Evening Star Newspaper, January 13, 1929, Page 57

| Theéter, Screen and Music AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star ” Motor, Aviation and Radio News WASHINGTON, D. O, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 13, 1929. 0 (iLLiAM PowELL. Columbia T | “KATESMITH and RENEE T/ °m° ANDRE BERANG FErri Melodrama and Musical Plays BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, £ER and Auprey” s ~ Fox money was scattered over the “Fio- retta” stage causes a dazed im- pression that some of it as it was flourished about might have been dropped in its original form, so that the exclusive vacuum cleaner privilege might be worth a few thousand dollar bills after each change of scene. The ecclestical procession alone is given with.a gorgeousness that would equip half a dozen ordinary spectacular productions. * K ¥ X In direct and uncompromising contrast to the ultra modern style displayed by “Fioretta” was “One Mile Up” which is preparing to make its way in New York and test out the question of whether, in the current demand for reviv- als, a revival of the melodrama such as Al Woods sponsored in his earlier career may not now be practical. In many minds this novel Zeppelin thriller will recall Lincoln J. Carter and Harry C. Blaney as, in unfolding their stories of villainy foiled mid peril- ous adventure, did not hesitate to blow up a steamboat off-hand or casually wreck a railway train. * X X X ‘There is always a new record of some kind to be set in the theater. The ¢ld competition for excel- lence in literary expression and accuracy of diction has gradually been subordinated to a rivalry for stage magnificence surpassing in stupendous structure, so far as effect is concerned, the far-back Kiralfy days, when effects were enhanced even to the point of pyrotechnic display. *x X k % ‘When a production is particu- larly lavish it is customary to re- fer to it as a “three-ring circus.” This metaphor is borne out by “Fioretta” with Leon Errol, Fannie Brice and Lionel Atwill each en- tertaining in a different line of capacity. It is not usual to attempt a co-star style of casting in a spectacular musical presentation. One star at a time is usually enough for the box office astrolo- ger to handle. Rivalries have be- come the rule of the day, yet with all the talent in evidence as “Fio- | retta” progresses, complete con- ciliations of ambition and temper- ament appear to have been ef- fected with the spirit of “all for one and one for all” asserting it- self in the pursuit of results. Per- haps even the players themselves are a little over-awed by the mag- nificence of the surrounding dis- play; which “beggars description” and would assuredly beggar the average producer. o By utilizing a dirigible as the scene of action, “One Mile Up” employs the very latest develop- ments in transportation for the purpose of securing the fleeting and often delicious terror of mimic disaster. It is an employ- ment that knows no rest, for the In the rivalry of the theater, en- couraged by a public willing to pay five or six dollars for a seat when the attraction is truly ex- traordinary, “Floretta” boldly throws its costumes into the ring, silks, satins, ermines and all, to challenge all comers in the spec- tacular arena. Even individuals drop intimations that they will be content with nothing short of positive supremacy in their espe- cial styles of comedy. Report has been freely circulated that neither Al Jolson nor Eddie Cantor will feel that life is complete until an issue is somehow drawn and de- cided as to which is really the pre- mier of blackface comedians. Personal rivalry between stars| becomes expensive as each de-| mands a more and more ornate pictorial setting as a background for his mirth. So, prices have risen until even outside of New York| they have reached a figure which a few seasons since would have been regarded as prohibitive. “Why insist on a compensation,” says the manager, “that will com- pel us to demand grand opera prices?” And the comedian answered the question blandly by expressing his immutable confidence that his “personality” can bring the money in. The price schedule now causes | the theater audience to reflect the fashion display formerly belong- ing almost exclusively to grand opera. Enthusiastic prediction hints confidently that America is developing a grand opera distinc- tively our own; a grand opera in which not only does Art sing, but in which Money talks. e e | scientific or legal discussion in ponderous craft tilts and sways continually to keep the passengers under nervous tension; a tension adroitly increased by turning loose through the girder construction a maniac prepared to assassinate indiscriminately. By way of unlimited horror the fantastical notion of a newly in- vented “leprosy gas” meant to make war impossible because of its terror figures in a series of mysterious thefts. * %k Xk X Whether the theory on which this startling poison gas assump- tion is based is pathologically cor- rect will properly never be popu- larly known, since whatever its fu- ture may be there is not a likeli- hood that “One Mile Up” will ever be brought forward for serious, the circles which have already had so much industrious argu- ment concerning anti-evolution, witcheraft, and other mysterious matters in which human credulity is expected to play an important part. * Kk * The complete possibilities of the scene in which the maniac delib- erately applies principles of mass efficiency in his homicidal plans and blows up the ship, startling as the effect now is, could not be fully understood without the ad- vantage of conversational descrip- tion by the enterprising producer, James Cooper. Like other produc- tions of a more subtle and meta- physical nature, this play handles mechanism on a large scale. The crash, already tremendous, on which the curtain goes down will be further enhanced by a system of huge steel balls rolled about in usements: & = Hamicton < Relaseo o LILLAN BUCKMAN "< Stage » Fox together with the reverberance of s0 many well agitated automobile chains as to threaten a temporary shortage in the non-skid market. It will be a lovely uproar when it is completed. e Expert interest is sure to ob- serve “One Mile Up” closely to as- certain whether in the cycle of popular taste uncompromising melodrama will make an appeal to a new element in theater going, as well as those who may care to experiment with faint hopes of renewing stalwarted impressions of auld lang syne. x ok ok % In a steady crescendo of appre- ciative patronage the Savoy Musi- cal Comedy Company reached a record altitude for this engage- ment, both on the stage and in the box office. By way of what vaude- ville used to designate in its hours of pleonastic exultation as “an ex- tra, added attraction” Kate Smith, whose “cullud” characterization has become one of the institutions of the time, was included in the cast. The performance found so much favor that it has been seri- ously under consideration whether instead of “Sally,” as announced, a second week of “Hit the Deck” would not be offered. Which fact calls renewed atten- tion to the possibilities of Wash- ington, D. C., as a two-week stand—if the show is right. Gibbs' Story “Darkened Rooms.” JPARAMOUNT has acquired the film rights to Sir Philip Gibbs’ story, “Darkened Rooms,” to be filmed as a dialogue picture and to feature Evelyn Brent and William Powell. Its theme deals with spiritualistic mysticisms. The action occurs in Lon- don with a background ranging from behind the scenes of a fashionable theater to a dingy photographer's studio, where a series of seances launch several mysterious deaths. = Lothar Mendes, its director, is ex- pected to bring to play his vast knowl- edge of the theater as the result of years of training in Berlin under Max Reinhardt, creator of “The Miracle.” By Another Name as Sweet. ¥ view of the widespread agitation in the motion pjcture industry for a word to supplant the commonplace and undignified “talkies” and yet cover the range of all types of talking pictures, Carol Lombard, Pathe featured player, comes forward with three suggestions. Carol's first choice is “Picturetones.” Her second is “Cinematones.” Her third is “Actorphones.” “Picturetones and Cinematones carry the same significance,” says Carol. “They are descriptive of talking pic- tures generally and have a certain dig- nity. Actorphone may not be as ex- plicit, but it gives the hard working thespian a break.’ . Old Faithful. HOLLYWOOD'S most decrepit taxi- { "L cab is appearing again in motion i pictures at the F. B. O. studios, playing {a prominent “role” in support of Tom Mix in “The Dude Ranch.” The wheezing contraption is driven by Barney Furey as a metropolitan taxi driver who is taken out West. ‘The dilapidated car is by no means a novice on the screen, having been cast The profusion with which an immense iron cylinder from one part of the stage to the other, in the stellar part, as it were, in “Taxi 13,” the F. B. O. production which re- cently starred Chester Conklin, = \/\VIENNE SecaL and DENNIS KING National WiLuAM H AINES W™ DIETERLE and. FANNY PORTER. MONTEBLUE and CARROLL- and, Metropolitan—Week, BY PERCY NEW YORK, January 12. [E season'’s pet assassin, it seems, is Mr. Richie Ling, whose smil- ing manslaughter in Mr. Milne's “A Perfect Alibi” is causing thrills_ of enjoyment to titilate the spines of New York’s politer sadists. Those to whom the usual massacres of melodrama are offensive find pleasure in Mr, Ling’s blood-letting, because it is gracefully performed, with none of the average butcher’s crudities of manner. He shoots his victim with more poise than a huntsman killing a duck. The murder is done with delightful urban- ity, unmarred by loss of temper or a gunman’s desire for material gain. It is one of the most honeyed of the homicides, and the Charles Hopkins Theater (seating 300 persons) is full these days of spectators enchanted by Mr. Ling's suave manipulation of a deadly weapon. Mr. Ling, once a sweet baritone in musical comedy, is now the sinister E. Pontifex Carter, perhaps an Oxford man, harboring a poetic judge against the magistrate who years ago had sent him to prison. In order to revenge himself for that injustice he becomes a week end guest of the judge, who has no idea that he is entertaining a vin- dictive viper. While assuring his host and the audience that he is an _honest, amusing and noble gentleman, he puts one of his hands upon the old fellow's shoulder and with the other he pulls his pistol's trigger. Laughingly and with no awkwardness whatsoever, he then arranges what he thinks is a per- | tect alibi for him and his accomplice, & "~ BupoY RocERS, NANG\/' JEANHERSHOLT Beginning Sat., Jan. 19 In the New York Theaters HAMMOND. Mr. Ivan Simpson. Blotting paper upon the dead man’s desk, the clock in the village church and other crafty evidence of innocence are fixed to deceive the police, Mr. Ling and Mr. Simpson are about to exit nonchalantly when they are stopped by the ingenue of the drama, Miss Vivian Tobin. She is a niece of the murdered man and with her woman’s intuition she decides that there has been foul play. So she and her wide-eyed fiance go into a midnight conference, and by putting this and that together cause Mr. Ling and Mr. Simpson to be arrested for a clever murder. There are two of the sisters Tobin upon the stage, one good, the other bad. I couldn’t tell which of them was ap- pearing yesterday afternoon in “A Per- fect Alibi,” so concentrated was I upon Mr. Ling's facile impersonation of a merry and mysterious sharpshooter, Miss Tobin and Mr. Tonge, her callow lover, worked the thing out with all the excited movements of a game of chess and were very cunning in their complicated deductions. But the im- portant episode was that in which Mr. Ling, greatly to one’s surprise, suddenly slew an ancient and unsuspecting enemy and grinned about it in the best manner of the patrician homicides. His impersonation throughout was ad- mirable for its thoughtful dexterity. * ¢ * Mr. Milne’s “detective story” is the gentlest and most urbane of the season's intelligent disturbances, and the 300 persons who see it at each.of its exhibitions get a much better break than usual. Gone Are THE making of a talking picture such as “Nightstick,” Roland West's underworld thriller for United Artists, is said to involve an entirely new scheme of things in studio technique. And to the layman, if he could get inside a studio and watch a company in action, it wouldn’t scem nearly as exciting as “silent drama” production. Gone are the time-honored mega- phones and the shouted orders of di- rectors, the hustle and bustle, the chat- | ter of hundreds of people on the sets, the music of orchestras getting actors into the proper mood for scenes, the sputter and crackle of Kleig lights. Inside the huge “sound stages,” spe- cially constructed buildings as silent as tombs, the drop of a pin can be heard. The only people visible are the players in the scene. The director and his aides observe and hear the action, which the Days! the cameras start grinding, from a glass-inclosed, soundproof tower high up in the stage. Cameras shoot through heavy plate-glass from inside sound- proof booths on wheels. The sets sre lighted by powerful incandescents. “Quiet! Quiet! Quiet!” is the con- stantly reiterated order to everybody except the players speaking their lines. No hospital corridor at midnight is more quiet than a talking picture stage when a film company is busiest. An English admirer who saw Dennis King as d'Artagnan in the Ziegfeld pro- duction of “The Three Musketeers” on his return from London recently, sent Mr. King the sword used by Edmund Kean in playing Richatd III. Though it is two centuries old the blade is stainless. It came to Kean through an has been r:heaned; many, times before [old line of players, _ . GLADYS CLARK Strand Roberts' Last Film. ONE week before the passing of Theo- dore Roberts that “grand old man of the screen” heard his own voice is- sue for the first time from the silver sheet that helped endear him to the world. The voice of the actor is recorded for posterity in Pathe’s “Noisy Neigh- bors,” a Pathe-Photophone production, featuring Eddie Quillan. Although motion pictures of favorites have been shown posthumously, Mr. Roberts’ is the first instance where an actor’s voice will be projected to au- diences throughout the English speak- ing world after his death. Mr. Roberts, for years an actor of the stage, had a rich, resonant voice, said by talking picture experts to have been one of the finest recorded. His work before the sound recording cam- eras' for “Noisy Neighbors” was his only experience with talkies and his last part on the screen. New Color Films. THE first offerings in Pathechrome, which supplants the Pathecolor process in Pathe Review, edited by Terry Ramsaye, will be presented soon, it is announced. “Chromatic Cinematics” is the title of the initial review subject in Pathe- chrome. It reveals studies in design- in-motion in the microscopic world and like all pictures offered in color was processed in France at the Pathe Cine- ma_Laboratories in Vincennes. Under the microscope and with the magic of Pathechrome a drop of cream looks like a cosmos. Epsom salts meet alcohol in a unique color combination and a frivolous hydroquinone crystal while at play is a riot of color, while impetuous sodium in the presence of plain water gives a scintillating display, advance notices state. b B To Film Prize Ring Story. ALL the glamour and human emotions of the pugilistic ringside will be brought to the motion picture screen in a new Paramount production, “The Man I Love.” Richard Arlen, famous for his work in “Wings,” will have the role of a ring champion in the story, which was written by Herman J. Man- kiewicz and was first produced on the New York stage. Willlam A, Wellman will direct. It will be the first boxing ring story to be brought to the talking screen and Lois WiLsoN Earle Little ~Thester The Twig Is Bent, Sons of more than a dozen motion glcmre celebrities ap- pear in the military school scene of “Square Shoulders,” a new Pathe picture featuring Junior Coghlan and Louis Wolheim. Their appearance in this produc- tion was occasioned by the fact that they were students at the Urban Military Academy, in Hollywood, where the picture was filmed. NATIONAL—Ziegfeld’s “Three Opens tomorrow night. BELASCO—“Hit the Deck,” evening. Friday matinee. and evening: NATIONAL—Ziegfeld’s “Three Mus- kit eteers.” A tremendous welcome home doubt- less will be accorded Mr. Ziegfeld’s “The Three Musketeers” tomorrow night at the National Theater, for the Friml- McGuire-Dumas musical returns to the theater where it was born exactly 11 months ago. And it returns with the prestige of a great New York success scored during a run of 46 weeks on Broadway. Furthermore, it returns with the original cast of Washington favorites practically intact, only two minor changes having been made since the operetta was launched here. And those who go to the National this week are promised a perfect running, flawless performance, the rough edges which invariably surround a show during the opening week having been, in this case, long ago ironed out. Dennis King, as the dashing D'Ar- agnan, quick to fight and quick to love, both acts and sings superbly. He is a prime Washington favorite. The two prima donnas—Yvonne D'Arle and i Vivienne Segal—again will vie for top notes. The comedy honors, and plenty of them, belong almost solely to Lester Allen, the diminutive comedian, as the pathetic little Planchet, valet extraor- dinary to D’Artagnan. Another Wash- ington favorite is Joseph Macaulay, the Aramis, who so beautifully sings the touching “Ma Belle” number in the second act. Other principals include Reginald Owen, the Cardinal Richelieu; Douglass R. Dumbrille, the Athos; Det- mar Poppen, the Porthos; John Clarke, the Duke of Buckingham; Harriet Hoctor, the charming ballerina, and Louis Hector, together with Ruth Lyons and William Kershaw. Played with gusto and high spirit by a cast that can really act, this swash- buckling tale of Dumas unfolds an in- tensely interesting plot—something rare in musical comedy. It is sung by choruses, augmented by a really fine orchestra, to render the entrancing music of Friml. Matinees will be played on Wednes- day and Saturday. BELASCO—“ Hit thie Deck.” ‘The box office demand for “Hit the Deck,” with Kate Smith, Robert Ca- is said to lend itself satisfactorily to recording on the new sound stages, re- producing the roars of the fight fans and the shouts of the trainers and secunds, s pron, Renee Hamilton, Frank Gallagher, Thelma Parker, Rosa Snowden and artists in the principal roles and trained | Attractions in Washington Playhouses This Week IN LOCAL THEATERS THIS WEEK. Musketeers,” musical comedy. musical comedy. Opens this POLI'S—“The Command to Love,” comedy. Opens this evening. WARDMAN PARK—“King of Nomania,” comedy. Opens with STRAND—“Girls From the Follies,” burlesque. This afternoon over for a second week at the Belasco ‘Theater, beginning this evening. As an added attraction, Kate Smith will sing an entirely new group of songs in her big specialty number, and Robert Ca= pron and Thelma Parker will present & new eccentric dance in the first act. Miss Smith, in addition to her thrile ling redition of “Hallelujah” and other | song hits, presents a remarkably realis- | tic characterization of the colored mam- my in “Hit the Deck” —a role created by Stella Mahew in the original come pany. Bob Capron, in the role of Mat, puts over some of the best comedy of which this funster is capable, while Renee Hamilton as Loo Loo and Frank Galla- gher as Bilge to a little show stop themselves in their “Sometimes I'm Happy” love duet. Billy Kelly as Bat- tling Smith, wins a good share of hearty guffaws, and Thelma Parker as Toddy Gale puts all of her dynamic persone ality into a flapper role, while Rosa Snowden is delightful as the aristocratio Charlotte, and Eileen McEvoy as Rita,’ exponent’ of the oldest profession in the world, gets under the skin with & penetrating bit of acting. The love story of the roving sailor pursued by the little coffee-house pro= prietress who loves and wants him badly enough to literally follow him to the ends of the world has a tremendous heart appeal. Mr. Cook's production of “Hit the Deck” is lavish, and the scenes range from the docks of Newport, R. I, to the deck of a man o’ war and then to a seaport in China and the int:rior of a mandarin’s house. Sixteen bluee jackets from the U. S. S. Falcon, the U. S. S. San Diego, the U. S. 8. Dob« bin, and the U. S. S. Lexington add | color to the brilliant ensembles of “Hit the Deck.” The gorgeous garden of girls is especially fetching in_ Chinese costumes, and Marie O'Donnell, Linda Ann, Helen Randolph and Betty Mc- Millan in a Chinese quartet are only one of many other features, WARDMAN PARK—“Kings of | Nomania.” The Junior Theater at Wardman Park is putting on a double bill this week for its three performances to be given Priday and Saturday. By re- quest they are repeating “Kings of Nomania,” by Bertram Bloch, as so other Savoy favorites, is so great that Charles Emerson Cook has decided to bold this hilarious musical comedy hit many of its young visitors wanted to (Continued on Third Page.), _ »