Evening Star Newspaper, September 8, 1929, Page 53

. Theater, Screen and Music Part 4—16 Pages Che Sunday Star, WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 8, 1929. DoroTtuy MACKAILL and JACK OAKIE - Soere fFom Variety of At ( METROPOLITAN—AI Jolson in “Say It With Songs.” “Say It With Songs,” Warner Bros. Iatest talking-singing Vitaphone picture, atarring Al Jolson, is the current fea- ture at the Metropolitan Theater. In this melodious medley of mirth and tears Jolson plays the part of a song- writer and radio entertainer who leses everything by an accidental killing— prison bars separating him from his ‘wife and boy. Jolson seems to have as much wer over the microphone as he has person on the stage. His voice re- cords perfectly, with the same resonant uality that causes the nerves of an au- nce to tingle at a Jolson personal ap- pearance. Perhapy %is long practice in making the bac.’ gallery patrons enjoy his show as well as the orchestra has helped him in this, but whatever it is, 1t is just his “gift” During the filming of “Say It With Songs,” it is said, the Jolson sequences were never once held up for retakes. “Say It With Songs” is Jolson's third special release for Warner Bros. Davey, Lee, sensational baby star, discovered by Jolson and featured in “The Singing Fool,” is the “little pal,” about whoma pathetic story is built. cast are Marian Nixon, Holmes Her- bert, Kenneth Thompson and Fred Kohler. Darryl Frances Zanuck and Harvey Gates wrote the story, Joseph Jackson made the talking scenario and Lloyd Bacon directed the picture. COLUMBIA—Warner Oland in “The Mysterious Fu Manchu.” ‘Warner Oland, an_adept at Chinese character portrayal, is to be seen in his latest Paramount talking production, “The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu,” an adaptation of the thrilling book by Sax Rohmer. In the supporting cast are Neil Hamilton, Jean Arthur, O. P. H.xm, Willlam Austin, Claude King and Tully Marshall._ ‘The story concerns Dr. Pu Manchu, a kindly scientist who is trying to save the life of the infant daughter of a - His wife and child are in- ~d by k chan, into to-kill-an entist « Others ip_thes “BroapwAY “ Rislto tractions in The Capital Playhouses bloodstain on’the sacred tapestry dra- | gon. Fu brings up the infant girl he has saved under his hypnotic spell and | forces her to do his bidding. He brings | her to England. where she falls in love | with the g¥andson of one: of-the men | he has-sworn to kill. He plans to make the girl Lia the instrument of her lover's death. Detectives make many efforts to trap Fu, but he succeeds in doing away with them. At the last moment an old Chinese servant who loves Lia informs the police how to catch Fu. ‘The Fox Movietone News, the M-G-M International News, short subjects, Metro Movietone Acts and the Colum- bia Orchestra complete the program. EARLE—Dorothy Mackaill in “Hard to Get.” Heretofore Dorothy Mackaill has been tcamed” with some. other star of the First National Vitaphone galaxy, in- clud! many pictures with Jack Mul- hall, and “The Barker” and “His Cap- tive Woman” with Milton Sills. Now | she’s “on her own” in “Hard to Get,” | her first solo starring picture, at' the Earle Theater this week. The story concerns the adventures of a New York manikin who each morning on her way from her parénts’ little flat to an exclusive modiste shop hunts for a rich man on Pifth avenue. She finally chooses a poor one. The story presents lovable, human characters, and the comedy is ‘said to be clever. Willlam Beaudine was the director. Charles Delaney is the leading man; a comedy quartet, consisting of Louise Fazenda, James Finlas Jack Oakle arfd Margaret Beau calls forth roars of laughter; Edmund Burns makes an igeal villain and Clarissa Selwynne also has an effective role. ‘The supporting bill is especially ncte- worthy, as it features Eddie Cantor in Midnight Frolic,” in two dazaling peels, in which are Eddie Elkins and his band and the cavorting, wise-cracking, sing- ing, dynamo, Eddie Cantor. Daniel Bree- skin with the Earle Orchestra will week the a $6.60 Broadway. show, . “Ziegfeld's | AGE and SCREE Joan CrawFord and ROD LAROCQUE- Palace /MARION NIXON, AL JOLSON and DAVEY LEE = e’rmpo“‘i"au MLLE. FALCONETTI - Little Theater Joan COLLETTE- National Opens Sept. 16'| Gayety ALTHOUOH Jed Harris, the pro- ducer, has announced his reiil ment, nevertheless “The Front Page, one of his sensational plays, is to be sent on tour with its original cast, n- cluding Lee Tracy, Perkins, Claude Cooper, Frances Fuller, Violet Barney and the other outstanding and well remembered contributors to its sensational success at the Times Square Theater, New York, last season. This | city wili be one of the: first to see the | organization, an announcement from the National Theater specifying Mon- day night, September 16, as its open- ing date. After an all-Summer lay- off, the company is now in rehearsal in New York, under the direction of George S. Kaufman. 4 Written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, “The. Front. Page” is a high-tension story of metropolitan newspaper life, having its setting in the reporters’ room of the Criminal Courts ding, Chicago. The authors began their literary careers as Chicago repmnhmd they claim to have drawn upon their own experiences for the pic- turesque characters and swift action which have made “The Front Page” @ widely discussed play in New York. Music at the Earle 'HE Earle Theater Orchestra, under the direction of Daniel Breeskin, will inaugurate a sequence of musical offerings, under the title, “International Overtures,” starting this week. These, it is announced, will embrace not only instrumental music characteristic of different countries but the most out- standing of songs will be featured from time to time. The first of the series, which has been_arranged to take the patrons of the Earle Theater “on a musical tour 5round the globe,” willvbe the popular - Mary Eaton’s Wedding 'VERYBODY in Washington is prob- 'E flower gifls were Doris Levant. the ably interested in Mary Eaton, bride’s niece, and Barbara Jane Webb, First, because Mary is a member of a | daughter of the bridegroom. The ring large family of Washington girls and | bearer was Evelyn Mills and the train boys who have m@de their way in the | bearer ‘little Edwin Mills, niece anc® world in the right sort of way, and sec- | nephew, respectively, of the bride. ondly, because is one of the Mary Robert Webb was the best man, and brightest stars of+an unsullied firma- | the ushers were Herbert Brown, Joseph ment. It is more than likely that everybody. Eaton, Charles Eaton, Bryant Wash- knows that Mary has just been married burn, Ned Marin and Al Rockett, a blend of the family and the notables of 1o Millard Webb, who “discovered” Do- -lores Costello and is one of the notable the screen world. . “The happy couple left for Banff on \RN&Psody in Blue by George Gersh- directors of the talking screen; also that | their honeymoon last Monday, and later | [t Dora NItovic l:stc";‘f’:“ aschestri the wedding occurred in Los Angeles, | will include New York in their joyous | %1 be the guess sololst of the Calif,, with all the family and a great | journey. About October 1 they will get | “UEE PRS WO 0 o i 40 fea- host of personal and professional t#lends | back to Hollywood and resume relations A e ot S prarios. Gere gimong fhose resent, o Mary o pomu- | WA U0 WOR '\ e . | b SpRI Tl Hingars s lar and out of T professi 3 ne! . wi ary's W hus- et & v 2 7 Pretty little Marilyn Miller was the b b e R maid of honor. and the bridesmaids band who directed “Glorifying the American Girl,” in which Mary was the AT (R 4 were Evelyn Eaton, Pearl Eaton and 1e” 1 1 Doris' Eaton, sisters of the bride, and Elsie Janis Glorified. bright, particular star, and their ro- mance began during the making of that Katherine Roberts, her friend. e | picture. ISR UANTS, - American mukical + comedy and vaudeville star, and in- cidentally “Sweetheart of the A. E. F.” has been signed by Paramount “to con- tribute material, ideas and talent and to supervise production” of an unusual feature now in preparation at studios in Hollywood. Jesse L. Lasky, who an- nounced the engagement of Miss Janig refused to divulge the title or plans for the picture, except that he hinted it will be “a & -talking, singing. and danc- ing prmwn. ‘with every star and leading featured player under contract to Paramount in East and West coast studios taking part.” The story is be- ing written and actual filming will start within-a month. . Mr, Lasky added that the full re- sources of the company’s .writing, act- ing, directorial technical depart- ments will be placed behind the picture, each director and writer contributing ‘his or her share, and every idea with an entérfainment possthility will be ‘given Superstition Defied. “OUR Modern Maidens,” Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer's new epic of jazz, starring Joan Crawford, is said to be fairly saturated with the spirit of jinx_rather than with the spirit of youth. Almost everything in it comes to TAGE AND SCREEN ATTRACTIONS THIS WEEK METROPOLITAN—ALI Jolson in “Say It With Songs.” This aft- ‘ernoon and evening. PALACE—Joan Crawford in “Our Modern Maidens.” ernoon and gvenlng. - EARLE—Dorothy Mackaill in “Hard to Get.” This afternoon and evening. . COLUMBIA—Warner Oland in “The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu.” This afternoon and evening. 3 ‘LITTLE THEATER—“Passion of Joan of Arc.” This afternoon and evening. 3 5 RIALTO—“Broadway.” This afternoon and evening. FOX-—“The Cock Eyed World.” This afternoon and evening. PQLI’B—BEy‘Hom in “The Luckee Girl” Opens tomorrow | evening. . S " GAYETY (Burlesque)—“Broadway ‘ Scandals”. - This afternoon Production on this new ultra-modern, picture started on Priday, ‘when Jaeck Conway directed the first scene. are exactly 13 people in the'cast, includ- ing the various bit and part players. The sets numbered in the studio’s book= keeping department were all in"the 1.300 classification. The picture was finished on the 13th of the month, and the last scene was No. 213, as listed in the saript. To malfe matters worse. the unit pro- duction mansager, Ullrich Busch, has | just 13 letters in his pame. . - ‘The picture, an original Lovett, author’ of “Our Danc! 2 one married This’ aft- Motor, Aviation and Radio News BeErRNICE HALEY — Palace (S7sge) By Percy ISS VIOLET HEMING, as the fury in “Soldiers and Women,” may convince the most skepti- cal that 'tis a lady that reigns in the lower regions. Addicted to corruption in its, vilest forms, she devotes herself assiduously to mischief, betraying friends and relatives with equal abandon. As the wife of the commanding officer of a British bivouac in Baluchistan, she specializes in hatred of the military. It is an army axiom that “the sex is ever to a soldicr kind.” and that it swoons with ecstasy at the toot of a bugle or the sight of a brass button. But Miss Heming as Brenda Ritchie is nothing short of a curse upon the infantry. ‘Though by no means a pacifist, she sees red at every contact with the men of war, and an epaulette inspires her to dirty deeds. Musing, like Phedre, the performance of dread- ful shames, she tries to find release from the humdrum life of the British army in devices of an abnormal character. Particularly she is cruel to Capt. Branch (Derek Glynne), a handsome officer and gentleman. Interested him- self in the wife of his best friend, the captain is cold to her enchantments, thus augmenting her evil disposition. Discovering him in the arms of her |lovely rival “(Miss Vevee Teasedale), Miss Heming decides to shoot him in the back and to blame his murder on any one who happens to be around. She hits the wrong target, however, and kills another man—a mistake that is of no_consequence, either to her or the audience. . 7 The play, by George Tilton and Paul Hervey Cox, is a husky combination of drama and life—now dignified, then ridiculous, and always theatrical in its record of improbable occurrences. In it may be seen some of the machinery of a wicked female’s mind as it operates destructively upon herself and those who are intimate with her. Aided by the colorful uniforms of Great Britain's far- flung defenders and mystic, off-stage, East Indian music, the tragedy at the Ritz Theater should be a popular enter- tainiment and a lesson to West Pointers, warning them that they must not be too brave in the selection of their women. Miss Heming, one of the fairest of the drama’s beauties, is abundant in “Sol- diers and Women,” overflowing her role in an overflowing play. Her method is 50 subtly florid that even the most in- nocent of the first-night shillabers un- THE DRAMA ON BROADWAY Hammond. derstood that she was a fiend, a5 some one has said, in human .form. | “Soldiers and Women™ is a good show, | a mediocre play and one of the shrewd- est second-raters of the new year. | * X Xk X OME of the theater's long heads have %7 been declaring of late that the drama, in order to save its soul, must sequester itself ‘in close | Broadway and the general They |say that its preservation from the | cinema and kindred s:icnces depends | upon its withdrawal from the arena and | its retreat into aloof and monastic | niches. Ill-equipped to battle with the | Hollywood hordes, it has been biting the | dust recently, and the air is blue with portents dooming it to the potter's field. Its most - prominent artists have turned argonaut and are scurrying to the California gold . country—greedy '29ers, as it were. Its audiences.)ece deserted to Balaban and Katz, anc its mercenary authors persist in wri--g with both eyes on the camera. The going is too rough for an art so delicate s the drama, and hence the auguries that it soon will ‘hie itself into the privacy of the Little Theater, forgetting Broadway and by Broadway forgot. There it can be itself, living art's simple life, undisturbed by the degrading influ- ences of vulgar patrons, Pulitzer prizes and the traffic of the films. Among the most secure of these her- mitages is thit about to be opened here- abouts by Walter Greenough under the title “New York Theater Assemblies.” Encouraged by a founders’ committee of solvent and distinguished lady drama lovers, Mr. Greenough’s place will offer entertainment undefiled by commerce, presenting “intimate and esthetic plays intimately and esthetically.”. Assemblies should be a haven for those who are discouraged but not beaten, especially since Mr. Greenough promises occasional marionette performances and some mat- inees for the tots. but h ML s e Fox Newspaper Service has dragged a confession from Leonore Ulric, Belasco star, that she belongs in the rough- house type. It quotes her: “I was really {afraid there wouldn't be any rough-hous- ing (in ‘Prozen Justice,’ the picture for Jher talking debut). I wouldn’t know what to do in a'play if T didn't get cuffed ebout once or twice at least.” . In the picture her husband drags her about onda s&lmrgry cabin floor-many & time and of