Evening Star Newspaper, November 10, 1929, Page 55

Theaier,. Screén and Music BEBE Dan AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star, WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 10, 1929. IELS <and JOUN BOLES- it RioR ita’ "\ RKO keiths « CARLTON and BALLEW- / ‘<Jhe Song Shop” Pslece (Stage) Emotional Playing Again Has Its Day. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. If Washington could provide an audience as New York so easily does, composed of producers, play- ers and theater students of all kinds, including the enthusiasts who delight to recognize the play- house as a means of artistic ex- pression, there would undoubtedly have been large assemblages to see and hear the Fay Bainter play, “Passions of Jealousy.” * ¥ ¥ % Its title hints of the French type of drama which lays down a topic and proceeds to expound with scrupulous erudition. Eugene Wal- ter, who is a master in compelling interest in the suffferings of a tor- tured feminine soul, might easily have found a better one with less suggestion of the formal caption of an essayist. | * k X % Fay Bainter has been content to deliver splendid acting, such as has won invariable praise, but did not hitherto enable her to make | a confident claim to position as| the foremast emotional actress of her day. To a new generation she brings & type of bygone genius and, among those who know; will be found worthy of discussion in the same terms as were applied to Clara Morris, whose delineations of the heart-stricken heroine held matinees spellbound when the “Emotional Drama” was a school of drama unto itself. Had Jeanne Eagels survived she would have ranked as Bainter's one emotional rival; even though handicapped in'a strange way by phenomenal success which held her to a single portraiture which years ago began to render her weary and fretful. | Success may have shackles as| well as laurels. * % % X If Fay Bainter showed some pa- tience in her expectation of a big moment of recognition, the pro-| ducer of her present play, A. H.| Woods, has shown none less. He| studied his theater from the AB C French authors have previously made the experiment of reducing the cast of characters to three only. Grace George produced a three-character play at the old Garrick Theater, then under man- agement of Stoddard Taylor, but now obliterated by the march of the Seventh street emporium. It was entitled “To Love.” Opposite Grace George played Norman Tre- vor, deceased only a few days since. This play by Louis Verneuil goes a step farther and reduces the list to two: Yet the eterna! triangle cannot be dispensed with. The “serpent” who destroyed ideal devotion in Eden long ago still hisses and coils and provides fruits carrying irresistible tempta- tion, is compelled to remain un- seen, If an actor were to assume the Part in person, he might find coveted glory if he succeeded in carrying with competence a role that would be so exacting. * ok ok ok ‘The apex of the eternal triangle, the roue with another’s wife in his power, is not made visible. This fact removes a danger that might threaten the equilibrium of prestige in the presentation Should an actor playing this role have made as conspicuous a study of it as Richard Mansfield made of Baron Chevrial in “The Pa- risian Romance”—in which the| baron was designed only as a subordinate character—he might Motor, Aviation and Radio In [fox SPage) LEONARD LOAN and LYNN FONTANNE - I Caprice” /Vafiona/ JAMES MURRAY and MARY NOLAN- /n “Sh angh ai Lady“ Ratfo MORAN and MACK- /7 | *Xhy Bring That Up"? Colwmbra Armistice Day in Warner Bros.' Theaters ARMIST!CE day, ‘November 117 will be an anniversary of gayety and rejolcing in the Stanley-Crandall chain | ], have duplicated the Mansfield hit and shared honors even with Bainter herself. * X ¥ X The Mansfield story is old and perhaps tinged with fiction, for theater press agents “were giants in those days.” It ran to the ef- fect that Mansfield consented to take the role only on condition that he be permitted to make it up and play it precisely in_accord with his own ideas. It was of theaters of this city and in all thea- throughout the country. Since the wild, hysterical merry- making which marked the first Armis- tice day, 11 years ago, there has been a tinge of sorrow. * Believing that Memorial day is the term it, and that Armistice day is @ appropriate occasion for the joyful cele bration of the return of peace—victori- ters under direction of Warner Brothers | | Drury Lane Theater there. a tendency to color Armistice day with | fitting “day of the dead,” as the French | thought that this would make but little difference in the general plans for the performance, but he made the character the one out- standing hit on the first night and eventually included it in his own permanent repertory. * Xk X X Most comedians who did not| work in solo were content to play in duo, like the Rogers brothers or Weber and Fields; going even fur- book of small priced melodrama, | and by a sturdy devotion to ideals | of his own, secured promotion in popular esteem grade by grade| until he becomes a fitting sponsor | for this play, distinguished by | unique form and artistic hazards, | calling for the most minute dis-| crimination in effect. * * * ¥ ‘Whether or not the “Passions of Jealousy” throngs the auditorium, the fact remains that it appeals most intensely to the interest which takes the theater seriously. and will be thought of and dis- cussed even in the event of iis giving place in course of time tc some creation of more obvious and more popularly alluring quality. Apart from its compulsion as an example of stage emotion, the Bainter play has fascination even to the cynic who may have lost sympathy with the make-believe sorrows of the footlights. It is a searching study in dramatic tech- nique, {couragement in experienced i ter, which, like those of the Thea- ther back, Robson and Crane or Evans and Hoey. The Marx brothers offer a quartet, a style of organization in evidence most conspicuously hitherto in the per- sonnel of the four, Cohans. If it were not for such laughing suc- cesses as “Animal Crackers” it might not be so easy to find en- sources to sponsor financially plays of the more serious charac- ter Guild, assume a frank inde- | pendence of the box office. * % %k % “Caprice,” the closing chapter of the Theater Guild Autumn se- | rial story in Washington, will be | presented this week. The guild's | offerings hitherto have been marked by extraordinary versa- tility combined with a finesse ex- tending to the most minute detail and enabling the art of the per- formances to assert itself above and beyond even their revelations of lavish beauty. 3 A understands ous—the Stanley-Crandall theaters will do their utmost this year to bring back some of the happy carnival spirit of November” 11, 1918. The management of the Stanley- Crandall theaters believes that the Washington public will co-operate in assisting to make Armistice day a time for laughter, song and cheer, and the | November 11 programs in,all Stanley- Crandall houses will be designed to this | end. picturcsqu‘e‘é"@hai. USK in Shanghai, with the pic- turesque glamor and mystery of the East! The other side of the world, where almond eyes peer into the faces of white derelicts, where silks and satins soften the harshness of nature, where oriental dives furnish the setting for the lure of abandoned white femininity for the pitiful wreck or worthless hu- mmn{. Such is the strangely attractive back- ground for Mary Nolan, who has been called “the angel of the screen,” in her' colorful drama, “Shanghai Lady,” which Universal is sending for the delectation of its Rialto patrons durlnzi the current week. The exotic delights of the Orient are | woven in with the emotional thrill of | tense, powerful, rugged drama in a pic- ture, in which Mary Nolan is said to give' the finest performance of her career. It is a Pc!ure of China with its brightly colored paper lanterns swaying in the breeze, the China of mandarins and fans and inscrutable le, whose thousands of gclcn of civilization the people of the ident seem destined never to fathom, nor to ANTHONY BUSHELL- “Fiesta” etin - . ELsie DwaAN- /" Disraeli’ /k@frqao/?afl A?the Ga)/ev‘-)/‘ JoAN Artists of High Caste. don and made her first appearance on the stage in pantomime at the After playing in London and other English cities for @ number of years, she came to America at the request of Miss Laurette Taylor in 1918. During the next few years she played in “The Wooing of Eve,” “The Harp of Life,” ‘'Out There,” “Happiness,” “A Pair of etticoats,” “Some One in the House,” ‘A Night in Rome” and other plays. Her first real success was in the role of Duleinea in “Duley” in 1921. Fol- lowing that came “Sweet Nell of Old | Drury” and “In Love with Love.” Like Alfred Lunt, she joined the Theater Guild in 1924, and her first appear- ance under the Guild banner was in “The Guardsman.” Other appearances for the Guild that added to her fame as an artist include “Pygmalion,” “Jane Clegg.” “Arms and the Man,” “At Mrs Beam’s,” “Goat Song,” “Ned McCobb's YNN FONTANNE was born in lnn-‘ Daughter,” “The Brothers Karamazov,” “The Doctor’s Dilema” and ‘“Strange Interlude.” Alfred Lunt was born in Milwaukee, Wis. He attended Carroll College, but his family wanted him to go to Harvard. He went to Cambridge, but instead of going to college, got a job as an extra with the Castle Square Stock Company in Boston. That was hig first job. At the age of 20 he was playing heavy roles and also was stage manager. He toured in vaudeville with Margaret Anglin and Mrs. Langtry and also ap- peared in the former's Greek tragedies. In 1918 he appeared in Booth Tarking- ton'’s “The Country Cousin.” ~Then came his success in “Clarence,” by the same author; “The Intimate Strangers,” “Banco,” “Robert E. Lee” and “Outward Bound.” Mr. Lunt joined the Theater Guild in 1924, his first play being “The Guardsman.” Since then he has ap- peared in “Arms and the Man,” “Goat Song.” “At Mrs. Beam's,” “Quarez and | Maximilian,” “Ned McCobb's Daughter,” “The Brothers Karamazov,” “The Sec. ond Man,” “The Doctor’s Dilemma, \ “Marco Millions” and “Volpone.” Stage and Screen Attractions This Week. NATIONAL—“Caprice,” comedy by Sil-Vara, with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Theater Guild presentation. Opens to- morrow evening. POLI'S—“Little Accident,” comedy. Opens this evening. GAYETY—‘Jazztime Revue,” burlesque. evening. METPOLITAN—George Arliss This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and in “Disraeli,” talking picture. R-K-O KEITH'S—“Rio Rita,” musical-talking picture, with Bebe Daniels. This afternoon and evening. RIALTO—Mary Nolan in “Shanghai Lady,” talking picture. This afternoon and evening. EARLE—Colleen Moore in “Footlights and Fools,” talking pic- ture. This afternoon and evening. FOX—Lenore Ulric in “Frozen afternoon and evening. Justice,” talking picture. This PALACE—“Untamed,” with Joan Crawford; talking picture. This afternoon and evening. COLUMBIA—“Why Bring That Up?” talking picture, with Moran and Mack. (Second week.) This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. LITTLE THEATER—"Picadilly,” with Gilda Gray; silent picture. George Kélly’s “Torch- bearers."” | GEORGE KELLY, author of “The | ™2 Torchbearers,” which the Commu- | pity Drama Guild of Washington is glving its first presentations in this city next Thursday and Friday evenings, is a_prolific and brilliant playwright Among such works, however, as “The |Show Off," “Graig'’s Wife” and this season's “Maggle the Magnificent,” comedy on a little theater theme, stands as well known and as well liked as any. Kenneth MacGowan, who wrote a preface to “The Toarchbearers,” hap- pens to have recently concluded a coun- try-wide survey of amateur dramatic activities, speaks of Kelly as “a rare and precious figure in our theater,” and notes that Kelly’s work stands well up on the list of coast-to-coast successes. The Drama Guild's presentation of “The Torchbearers,” with some of the best amateur talent in Washingfon in the cast, | High School auditorium. Denis Conneil has directed the production. Thespuns En Voyage. OIN the movies and see the world! | Appatently no spot on earth is too remote for screen adventures, now that modern travel has brought the far- flung corners of the globe near enough to_Hollywood for practical purposes. Ramon Novarro went to the South | Sea Islands to make the “Pagan,” and | W.S. Van Dkye, who directed it now is | in" Africa with Harry Carey, Duncan Renaldo and Edwina Booth making “Trader Horn.” Nils Asther, as his first American film assignment, went to | England for “Sorrel and Son.” varro, by the way, also went to Italy to play the title role in “Ben Hur." Bessie Love, while she never went | abroad in film work, has conducted a | regular “See America Pirst” tour, hav- ing made pictures in almost every part his “Hallelujah” company all over the sunny South and then brought them to Hollywood to finish the picture, and “The Trail of '98” troupe to jour- ney from the Rocky Mountains to Chil- koot Pass in Alaska for snow scenes. ‘William Haines has jaunted all over the country in his screen career, drill- racing cars at Indianapolis and invad- ing several college campuses. Sea voyages have taken Greta Garbo, John Gilbert and Conrad Nagel away from the hum-drum studio.routine and any Kelly's “Torchbearers,” with its satiric | g, will be given at McKinley | | by Miss Gertrude Lawrence’s fragrant No- | | ungrateful when, of the United States. King Vidor took | ish ing with cadets at West Point, driving | V]’ CRAWFORD and frr By Percy G in its donations to our thea- i ter. | for some drama—*“Journey’s End"—is a gift from ‘The pensive “Many Waters,” reliable present, instructing too, is a tation. “Berkeley Square's” wistful “Rope’s End,” with its ingenious horrors, |belongs in any Christmas box. “The | Siiver ~ Tassie,” though damaged . in | transit, also has its precious -elements, a bitter partnership of reality and fan- tasy from the isle of Mother Macree, Despite the generosity of the afore- said alms, we have turned our noses up at some of the other largess from beneficent Albion. “Murder on the Second Floor,” a smart meyry-go-round, was rejected, as was “Scotland Yard,” a detective play, and “The Middle Watch,” a dull 'and decent pajama farce. “Candle Light,” though inflated gasses, was regarded as but a pink bal- loon easily punctured, ephemeral and scarcely worth while. Nevertheless, we are obligated to London for some of the best times to be had in the dirtiest, smokiest, gayest, most happy-go-lucky and slattern of the metropolises. There- fore, I think that Miss Lilllan Foster, an American actress in .London, was in a burst of red, white and blue indignation, she socked Hannen Swaffer, England’s pet dra- matic critic, upon his jaw. And I sus- pect that Oscar Asche, a dean of Brit- entertainment, other day when he denounced Ameri- can showmen as impolite, noisy, vulgar, indecent, ill-bred and barbarous. Let us forget those small hostilities and nestle comfortably in the binding grasp of hands across the sea. * k% x R. BALDERSTON'S stately ghost story, “Berkeley Square,” came from London and by its-gentle necro- mancy quite enchanted its first Ameri- can audience. The product of the number of desert trips have recently been undertaken. . Untamed” THE BROADWAY DRAMA REAT BRITAIN has been more, and J. C. Squire, it was & than usually liberal this year Although the season is new, it has sent us 10 plays, of which we should be grate- | fied for most of those present; and even ul. Our most cherished blessing in & |those who seemed slightly baffled were England, and we have to thank the‘ step-motherland for such joyous toys as “Bitter Sweet” and “Bird in Hand.” | & hasty public in the qulet pleasures of medi- | act and changed him from Peter Stand- was tactless _the | o News COLLEEN <~ MOORE- /n Footlights and Fools” Farle QOBEDT/V}ONTGOMERY- e gaCce Hammond. high-born play, whose patrician quality was en- hanced by the excellence of its perform- ance. Though not a simple exercise in metaphysics, its mysteries were clari- | made happy by its superiority as a tale. Leslie Howard was Peter Standish, a young American of today, obsessed by A passion for “the peace of old things.” {So ardently did he yearn for time to | turn backward that it did so in the first ish of New York, 1928, to his. ancestor, ;?ock. in the beguiling person of Leslie | Peter Standish of London, 1784. There oward, is no less than a boon, and | in the morning room of his cousin's | house in Berkeley, Berkeley Square, he gappurrd as a ghost from the future, | mystifying those around him with dis plays of clairvoyance. Having lived 170 years later, he was able to_foretell in- cidents in a manner disturbing to those |around him. Only his cousin. Helen | Pettigrew (Miss Margola Gillmore) was able to understand him. Joining her visions of the future to his of the past, she fell in love, and so did he. All of this was done by Mr. Balder- ston and the actors in an effortless fashion, with the supernatural elements | deftly hinted and never stressed. Mr. | Howard occasionally reached in his | pocket for his cigarette box and found instead a case inclosing an ancient da- guerreotype. He entered the house in | Berkeley Square through a keyhole, and although it was storming outside, his coat was dry and his boots immaculate. | He made himself noted as an epigram- | matist by quoting from Oscar Wilde |and Woodrow Wilson, and he horrified his lady-love by tellmzhher of the World | War. In that scene between him and | Miss Gillmore both players were ideal in their illustration of an eery romance Gillmore in her frightened. pen way, and Mr. Howard, the bea { lover, whispering to her of the mys- teries of time and sex. I believe that this was where the curtain came down }'Wlth Mr. Howard loosening his embrace and saying, “Never was there a kiss like that since the world bagan!” The play ended bravely on a note cf imellnc oly, with Peter Standish re- turned from the past, dismissing hi | g I | modern . lady-love and sighing over th Latin epitaph engraved upon the sem:’ cher of his sweetheart of 1784, Mr Howard excelled, as usual. as th likable young man. and there w-r Mormn{.‘ World's London correspond- ent, with suegestions from Henry James faithful impersonations' by Miss A'-» John as a battleship dowsz-r, ©