Evening Star Newspaper, May 19, 1929, Page 53

AMUSEMENTS.' 19, 1929—PART 7. By Robert E. Sherwood. HE titanic shadow of the Radio Corporation - of America lies athwart the movie industr creating a cloud of uncertaint Any one who can guess cor- Yectly what strange developments will emerge from that shadow is due to make vast fortune in the stock market; for behind the R. C. A. stands that even more titanic and more mysterious force which is known as “Wall Street.” Along Broadway, wherever the high- prescure salesmen of the film trade are wont to gather, you can hear snatches of conversation in which the words “radio” and “merger” are repeated with alarming frequency. If you believe all the rumors that you hear or overhear, you will gather that the R. C. A.is about to merge with Paramount-Fa- mous-Lasky, with Warner Bros., with United Artists, with Fox and Metro- ‘oldwyn-Mayer—in fact, that the R. A. is about to absorb the entire Mmovie industry, the theatrical business and the song publishing business and convert them all into a sort of General Motors of entertainment Just which, if any, of these rumors 1s ‘authentic remains to be seen. The next few months should produce the answers to most of the questions that are now being frantically asked In the meantime the Radio Corpora- tion has actually entered the business of moving picture production. Through its subsidiary, Radio-Keith-Orpheum, | it is planning to manufacture and dis- tribute no_fewer than 30 all-talking pictures. These, of course, will be made with the photophone process of record- ing. which was developed by engineers of the Radio Corporation and the Gen- eral Electric Co. The first of the photophone feature ictures has already been seen and heard. The phototone recording is far t00 good to be true. It possesses a well- like Tesonance which gives to the hu- man voice the sonorous quality of a pipe organ going full blast. Perhaps this was due to faulty projection of the sound in the theater, but I attended two | different showings of the picture, and neither time could I stand it for more than a few minutes. It is too much of a strain on the credulity to hear casual wisecracks delivered as though they were the mighty harmonies of Johann | Scbastian Bach. ok QY the radio program for the next few months are many ambitious as innumer- feature pictures, as well able short subjects of all kinds. features are to be made at the new radio studio in Hollywood. The shorter films are being ground out in a con- | at the present time are Ina Claire, Ann | verted riding academy near Gramercy Park, in New York City. The more pretentious offerings will be “Forty-ninth Street.” featuring the | thres Moore brothers, Owen, Tom and : “Upperworld,” written by Ben by Charles Mac by Vina Delmar “Ringside,” the prize-fight melodrama. | and at icast three monster musical| shows—*“Rio Rita,” “Hit the Deck” and | “Radio Revels.” The last-named will | be in the form of a revue, with talent recruited from the various broadcasting | studios. | The | | Among the stars signed thus far for radio pictures are Bebe Daniels, Betty Compson and Olive Borden, late of the silent drama, and the most important directorial work will be intrusted to Herbert Brenon and Malcolm St. Clair; neither of them needs to be introduced to movie audiences. The popular Yale alumnus, Rudy Vallee, will be elevated to stardom in his first screen appearance, and it will be decided later whether he is to make a second screen appearance. * %k x T will be observed that there is nothing as vet on the radio picture program which suggests daring original- ity or & brand-new point of view in the movie industry. Indeed, it would seem that the Titans of the air waves are prepared to observe all the ancient laws and traditions of Hollywood. However, they have sponsored one ex- perimental picture (a modest short subject), and I can report that it is superb. It is called “The Traveler, and was directed by Dudley Murphy who has gained previous recognition as an adventurous spirit in the movies Its author is Marc Connelly. who is also its star. Mr. Connelly is a newcomer to the films, although he did collaborate with George S. Kaufman on the extraordinary dramatization of “Merton of the Movies.” He is the author of “The Wisdom Tooth.” one of the most ten- derly beautiful plays thet New York has even seen, and (with Mr. Kauf- man) of “Beggar on Horseback,” “To the Ladies” and “Dudley,” all of which have been adapted to the screen. In “The Traveler” Mr. Connelly ap- pears as a_modern Marco Polo, who goes for a breath-taking train ride from Grand Central Station to 125th street. En route he converses in a friendly manner with the conductor and porter, both of whom prove to be singularly charming fellows. But it would be un- fair to give away all of the plot. Suffice it to say that Marc Connelly may be hailed as a great discovery. for the talkies. His technique differs radi- cally from that of his distinguished predecessor, Robert Benchley, but his personality has the same potency. 3 e S a result of the activities of the Radio Corporation in the movie industry that pioneer company, Pathe, is returning to prominence. ing rooster (with sound) is once more a familiar trade mark on the screen. Pathe was practically defunct a year |or so ago. It is now showing signs of | tremendous vitality. Among its stars | Harding, Marie Prevost, Morton Dow- ney, Mr. and Mrs. James Gleason, Wil- liam Boyd, Sally O'Neill and Constance | Bennett. Its list of directors includes the names of Marshall Neilan, Benja- min_Glazer, Fred Newmeyer, Gregory La Cava, Howard Higgin and Kenneth Webb. The principal pictures on the Pathe schedule are “Mother's Boy.” “The Fly- ing Fool,” “Paris Boun “Joe Col- lege” and “My Lady’s Man.’ Pathe also uses the photophone recording process. (Copyright, 1929.) ‘Fox Movietone Follies” PHE consummation of the battle royal | between the legitimate stage and | the theater of the silent screen is said | to be upon us in the form of the *Wil- liam Fox Movietone Follies of 1929, soon to make its advent in Washing- ton, following its New York premier. The stage put the screen to the| inconvenience of coming to it for attractions and technique, and the re- sults of the visit, we are told, are em- bodied in Mr. Fox’s present encroach- ment upon the domain of Florenz Zieg- feld. Here, it is claimed, the investiga- | tor will perceive the new technique | made possible by the endowment of the | screen with vocal and instrumental abil- | itles that heretofore have been confined | exclusively to the stage and the con- cert_hall. ! Mr. Fox is nothing if not ambitious and daring and, what is more to the point, he is willing to spend money like a reckless sallor to achieve an end that, in his opinion, justifies it. This is 1llus- trated in his Follies production, which, it is claimed, cost as much to make as “15 New York musical shows.” In this lavish expenditure of money Mr. Fox indulges no qualms or fears, for he feels that his patrons near and far, and they number millions and then millions, have never failed to show a_ perfect willingness to patronize a $10 show for | the price of a movie. And the Fox Movietone Follies pro- duction, the first in sound to be made of a New York revue, will have not only all the charms and the illusions of the most popular of stage revues, it is an- nounced, but a real movie story of ro- mance as well, and “for good measure two of its sequences will be in multi- color.” So that, interested movie pa- tron, there will be both & play and a magnificent revue combined—and all for the popular price of admission to your favorite movie palace. In assembling the personnel for his big show Mr. Fox, it is announced, has blended the talents from tried materials of both the stage and the screen, par- ticularly emphasizing youth in his selec- duction was_supplied by William K Wells, who wrote “Manhattan Ma: and the book for George White's “Scan- dals.” The song music has been con- tributed by Con Conrad, Sidney Mitch- ell and Archie Cottler. Fanchon and Marco, experts in_novelty vaudeville dancing acts, will have charge of the dance numbers, and Arthur May, prom- Movietone Symphony Orchestra. The principals will include Sue Car- roll, Lola Lane, who has been recruited from “The War So remembered from John Breeden and Stepin Fetchit, wh has been hailed as the successor of Bert Willlams, and David Butler, one of the youngest of the Hollywood directors, who is said to have the Tarkington touch, directed the production. It must not be forgotten that Marcel Silver, duction in this country with Raquel revue portion of the production. Be that as it may, “The . W Movieton Follfes. of '1929” is scheduled for Washington at the Fox Theater the week starting May 25, and doubtless all movie fans will want to see it. | Paris s expected to see “Street | Scene” in October. A contract for the | Prench rights has been signed. Next Week's pl’xotoplnya. FOX—“Fox Movietone Fol- lies of 1929,” announced as outrivaling anything that has gone before. PALACE—Lon Chaney and Lupe Velez, in “East Is f East,” a Metro-Goldwyn- | Mayer sound production. EARLE—Alice White, in “Hot Stuff,” a picture of youth and a sound pro- duction. ponies, The story that runs through the pro- Fox Movietone’s MOST UNUSUAL Greatest Cast of Speaking Players Ever Heard! William Foz Presents THRU MARY DUNCAN ALL-TALKING PICTURE its crow- | inent on the West Coast as a composer | nd conductor, will conduct the Fox | ‘who made the first Fox Movietone pro- | Miller, had & great deal to do with the | illiam Fox | Novel Marital Plan, | | JACK DANIELSON, the song writer, | |+ who marricd Fannie Hurst in Ma | | 1915, procla!med recently that he was | tired of being called “Mr. Fannié Hurst” | and so he secured a job as composer | of music for motion pictures synchro- nized at the United Artists Studio in | California. Miss Hurst i writing dia- logue for “Lummox,” the talking pic- at the same | | turization of her novel, studlo. | ‘Scparate homes, scparate breakfasts | | and separate careers were program | planks of the agreement announced by Miss Hurst and Mr. Danielson in May, | 1920, five years after their marriage by | Police Judge Andrew J. Searing at Lake- | wood. N. J. 1 “We decided that seven breakfasts a week opposite one another might prove irksome.” Miss Hurst said. “Our avers | age is two.” Since then the couple, it is claimed, | have followed out_their original plan, | introducing it to Hollywood last month | when they arrived on the coast as | | guests of Joseph M. Schenck, president | of United Artists. Danielson decided | that with Hollywood considering him | Fannie Hurst’s husband, a husband | ought to have a career, too, and so he | went to work as assistant to Dr. Hugo | Reisenfeld, scoring sound pictures. The separate breakfast business con- tinues in Hollywood. as do the separate | careers. In fact. after 14 years of It both members of the club pronounce | the matrimonial experiment noble. | The Bottom of th; Sea. | “])OWN Went McGinty to the Bot- tom of the Sea!” according to an | old song. And now the movie has fol- lowed in his wake. | | Practically all the action of First Na- tional-Vitaphone's new sea special, “The Isle of Lost Ships.” takes place on th> Sargasso Sea. Foliowing Crittenden Marriott’s novel, Director Irvin Willat is assuming that the center of th vast, seaweed-choked eddy in the At- is a gigantic junk-heap of dere- | essels, | “Scientific research, lasting for months, it is announced. has enabled the studio to reproduce the conditions in the un- explored central seaweed island and the hundreds of wrecked or abandoned | ships that may be found in it; vessels hundreds of years old, some of them heavily barnacled. may still be floating | here, because of ihe peculiar nature of | the sargassum seaweed, which attaches | itself to a floating hull and buoys it up with its fleshy leaves. A full-sized sub- | marine and a destroyer have been dis- | covered, and old tramp schooners lying | | beside once-aristocratic yachts, with a | | big freighter seen on its side near an- | other vessel bottom-up. “There are old Spanish galleons, Eng- | lish brigs, French barkentines, Amer- ican frigates of the past three centuries. | and even the bones of a Norse pirate, | says the report. Dressed to Kill | | FATTY JOE COBB, Knokn to most movie fa }memm of Hal Roach’s | LITTLE | 9th Bet. F & G Film Arts Gulld Presents Washington Premiere “The Life of BEETHOVEN” With Fritz Kortner Cont. Perl. Pop. Prices EARLE FOXE SILVIA SIDNEY FLORENCE LAKE DONALD GALLAHER L —— ON THE'STAGE Another Program of Perfect Entertainment A NEW FEATURED MARGUERITE PLAYER CHURCHILL, scussed production, “The Valiant.” Authentic Dialect NCES have so frequently been outraged by careless dialect in| their stage plays and, heretofore, fre- | quently in the subtitles of their movies, | that it comes as an agreeable piece of ormation that the taikies effort to achieve ver! the divers local variations of speech which their dialogue will employ The most frequent offense has prob- | ably been in the matter of “Southern dialect,” which has been offered under astounding diferences of inflection and | pronunciation. Southern dialect actu- ally differs tremendously with different parts of the South, but many producers | and directors have/ shown a ridiculous disregard for these variations. Minnie Maddern Fiske, before playing “Miss Nellie of N'Orleans,” submitted the manuscript to George W. Cable for verification of its patois and localisms, having it, as she said, “cableized." Others have authenticated their dialects with different _authorities, whether the works used “down_East” or “down South” inflections. Many surveys have been made of the score or more of different dialects in the United States; there seems to be little reason why mm P = LOEW'S -~ E ¥ st nA:;—"f;antlvathmllA AUPIE PLAYING pREEvmobE ETERSVE i » CAMILLA HORN A BNSTLUBITSCH s ST Hollywood's Ambassador of Joy [§ HERBERT RAWLINSON in Frank Cambrin’s Production _“CASTLE OF DREAMS” Round GHT" M Our Gang” Comedy *“FAST FREI B DR BRIGH ' in this compan they should not be correctly reproduced on_the stage and in the talkies. R. H. Newlands, professor of Engli literature at the University of Southern California, is announced by Paramount as the first “technical dialoguer.” He is presently engaged in research on the proper variations of speech to be used adaptation of Booth Tarkington's “Magnol giving ample opportunity for mistake n the matter. May it be hoped that other companies will follow this lead. A Bit of English Life. «J{ER PRIVATE LIFE," a new Bilic Dove picture, is a story of English life adapted frem a play by Zoe Atkins, which was originally called The Lady Who Dared.” The first scenes for the picture were made in one of the prettiest spots in Southern California, where a fox hunt was staged with red-coated hunter. riding throughbred horses across the open fields and with hounds in full_ery LOEW’S A COLUMBI F St at 12th—Cont, from 10:30 NOW PLAY You'll Heas and See Mary in Her Supreme Triumph The Perfect Actress In (e Perfect Spoken Photo- Drama L2 oo 222 TEST STARS a romance | STAGE NOTES. From Here and There | /"HE Theater Guild's invasion of London with “Pergy” and “Caprice” has started significant talk of its mak- ing the English capital a “subscription” city. Guild officials are silent. London | producers, it is hinted, might be an- tagonized by a too-early announcement. | Keen competition is reported, by the {way, for “Pergy” in Scandinavia and | | Germany, and a Continental tour is be- | | ing arranged, with a Paris start. I Gordon Craig, modern stage designer. | is to lecture in the United States mext | Fall, and may do the sets for several| productions. His cnly previous visit to | this country was 44 years ago, when he toured as an actor with his mother, | Dame Ellen Terry, and Sir Henry Trving. A new project for “saving the road"” is understood to be under way in New York. Including 10 of Broadway leading independent producers, under- written by Wall Street to the extent of | | something between $3.000,000 and $10,- ! 000,000, the plan embraces productions | in 20 cities. There will be a central | casting office. Each production will| open in New York, where two houses | will be taken by the holding company. “ The following interesting estimate of | cotenmoprary German drama is part of | an article translated by Courtney Bruer- | ton from the French of Rene Lauret in |Le Temps: “All these performances | leave the somewhat confused impression | of an art which is groping its way— | an art in which up to the present the| | stage director and the actor dominate the author by a great deal, and an art | in which the new influences, those of | the cinema, the music halls, even of the | circus, are more strongly and generally | felt than in Paris. The choice of sub- | jects also denotes a very different in- ‘lm’PSL from ours (the French), not only |in the invasion of the theater by nll, | social problems but by the disdain for |§ love, most often treated as a brief and | occasionaly brutal episode. There is not the slightest interest in the delica- | § cies of sentiment, nor even in the de- | piction of social life. The German | theater makes one think of a people |§ made up entirely of parvenus and pro- | Ictariat. | _“If it lacks creative power, it do: show curiosity, an interest in every as pect of life and a search for new form: The strongest criticism one can make | of it is that it does not give an impor- | tant enough place to the comic. On this point there is a sort of divorce | between the authors and the public. | | The German people, in spite of their | | serious character, enjoy laughing in the | theater much more than their drama- | h | tists at present appear to suspect.” | sir James Barric has made a gift of | £ all his rights in "Peter Pan” to the ! f Children's Hospital in London. It is' estimated that the play will yield an income of at least $10,000 & year. i i | Al H. Woods has announced his in- | tention " of building a theater in_Paris |to house Broadway successes. Detail |are lacking, but it is understood that | the theater will be completed before the | end of the year. The Booth Theater in New Yor! which houses John Drinkwater's “Bir |in Hand,” offers dancing between the | acts in the lounge. — | | Ad ta- phone Act. News. Comedy. - 0cd Vita MIDNIGHT SHOW SUNDAY NIGHT. g Doors open 12:01. Synchronized, Dia _and Music, Dancing. WDUMBARTON “iiisepunare§ Ml SON and RICHARD ~WALLING, in H coSQUPANIONATE MARRIAGE." t KITCHEN TALI il SIDNEY LUST'S 4 HIPP Todsy and Toms d i x ay and Tomorrow Milton Sills, Betty Compson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, in “The Barker” 100% Talkie, Synchronized With Music and Effects LIBERTY 1419 N. Capitol St. I'HE TERROR” FhoRiE 3. and RENEE Nr(')lgl-:‘ D‘;‘ni“‘dm} 3 THOMAS MEIGHAN, EVELYN BRENT. RENEE ADOREE ih "THE MATING TAKOMK_"h and Buiternut Sts. House of R.C.A. Photophone H. B, WARNER, TOUISE FASENDA and CLAUDE " GILLING WATER STARK MAD” A Warner-Vitaphone _All-Talking Mystery Thriller Pathe ____ Sound News and COMEDY. —_ PRINCESS _ e s’ | _WINGS™ (Syn). NEWS REEL SYLVAN 15t & Rhode Tsland Ave. N.W. SPEAKEASY" (Fox ~Movietone _All- Talking Picture.) Vitaphone presen- _tations. s JESSE THEATER *%,.* N3 <GIRL ON THE BARGE.", with SALLY NEIL. Aesop’s Fables, Topics, Pathe News. in sy Tayyy AMUSEMENTS.. 3 Boles' Voice Praised. g OHN BOLES, who has the SINgIE | papeqy in single combat, role of “The Red Shadow,” has won | o g0 b 'y ©o critical praise for his work. One of the | the tribe is in most affecting scenes in “The Desert | Song™ is the leave-taking between the | mysterious Red Shadow and his band of Riff followers, by whom he has been condemned to banishment into the des- ert, with neither food nor water and no arms except his own broken sword. There is a great bond of affection be- le. on the Margot, the French girl who is § | Pierre Birabeat nts and the Stanley-Crandall Programs Give You t Ultimate in Entertainment. T P of Talkies Direct From Broadway Runs at $2 Admission and at Stanley-Crandall Sensible Prices. Sunday—2:30 to 11 P. M. Daily—10:30 A. M. to 11 P. M. HEAR ERTA The Most Beautiful Star You've Ever Heard And Her Voice Is as Thrill as Her Beauty CORINNE 'GRIFFITH Heard for the First Time in @ Perfect Pictu tion of Max- well Anderson’s Pulitzer Prize *Caturday’s n /4 Childre And to Complete the Program Everett Horton ---Sam Hard In a Paramount All-Talking Comedy That Is a Riot of Laughs “When Julius Caesar Ran a Newspaper” Other Hits ing Earle Topical Review For Another Week It Will Thrill You With Its Magnificent Chorus of 132 Voices—Its 109 Musicians —Its 116 Exotic Dancing Girls. THE DESE SONG Warner Bros. Spectacular Singing Success The First Musical Play Ever to Be Prescntcs As a Complete Talking and Singing Picture. Opening to 1 P. M 1P.Mto6P. M 6 P. M. to Closing ¢ENSIBLE S‘E\‘z‘\cfi / ANY SEAT IN THE HOUSE | | SR | S | BOREER | WEEK OF MAY 19th || R AMBASSADOR, 8th St. ‘and Col. Rd.” SUN.—MON.—TUES CORINNE GRIFFITH In Her First Talking Piclure ‘SATURDAY'S CHILDREN WED. and THURS. REGINALD DENNY “CLEAR THE DECKS” F AY RUTH CHATTERTON H. B. Warner in Paramount’s Talking Picture ‘THE DOCTOR'S SECRET’ SATURDAY Paramount’s 100% AU-Talkie Mystery “THE CANARY MURDER CASE” al Y ‘THE CARARY MURDER CASE” TUES and WED. MILTON SILLS DOROTHY MACKAILL They Both Talk in “HIS CAPTIVE WOMAN" THURS. and FRIDAY “SPEHK‘EISV" Vioht Life SATURDAY GEORGE O'BRIEN LOIS MORAN in “TRUE HEAVEN (Synchronized) o P EMPIRE °u m st NE TODAY and TOMORROW _HOLMES HERBERT in “THE CHARLATAN.” st Ra. N. AIEAB\@SSAFIDOR | twesn the leader and his men, but he | has refused to mect the French general, knowing , and the law of The story of “The Desert Song” is full of throbs, many of which are based love of the Red Shadow for ngely attracted by the masked bandit chief- tain, but has no eyes for his other self, TUR- (SYNCHRO- T8 st NE. HOME 1230 C St. N.E. TODAY and TOMORROW-—RAMON NOVARRO__in_ “THE _FLYING TOMORROW-—COR- FLEET" (SYNCHRONIZED). ODAY ~_and RINNE GRIFFITH in “THE DIVINE LADY"_(SYNCHRONIZED) TAVENUE GRAND TOMORROW. ;SONNY " BOY NEW o o st 55, Topay HERBE] i TOMOR T in “THE SAVQY !ib & Col TODAY — ADOLPHE _ MENJOU, ARQUIS _PREFERRED. NETT COMEDY. ve. S. ROW—HOLMES DAVEY 3 s e CHARLATAN Rd. N.W. TODAY. and TOMORROW-—MILTON se? OROTHY MACKAILL ST and in “HIS CAPTIVE WOMAN" (SYN- CHRONIZED.) _ CHASE and __TOMOR! GRIFFITH in - SYNCHRONIZ TIVOL] b & Park Ba N.w. TODAY ~and TOMORROW--LOUISE BROOKS. JAMES HALL and WIL- SLL T THE CANAR Conn. Ave. and McRinley St.D.C. ROW-_COR- HE DIVINE agut St DAVEY (SYN- a. Ave. & F nd and __TOMORROW _COR- n NIZED) TODAY LEE CERO! COMING SOON TOMORRO ONNY BOY" WATCH FOR BATE: -/ MORTON DOWNEY BOBBY WATSON BARBARA BENNETT-0SGOOD PERKINS W ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT SMASHING NUMBERS 8y WARINGS BAND None Believed That “If You Live to Love You Must Be Willing to Die for Love” Until the Night Jack Winfield Was Slain. 7/ JOHN IRVING FISHER / & unique master of ceremontes HORTON SPURR EL CLEVE GRIFFEN & ROSSETTE SALLY & PEP PATRICIA O'CONNELL GORGEOUS FOXETTES 40—FOX JAZZMANIANS Leon Brusilof, Conducting /id / 7 DOLORES COSTELLO “NOAH'S ARK” GEORGE O'BRIEN. NOAH BEERY LOUISE FAZENDA FLASH DANCES > -1BlfmeENET - ADMISSION 170,77 P.M TE3L 6 6 'Closing ROUSING SONGS aT MORTON DOWNEY NINTH AT GEE THE FIRST FILM FOLLIES—THE MOST SPECTACULAR REVUE EVER PRODUCED and o ot Cfl:’aoi o F OX r:ov:srori_s FOI_l_IES &q%i'f WORLD PREMIERE SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE ROXY THEATRE, NEW YORK