Evening Star Newspaper, December 1, 1929, Page 73

| Theater, Screen and Music Part 4—16 Pages Gary CoopPER. ang M ARY BRIAN- tr "The Virgiman* Columbia COLLETTE SISTERS- / “Sky Harbor” Palsce (Stge) Spell of the Unusual in the Play House. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Again that extraordinary enter- prise, the Theater Guild, has delved into the mentalities deeper than into the popularities with “Wings Over Europe,” another of the dramas dealing with social re- lationships. These dramas appeal in a satisfactory manner to the dissatisfied state of mind. * % X X A first far-away glimpse of the title hints of the possibility of the return to robust old melodramas like “Lights of London” or “The Black Flag,” modernized by plenty of fighting in the clouds to invoke the response of timely enthusiasm. Of all the plays recently dealing with , themes of materialisa, “Wings over Europe” is perhses the most mechanistic. It goes Be- yond the guild’s robot play in striking terror to the mind and is mercilessly obstinate in compel- ling an application of intelligent attention, which, easy enough for the trained technician in 2d- most any branch of science, is not particularly welcome to the audi- tor who insists upon the theater being limited to the responsibility of passing diversion. ik A “Wings Over Europe,” like the robot play, looks to the destruction of the human race by mechanical means. It goes further, however, in planning the annihilation by means of .the exploding atom .of the entire earth as it now exists. ‘While the logical process in the two plays is asserted on somewhat similar lines, the actual stage im- pression conveyed by “Wings” is wholly unique. x % 5 & This latest play ot theirs to be seen in Washington follows a ten- dency ereatly favored by the ‘Theater Guild to discard conven- iional restraints in dramatic con- ssruction in a manner calculated to drive the text book authors and teachers to the verge of despair. * x % If “Strange Interlude” was a defilance of accepted form, “Wings,” void of “heart interest” on the accepted lines of fiction and played by a cast composed en- tirely of men, is no less con- temptuous of academic rules. There is no cook book that can be relied upon to prepare a dainty dish to be set before King Popular Patronage. In criticizing conven- tions of society, plays of this type protest with a consistency more complete perhaps because not de- liberately designed against con- ventions of the drama. * *x x to extremes and being either in- tensely -intellectual or uncompro- misingly physical. It is a little too much to expect auditors to turn, at a week's notice, from the romp- ing gayeties of stage beauty queens to the serious deliberations which discuss philosophies and even elements of science so much apart from usual thought that they seem to threaten an eventual audience of large-browed and se- date thinkers assembled in limited number to witness an intensive dramatic discussion of the Ein- stein theory. * ¥ * x There is big drama in “Wings Over Europe”’—drama that clutch- es interest flercely in its arraign- ment of human power unable to proceed even with beneficent in- tention in ways apart from those of ancient habit. One of the striking scenes in the play is presented when the entire cabi- net at the council table is at last brought to believe that a boyish inventor can make good his threat to annihilate them, himself and with them the entire world in which they have been living. The nerve strain increases in the group that waits for the minutes to elapse. The men, once so overbearing and secure, are gradually reduced in broken pride to babeling panic, during which all their old repressions are aban- doned as they tell, in a desperation of contempt, exactly what they have been thinking in hatred of one another during all the years. * % % ‘The assassination of the youth- ful inventor to prevent him from destroying the world makes a saddening Incident as it shows the necessity of sacrifice as sanctioned by the law of self-preservation. The receipt of word from a scien- tific body that the same discovery has been made, with a message that airplanes are even now carry- ing the minute but deadly mech- anism for atom explosion over the city, cause new consternation, and when the “Wings Over Europe” are heard in their buzz of relent- less monotony, the group adjourns to make its way with all possible haste to gatherings whose purposc is a universal peace. * * ¥ % ‘The play is not an emotionalism designed to arouse well worn sympathies, but a hard, cold dem- onstration of what the human brain might accomplish if not re- strained by the human conscience. * X ¥ ¥ The opposite extreme in the ef- Play ‘producers insist on going fort to interest popular attention was evidenced by “The Amorous 4 AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star, WASHINGTON, D. GEORGE o S Tke €., TAGE and SCREE &6’6@ 77077 A " DracurLa® p SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 1, 1929, AnN HARDING - /n “Her Private A" Rislt+o National BANCROFT- Palace Has the Public Grown Up? IS today’s talkie public more discrimi- nating, more mature in its viewpoint than the public of an earlier day, which set the level of the frequently T&md‘ products of silent moviedom? Two recently expressed opinions seem to be in disagreement on the point, Jesse L. Lasky holds that “the public's mind today is very definitely mature. ‘There can be no doubt that the people who make up the motion picture audi- ences have come of age mentally, We dare do things in' pictures today that Antic,” which makes no scientific assumption, but discusses with free - for - all flippancies what everybody knows and what nobody any longer takes the trouble to profess being shocked about. * k X % The death of Raymond Hitch- cock throws a shadow of sadness over many friends he made in Washington. He was a strangc personality, not very acceptable as a legitimate star independent of music and dancing and yet fasci- nating in his drolleries when a suitable background was provided. He came most forcefully to at- tention as a legitimate actor wheu he played the innkeeper in “The Beaux’s Stratagem.” Yet even here he could not bind himself to a scrupulous respect for the text. He made the role all the more en- joyable because of his irrepressible interpolations. * X % % George C. Tyler, as he surveys the past for material worth preserv- ing in his own particular museum may finally become known in the theater world as the Henry Ford of the drama. He has brought forward many a pearl from the dust heap of time. * ko K Even so forgotten a work as “Beaux’s Stratagem” was well worth preserving. Under Tyler supervision it had a prophetic touch of value when: Fritzi Schefl’s charming little overture of her own in anticipation of her entrance on the scene easily pre- saged her return to light opera. we would not have dared a few years ago. We are progressing from a jazz age to a frank age. The desire for frankness and honesty in dealing with life displays & mental curiosity that is healthy and lively.” ‘What, then, is the opinion of Sidney Howard—the same Sidney Howard who wrote “They Knew What They Want- ed,” Pulitzer prize play of 1925, and Who has recently come from Hollywood, where he collaborated in producing a new Ronald Colman picture? Says Mr. Howard: “Motion pictures at present are calculated to appeal mainly to 14-year-old intellects, and such will be the case as long as present methods of large-scale production en- dure. When a producer invests half a million dollars in a' picture he has to build it to appeal to the widest number of people. You can't take a chance on interesting a limited part of the popu- lation. It's got to appeal to as many people as possible; ‘hence, its dramatic values are likely to be cheap, or at least inartistic. The great- appeal of the movies is not that of drama, it seems to me, but rather.of hero- worship, or dream worship. This intense personal worship is not a:good thing for the movles from an artistic point of view.” t is the real answer, then? Let u(l’l‘l'.";)‘: l;xe muvl‘ln'g\lb“fl, each piece, go conference himself and make the decision, each reader with e “Wescome Motor, Av rand Radio iation News “Paur Muni- b “Severn Faces"” CONWAY TEARLE and PAULINE _FREDERICK- /7 “Evidence” Earle LLOYD amd BARBARA KENT-/r Langer “Metropolrtan Fool Creations. TH! original vampires? Who they were and how and why their legends? Perhaps the reader will be interested in an amateur inquiry made into the ancient terrors of incubi and werewolves, vampires in Europe, from which Bram Stoker probably took the one in his famous story, “Dracula.” A certain monarch once wrote “King James’ Booke Against Witcheraft and Daemonologie:” His majesty, it seems, was wroth against an impertinent Ox- ford scholar who had sought to prove that “compacts and contracts of witches with devils and all infernal spirits or. familiars’ are but erroneous novelties and imaginary conceptions.” His maj- esty was awfully intent on burning the soles of old country folk until they “did dance ‘with the devil” and on driving pins under the fingernails of Stage and Screen Attractions This Week. NATIONAL—“Dracula,” mystery play. Opens tomorrow evening. BELASCO—Helen Shoeblack.” this evening. Menken and Leslie Banks in “The Infinite Opens tomorrow evening. POLI'S—Fritzi Scheff in Victor Herbert’s “Mile. Modiste.” Opens GAYETY—“Moulin Rouge Girls,” burlesque. This afternoon and evening. PALACE—George Bancroft in ‘This afternoon and evening. FOX—Paul Muni in “Seven Faces,” noon and evening. EARLE—Pauline Frederick in afternoon and evening. “COLUMBIA—“The Virginian,” Walter Huston. “The Mighty,” talking picture. talking picture, This after- “Evidence,” talking picture. This talking picture with Gary Cooper, This afternoon and evening. RIALTO—Ann Harding in “Her Private Affair,” talking picture. This afternoon and evening. METROPOLITAN—Harold Lloyd in “Welcome Danger,” talking picture. (Second week.) This afternoon and evening. R-K-O KEITH'S—BEBE DANIELS and John Boles in “Rio Rita,” talking picture. (Fourth week.) This afternoon and evening. LITTLE THEATER—“The Soul afternoon and evening. ©of France,” silent picture. This confessed themselves “malignant and infernal ghosts.” It was a time when all England (except one T, Unpopu- lar Oxford professor) belleved in vam- pires, and it was a time that would last for more than a century. As late as the reign of George IV it ‘was_common practice to bury English sulcides at crossroads with a stake driven through the chest; for suicides, of course, were automatically potential vampires. Then, even if the stake failed to pin the uneasy ghost down, the crossroads would bewilder it and it would. return, disgrugjtled, to its coffin. Not only were suibides liable to turn into vlm&l‘x’u Al suspected witches were eleof by unanimous vote when they died.” "Or corpses of the most in- nocent or upright might become be- witched before they went underground. Any ex-communicant of the church, any one cursed by parents or grandparegs, might expect to be a wandering and {frenzied ghost, an insatiable blood- drinker in his after life. You might have been a very saint when living, but if when you were laid out for your burial a cat were allowed to jump over your bier or a bird to cross the sky above it you were the stuff vampires are made of thereafter. There are annals officially recorded of a whole graveyard dug up and all the bodies spiked or burned to be rid of.an epidemic of vampires. The superstition still has power for mischief in Eastern Europe,. travelers write. Belgrade is famous for tales of vnmplre#mns and of their terribly wholesale irpations. That was_so.as late as 1832, mind you. The ipers of the day published it soberly. Remeniber that poor, distracted “Can- terville. Ghost,” invented by Oscar Wilde, who, as a last resort against a parcel of un;auth Ame{é:lmu.l nr:‘::e -Ir- rangements for appearing * cele- brated " impersonation of ‘the Vampire Monk; or, The Bloodless Benedictine,’ " a performance so horrible that when old Lady 'Startup saw it, which she did on the fatal New Year Eve in the year 1764, she went off into the most plercing shrieks, which culminated in the most violent apoplexy, and died in three days, after disinheriting the Can- tervilles, who were her nearest rela- MAXIm ZINDER- Fox \(52'6”6’740/7/» . "Rio Rima’ RKO Kt Associzte Conductors of” Fox Grand Orchestrs NATIONAL—“Dracula.” ‘The theatergoer who enjoys a quick- fire é:rocesslon of super-thrills, surprises, shudders and sensations will find in “Dracula,” Horace Liveright's mystery play which opens at the National Thea- ter tomorrow night, with matinees Wed- nesday and Saturday, just what he is searching for. Mystery plays have been produced on previous occasions and have been successful in bewildering and amazing ail who have seen them, but never before, it is claimed, has there been a play so unique in-its theme, so remarkablé ‘in its Is, and so com- pletely overwheiming in every respect staged Ameri in ica, It is founded on Bram Stoker's navel that has -thrilled two- generations with the enchanting horror .of its story, the mystery of its unfolding and the sus- pense of its climax. The dramatization was made by Hamilton Deane, and the play, now in its fourth year, is still go- ing in London. In the cast of “Dracula” will be seen Marjarie Devoe, Terrence Neill, Wal- lace Widdecombe, Lester Alden, Alec | Harford, Carl Reed, Joan Colburn, Ray- mond Huntley and Virginia Wallace. GAYETY—"Moulin Rouge Girls.” Benny “Wop” Moore, versatile Italian comedian, is featured with “Moulin Rouge Girls,” which in its new edition opens at the Gayety Theater this week. Nanette Dailey, a.brunette beauty, is the starred soubrette, and these two are surrounded by as competent a support- ing cast, including Ned Fine, Hebrew comedian; Pom Fairclough, singing straight man; Jess Mack, juvenile lead; Cecil Reed, soubrette; Madeline Mc- Evoy, prima donna with a sweet sing- ing voice; Jean Lee and Sam Rice, jr. One of the high spots of the enter- tainment is a skit, “The Sign of the Rose,” in which Moore and several of his aides &resent an act that for sheer human interest and absorbing detail is said to outrank anything of its kind in Mutual Burles(tx!e. A chorus of beautiful girls is a boast of this show. Matinees for ladies will be given to- morrow, Wednesday and Friday. PALACE—George Baneroft in “The Mighty.” George Bancroft in “The Mighty”. s the screen attraction at.Loew's Palace this week. He is said to have one of the greatest roles of his career in the Paramount talking production, whose cast includes Esther Ralston, Warner Oland, Raymond Hatton, Dorothy Revier and O, P. Heggle. The story concerns Blake Greeson, a tough gunman, who is drafted for the war, but throws his call in the waste basket. Four M. P.s finally force him into the service and a chap named Patterson becomes his buddy. Patter- son is killed, but.not before he gets Greeson's promise to tell his folks he In Capital Theaters instinct. In fulfillment of his promise to Patterson he goes to the latter's home town and is received as a hero, He is offercd the position of commis- sloner of public safety, and to further his unlawful career he accepts. Mean- while he has met his buddy's sister, who, unknown to him, knows his past. She by various methods tries to bring out the gocd in him.: The girl's efferts ultimately are rewarded when Greeson has a change of heart and swoops down on a nest of gangsters and, with two- score mounted police, captures the criminals, Allan' Rogers, new ‘master of cere- monies, is presented in the lavish unit, “Sky Harbor,” which features Herschel Henlere in a specialty act. Others in- clude the Collette Sisters, dancers and singers: Jimmy Ray, eccentric dancer; Cleo Floyd, -acrobatic dancer, and Nick Lang and Fred Hughes, singers. The Hearst Metrotone News, Harry Borjes and the Palace Orchestra, with a com- edy, short subjects and Charles Gaige a4 the organ, complete the bill, FOX—Paul Muni in “Seven Faces.” Paul Muni will be seen at the Fox Theater this ‘week in “Seven Faces,” a Fox Movietone production wHerein Mr. Muni portrays seven distinct char- acters. Mr. Muni will ap) in conjunction with his screen per- formance during the week. As lovable old Papa Chibou, eare- taker of the Pratouchy wax works, who wouldn't let Napoleon out of his sight, Paul Muni is said to have a role of unlimited opportunities. The Fanchon and Marco “novelty” will be the stage offering, with John Irving Fisher as master of ceremonies. The Fox Orchestra will resume a series of overtures from the older classics and the Fox Movietore News in sound and pictures will complete the program. ar in person also EARLE—Pauline Frederick in “Evidence,” Pauline Frederick, the well known dramatic actress, is pictured at the Earle this week in the Warner Bros. vleu?h(;nf t{?nm;'e; “Evidence.” It f: a colorful tale of London sogiety. Miss * Frederick = af 'asw Myra Stanhope, divorced e of Lord Cyril ‘Wimborne—divorced an - circumstantial evidence which linked her name with that of Maj. Pollock,’ hotorious profli- gate. Driven from her home .and her son, the humiliated woman. is drawn back by mother love, which enables her to & winning campaign against apparently insurmountable odds for her good name and for the love and respect of her child. The story is filled with = suspense, enhanced” by crisp, tre;}c‘hlnc :lmotue. e cast suppo: Miss Frederick includes Wulhmmn‘ 3 lmv:ll tives, and leaving all her money to her London apothecary? ) . had died a brave man. Fitm a private | She: Greeson emerges from the war a major Francis, Ivan Simpson, Lionel Belmore, and a national hero, due to his gunning = e rman, Conway Tearle, Alec B. (Continued on Second Page.)