The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 18, 1926, Page 13

A PEEK EACH PARADISE. | | An ordinary fitle for an ordinary | movie. The story is another one of that dishwater composite so freely | dispensed to and readily consumed by the gullible American public. The usual son of the aristocracy, passing thru the usual “unaristocratic” esca- pades—disinherited by his noble fath-| er—married to the usual little chorus girl—and later coming into his own | in manhood, fortune and the good | graces of his noble family, climaxed ! by an adventurous fight on a South Sea Island, the only bit of swift ac- tion in the entire play. The girl, played by Betty Bronson, ' ig executed well enough for technique and grace, aided greatly by that type of dress becoming to her petite slen- derness. But for our part, we were much more captivated hy her charms and finesse in the characterization of the fascinating, daring “Pan.” In- deed a privilege to be her director and command her to roles of eternal youth for yet a few brief years. Milton Sills, ag the hero, is_ still) enough of the easy lover to quicken | the heart-beat of the flapper. Sure he was good. Yet his talent in this story seems grossly squandered. The AT MOTION PICTURES WEEK MARY ‘PICKFORD » America’s Movie Queen, now show- ~ ing in her latest picture, “Sparrows,” at the Roosevelt. | Movie Notes | Last Chance for Chicago. Tonight “Breaking Chains” makes its last Chicago appearance at the Ashland Auditorium in two perform- fight between Sills and Noah Beery,|ances at 17:30 and 9:30 p. m. We an interesting if grotesque piece of bestial brutality, is realistic and con- vincing, altho unnecessarily prolong- ed thru many an agonizing reel. Noah Beery holds his own with sweeping, brutal force—good acting. A movie you can well afford to —R. A. make the additional note concerning this Russian movie masterpiece to urge every Chicago worker io see . Seldom does one get such a rare 0) portunity. This is something new and to labo an unexpected pleasure. The whol’ picture was acted by workers wh: never before had faced the camera Yet it is such a splendid performance it ranks with the very best on the screen, Technically, the picture is a finished product. The photography is excellent; the story inspiring; the ac- tion fast and vivid. To every work- er, and especially to revolutionary la- bor, we say, Go! Don’t miss this op- portunity to see a picture that will send you home proud of your class. THE TINY WORKER A Weekly. Editor, Rose Horowitz, Rochester, N. Y. Johnny Red, Assistant Editor. Saturday, December 18, 1926 No. 30 Vol. 1. Rochester, doodlee-doo). While others slave Here's The Old Fake! Just look how the You can’t get away Rich _ kids t | And be glad that you can save your many fine toys. nut Poor kids Vor robbing ...+-+se8e8 ones or none at al y - Why does Santa . Claus favorthe HEY, KIDSt rich kids? Because if you look, under his whiskers you'll find it's the rich kid's father! There leno Santa Claus! | WEEK'S s Mr. Wotsisname By ROSE HOROWITZ, (Sung to the tune of Yankee Doodlee- They say he is a gentleman They call him Wotsisname He does what e’er they ask him to To win a lot of fame. He sits and smokes and reads and rests All thru the Ive-long day To earn their bread and stay, CHORUS Oh, Mister Wotsisname Oh, Mister Wotsisname You're getting pretty fat But you'll empty out your pockets In a bright and sunny day Didja ever hear the story about the time Santa Clause lost his pants on a cold night? Oh, Boy—read MEXT TINY WORKER, Santa Claus Is A Fat-Head! Santa Claus goes around with a big pack of toys. The poor kids’ father and mother work hard. The money they make goes to N. Y. the boss. So they can’t buy many toys. But the boss can play Santa Claus to his children, He buys them all the toys they want. in factories And when he dresses up just look at the belly on him! with that ‘SHOP’ a T is peculiar that of all the theaters in New York—-Broadway, also in- eludes, the little theaters away from Broadway proper, such as the Prov- fheetown, the Neighborhood, etc.; not one, with the possible exception of the Neighborhood Playhouse when it does. the Little Clay Cart, fis showing anything worthy of any considerable mention. It is still more peculiar. when we find that the Jewish stage in New York is holding forth well. Experi- menting, trying, striving for tew forms and new plays; or at least new conceptions of old plays (Goldfadd- den’s “The Tenth Commandment” at Schwartz’s Yiddish Art Theater). Of course the Jewish stage I’m speaking of is the stage or rather the combined patags of the Y. A, T. and the Irving |Place Jewish Art Theater. Of the |latter the rest of our review—for it ‘is a review—shall deal- with. The young but already hectic career jof the L P. J. A. T. should be gone into a little before the review proper. Starting with Evreinoff’s “The Ship of Saints,” a very poignant but too symbolic social drama, Ben-Ami direc- tor-actor of the group decided, as his -econd production, to do “Out of the vyond,” a play in which the social otif is drowned in melodrama. This ay was a flop. It was acted superb- Being a reportoire theater it was ot hard for Ben-Ami to fill in plays aring the lapse of time necessitated by the sudden faflure of “Out of the Beyond.” But a new production was being rehearsed. And was Ben-Ami discouraged by the fact that his two previous productions had not been financial successes? Not at all. His sXt play was also a social play. shop,” by Leivcik, who is known to aders of this magazine as one of 1@ recent acquisitions of the Frei- eit. Let us get thru..with the ;prelim- aaries, The acting on the whole was xeellent. Ben-Ami as the one time ocialist who now as tho by fate has xecome a boss—a boss over some of iis old comrades, reaches great 1eights. I have never seen him bet- er. Of the direction one can only go into superlatives. The settings were a true surprise. A welcome surprise. And this reviewer takes his hat off to Cleon Throckmorton for his strik- ing and well balanced settings. The incidental music at times was forced. And now to the play itself. Comrade Leivick’s new play, Shop, marks a decided improvement, in working class ideology, from his other factory play, Rags. The difference is almost geometric. Shop is to Rags what Leivick writing for the Freiheit is to Leivick writing for the Forward. In Rags Comrade Lievick fell into a muddled individualistic sentimentality. In Shop he hag almost completely evaded that, The play deals with life in a dress shop. It opens with the employes coming in to work. The color of the shop is beautifully presented in that first act. Im the second act the em- More Movie Notes Lubliner and Trinz, Chicago's larg- est theatrical circuit, has undertaken a unique project in motion picture history in Chicago. The first motion picture ever produced in the city, acted by Chicagoans, dealing with the life of the city will be filmed starting early in January. To make this event interesting to the public and gratify the intimate wish of thousands who cannot, visit Hollywood to see the making of a great picture, it will be filmed in full view of audiences upon the stages of L. & T. theaters by a Hollywood producing unit of the first calibre. A contract has been signed whereby Director David Smith, responsible for pictures of Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon, will come with a company of casting directors, cameramen, fac- jal make-up experts, wardrobe ‘mis- tresses, technicians and studio equip- THE THEATER - | ployes are on the roof, during their $ » lunch hour, talking, flirting and danc- ing to some distant wailing of a jazz band. Someone rushes in, Newspaper in hand, and announces that a strike has been called for tomorrow. The news is greeted with great’ enthusi- asm. The third act shows the scabs working. Raiah who has been se- duced by the designer sneaks in to tell him to quit work and strike. The pickets break in and she {is caught there while the scabs escape. She is accused of being a scab. In the fourth act the strike has been settled. Everyone is merry. Gertie, the singer, is getting married to the young ieal- ist, Leibl (who resents being called Loule). The shop ts fixed up holiday style. One of the operators makes a toast to boss Goold, the hard partner of Wolf, the one-time Socialist, and hopes for a new and better strike next year, Midst all this revelry, some- one rushes in and shouts that Raiah has killed herself by jumping from the roof. At the final curtain, Wolf enters alone, starts the machines humming, listens a while and leaves, This is the play. Not very revolu- tionary; but a working class play. A good working class play. Of course Comrade Leivick falls into some of the usual errors of the proletarian writer. He is afraid that the story will not have sufficient interest to hold an au- dience if he just gave a story of Shop—the Shop. So he brings in Wolf, who has at one time been in love with Minna, the voice of the hhop. The conflict of Wolf in his re- lations to Minna deserve a play in itself. And then of course the inevit- able. Why did Leivick have to do it? The play would have been so much more concrete, so much more solid had he left out the usual seduction. The villian seduces th eheroine; the scab seduces the striker. Why the suicide? Why the seduction? Why this Victor- ian morality which must shineslike- a halo around the workers’ heads? Aren't workers, strikers, Communists capable of seduction? This it the one truly bad spot in the whole play. It was unnecessary. It is quite suffici- ent for the workers to see the evil in the designer, Barkan, when he é6cabs. Why go to the now outdated trick of painting another coat of black on the villain by forcing a seduction upon him? The play, with the exception of the above mentioned faults, and they are well subordinated, is a fine one. It is a true glimpse at the many needle trade workers of New York and Chi- cago, in their shops. The play can be interpreted. But why attempt to do so? Comrade Leivick well avoided symbolism; so why put a symbo] into it? Comrade Leivick was a bit reserved this time. It was his first honest at- tempt at a true proletarian play. His next play will be a great play. A great working class play. —Max Geltman. ment to make the photoplay later to be shown in Lubliner and Tring thea- ters. All scenes will be taken upon the stages of five Lubliner & Trinz thea- ters, a scene each week at each thea- ter beginning the week of January 3. The cast of the picture will be com- posed entirely of Chicagoans, selected from patrons of L. & T. fheaters, Se- lection will be made in an impartial manner with regard only to the needs of the large and varied types of ac- tors and actresses called for by the scenario, Application can and should be made at once-through the managers of any L. & T. theater. Entries for the cast must all be in by December 24 at 6 p. m, bat BOOKS RECEIVED Sex Expression in Literature. By V. F. Calverton. Boni and Liveright. The New Leadership in Industry. By Sam A. Lewishon, EH, P, Dutton and Company, To be reviewed later, A A LS SA I