Evening Star Newspaper, May 26, 1929, Page 47

Thiéa‘temru,‘wScree and Music n AMUSEMENT he Sunday Star, SECTION Motor; " Aviation ] and Badio Nevys . Part 4—24 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY gl MAY 26, MORNING, 19| TAGE and SCREE WiLLiAM DAKENELL and ALICE YHITE- Earle . Attractions in Washington Playhouses This Week this continues to the drop of the last | NATIONAL PLAYERS—“The Spider.” Overshadowing most of the great mystery plays of the past, “The Spider,” which the National Theater Players will revive this week, beginning tomorrow night, won for itself the mystery niche in the halls of histrionics, When it first appeared on Broadway, even blase dramatic critics were forced to admit that at least an original idea had come to light, for so unique is its opening scene that many first-night playgoers believed that had been misdirected and had gone to the wrong theater. They had come to see a mystery play and curtain, GLEN ECHO PARK. Like a fairyland at night, ban playground, Glen Echo is Its coaster dip, Teplete with fun-mak with still anot! The carrousel is doing | of thrills. The were being confronted with a vaudeville | most as much for the kiddies. show. This is part of the “business” that set even the old mystery hounds Off the scent, and “The Spider” got away to an_ unprecedented start and, with John Halliday playing the pivotai role, it ran a full year on Broadway and later toured the country, playing one | week in Washington about three sea- | sons ago. Director Addison Pitt has an_extra week assembling the various paraphernalia and contraptions that go | to make “The Spider” a never-to-be- |entele. forgotten novelty. Nothing may be said of the play's are many specialties. plot. It begins with a surprise, switch- | street car service to the park, sup) es to & new tack and before the audi- | nented by enjoyable roads for mof ence realizes it, it is in the midst of ing. Great plans are being made more shuddery, creeping, chill-making | Memorial day. experlences than it bargains for, and | that land of topsy-turvy fun, has m: the adventurers, ing, walks, trees and flowers “shi spent |a good deed in a naughty world.” is pleasing a discriminating dance that is | thoroughly enjoyable during the day, Glen Echo Park is rolling up new at- tendance records as Washington's subur- sweeping dip to its many ups and | downs, and the airplane swing, made a |few feet higher, are providing the thrill | mill unrolls new scenes in its interior | that stand out during the ride like a | lighthouse in a fog. Maroney’s midway, | new surprises, and the large' penny ar- | cade houses add new devices to tempt Throughout the park the landscap- the ballroom the McWilliams Orchestra The music this year, as usual, is perhaps better than ever, and there There is & good Admission to the nark is always free. ers. her al- old any like In cli- ple- tor- for | o , T guess it is.” man had walked a this fellow craz lomatically, * When the 'WWHEN William Boyd, Pathe star, left the high school in Tulsa, Okla., he had a hankering to become a politician. That hankering has persisted in the back of his mind. Now it's gone—all because of an experience he had while making stunt scenes for a recent pic- ture. At least, so the story runs. Bill has learned that {0 be a good politician a man must— Know everybody by his first name. Remember instantly where he met him, how and in what condition. Recall the names of his children and whether it was the mumps or scarlet fever they were sick with at a certain time. Recall whether the brunette or red headed And say the right thing at the right time! Blil learned all this when a distin- guished looking, gray-haired 1 walked on the field at the Metropolitan | Airport while the star was between scenes and shook hands with everybody | in sight. Then he came to Boyd. “Hello, Bill,” was his greeting A “Hello, how are you?" answered Boyd | ° '\ e According to Alice White, ndly. as old-f who the man was. an Francisco for 20 years nd Bill started on a run honor to make apologies. Rolph is one of the best-known fter | more motion picture celebrities t any man in public life. he referred to is Boyd’'s honorary I tenant's commis cisco police force. wife is blonde, after all,” Bill later confessed to mayor. consoled the mayor. that.” Flappers No More. “YOUNG sprout.” “How's Elinor?” it is Bill looked confused guy who knows my wife and me so in- timately?” he thought. But he stam- mered, “She's fine. How are you | “That's nice,” sald the man. “Guess about time we had that badge re- 1t newed. eh?” “Badge? Badge?” thought Bill mo: the mod. call her “kiddo. The little woman,” is another title the “big-boy” inflicts upon lady love, but for the sweet young t “Who is this “Is | newest in titles, But he replied dip- Boyd asked Tay Garnett, his director, “Why, that's Jimmie Rolph, mayor of aid Tay, litical figures in the West and knows The “badge” ion in the San Fran- “Guess Tl never make a politician “Well, you're a good actor, anyway, “Better stick to way his po- han ieu- the “\FREDDIE PHELPS- National Players. DARLING SISTERS- Palace(rye) Melodrama Rampant. THE theater may scorn Shakespeare, but it cannot rid itself of melo- drama, that type of popular classic since the time when the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. And why? Well, to begin with, melodrama is, 1o be good melodrama, a slice of real life that is taken from the spot where life is particularly energetic, especially in wickedness. It is nothing if not reai- istic. And it always closes with vice punished and virtue rewarded, thus conveying and very forcefully the lesson that it is better to be good than to harm the heroine. Melodrama will be rife in Washington this week. Manager Cochran and his * The Seerne DESE 7[7'20771' i RT SONG - /V\e:l-r‘opoli't’an LAURA LAPLANTE Rialto - National Players will provide it in the mystery form in “The Spider”; the Pal- ace probably has it in “Where East Is ‘West,” though perhaps in a modified form, and the Little Theater is pro- claiming it in “Shooting Stars,” from the pen of Anthony Asquith, the Brit- ish playwright who created the big Eng- lish melodrama “Underground.” A masterpiece of melodrama, “The | Girl of the Golden West,” even though molded by the master hand of the ar- tistic Belasco, is in the offing, and, well, it is good to accustom oneself to what one must have before one gets it. Be- sides, the world has thrived on melo- | drama in the theater more than it has even upon the classics, The Voice Helps. | A GOOD voice won't entirely counter- act the effect of a Cyrano de Ber- | gerac nose. Nor will it prop up a pair of floppy ears. “But,” says Rabert Armstrong, young Pathe 'player, “the acquisition of & [ beautitul voice can be the first step to- {ward creating such an appealing per- b | sonality that the size of a nose or the mensurate with the illumination. | angle of an ear will be forgotten. ‘We are endeavoring,” says the ro- | *Stage actors all know that it is|tund but very earnest Steve, “to pra- | possible to change one's personality |Sent not only plays that will make the through the use of different kinds of | box office happy, but plays of varled voices,” said Armstrong. “The shape |types and alternating departments of | | of our features cannot be changed with- | the drama that will hold the continu- lout plastic surgery. But a pleasing |ing interest of our generous audiences, | voice is possible to every one who cares| We have een doing our darndest to to give & little study and practice to it. |81V performances of merit in acting as “A good voice is just as important to | Well as in production. This struggle has |the person in the business world as it | brought us face to face with many diffi- |is on the stage and in talking pictures. | Culties. There have been changes in A good voice has a psychological effect |our roster of players, not to gratify | O s payel Jeas. | whimsical notions, but some of them be~ e DURIAD) cause they were unavoidable and others in the big endeavor to build up a reper- tory company ready to respond at a moment’s notice to_any demand that | may be put upon it and to respond in |a way that will make histrionic fame |for our players and our productions. We are in Washington to stay, and we want to 5o conduct ourselves as to de- | serve the honor. Believe me, we have | more at stake than the mere matter of | money. | NEVEE better equipped than today in | the matters of personnel, direction | and production, Manager Steve Coch- | tan’s National Theater Players are striv- | ing harder than ever before to present | plays and performances that will rank with the best of their kind in the mod- |ern theater. And this effort is becom- ing visibly apparent as the weeks go by. The aim now evident is to even eclipse the work of the past, and it is a difficult task, for whether ail belleve it or not, the fame of Manager Cochran's 5-year- old repertory company has reached far beyond the confines of Washington. Even prominent professional producers | have been attracted by the excellence of its offerings. From the dapper little manager himself down to the meekest tint of modesty that blushes in the company ranks the light of ambition is | shining ‘brighter than ever before, and the effort to reach the heights is com- Sounds of the Hunt. HILE fox hunts have been more or less common on the screen, First National is now bringing to motion pic- ture audiences the actual sounds of the hunt, the fox in retreat, the hounds in | full cry and the thud of galloping steeds as they take the hurdles. That's the 1929 version of the flap- al- hioned to call a gal of n school a flapper, as it is to new his hing of the gay '29s, a “sprout” is quite lhe‘ “Idle gossip, and, sometimes, spiteful irresponsibility that we have inevitably had to encounter, from time to time, have not been helpful. Sometimes they have been really huriful, discouraging. But we are going ahead, trying all the time to grow better and worthier of our patronage, certain to the point of con- viction that the result of our earnest, ambitious effort cannot fail to bring success to every one of us. ““We are endeavoring honestly to put The first sound fox hunt was staged recently for “Her Private Life,” which is | a story of England and New York. The | fox hunt features the English sequences |of the story. It was staged on a big |ranch in Sputhern California, and the problem of recording the chase was one {that kept the sound experts awake for many nights, It was finally accom- plished, however, without hanging mi- crophones on the dogs or horses; but Just how is still @ secret of the experts. None But the Best Washington on the theatrical map with the fame of its own repertory company —and, confidentially, we will not regret it if that fame eclipses that of any similar company in the country. “This week we are catering to the popular preference for thrills, with one | of the best thrillers known to the thea- ter. Last week, we endeavored to chase away the clouds with light and frivo- lous nonsense, loyal to the tradition that “a little nonsense’ now and then is relished by the wisest men.” “But for the two weeks that follow “The Spider,” we are girding ourselves for the supreme effort. “Smilin’ Through,” which Jane Cowl, the Gis- tinguished actress, only helped to make an idyllic gem of the theater, and “The Girl of the Golden West,” David Be- lasco’s romantic masterplece of the American West of old, are not merely two more plays in a Summer program; they are treasures of the theater bathed in its highest sanctity. We are aiming to present them in every detail of act- ing and stage setting as even the most captious critic would wish them, and our special and unwavering effort all along the line will be to win approval for a sincere labor of love in the thea- ter that need not be ashamed.” = Synthetic Curves. VWHERE are the hips of yesteryear? They're as extinct as long skirts, bu_tles and hair nets, a Hollywood film director discovered when his costume department started fitting girls for 1908 sequences in a talking picture. The early part of the film has its action in New York 21 years ago, and, of course, the gowns worn by some of the feminine characters must be true to the period. The gowns were made, but when they were fitted on the actresses and they paraded before the director for inspection he summoned the cos- tumers and demanded: “Where are their hips? hips in 1908.”" ‘Sorry, but girls don’t have them any more,” an assistant explained. “Then give them hips,” he ordered. And so, as nothing Women had with the director’s approval. Tightly-laced corsets and Mdms:z\d the pachyderms pa wrought the synthetic curves. |J | sion. MARY PickFoORD- Columbia Boles' Music Training. OHN BOLES, film star, was selected from a chosen group of musical comedy and film stars to play the role of the Red Shadow in “The Desert Song.” Little was known of the general education of Boles until his selection for the part. Born in Texas, Boles was educated in a private school and at the University of Texas. While at college he was a member of the glee club and a pitcher on the university base ball team. At his graduation he was offered a chance to play big league base ball, and simul- taneously received an offer to tour a chautauqua circuit as a tenor in a double quartet. Boles chose the tour, and when he had finished the trip he had decided to make singing his profes- Going to Glens Falls, N. Y. Boles studied under Oscar Seagle. While there he supported himself by teaching singing and Latin in the local high| school and managing Seagle's recitals. Finally he toured Europe with Seagle and studied under Seagle's tutor, Jean de Reszke. . In T\!’O Yesrs, TWO years ago she was a secretary, with no thought of becoming an actress. Now she is a star, playing in talking -pictures, with her name in bright lights. Another Hollywood romance, and this time it involves Alice White, star of the college picture “Hot Stuff.” Miss White took a secretarial course in Hollywood High School two years ago. A little later she was given a screen test, and as the result of this test got a contract with First National Pictures before she had ever played a part. After hearing her recent voice | test, officials are said to predict a bright | future for her. l impossible In a | they always heard a band when they |modern film plant, the actresses re-| walked the streets. They couldn’t un- turned to their dressing room and soon | derstand what they were supposed to do reappeared displaying forms that met| without those usual accompaniments. Music Was Needed. 7TOD BROWNING, screen director, had to hire a brass band to help | move the most temperamental screen actors he has ever handled in Lon | Chaney's new picture, “Where East Is | East.” Browning rented a herd of elephants and a dozen cages of tigers, leopards, and other animals from a circus. They were shipped to the ralway station at Palms, near the studio. There they found tractors hitched to the wagons in place of horses. When the elephants saw that they balked and wouldn't walk a foot. Finally circus men explained. The big animals were used to seeing horses draw the cages in parades and | Earle Theater this week in her latest So Browning hired horses and a band- | ed blithely | wn the street o the studios. | EDYTHE MASON- Fox Photoplays SCREEN ATTRACTIO! FOX—“Fox Movietone Follies.” PALACE—"“Where East is East.” EARLE—“Hot Stuff.” This Week NS OF THE WEEK. This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. RIALTO—"Syncopation.” This afternoon and evening. COLUMBIA—“Coquette.” This afternoon and evening. METROPOLITAN—“The Desert evening. LITTLE THEATER—“Shooting evening. FOX—“Fox Movietone Follies.” ‘The first “Follies” of the motion plc- ture screen, “Fox Movietone Follies of 1929,” is being shown at the Fox Theater this week. In this extravaganza is said to be combined all the ingredients of the former stage follies with the added embellishments. With a cast of over 100 principals, most of them girls, as with such revues, Mr. Fox has spared no expense to make his “Follles” equal, if not more elab- orate than, anything that has preceded it. It was six months in the making; the best of Hollywood's talents were drafted; the most beautiful of Holly- wood's girls chosen, and the dancing, song numbers and ensembles were writ- len, conceived and staged by those with long experience behind them both with screen and stage productions. It is the first of an annual series con- gr’l?lnwd by Fox at Movietone City, alif. The principals include Sue Carol, Lola Lane, Frank Breeden, David Rollins and Sharon Lynn. The stage will offer a revue in keep- ing with the atmosphere of the picture with John Irving Fisher as master of ceremonies, and introducing George Lyons, with his harp and tenor voice; Virginia Bacon, acrobatic dancer: Eileen Mercedes and Preston Ferris, known as “aristocrats of song and dance”: Billy Carr, comedian; Bud and Jack Pierson, with comedy in the dance; the Gorgeous Foxettes and Leon Brusiloff with his 40 Fox Jazzmanians. Fox Movietone News will complete the program. | PALACE—“Where East Is East.” Lon Chaney in the Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer sound production, “Where East Is East.” is featured at Loew’s’ Palace this week. In.the cast are Lupe Velez, Estelle Taylor and Lloyd Hughes. Jun- gle wildernesses, desperate adventures and battles with wild beasts form the background. The story is about a for- mer circus performer who is now sup- plying wild animals for zoos and cir- cuses. His wife had deserted him years before and he lives happily with his daughter. Then comes & young Amer- ican showman who falls in love with the daughter and he approves the match. His former wife, however, re- appears in the guise of a seductive, Oriental charmer, makes love to the | youthful lover of the daughter. Though warned, she seems bent on breaking up the romance, until the circus man, who has a gorilla which hates the woman, lets the killer out of its cage. As the beast is tearing the woman up he in- tervenes, but too late. The woman is lled and he is mortally wounded. The rest may be left to the picture, On the stage, “Hollywood’s Ambas- sador of Joy,"” Herbert Rawlinson, will hold sway with the Palace Syncopators in the Frank Cambria production, “Sea- shore Follies,” featuring two Washing- ton favorites, Ed and Morton Beck; the Darling Twins, Prosper and Moret and the Dave Gould Boys and Girls. Dave Gould is a Washingtonian himself. The M-G-M News, the Fox Movietone News, the Palace Orchestra under Harry Bor- jes, Charles Gaige at the organ and short subjects will complete the pro- gram. EARLE—“Hot Stuff.” Alice White, the well known emissary | Song.” This afternoon and Stars.” This afternoon and site Miss White, and Doris Dawson, one of the Wampes baby stars of 1929, RIALTO—“Syncopation.” An eleventh hour switch has caused the cancellation, at least for a time, of “The Last Warning,” which has been announced as this week's attraction at the Rialto Theater. The patronage of “Syncopation,” featuring Warings’ Pennsylvanians, has been such that it has been determined to continue it for another week. There is little if any doubt that “Syncopation” owes much of its suc- cess to the rollicking melodies provided for the picture by Warings’ Pennsyl- vanians, who_have always been great favorites in Washington. In “Synco- pation” they play nine song numbers ranging from Victor Herbert's “Sweet: Mystery of Life” to “I'll Always Be in Love With You,” which is sung by the colored comedian. In addition there are two big numbers by the Melodys Boys and songs by Morton Downey, Genia Zielinska and Dorothy Lee, with tWo numbers by a string orchestra. But “Syncopation” has romance as well as melodies, for it is the appealing story of two wedded vaudevilians who are classed in the vernacular of the stage as “hoofers,” roles that are feel- ingly played by Barbara Bennett and Bobby Watson. COLUMBIA—"Coquette.” As Mary Pickford and “Coquette” are still drawing capacity audiences, Loew’s Columbia will conti them for the second week. “Coquette™ is a talk- ing picture adapted from the stage play, Mary appears for the first time as a modern flapper and in her first talking picture, as a flirt, the modern daughter of an old-fashioned Southern gentle- man, her dancing feet and twink- ling eyes lead her into grim complica- tions. As Norma Besant, Mary is a belle in a Southern town, who laughs her way in and out of countless love affairs and thrilling flirtations. Then she meets Michael Jeffrey, a hot-headed, carefree youngster from the hills, who loves her, but is determined not to play her game of make believe and to become another victim of her wiles. Suddenly she realizes she is in love with Jeffrey, but her father forbids her to see him and he goes back to the hills. Later he returns to ask for her hand in marriage and her father, in a fit of anger, kilis the boy. Mary, in order to save her father’s life, sacrifices the memory of' her great love for the boy. Ukulele Ike and Ponce Sisters in Metro-Movietone Acts, the Fox Movie- tone News, the M-G-M News, the Co- lumbia Orchestra under Claude Bur- rows, and an M-G-M Stan Laurel- Oliver Hardy comedy, “Big Business,” serve as subsidiary atiraction: Janet Coon, winner of the Mary Pick- ford “Coquette” contest, will make a personal appearance to surprise and de- light the audience with her whistling nn\xi singing. Miss Coon is a Washington girl. METROPOLITAN—"“The Desert Song.” “The Desert Song” will continue at the Metropolitan Theater for a third week. The popular operetta is a Warner Bros. Vitaphone production and the first operetta ever presented as a complete picture, with dialogue and song. In one of its sequences a colorful " adorns the screen at the | ijitarc gathering entertainment by a picture opus. “Hot Stuff.” Miss White, | by vehicle admirably suited to her purpose | ors in “Hot Stuff,” a story of college life, | which, it is announced, will appeal to | children of all ages, from 7 to 77 and! up. “Hot Stuff” was adapted from “Bluf- fers,” a college story, by Robert S. Carr. | It deals with two mischievous students, | a boy and a girl, who pretend to be g/ lot worse than they are, and when el(‘l’ discovers the other’s secret they nat-| of bricks. Mervyn Le Roy directed the picture. Others in “Hot Stuff” who can take a| bow along with the star and director | include Louise Fazenda as the old| maiden aunt; William Bakewell, remem- bered from “Harold Teen,” plays oppo- | John Miljan, Wells, Jack Pratt, Edward Martindel, Robert E. Cuzman and Otto Hoffman. 1 | mus! LITTLE THEATER—"Shooting Stars.” group of Nautch dancing girls headed by the exotic Azuri, is summarily halted the unexpected entrance of Gen. es is heard in a spirited rendition of a beautiful French marching song. The cast of players in this magnificent production includes John Boles, Louise Fazenda, Carlotta King, Myrna Loy Johnny Arthur, Marie ‘The production was directed by Roy Del Ruth, and the screen version was urally fall for one another like & ton | Diebarea, by Harvey H. Gates. The phone Symphony Orchestra of 100 mu;umem.q plays Sigmund Romberg's c. A movie within a movie will be the (Continued on Second Page)