Evening Star Newspaper, May 19, 1929, Page 51

Theater, Screen and Music AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sundwy Star. — Part 4—18 Pages WASHINGTON, n; « SUNDAY 1 ) MORNING, MAY 19, 1929. Motor, Aviation and Radio Newrsn " | Joun TAGE an d NCREE BARRYMORE and CAMILLA HORN- Palace. NCARINGS PENNSYLVANIANS - Attractions in Playhouse NATIONAL PLAYERS—"Pigs.” “Pigs,” a typical American comedy, will be the offering of the National Theater this week, beginning tomorrow evening. Written by Anne Morrow and Patterson McNutt, two leading play- wrights of the present-day theater, this comedy ran more than a year in New York znd toured to almost every big city in America. The National Theater Players promise an excellent produc- tion here. Tts very title stamps “Pigs” as a play out of the ordinary. Only rarely have these animals figured in literature. Once was in Butler's celebrated story, “Pigs Is Pigs,” which created a sen- sation in America. The Morrow-Mc- Nutt opus suggests the idea of wealth produced by raising pigs. And this in turn serves *. introduce a situation not unfamiliar in the American theater. A small-town family is beset with many trials and tribulations. Aside from those that surround Junior, its young hopeful, there is the constant dread of a mortgage about to fall due. Along with these Junior has evinced two great desires. He wants to get married and he wants to be a veter- inarian. Alded and abetted by his sweetheart, Junior buys a litter of pigs, Just at a time in the Nation's affairs when an epidemic has demoralized the hog market. Pork is scarce and prices high. Naturally, Junior, coupling his veterinarian proclivities with his sales- manship, saves his own hogs from the epidemic and lands them profitably in the market, and, joy of joys, he pays off the mortgage, gets married and everybody becomes happy in a house- lold that appeared to be on the verge of disaster. ODD FELLOWS BENEFIT, Wednesday Under the auspices of the Gran& Lodge of Odd Fellows for the District, the chorus and quartet of Mount Pleas- any Congregational Church Wednesday evening at 8:15 o'clock will present “Betty Lou, the Dream Girl” in the Press auditorium, at and F stree The book of the production are by >r, the music by > ‘production will K. Golladay. rtet comprises Elsie Schulze Mary S. Apple, contralto; P. Shanahan, tenor, and Herman Fakle with Claude Robeson and John S. De Forest as ac- compar.Xts. Others who will take part include Ann as_Betty Lou: william P. K X G. Callander, Dorothy Henderson. Hor: ce E. Guilford, James Burns, Pearl Howard and Wil- Jard C. Buell Fourte and lyr Lida R. M be s hestral offerings will include the march from “Aida” as the opening number, and between acts I and II the full chorus will sing “Fly, Singing Bird, Fly,” by Elgar, and Pin- suti’s “Spring Sor HOFFMAN-HOSK DANCERS. Friday. Hoffman & Hoskins is scheduled at Keith'’s ‘Thea- 3 2 turday evenings at 8:1 One hundred and fitty of the prettiest, cleverest kids you've en will take part. The youngest member of the troupe. Lillian Hoffman Just 21, vears old, will make her debul on the stag The holidays of the year have been used for the 10 scenes of the starting with New Year Eve jazz and many up-to-date numbers, cluding a baby chorus of “Zula maid Valentine ay offers many pretty r bers and costumes. A moderniz George W in_tap-dance style. offers many reels, numbers. A lovely an Easter suggestion The “Kiddie Review" ter Frid o'clock cutest ever s Patrick’s day and St jigs novelty show, with { in- m- d shinglon minuet will be done | in her career, Washington s This Week sald to be worthy of a place in any professional production. ~ Labor day| and Halloween are used for two very | novel numbers, including a group| | dance, called “Machinery,” and a skele- | | ton dance. | “Many solo features will complete a | program of speed, talent and color by these kiddies, who combine childish | charm and professional grace and skill. | TCHERNIKOFF-GARDINER—Friday. | | " Jeanne Densmore, it is announced, s | coming down from New York to dance | “The Lotus and the Butterfly” for the | Tehernikoff-Gardiner recital to be given 2t Wardman Park Theater Friday and | Saturday evening of this week. Una | | Ralph, who has recently had an offer | | from Albertina Rasch to go with Zieg- | | feld's new production, “Show Girl” | | also is staying over to appear on the | | program. "Miss Ralph will dance her | “Russian Gypsy” dance and will inter- | pret_the part of the poet, Alfred de Musset, in the Chopin ballet arranged | by Miss Gardiner. | “Lisa Gardiner will do the solo part in | the moon dance which she has arranged to Rachmaniofi’s prelude, played in G major. The dance portrays the in- | fluence of the moon on drama and fiss Gardiner as the spirit of the| crescent moon, who guides the dramas, | | danced by four of the students. MABEL JONES RECITAL—May 31. | Miss Mabel Jones, a graduate of the | | Vestoff-Serova Russian School of Danc- | ing in New York City, will appear in | her annual classic dance recital at the | Belasco Theater Friday evening, May | 31. She enjoys the distinction of being | the only colored girl to enter this school and is one of the few girls of | her race who has made a serious study | 3f dancing as an art. “Her pupils will be presented in every | | type of classic dancing, including toe, Hml}e Spanish, Grecian and interpre- tative. | GLEN ECHO PARK. All the outdoor park attractions are | to be found at Glen Echo Park, which | vecently inaugurated its nineteenth sea Practically every amusement appe in a new dress and_ offe | greater value, it is claimed. It was | | thought that’ last season the coaster dip was the lasi word in thrillers, but | Joseph Hart, general superintendent, | managed to add one more sweeping dip. | which makes it still more enjoyable to | patrons. The airplane swing likewise | has been improved with a five-foot | addition in height. The carrousel, de- light of the kiddies, is larger and more | elaborate and lighted by 1,200 electric | bulbs, with music furnished by a Wurlitzer instrument that plays jazz | and classical selections The old mill, | whip, midway and scooter also show improvement. | Special atiention has been given to | the large picnic groves, where many | Sunday school and fraternal organiza- | tions are cared for during their out- ings. In the ballroom McWilliams' Or- chestra is larger and is furnishing the | finest of dance music, and talented indi- | vidual members introduce novelty en- | tertainment from time to time during the regular programs. Dancing is pro- | vided for every week night from 8:30 until 11:30 o'clock. Admission to the park is always free. /JARIE PREVOST is one of Holly- wood’s champion swimmers. She gained her profic while one of Mack Sennett’s bathing beauties early which explodes the old theory that bathing beautles in pic- The funny tures are purely ornamental. Tmilitayy top dance by the older girls is | the opportunity to swim in a picture. Rialto- Attends Conference. M director of the department al public service and education’ for the Stanley Co. of America, attended the | first public demonstration of talking | educational pictures given before the Visual Instruction Association at the Hotel Barbizon in New York City last Thursday evening. Mrs. Locher is a member of the advisory council of this organization, which consists of noted representatives | from educational circles, persons active in social and. civic service and others | engaged in arts and trade affiliated with _ production and distribution of visual aids. Mrs. Locher had won wide recog- nition for her achievements in devel- oping educational uses for the neigh- borhood motion picture theater and in opening new fields for the screen for group study. . . SRl You've Got to Be Good. BOBBY WATSON, star of musical stage and vaudeville, credits the years he spent touring the Middle West astride the Tumble seat of a show wagon for his first big part in the talkies,” his role as leading man in the singing, dancing and dialogue pic- ture “Syncopation,” at the Rialto this week. “To get a job with a medicine show,"” explains Bobby, “you had to be a one- man cireus. You were your own sup- porting cast and stage staff. You had to be able to sing, dance, play & cornet, drive a team of mules, double in black- | face and preach a sermon. “It's the same thing with the ‘talkies.’ An actor must be able to sing: & mu- sician must be able to act: even the acrobats must speak English. To get a job as leading man you have to pass tests in voice, grammar, profile and moral turpitude.” Voice Insurance. PLANS are under way at the Fox studlos in Beverly Hills, Calif., to insure voices of actors for the period | of a production, it has become known when leading insurance companies were asked to submit rates on such policies. Officials point out the great monetary risk now undertaken in making feature sound productions. “If any important player's voice goes bad in the midst of a big production,” said one official, “it means an unusually heavy expense to the production through keeping large casts and technical stafls idle. - You cannot ‘double’ a voice once recorded in a picture, although it might be possible to ‘double’ the actor who is forced to drop out. Fox Movietone has been perfected to such a high point now that each voice has its own definite individuality, and finding two voices that register exactly alike is like look- ing for two needles in two hay stacks.” The possibility of an actor's suffering a “voice collapse” during production was brought to the attention of Fox producers when Sylvia Sidney, who plays a featured part in “Thru Dif- ferent Eyes” temporarily lost her powers of speech after a piercing scream which the action of the film required her to deliver. ‘The scream cost her her voice for a few days. A He]pful Threat. HARRY GREEN, who 24 years ago got his start on the stage singing a song, the lyrics of which were written by Jesse L. Lasky, is today in Holly- wood, featured comedian in one of Lasky's Paramount pictures. The song was “My Brudda Sylvest, written to be sung in Italian dialect It was this fact that made Harry Green | true to his race, for ever since he re- ceived a blackhand letter following his | first rendition of the song he has been | @ Jewish dialect comedian. knife me if I ever tried Italian dialect again,” says Green, “and 1'm glad they corsage bouquet is | thing about it is that since she has be- | did, for as an Italian comedian I cer- July Fourth, a come a dramatic star she has never had iainly we ild have been a flop. As it l1s, I'get along pretty well.” RS. HARRIET HAWLEY LOCHER, | hey Informed me that they would | Eoimy KING - National By Percy R. CANTOR is about to take his | jeave, loaded down with the gains of his short and lucr: tive career. As he goes away he issues a valedictory in | which there is to be found a lesson or | two in the cconomics of show business | Young actors will lcarn from these that | by keeping their hands on_the spade | and their hearts in the sky, they can re- tire at an early age to enjoy the earn- ings of honest industry. Two rewards, | Mr. Cantor says, may be reaped by players—riches and applause. He him- self has the first securely tucked away in his treasure boxes and he can get hand claps at any time he wishes them by appearing in benefits. Freed from care by affluence, he now prepares to {loafing in the pleasant | leisure. | There is another sermon in Mr. Can- | tor’s withdrawal. In the reports of his proposed resignation it was revealed that his salary in “Whoopee!” is $5,000 per week, with possible supplementa in the way of royalties and percentages. To theatergoers who writhe under the avaricious exactions of the drama these figures are recommended for meditation. | 1t is their habit to complain against the rapacity of producers who charge them high prices for entertainment. The | managers are denounced as greedy ex- | tortioners, cruelly squeezing the pocket- books of their victims. They pay through the nose, they say, in order that gluttonous impresarios’ may buy yachts and villas. By contemplating the large size of Mr. Cantor's weekly wage they may be enabled to suspect that there are excuses for the pro- ducers’ banditry. Much of the money taken from them by force at the box office or ticket brokers' counters goes into the purses of Mr. Cantor and other big shots of the drama. So pthercal and unmercenary an artiste fs Miss Marilyn Miller gets more of your dough |in a Ziegfeld play than Ziegfeld does. While Mr. Dillingham is assailed for his extravagant demands upon your savings, | Bill Rogers profits from your expendi- | tures more, as he deserves, than Dilling- ham does. Broadway is a Spanish main infested by buccaneers, but the managers are the least of its pirates. As Mr. Cantor puts up the Blue Peter and prepares to sail for home, some wash up and spend the rest of his days | gardens of | CORINNE. GRIEFEITH and JOHNBOLES and CARLOTTAKING- /\/\e+ropol itan GRANT WITHERS- Earle ON THE BROADWAY STAGE A Review of Theatrical Affairs Along the White Way Hammond. phrases of gratitude and regret may be appropriate. Occasionally his endeavors to amuse border, it seems to me, upon | what used, to be known as the indeli- cate. Give him a relatively innocent song to sing and he can make it guilty with his naughty haymow eyes. He has caused thousands of gloomy citizens to | forget their woes for an hour or two, and so he has been a benefit to Broad- way clvilization. One trusts as he lifts his Summer sails and prepares to loll in luxury upon the deck that he will remember some of his assistants in the performance of “Whoopee!” How much of his contentment does he owe to the | bare Godiva girls. assembled with diffi- culty by Mr. Ziegfeld to ride horseback down a mountainside clad in nothing except their coiffures? I know that Mr. Cantor appreciates the aid of these ladies, and when, after a season or so, their bargain charms become wrinkled. shopworn and unsalable, Le will give them a benefit. Joseph Pulitzer's annual prize for the American drama that shall “best im- prove the public has been awarded to Elmer Rice’s “Street Scene.” In that good Willlam A. Brady show there is & cun- ning exhibition of what might happen upon and nearby a sidewalk of New York. with life, full of drab sex and murder, the odor of garbage cans, theatrical hooey and an atmosphere that is any- thing but cultural. Excepting “Jour- | ney’s End,” it is the most sadly exciting drama in Times Square. There is a kick in every minute of it. Its charac- ters include, besides the dairyman and his sweetheart, almost_everything from an cxcessively Italian violinist to a brooding old Communist. his beautiful and radical son, and what have you? I | show business at its best—performing | tricks in a cunning fashion—swift, vivid and comparatively conscientious, I like it, as you do, more than Mr. Pu- litzer 'would were he here to see it. Something tells me that he would add some codicials to his will leaveing ‘Street Scene” without & nickel. His exccutors, however, are of a kind that disapprove his moldy standards, and they put the crown on “Street Scene.” I believe that they are justified in thus upsetting the founder’s last will and testament and probating it according to the better and easier Broadway law B Beethoven’s { NOWLEDGE of the great characters, the great things of life, seldom comes to the world at large through | reading and studj | the possession of many by accident or |in the most unexpected way, certainly | not as the result of specific quest. | Thousands who have been thrilled | with Beethoven’s exquisite music, in all | probability, know nothing at all ‘of the | man whose inspired genius produced it, and It is equally certain that the beau- ties of Schubert'’s manifold composi- tions were as strange and unfamiliar as the composer himself to thousands more until the operetta known as “Blo; | som Time” was presented in the thea | for since that time, it would seem, t he | George Arliss in play form also made | many familiar with” the great violin | genius, Paganini, who had never even imagined before that such a person ever existed. Now come the movies with a_picture, not a talkie or a soundie, but the silent | story of the great Beethoven from his early childhood to his tragic declining days, when his loss of hearing deafened | harmony that were born in his soul. | Joseph Havdn,” another genius of the | world of music;: of the struggle between ! his love for the Countess Julia Guiccardi ¢ Often it becomes | general public is loath to part with it. | his ears to the beauties of melody and | It tells the story of his friendship with | Life Story and his passion for music, his life work, | and of other interesting facts connected with the life of one of the world's greatest masters, The picture was produced in Ger. many and in Ausiria, and reflects scenes of places that he often visited and which were intimately connected with his life and work. It is well worth seeing, and although it is what is now known as a “silent” picture, the man- agement of the Little Theater, where it is being shown, has provided for musical interludes by competent artists that compose the theater’s well known and much-liked trio. Sound Films at the Strand. NNOUNCEMENT has been received that the Strand Theater, which, previous to its entry into the burlesque field, was perhaps the leading “family theater” at low and very popular prices, is going back, for the Summer months at least, to “its original policy,” but |with & full sound equipment that will permit the presentation of talking and hone vaudeville acts and news reels. This Fall, it is | stated, high-class vaudeville will added to its repertory. agement has been entirely changed, even down to a specially drilled corps of usherettes, It is rather a squalid contact of drama | like “Street Scene,” which is Broadway | ‘Master of Cerermonies* ox Duffy Play Contest. THE Henry Dufly Players, Inc., operating theaters on the Pacific Coast in Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver and Oakland, Calif., are offering a prize of $1.000 for the best wholesome humor- ous play not hitherto produced. The theaters if found suitable for produc- tion, and also in New York. The con- test has been started with the idea of discovering worth-while, unproduced plays and to stimulate creative eflort on the part of American playwrights. The contest s open to any one in the | country, and the dramatic critics of the | newspapers of the Pacific Coast are to receive the manuscripts and act as the judges of the contest. Manuscripts may be sent to any of the newspaper reviewers of the coast. The contest closes October 1, 1929, and the award will be made November 1. -Leading Man Now. OM membership in the Los Angeles Fire Department to being leading | Er & | man opposite Corinne Griffith in “Sat- urday’s Children” of young Grant Withers in four years. Grant, who hails from Pueblo, Colo, where’ his_grandfather publishes and edits the Pueblo Chieftain, ran away from military school to try his luck in Hollywood. He managed to get occa- slonal work as an extra and then be- came disgusted with waiting around | for something better to break that he secured a_job as a fireman. Later he overed the police beat on a Los An- geles evening newspaper until one fine day Elinor Glyn sent for him for a | part in “The Only Thing.” From then | on he played leading juvenile roles, and first came to the attention of Corinne Griffith when he played a small part | with her in “The Divine Lady"—the role of Lord Nelson's flag lleutenant, Musical Novelties. DERN jazz is the subject of two MO The first, a two-reeler, will be Louis Blues,” based on W. C. Handy" world-famous “blues” song of the same name. being prevared by Dudley Murphy, and Handy himself is arranging the musical score. will be under the direction of the com- poser. being prepared by Murphy. This pro- cuction will feature | singing. winning play not only will receive a| cash award but will be offered in Dufly | is the achievement | MARY PICKFORD Columbia EARLE—“Saturday’s Children.” FOX—"“Through Different Eyes. COLUMBIA—“Coquette.” This RIALTO—“Syncopation.” This METROPOLITAN—“The Deser evening STRAND- LITTLE THEATER—"Life of B evening. PALACE—“Eternal Love.” John Barrymore, the distinguished | actor, is the screen star at Loew’s Palace this week in the United Artists sound production, “Eternal Love.” In the supporting cast are several well known picture stars, including CamiHa | Horn, Hobart Bosworth and Victor Varconi. The story is laid in the Alps, where | Barrymore is seen as a daredevil hunter, a wild blade who knows no law and rebels under authority, in love with two women, one of the spiritual type and the other a harum-scarum moun- tain spitfire. After a village carnival, the hunter, befuddled with wine, is en- snared into an affair with the girl he does not love. The code of the moun- | tains forces him to marry her. The | other girl, broken-hearted, marries the wealthiest man of the village, a jealous, brooding individual who has always hated the hunter. She tries to forget her former lover, but when he is lost in a storm she unwittingly reveals that she still does love him, and the jealous husband goes out to kill him, but is | himself killed. ~Accused of the murder the hunter flees high into the Alps and | the girl of his real love sacrifices all to go with him. On the stage Herbert Rawlinson will | preside over Frank Cambria’s produc- | tion, “Castle of Dreams,” and with the aid of the Palace Syncopators will introduce his own version in music of the Dempsey-Tunney epic of the ring. Caites brothers in comedy dancing, Luster brothers in unusual acrobatics, Hemry Mack, tenor; Sybil Fagen, | whistler: Spoor Parsons in dancing, | Julia Parker and the Foster girls, ballet, | | complete the entertainment. | An “Our Gang” comedy in sound, “Fast Freight,” with the Fox Movietone | News, the M-G-M News, Charles Gaige at the organ and Harry Borjes and the Palace Orchestra complete the pro- | gram. EARLE—“Saturday’s Children.” SCREEN ATTRACTIONS OF THE WEEK. PALACE—"Eternal Love.” This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. afternoon and evening. afternoon and evening. t Song.” This afternoon and “Mollie and Me.” This afternoon and evening. eethoven.” This afternoon and give up his pocket money, his occa sional nights off at the club and his little gambling sprees at cards to meet the household expenses, how can 8 husband still be a lover? The cast includes Charles Lane. Anna. | Schaeffer, Alma Tell, Luclen Littlefleld, | Albert Conti, Marcia Harris and little |Jo An Pierce. . The added features include & new Paramount laugh fest, “When Julius Caesar Ran a_ Newspaper,” which fea- tures Edward Everett Horton and Sam Hardy; a new issue of the Earle Topical Review and the Earle Orchestra, offer- ing “Gems From Favorite Operas,” un- der direction of Daniel Breeskin. FOX—“Through Different Eyes.” Another star of the stage, Miss Mary Duncan, recruited for the talking pic- tures by William Fox, will make her screen debut in Washington at the Fox Theater this week in “Through Differ- ent Eyes.” Co-starred with Miss Dun- can are Warner Baxter and Edmund Lowe. In addition to the three stars, Mr. Fox has given the picture a sup- | porting cost including Natalle Moor- | head, Earle Foxe, Sylvia Sidney and | the Negro comedian Stepin Fetchit, who, though only allotted a brief mo- |ment, creates a comedy situation that | justifies future billing. As the title of the picture suggests, a dramatic and interesting scene is pre- sented from three different angles—as | different eyes see a situation and re- enact it, according to their view, after it has taken place. John Irving Fisher as master of cere- monies will introduce, in addition to his own contribution, many Broadway players. Leon Brusiloff will direct the Forty Fox Jazzmanians through a spe- cial stage overture, as well as furnishing musical accompaniment for the enter- tainers. The Gorgeous Foxettes will have several new dance routines, and world events in sound and picture via the Fox Movietone News will round ou the program. o “Saturday's Children,” the Maxwell | Anderson comedy-drama, which held | Broadway in its spell for nine months It is announced as the first Pulitzer | Prize play made by Vitaphone to reach | the screen. Corinne Griffith is starred, | has been retained almost verbatim. In “Saturday’'s Children” Bohby, a ! clerk, are called upon to solve the prob- | lem of how two young people who try week can save a fraying romance. In | wash and sweep, and the husband must | COLUMBIA—“Coquette.” Mary Pickford in her first talking production, “Coquette,” is featured at musical novelties now in prepara- | #0d won the Pulitzer Prize as the best Loew’s Columbia Theater this week. tion for production at the studios of | P18y of 1927, will be the featured at-|John Mack Brown plays opposite Mary RCA Photophone, Inc., in New Yerg | traction this week at the Earle Theater. |in this picture, prodtced by United Art. ists. me It is an adaptation from the fa- s play of the same name. “Coquette” is the love story of the ‘The story and continuity are 8nd the original dialogue of the play |modern girl, who dances, kisses, flirts and makes merry in the moonlight, making life a grand and glorious game. The band and choral effects private secretary, and Jim O'Neill, a One day she meets a man from a dif- ferent world—a serious young moun- taineer, Michael Jaflrey, who love The second will be an extravaganza | to prove that two can live as cheaply | her, too. but not her game of insin- be | titled “Jazz,” script of which is also and as contentedly as one on $40 a | cerity. The house man- | Suddenly the girl finds that she loves this young man, but her father the modernistic | other words, when the wife gives up|forbids her to have anything to do with treatment of jazz music, dancing and | her economic independence to cook, | him Michael goes back to the moun- (Continued on Second Page)