its air Of expectation, of hope, of desire To torture and to kill! he Not far away two men are in a cell, Whom thousands knew as Comrades, Whose only crime was that they loved With each beat of their hearts, Their Class—the exploited of all lands. For this they are caged in a cell With one solitary, iron-barred hole Thru which the ghastly moonlight Spreads a weird light—and Lo! Two shadows are cast on the Chair, A grim forecast, a reminder Of what the future holds in store, ‘ A premonition of impending doom— Unless . . . unless . . . LABOR, The Court of Last Appeals, Commands: LIFE AND FREEDOM! For none there are who dare oppose The Command of such a Court! a we be ee A PEEK EACH WEEK AT MOTION PICTURES LA BOHEME, A. BOHEME is as good a produc- tion, in its own kind as that other Vidor production, the Big Parade. Murget’s old story, the original inspi- ration of all the Latin quarters and Chelseas and Greenwich Villages that ever were or will be has a_ certain frank and gracefully artificiality that makes it admirably adapted to movie as wellas to operatic technique. Gen- uine artistic discretion has been shown shown in the selection of the scenes and incidents best suited to the screen, and the humerous opportunities for falling into the usual movie abomina- tions—the temptation to stick on a happy ending, for instance—have been avoided. The movie version of the tale tells of the life of a carefree group of bud- ding geniuses in a garret of Paris of the fifties, with the theme of the love of the young playwright, Rodolphe, and-the little seamstress, Mimi, at the heart of the story. Gilbert, who gave excellent performances in the widely divergent roles, of the dough-boy in the Big Parade, and the prince in the Merry Widow, makes a Rudolphe whose dashing youth and brilliant smile, but, above all, whose romantic slenderness will doubtless be the envy of many a puffing operatic tenor in the same role, Lillian Gish, as Mimi, does perhaps verge a trifle on over-sentimentality, but, on the whole, her interpretation of the part is good. In the first place she avoids the self-conscious and stu- pid coynesses and naughtinesses that most actresses feel in duty-bound to introduce whey they are playing a Frenchwoman, quite without regard as to the type that the particular char- acter they are portraying is meant to be. Secondly, she avoids prettifying the sickness afld weariness of the girl, young as she is, already tired out by the-struggle, against, overwork and slow starvation. The contrast is well done between the gay poverty of the young bourgeois Bohemians, to whom the hard life is more or less of a lark, and each one of whom is certain that it is only a short stage to success and fame, and the seamstress to whom poverty is the unchangeable law of life, A clever suggestion of operatic rhythm runs thru the picture, and as every member of the cast fits his acting to this rhythm an unusually harmonious whole is achieved. This rhythm is especially apparent in the pienic scene, when the whole Bohe- mian gang celebrates the advent of spring, and the amazing possession of a few stray francs by spending the day in the woods. Here Lillian Gish shows real skill and spontaneity int her portrayal of the girl emerging from her sombre quietness in her de- light in her first experience, of the woods and her intoxication with free- dom and sunlight and the love of Rudolphe, Rene Adoree, the Belgian actress who gave such a good performance of the French peasant girl in the Big Parade, is equally good as the gay, generous-hearted Musette, and Karl Dane, the tall soldier of the same play, is a realistic janitor—at least, operati- cally realistic. —A. &. “VARIETY.” x ARIETY” ‘s entitled to its name. It is different from other movies shown in New York. The story is simple: The everlast- ing triangle: A retired acrobat known as “Boss” is reawakened to his acro- batics by a luring young actress. He leaves his wife and baby and goes. to the circus. Thru an accident of one of the well-known trapezists this new couple joins “Artinelli,” the remaining trapezists, as thé “Three Artinellis” at the Wintergarten Theater, Jealous of “Artinelli’s”’ relationship with “Boss’s” new sweet companion causes “Boss” to murder “Artinelli,” and then to give himself up to the police. And the play opens with Prisoner” No. 28 (“Boss”) telling the story of his crime, which story he kept from the world during his ten-year stay in prison. It ends with his discharge from prison. But the story is not the paramount part in this.German production: Emil Jennings, as “Boss,” is himself the play. The reproduction of his facial expression of suffering and happiness, of love and hatred, is as never ye. seen on the screen. There are a few novelties in “Variety”: (1) In his jeal- vous moment “PE ss” thinks tcat wher. “Artinelli” will turn a somersault, in, the air he will not catch him, but let him drop dead onto the theater ground. This thought has never yet been pro- duced in an American production. This is marvellous screen-treat. (2.) “Boss,” resting on his trapeze, with a whirling, dizzy head, looks down upon the audience—and what he sees must be seen and marveled at. -The facial expressions of the theater-goers in watching the performance is a real- istic treat. 3 It seems that the producer was in- terested in technique and expression rather than plot—and he succeeded to a praiseworthy degree. Yes, movie-theater-goer, “Variety” is éntitled to its name, It is running in New York at the “Rialto.” Smasico. As Seen by the French. Jackie Coogan