Evening Star Newspaper, May 5, 1929, Page 57

Theater, Screen | and Music AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunduy Star. R —— Part 4—22 Pages WA HINGTON, 0. “C.; SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 5, 1929 TAGE and SCREE FIOM *KRASSIN" Lite Jheater Attractions in Washington . Playhouses This Week IN LOCAL THEATERS THIS WEEK. NATIONAL PLAYERS—"“It’s a Boy,” comedy. Opens tomorrow night. BELASCO—Blanche Yurka, in * Tomorrow night. POLI'S—Eugenie Leontovich, in * row night. WARDMAN PARK—G. W. Y. Troubadcurs, “Some Time Soon,” musical comedy. Opens tomorrow night. NATIONAL PLAYERS—“It's a Boy.” “It's a Boy,” a omedy by Willlam Anthony Maguire, will be presented by | the National Theater Players this week, | beginning tomorrow night. On only one | other occasion has this American play | been presented in Washington and that was about four or five years ago. As its title implies, “It's a Boy” has | to do with the arrival of a son and heir in the home of a newly married couple In anticipation of this greatest of all events, much nervousness is displayed by the hopeful father, who, like all others, is torn between anguish and | happiness the while he awaits the wei- come announcement from the lips of the nurse, “It's a boy.” Before fashioning this comedv. Wil- | liam Anthony Maguire had won laurels on Broadway with one of the hits of a | decade or so ago, “Six-Cylinder Love.” | When that play was nearing its end in | the metropolis the youthful author was challenged by a newspaper friend to write a comedy around a commonplace phase of American life. The challenge was met with the comedy to be re- vived this week. “It's a Boy" is claimed to be one of the comeliest, homeliest and quaintest of comedies—just a big slice of life placed behind the footlights that throbe with human emotions. Its fun is contagious. In this week's play the new leading lady, Miss Edith King, and the new | leading man, Roger Pryor, play oppo- site each other for the first time. There are also droll roles allotted to Charles | Hampden as the happy grandfathe: and to Mrs. Hibbard and other member: of the cast. There wiil be the matinees Wednesday and Saturd: G. W. U. TROUBADOURS—Tomorrow. | ‘When the curtain rises tomorrow eve- ning at the Wardman Park Theater on the original musical comedy time Soon,” the audience will the most. ambitious production fered by the Troubadours of ‘Washington University. | “‘Sometime Soon" is the fulfiliment of months of preparation by the students and is the attainment of their fondest hopes, and it is expecte establish the G. W. U. Troubadours among the leadinz college producing organizations of the country Dennis Connell is the director of the Troubadours for the second conszc year. The book is said to be time! that the locale of the play i and the plot takes into acc cent invasion of the “talki e Rissler is cast as a e and John Silaz 25 a collegian who wins and. after some tribulation: as well. Gerald Sick wnod, Geraldine Free, ham, Frank Wesbrook, John Hoyt, V ginia Frye, Solomon Schnapp, Ben Newton, Sue Crump complete the cas? The tuneful musical score was com posed by William Jemison, Marth: Stevens and Daniel Beattie. It repre- sents the best talent on the campus and the melodies are said to be worthy suc: cessprs to the past Troubadour mus! that lished and won pop- and A ma. Soon,” th largest production of the Troubadours series. The dances. all original and in- tricate, were directed by Julia Denning and Ralph Kennedy. Costumes were designed especially for the show Performanceg are at 8:30 pm. all the ‘week, and tickets may be secured.fram e | ery and gorgeous costumes. | tainment. is clean, the comedy snappy | | | ruin the theater in five years. ‘The Wild Duck,” Ibsen play. ‘And So to Bed.” Opens Tomor- the university, the Wardman Park Theater, or Edith Reed's music store. Following the performance on Friday | night, the apnual Vodvil will be given as a midnight show, in which the fra- | ternities and sororities will furnish the acts. STRAND—"Darktown Affairs.” elsewhere, “Darktown _Affairs” | lays at the Strand Theater this week. | The large cast headed by Garland Howard (“Hot Stuff Jackson”), Mae | and Brown and “Speedy” Smith is out to | Artists Corporation and his own com- | break records in the laughter league Pany as an audience, Doug dedicated | in Washington, and if Hattie Noel keeps up her dancing speed perhaps she may dance off some of her 215 pounds. The 18 Harlem flappers havi already - attracted the attention of | dancing managers. A young dancing | lad. “Red” Lincoln has some new steps for Washington fans, while an- | other does all his dancing while seated | in a chair. “Darktown Affairs” has a plot with | the scenes laid in the Negro section of | a Southern city. The book is by Gar- | land Howard and J. A. Shipp, who also staged the comedy. The songs that | please include “Eliza, “Wedding Day.” “Your Sins Will Find | You Out,” “Telling My Troubles to the | Moon” and “Kicking the Mule.” | Stanley Bennett's Orchestra of 16| men play the music as it should be played. Mr, Strouse has made an am- bitious production with elaborate scen- The enter- and the dancing is fast. MAY PLAY—Thursday. Eastern High School will offer as its snnual May play, “Adam and Eva,” a three-act comedy by Guy Bolton and George Middleton. It will be presented at the school Thursday and Friday evenings under the student direction of Lou Snyder, Myrtle Thom, Ronald Van ne and George Didden, with the fac- ulty supervision of Miss Ella Monk, Miss Olivia Taylor, Miss Ethel Prince, Miss Lillian Wines and Miss Gertrude Walter. | A double, alternating cast will be| used, with Robert McCormick, Ronald ‘an Tine, Mildred Duryes and Gwenl- in the leading roles, support- Newell Lusby, Richard Kelso EASTERN rell, Lou Snyder, Esther Hughes, riet. Ryder. Alice Law. Howard La Judsor Harrison, Donald Martin, Clark | Harper and William Waikart. Latest on Talkies. HARLIE CHAPLIN does not intend | to talk in pictures. Mary Pickford does not intend to make silent pictures any more. “Co- | 1t After a successful run in New York | words which he had uttered into the" 115 | mat, quette” is said to be the forerunner of many all-talking pictures she will make. | D.W. Griffith thinks the talkies will | Roland West, director of ‘“Alibi,” | thinks the talkies have concentrated in- terest on the actor who can talk, and ! | thus they have benefited the theater. Also he cites the demand in Hollywood | for stage-trained performers. | __Joseph M. Schenck, president of United Artists, declares his company'’s next_year product will consist chiefly of all-talking pictures. Norma Talmadge. Vilma Gloria Swanson and Ronald Colman ali | are talking. R i Doy Was Misilled. [DOUGCLAS FAIRBANKS was as ex- cited as e child with a new toy during his first day on the sound stage. where he made the talking prologue of his new United Artists picture. “The Iron Mask.” “I feel the old first-night thrill,” he said as he sat in the “playback” room, ening to his own voice speaking the microphones a few minutes before. With the representatives of Western Electric, who installed the sound equip- ment, the executives of the United the new sound stage of invitation to romantic spirit of his new picture After each “shot” the company moved into the sound projection room, where Doug's voice, with its musical accom- g:némcm, was immediately played ck. The use of sound has developed a new terminology on the Fairbanks lot. The *“playbacl room, where loud speakers project the voice as soon as it has been recorded on the stage; the glass-inclosed “monitor room.” where director and technical staff are sta- » usally Ann,” |tioned, and the “camera cage,” where | the camera men shoot through a glass window and are fed their air supply v a rubbey hose, are among the newly coined terms. Films in the Schools. {DUCATORS have for some time ~ realized the value of special educa- tional motion pictures as an aid learning. It has been found that not only do the students grasp the salient features of a subject more readily, but find it easier to remember, if seen on a film rather than read from a book. Proof of this was strikingly shown in some tests recently conducted by the Cambridge (Mass.) i dren. Ruth Crawford, the director of the Five hun- | dred eighth-grade pupils were tested on the first mentioned film and seniors in the normal school on the second. Miss Crawford says that in the class of seniors, who were first given a test to see how much they knew of the sub- Ject, then saw the fiim, and then again tovk a test, the “per cent of gain was amazing.” The average score for all before seeing the film was 5.25. After seeing the film the average score was or an average gain of approxi- y 135 per cent. Elizabeth Richey Dessez, head | | Of the Pathe Educational Department, in discussing this and similat tests, ex- pressed her conviction that within 10 years visual education through specially prepared motion pictures will be general throughout the United States, and as L"uih a part of the curriculum as text 00KS. ‘Evangeline” With Song. EDWIN CAREWE, United Artists pro- ducer-director, has capitulated to the progress of sound pictures. Mr. Carewe will have Dolores Del Rio, the star, sing three songs in “Evangeline.” While Mr. Carewe is di- Banky, | recting Miss Del Rio in the last episodes | by Mr. Dr. Hugo Reisenfeld is arrangin g the usical score for' the film play. Museum for Chil- | - &e}ze Ot " Jhe IroN Mask-” 5 Columbis ON THE NEW A Review of Theatrical Aff; ROADWAY'S tampering with the Passion Play is less impious than might be expected. con- | sicering the remoteness of the Hippodrome from the cathedral | | streets of Freiburg. Directed by such | devout men of the theater as Mr. | Belasco and Mr. Gest, it becomes a | combination of circus and sacrament | seldom offending the Time: sense of reverence. Some of its gaudie | scenes are indeed obvious things of tan- | spectacular showmanship. When, for | instance, the actor who plays the | Nazarene rides through the gates of | | Jerusalem he is accompanied by all the | | florid entourage of a Ringling proces- | Lambs Club ham pretending to be holy | Ously. | sional. Trombones blare, the crowd cheers, a parade is organized and passes across the stage, representing the doubt- | ful art of the supernumerary in its| most._ ostentatious manner. But it is lmerely a joining of the naivete nf‘ 10 | Broadway, N. Y., with that of Frieburg, Baden. The few timid hisses that greet ed Herr Fassnacht’s pompous entranc | on Monday evening were a bit clock: | like in their insincerity, and did not | | seem to represent any important indig- | nation. One approaches a review of the Hip- | podrome Passion Play with tremore | Persons who are otherwise liberal in | excusing reperters from error grow white | Carver,” the hero, hearing of a murder | in his night club, breathed a prayer in | which_he spoke the name of the Gali- | lean. Immediately dozens of my most faithful subscribers 1urned again: I was denounced and deman | made upon the journal for which I | worked that T be run out of town Oddly enough Mr. Atkinson of the New York Times, who also recorded the ex- pression, heard nothing from it except | in praise. Therefore, I am fearful that in my memoranda of the Gest-Belasco. | Freiburg-Hippodrome Passion Play | shall again affront some readers. If they will but bear with my awkward | efforts to be inoffensive, I shall hint that the proceedings at the Hippo- drome, though treating of celestial | topics, are not of a kind to dignify the | Christian religion. W ‘HE Fassnachts are a family of sacra- | mental players founded in 1760 or! | thereabouts. Every three years in the public square of Frefburg they go| | through the events in the life of the Saviour, casting themselves in the principal roles. In some mysterious | way they got to America not iong ago | |and while wandering prosperously through the interior were discovered Gest. The most alert and courageous of the biz show impresarios fetched them to Broadway. Amplify- | RoGE " YORK STAGE airs Along the White Way By Percy Hammond. ing their village ceremonies with metro- politan pavaphernalia, he now shows them in the Hippodrome. All that New York can do for a Pas- sion Play is done by Mr. Gest. He has worked Broadway wonders upon a hamlest festival. His expenditure the process is so extravagant that it In his belief that Adolph Ft R PRYOR- Motor, Aviation and Badio New§ Stene < 7OH M Suow Boar- Risl+o NWALTER HUSTON and KATHERINE FRANCIS - A<k Richard Arlen. ‘NO fights on the motion picture | scrcen are real. A double is always used for the star. The opponent always a set-up. He knows he'd lose his _job if he hit too hard. That's why Richard Arlen recently | had a black eye, slashed cheek and dis- jeinted hand. In “The Man I Love the high spot of the story takes place in a ring, pre- cessful play of the same name. Palace. Ph otoplays RuUssELL G *age) Fox This Week SCREEN ATTRACTIONS OF THE WEEK. FOX—"“The Donovan Affair:” This afternoon and evening. EARLE—“A Dangerous Woman.” PALACE—“Gentlemen of the evening. This afternoon and evening. Press.” This afternoon and RIALTO—"“Show Boat.” This afternocn and evening. COLUMBIA—“The Iron Mask.” METROPOLITAN—"Close Harmony.” evening. LITTLE THEATER—“Krassin.” FOX—"“The Donovan Affair.” | | “The Donovan Affair,” the all-tal ing mystery drama at the Fox this week. was called “the perfect talking picture” following its ~showing, _last week, at the Roxy Theator in New York The story is from Owen Davis' suc- Tt sumed to be Madison Square Garden. 8ives Jack Halt his first talking role, Charles Sullivan, a professional light- and reports give this acter praise for veight, was signed as Arlen’s opponen Under instructions from William Wel weeks prior to the bout. During this Square | might well worry an expert accountant, | fime he was. under the charge of Nate nacht | Slott, former trainer and sparring part- | murder. his performance. It bringing together of M. also - marks the Holt's first in | man. the director, Arlen trained for six director, Frank R. Capra. and himself in the newer field of the talkers. The plot deals withy a mysterious Jack Donovan is attending a or any one else could be a satisfactory | ner of Benny Leonard, the lightweight ' banquet. In the midst of that banquet is perhaps mistaken. I did not see Henry B. Warner as Holl of the King of Kings. Mr. Nathan, however, has said that it was that of a with the assistance of false whiskers and a smug personality. Adolph Fass- nacht at the Hippodrome is neither smug nor a ham; he is nothing but a puppet. ‘That, however. has little to do with Mr. Gest's prowess as a princely e: ravaganzist. He displays at the Hip- odrome many af the Scripture’s fact | including the ejection of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Da Vinci's Last Supper, Gethsemane, the Court of Pontius Pilate, the Crown of Thorns. | the tragic Hill. the spear thrusts, the sponge of vinegar, the nails, the bitter cross and the resurrection. It is not an eas, Fassnachts, and that they get away with it entitles them to approval Many playgoers will revel in its sights and sounds. Others, among whom I reluctantly enlist myself, will regard it as a hallowed bore. R INLY a stone's throw from the churchly Hippodrome, and the New Testament. is a pagan piece entitled Carnival” 1Tn this the author, Mr. Doyle, endeavors to excite the ennuied drama-lovers with spasms from life as lived by small-town carnival folk in contact with the rural population. Its heroine (Miss Anne Forrest) is a dancer in a street show. Though she has loved Blackfe, the barker of the outfit, she falls in love th a Lincoln avenue vouth (Norman Foster), who also falls in love with her. What shall she do to save her innocent sweetheart from his yvearning to marry her? She hits. of course, upon an ancient device. She will dance before a stag party. thus proving to her lover that she is un- worthy of his affection. ‘The author, Mr. Doyle, himself a car- nival follower. knows more about the gvpsies than I do. As a traveler in their caravans he has accumulated knowledge of their habits. Yet I regret to think that his adaptation is more concerned with the theater than with what is known in eritical circles as life. All there is to “Carnival” is its pro- ducers’ determination to shock and to please. I OO bark and tinse], sheer manifestations of | approximation of the Son of God he | champion. the lights go out and when they are And then. also under instructions |again switched on Donovan is dead. | into the ring on the last night of the picture—a schedule planned most obvi- It was in the third round that | Arlen received his black eye from a straight left driven with all of Sulli- | van's power. The hurt hand came from |2 punch a few seconds later, a punch | delivered by Arlen, that sent Sullivan to | the canvas. | Screen fights are always faked, the cynics say. Nobile's Rescue Shown. ( RASSIN,” the picture feature at the Little Theater this week, pur- ports to show, in minute detail, ali that occurred during the expedition organ- “ ywood's idea | from Wellman, Arlen and Sullivan went | Then develops ized by the Russian Soviet for the res- job even for Mr. Gest and the cue of Gen. Nobile, the Italian Arctic | explorer. and the survivors of the ill- fated polar dirigible, the Italia. The rescue expedition, it was said, was organized within tri-motored airplane Red Bear, which was carried to the North on the Kras- the question, “Who killed Jack Donovan?” Its mystifying twists, its almost certain solutions that | develop into nothing, all:lead to a most effective dramatie climax. A Maytime, rewue, the stage portion of the program, will bring Patti Moore | and Sammy Lewis as headline artists and continue John Irving Fisher as master of ceremontes. Others will in- | clude Bobby Gillette and his banjo; | Nancy Decker, a personality singer who is proving a sensation in the Fox | Theaters: “Wee Willie” Robyn, a star | of Roxy's gang: George Schreck, an original comedian in a new offering: | e “truly gorgenus Foxettes” | Brusiloff with his 40 Fox jazzmanians. This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and This afternoon and evening. PALAC sentlemen of the Press.” This is “farewell week” for Wesley Eddy at Loew's Palace, where the pie- ture is Paramount’s talking production “Gentlemen of the ," adapted from the play of the same name and featuring Walter Huston as a veteran newspaper man torn between the love of his work and his family ties. There is a variety of human characterizations purporting to be drawn from newspaper life. Laughs ripple through the drama and Charles Ruggles. comedian, is said to make a minor part stand out. Betty Lawiord and Katherine Francis are pic- tured as the daughter and sweetheart of the newspaper man. ge Wesley Eddy will make final bow to W in his sev- y-fifth consecutive wes as master of ceremonies. The latest John Murray Anderson production, “Say It With will hold forth. It features Irwin, English monologist: and Rose, burlesque adiago Music, Charles Stadler |team: Henry Garden, operatic tenor: Krevofl, tap dancer; Three Wainwright Sisters, harmonists, and the Foster Girls. Short subjects, the Fox Movie- tone News, the M-G-M News, Charles Gaige at the organ and tl Palace Orchesira, under Harry Borj will complete the program. RIALTO—"Show Boat.” “Show Boat,” Carl Laemmle’s singing nd talking movietone picture, combin- ing the romance, color and drama of Eana Ferber's novel and the popular | musical hits of the Florenz Ziegfeld EARLE—"A Dangerous Woman.” Dangerous Woman,” said to be |the first African talking film with ex- perienced stage actors to appear on the Iocal screen. will be the screen subject | five days, and the | this weel: at the Earle Theater. It has | Africany atmosphere, dramatic plot, ro. | mance,{ follicking comedy and, it is said. sin, the relief ship, penetrated a sector |unparalleled acting. { of the Arctic never reached before by ship or plane, so far as it is known. The Red Bear was piloted by Boris | Tschuchnovski, and as all the world now knows, it located not only on the camp of Nobile and the survivors of the crew that was with him, but also Capt | Mariano and Capt. Zappi, who, led by Dr. Finn Malmgren, made a dash to reach safety on the bleak shores of Seven Islands, in the Arctic Ocean. Dy, | Malmgren perished, but his companioas were saved. It will also be recalled t'nat | after locating the survivors of the Palia | the Red Bear was unable to rety to the Krassin, because its fuel kgcame exhausted. These views of the expeditiq rhotographed by camera me: Krassin, the Malyghin and th the rescue ships, as well as from the airplane, the Red Bear. The pictures | also show the important par(, played by | the radio in accomplishing ‘the rescue. It will be remembered 'that while, were of the receiving set, which ens.bled them to lin, London and Ams night from a stu hotel, :rdam. and_one dio /in 8 New York 4 | E) | Lawrence which appeared in the Cos- | mepolitan Magazine and deals with a | modern Russian woman who falls under | I Jmen who come within her ken in the stranded on the ice floes si'z of the sur- |of Africa. vivors managed to Tig up #un impromptu | a city park. listen to concerts taking, place in Ber- and taught the membe: the native African language, “Swahili, | The story is based upon a tense tale of ‘the jungle country by Margery H. i %ie dreamy spell of primeval Africa and urns her energies to stalking the white outerpost village in which she lives. | She captures and relinquishes each in | stage production, has proven such a hit at the Rialto that the management is holding it over for a third week's showing starting today. From the very opening of the picture, showing the old Mississippi show boat, Cotton Palace, steaming around the bend of the river, the audience lives in the ddlys t\‘l;‘hen river towns looked for- ward to these nomad troupers in d old-fashioned “mellerdrama.” o “Show Boat,” as the name implies, has to do with a troup of river barn- stormers, supposedly performing their thespian labors for Capt. Hawkes, skip- per of the Cotton Palace, but in reality Iunder the watchful, unemotional eyes of his wife. Laura La Plante as Mag- nolia_and Joseph Schildkraut as Ray. turn for the thrill of ensnaring a new | enal head the cast of players. Baclanova, ‘Russian dramatic artist, formerly with the Moscow Art Theater, | one. ‘ | lays the title role. Clive Brook, Neil | venturous, in “The Iron Mask, COLUMBIA—"The Iron Mask.” Douglas Fairbanks, romantic and ad- emains Hamilton and Leslie Fenton are colo- | for a second week at Loew’s Columbla. nial residenters who fall before the ro- | Doug portrays the role of D'Artagnas ‘Three mantic onslaughts of the siren, erseus, | Snitz Edwards and Clyde Cook provide | | comedy relief. The set for “A Dangerous Woman and | that was a success in Musketzermf." Ao sound production he is heard speaking on the screen for the first time in the In this United Artists’ was constructed, it is claimed, by a | Prologue and the apilogue. Also the studio architect, Hans Dreler, who lived | 2udience hears the singing of Doug for three years'in the jungle and veldt It is sald to be as large as | Gerald Grove staged of the ca: which s used in many of the sequences | of the film. and his three comrades. The first part of the picture takes XII1, ( place during the reign of Louis 3 the dialogue : When the four musketeers wield their swords in defense of their king and his infant son. The second part oceurs 20 later. during the reign of the (Continued on Second Page.) ars