Evening Star Newspaper, September 22, 1929, Page 57

| Theater, Screen and Music AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star, WASHINGTON, D. C, GEORGE. QO'BRIEN and Joyce COMPTON JEANNE EAGELS and EREDERIC MARCH- AGE a CREE ~. - Fox Nancy CARROLL Columbia Palaoe. Variety of At tractions in The Capital Playhouses NATIONAL—“Blackbirds.” Tonight the much-exploited all-col- ored musical revue “Blackbirds” will begin a special one-week engagement at the National Theater, with the usual Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Lew Leslie's “Blackbirds” was a smash | musical hit of Broadway last season.| It played to capacity audiences for 15 successive months at the Eltinge The- ater and it will be presented here in its entirety for one week only previous to going to Chicago for an indefinite run. ‘While Dorothy Fields and Jimmy Mc- Hugh have received many encomiums for their snappy lyrics and delightful musical score, the chief credit goes un- 3uudonll71y to Lew Leslie, the pro- jucer, who has established himself as supreme in this line of stage entertain- ment. He is really entitled to many of the credits that are given to others. It was his vison and initiative that | brought together the unusually clever | casts of comedians, singers and dancers | and incorporated the several novelty | features, some of which include the world-famous Plantation Orchestra, which is augmented with several local musicians, making an_ instrumental ensemble of 20 in the orchestra pit; the fast-stepping chorus of Creole Beauties and the Cecil Mack Choir, whose ren- dition of the travesty on “Porgy” at the end of the first act’is one of the high lights of the performance and will be remembered long after the departure of “Blackbirds,” the greatest musical organization of its kind ever to be pre- sented to American theatergoers. | Harriett Calloway, a sprightly miss, still in her teens, heads the cast, which includes Beebee Joyner, Clarence Foster, Worthy and Thompson, Sandy Burns, Henry “Gang” Jines, Derby Wilson, Hilda Perleno, Rollin Smith, Lloyd Mitchell, Roy White and a number of other clever entertainers. GAYETY—"Night Club Girls.” Now and then one burlesque show is just a little bit better than another. Once in a while there comes along one that is so well fortified that it stands out boldly as all-around good enter- tainment. “Night Club Girls,” if its last season’s performance may be con- sidered, is in this class. It is featured at the Gayety Theater this week. It is a concoction of fun, song and dance with “the modern touch.” Advanced ideas are claimed to have given it a special atmosphere with results gratify- ing to burlesque patrons. S| h‘la:;reu is laid gpgg av}‘l:mr- oughly company. Bobby 'son I{l Jessie McDonald are the leaders and they are assisted by Ralph Smith, ‘Walter Wayne, Fred Walker, Rae Allen, Jule Paulson, Lillian Fernald and Ed Ryan (the dancing prodigy), and & chorus that is something more than & help in making the two biggest special features, “Telephone Scene” and “The Rose Number,” popular. FOX-George O'Brien in “Salute.” | The Fox, now celebrating its second anniversary, has selected the taliing screen production “Salute,” which was movietoned in its entirety at Annapolis and West Point, as this week’s attrac- tion, It is a story of young America in the making, with Gecrge O'Brien, Wil- liam Janney, Helen Chandler and Step- in Fetchit as featured players. It was directed by John Ford, who made “Four Sons” and “The Iron Horse,” along with other successes. “Salute” concerns two brothers, one at West Point and the other at Annapo- lis. O'Brien, the older brother. at West Print, 18 § frat hall rtan of hie clask, ‘The younger brother worships him until the older brother, in following his creed, to get what you want you have but to take it, seemingly wants to steal his sweetheart. The traditions of the two Govern- ment training schools are said to have | been closely followed in the production, and high Navy officlals, it is explained, ;{u:l viewing the picture, commended it ghly. - The stage program will present ‘the second of the Fanchon and Marco ideas, “Fantasma,” which features two well known comedians, Barto and Mann, and many Hollywood players, with the Sunkist Beauties. The master of cere- monies will be John Irving Fisher. ‘The orchestra overture is the same as that utilized for the opening of the Fox Theater two years ago, Victor Her- bert's “American Fantasie.” Fox Movie- tone News in sound and picture and subsidiary features commemorating the “birthday party” will round ou} the program. METROPOLITAN—“The Gold Diggers of Broadway.” A gorgeous natural-color film, “Gold Diggers of Broadway,” which also is a Vitaphone singing, talking and dancing picture produced by Warner Bros. from David Belasco's production of Avery Hopwood's well known play, will be seen this week at Crandall’s Metropolitan. It reflects technicolor in its newest de- velopment, the many colors and tints being pictured with fidelity to nature. The chorus numbers in the show- within-a-show scenes are a riot of colors. As a play “The Gold Diggers” scored one of the biggest hits in David Belasco's life as a theatrical producer. ‘The leading roles are played by Nancy Welford and Conway Tearle and other parts by Ann Pennington, Winnie Lightner, Lilyan Tashman, Albert Gran, Gertrude Short, Nick Lucas, radio and phonograph star; William Bakewell, Helen Foster, Neely Edwards, Julie Swayne Gordon, Lee Moran and Armand Kaliz—truly an all-star cast. Nancy Welford plays the part of Jerry, a_chorus girl, and Conway Tearle that of Stephen Lee. Lee's ward, Wally, has fallen in love with Violet, a member of the chorus, and Lee comes to put an end to his infatuation. Jerry, to help Violet get the man she loves, acts as outrageously as she knows how, so that Lee will see how sweet Violet is by con- trast. But Lee thinks Jerry is Wally’s sweetheart and falls for her himself. Even her gold-digging practiced on him only delights him. His lawyer sur- renders to the charms of another gold- digger. But that is enough of the plot. Nine songs were written for the pic- ture by Al Dubin and Joe Burke and are sung by Nick Lucas, radio and phonograph star, and by Miss Welford, Miss Lightner and Miss Pennington (although the latter shines as the dancing star). “Painting the. Clouds With Sunshine” and “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” are the theme song-. Others highly appreciated by the audi- ence are “Go to Bed,” “What Will I Do Without You?” “In a Kitchenette, “Keeping the Wolf From the ) “Mechanical Man,” “And Still They Fall in Love,” “Song of the Gold Diggers” (sung by Miss Pennington and the chorus ensemble) and “The Poison Kiss of That Spaniard.” COLUMBIA—Hal Skelly in “The Dance & of Life.”. “The Dance of Life,” an elaborate talking, singing and danging melodrama made from the stage production “Bur. the f attraction at Loew i an enthusiast iyt SUNDAY MORN G, SEPTEMBER 22, 1929. Motor, Aviation and Radio JOVYNER =nd FOSTER> [\\a-Hona| *Jhe DrAKE CASE"- |'2ia|+o STAGE NOTES 'H some 12 openings during the week just past and with 7 sched- uled for the coming week, the Broadway | theatey year is striking a fairly im- | pressive early-season s‘ride. This Is| in stubborn and impudent opposition to | the many devout prophecies of the | legitimate's death at the hands (or, | rather, at the voice) of the talkies. In the months between now and next August there remain about 200 plays to be offered if the plans announced by producers, in anticipation, of the new season, carry through. According to past observation, a great number of these works will never reach the stage; many of those that do will fade from sight. Probably 10 or 12 of the hardiest will survive as long-run hits. A few, such as Mr. Belasco’s “It's a Wise Child,”. Murray Anderson’s Almanac, “The Commodore Marries”; “Sweet Adeline” and George Cohan’s “Gam- bling,” have already registerea well, in varying degree, with the public. Others have already perished. Of last year's offerings some 14 are still showing, notable among'them being such as “The New Moon” (now a year old), “Hold Everything,” “Whoopee,” “Follow Thru,” ‘Street Scene,” “Let Us Be Gay" “Bird in Hand,” “The Camel Through the Needle's Eye” and “The Little ow.” The Theater Guild is facing the most ambitious year in its history, both in New York and on the road. Its first play on home ground will be Leowhard Franck’s “Karl and Anna,” now in re- hearsal, with Alice Brady, Otto Kruger and Frank Conway, with Philip Moeller directing. The play was seen in ‘Wash- ington as a motion picture, “Home- coming,” at the Little Theater.” ¢ The guild’s production of O'Nell's “Strange Interlude,” incidentally, has been barred from Boston and Provi- dence, R. I, stages. The guild intends to fight the ban, at least to the extent of testing its constitutionality. That Eva Le Gallienne has little fear of the radio as a competitor of her Civic Repertory Company has been proved by her announcement that she has arranged to give a series of presentations of short plays and of scenes or acts from longer ones over the stations of the Columbia Broadcasting system. The first, a short comedy, “A Sunny Morning,” by the Brothers Quintero. next Thursday evening at 6:30, will inaugurate the series, which will con- tinue on succeeding Thursday evenings at the same hour. Martha Townsend, who has been visiting her J)lunu, Dr. and Mrs. C. O. Townsend of Blair road, Takoma Park, D, C., left Wednesday for Chicago to join the Lake Shore Production Com- pany for a season of repertoire. She will make her appearance in “¥Young Woodley,” by John van Druten, Which will be’ the opening uction Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, at an early date. “Journey’s En . C. Sheriff’s British war play, which met with success in London and New York, was recently resented in Berlin, its first production any of the late enemy countries. Many of the cast were actually ex- soldiers who had fought against the British in the World War. The acting was said to have been of & high stand- ard and the first-night audience, 8s well as subsequent ones, gave the play reception. MATT G1eBONS- Fox (Stage) "S55 a MiLLER- Palnce(ioe NANCY WE LFORD - Metropolitan CLAUDETTE COLBERT =nd Ivor. /\JOVE_L Stage and Screen Attractions This Week. NATIONAL—“Blackbirds,” colored revue. Opens this evening. BELASCO—“June Moon,” comedy. Opéns tomorrow evening. POLI'S—Katherine Cornell in “The Age of Innocence,” comedy. Opens tomorrow evening. GAYETY—“Night Club Girls,” burlesque. evening. This afternoon and FOX—George O'Brien in “Salute.” This afternoon and evening. METROPOLITAN—"“Gold Diggers of Broadway.” noon and evening. This after- COLUMBIA—Hal Skelly in “The Dance of Life.” This afternoon and evening. PALACE—Jeanne Eagles in “Jealousy.” evening. EARLE—“The Lady Lies.” RIALTO—“The Drake Case.” and evening. This a(temoon and This a/{ternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. LITTLE THEATER—“The Constant Nymph.” This afternoon Leslie’s “Blackbirds” OMETHING more than the mere novelty, if it may be called such, of presenting a colored revue in a theater devoted to the entertainment of white people is represented in' the nresentation of Lew Leslie's production, “Blackbirds,” at the National Theater tonight. First of all, among the ideas of the tireless and persevering producer, is the effort to show- the remarkable ad- vance made by the Negro as an enter- tainer in the American theater, not as a mere clown or bumpkin, but in the various legitimate flelds of theatric ef- fort, acting, singing, dancing,. pathos, comedy, indeed, in almost every line of histrionic endeavor. Florenz Ziegfeld himself started the ball rolling in this direction when he presented the late Bert Willlams as a featured player in the Follies. Other productions in which the Negro was presented for his entertainment value, for instance, were “Just a Minute,” “Americana,” “Rain or Shine” and notably in Zisgfeld’s great production, “Show Boat.” Charles Gilpin, one of the most notable players of his race, and later Paul Robeson, who has been selected to appear as “Othello,” are out- standing individuals of the colored race upon whom the dramatic mantle has fallen with notable merit. Florence Mills and the Black Patti are others, It is a long cry from “Othello” to “Blackbirds”; but in the latter pro- duction untold effort, time and patience, with unending persistence, brought the deserved reward to Leslie, who not only conceived the plan of the revue, wrote the skits, created the dances, designed the costumes and settings, but actually ¥ taught the chorus girls their unique terpsichorean routine. Harriett Calloway, the Florence Mills of the production, had had no previous stage experience beyond a chorus ap- pearance in an unimportant colored musical unit. She has personality, pep and unusual stage intelligence, but it was Leslie who discovering them, turned them to account until present results were achieved. Harriett had sold newspapers in her home town, Columbus, Ohio, and hoofed and sung with thhe kids of the streets until a local vaudeville theater gave her her first opportunity. According to Mr. Leslie she has the same intermingling -npeal of pathos and humor that made his former star, Florence Mills, what she was, and he thinks also that Har- slett has an added charm which Florence lacked perhaps.” She has been an apt pupil both in a;?min: and in the ac- ceptance of advice, and he has placed her under a long-term contract con- fident she will continue to improve. SO A et e, This Jay-Walker No Jay. J_EO MCCAREY, Pathe director, tells one that is new. “Walking across the center of the street in leisurely fashion was a pedestrian,” says McCarey. “I had to apply my brakes quickly in order to avold hitting him with my car. though you. owned the. thoroughiare!” I shouted. ° sy “‘Yeah, and darn motorists go you o T B T o rep! as he on walking.” - { NOWING the tendency of some burlesque performers of the old school, as well as of some managers, to be lax in carrying out the intentions of the Mutual Burlesque Circuit in its effort to improve burlesque perform- ances, President Herk of that circuit has issued “General Order, No. 1,” which reads as follows: “Watch every moment of every per- formance. ten to your audiences. Move around the lobbles and foyers during intermissions and after per- formances and hear the comments of your patrons. Send the results in detail to this office, accompanied by all news- paper criticisms.” The Ups and Downs. ‘HE ups and downs of the actor’s life are amply revealed in a story con- trong, recently y, opposite Fannie Brice in forthcoming association is far from their first, it is disclosed, inasmuch as they appeared on the same vaude- ville bill many years ago. They were not in headlines—far from it. They were “seconds” on the bill, filling in the spots occupied by the weak num- bers. ‘The public displayed no great enthusiasm. Armstrong had just come out of the war, thoroughly broke, and Miss Brice had as yet failed to convince any one that she was the world's droll- est edienne. Both were fighting hard, struggling from humble starts on the stage. Ambition and application, none the less, won out, as they so often do in the story books., Today either of these players can give the merry ha-ha to whoover it was that had the big electric lights in those {u~lw:{ov-udevule days. It may have been a long trek, but it ended nicel : ¥ ly. Less Age for Fathers. N old precedent providing that Nk screen fathers shall have white hair Grifiith, Pathe director, who in a burst of initiative presents & cinema parent who is “well groomed, interesting, good- looking, handsome, youthful in face and figure, keen and alert,” and a many ufl;nr besides, not enumerated. ‘This modern father is said to express perfectly the average successful Ameri- can citizen in the late thirties and early forties—such & one, in brief, as we often nieet in real life but never on the SCTY n father that we all know,™ Grifmt a 'of marriage in the United een, “The: scree! says, “would indicate that the age States was late in the thirties instead | of early in the twenties.” i 4 something to be desired. | said of it that it was dealt & body blow by Edward | d RAY ALLEN- News WALTER HUSTON- Earle Gayety THE DRAMA ON BROADWAY By Percy Hammond. subjects the drama would shed its light upon. this season. Poli- disarmament, gin, finance, sex, the nineteenth amend- ment, peace and other themes were suggested as ripe for clarification, with the belief that one or all of them would be chosen. The stage, however, is the art of surprises, and instead of doing as we expected it to do, it takes our breaths away by turning what is known as its attention to murder mysteries and their probing. MESE columns were inquisitive not long ago concerning what tics, Statisticians of the theater tell me| that 12 new plays fllustrate the prog- ress of homicide and the difficulty of detecting its perpetrators. Almost every Broadway platform is consecrated to death by violence, until it seems that the drama is an inquest, rather than n_art. An ingenue is slain in Mr. han’s “Gaml " a_ British army officer in “Soldiers and Women.” The bleeding carcass of an elderly spiritual- ist confronts us in “Remote Control” and in Miss Elsie Ferguson's “Scarlet Pages” a pure New York girl sheds the blood of her foster-father. Mr. Tyler's “Houseparty” pictures some gay mis- haps in the career of a boyish coliege man, and Mr. Woods' “Murder on the Second Floor” deals, though trivially, with throat-cutting in a Bloomsbury boarding house. “Philadelphia” and “Hawk Island,” they say, are steeped in ation, reeking with blood and retribution. * ok ok ok R. WOODS, the importer and pro- ducer of “Murder on the Second Floor,” is notorious for his patience with the dramatic critics. No matter how ill they creat his enterprises he grins and bears them. From the dramatic reviewer’s rosebed he only asks a thorn, and when he gets it he is grateful. Forbearance is among the most prominent of his virtues, the «crowning quality of a Broadway show- m:fi great heart. Other managers, resMtful of the errors of the press, re- move their advertisements and banish the offending scribblers from their theaters. Why, they ask with unan- swerable logic, should you criticize our. reduct. But Mr. Woods seldom, if ever, nurses & wrong. He was 2 little miffed at me 1ast week for not understanding “Scarlet Pages.” However, after I had expressed my enjoyment of his “Murder on the Second Floor,” he renewed the amic- able relations. So now we are just as arm-in-arm as manager and critic ever were, my impudences forgiven, in- sincerities forgot. It scems that the pleasure I took from\Mr. Woods’ “Murder on_the Sec- ond Floor” was illegitimate. - I thought it a jovial prank, a literate .and an ingenious frolic in melodrama, impish in a routine way and more than usually amusing and well acted. Nevertheless, Mr. Mantle denounced it as:“below par,” and Mr. Anderson wrote that it “left » Mr. Atkinson ‘not worth the labors of importation,” and Charles Darnton described - it as “drab and ull.” Walter Winchell frowned upon it as “frail, tedious and unexciting.” John Mason Brown declared it “strange- ly wasteful and inept,” and Mr. Lock- ridge darned it by saying that it was “mildly enjoyable.” It “bored and irritated” Mr. Littell and to Mr. Seldes it was but “One Key to Baldpate.” Of it Mr. Bolton wrote thdt “there isn’t an ounce of real worth in it.” Mr. Garland in a priceless com- Do s, “iacest and ness” e “incest and degeneracy” Faughingly, poohepeohed. 1t was “siokum -] was ‘hokum i ice of testimony against “Murder on the Second Floor,” 3 its “subdued tasti- | prop I bow out, confessing that my judg- ment is bad, e:er; K'my taste is good. * 1SS MARY NASH, a handsome actress, appeared last Monday night in a flimsy riddle by Lee Wilson Dodd, entitled “The Strong Man's | House.” In it she is a roguish nurse ;whm hile ministering to_the afflicted, is not averse to crime. Having led & | hard life, full of injustices, she is out | for reparations. Upon her gonfalon | she has replaced the Red Cross with the double cross. Therefore she pilfers an incriminating letter from a dying patient and demands hush money. This evidence of her determined character impresses the sick man and he pleads with her to become his daughter-in- law. He is a tough parent and his son, a dreamy idealist, is in need, he thinks, of her iron influence. It is his theory that marriage with a blackmailer will make the boy a better man. But the old father's scheme goes awry. Instead of changing the poet into a satyr, she herself is turned by him into something resembling a noble woman. In a rickety maze of plot, scenes, conversations and roles, she tries her best to remain a cheat, and |in the end is overcome by love. It seems that in the construction of “A Strong Man's House” Mr. Dodd lost his way, confused by the devious surround- | ings of the drama. It is too bad, since | Miss Nash is looking so well and per- | forming so earnestly in a play that was intended to be the mouthpiece of a serlous message. . How's Your German? TURN about is fair play. American film patrons who have considered, perhaps with some sympathetic emuse- ment, the plight of foreign audiences listening to American-made talkies, will now have an opportunity in brief to learn how it feels. Word comes from the Fox lot that two of the climatic sequences in “The Sky Hawk” are com- pletely dialogued in German, the scenes taking place in the control car of a Zeppelin raider over London. ‘When Director John Blystone sketch- ed out the scene in advance, members of his technical staff protested, main. taining that German would be inco prehensible to American audiences and that screen license permitted the use of Engiish. Blystone, however, adhered to his decision. "X{ 4he actors play their parts prop- erly,” he said, “they will be able to con- vey their meaning with equal clarity whether they speak in German or Eng- lish or Chinese.” That Blystone's championship of the value of pantomime carried the day is evident, since the picture is soon to be released as he made ft. Visitors Permitted. SO&ND]E"][‘?;, which heretofore have en jealously guarded from the in- trusion of visitors, will be revealed in all their mystery when Paramount’s "Behind the Make-Up” reaches the public screens. During shots taken of Hal Bkelly, playing a talkie comedian, the lens shows all of the equipment, lights and divers strange properties used in making audible films. The press agent an- nounces that “for the first time since the introduction of sound to the screen the operations which have been carried Dnblbl:hmd closed doors will be made public.” Spectators will see the warning red lights, the suspended microphones, the boys and electricians at work, the script girls, directors, cameramen and whatnot, all in their appointed places. Furthermore, they will hear all the new ocalls and directions in talkle lingo which signalize the beginning of camera work on the huge stages.