Evening Star Newspaper, December 29, 1929, Page 55

an . Theater, Screen d Music AMUSEMENT SECTION Che Sunday Star, and Radio Motor, Aviation News Part 4—10 Pages DoLorESs COSTELLQ and » RuUDY VALLEE and SALLY BLAINE- /n “The Vaqabond Lover “ RKO ieirlé Drama Takes Breath—and Carries On. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Christmas holidays, never very responsible for theatric contribu- tifas, abandoned all care in the matter, so far as Washington is concerned, and turned over his- trionic activities td"the great gen- eral public. 5" * % k% The Christmas tree as a scenic setting and the good Yule saint as the chief figure in a splendid old morality play provided the annual reminder of human affec- tion and the will to do good. For many years the public has staged its splendid spectacle with feeble rivalry from the professional playhouse. This rivalry has grad- ually dwindled until there re- mains no active competition. The Christmas pantomime never gain- ed much of a footing in this country and any prospect that might have been held out for its recurrence as a feature of the great annual child festival has been effaced by the superior spec- tacular glorification of the revue. * * % % The holiday breathing spell, pending a readjustment of the theater as it speaks from Wash- ington, D. C, in terms of in- creasing significance as it be- comes increasingly a recognized part of the Nation’s business, finds in definite prospect a return to old conditions. The manager is no longer supplied automati- cally with attractions from week to week, but mus‘t exgrcm:o ad- viso! rsuagion in order se- cuunénpw:nal‘x?‘ment suitable to his clientele and to the particular passing season. Formerly there was one responsible theater, pos- sibly two, for the exploitation of human personality, and this is the situation to which the Nation’s Capital now returns. * *x x ®_ ° It is the privilege of the Na- tional Theater to recall a career of conservative distinction and to | command recognition as the house to which the public turns anew with confident expectation. Its management remained stanch in a devotion to traditional stand- ards and frowned upon the easy revenue to be obtained by cur- tains decorated with advertising or by devices of polite peddling in lobby or auditorium.. Through many a week battle was carried on against the expedient of “papering” the house in order to provide optical illusion. to cheer rehearsal-weary players. * ¥ ¥ % After long retaining the term “New” in its title, it now becomes habitually and affectionately greeted just as “the National Theater,” the old scene of dra- matic friendships, of seasons pro- claimed by the photographs upon the walls as extending far into the past. “ It took some little time to ar- irange it, but a fairly solid sched- |ule is now presented, with a new | play, “Trevelyn’s Ghost,” as the | hors d'oeuvres and a menu offer- ing such ‘substantial prospects as | Otis Skinner, Mrs. Fisk and the ever beloved William Gillette. * % ¥ X Gillette is one of the players who have made their way into high and enduring esteem with- out personal ostentation of any sort, with modest reliance more upon the actual material to be offered than upon artificial re- clame. He took the character of Sherlock Holmes, studied the stories of Conan Doyle and evolved a play which reflects the technique and method of the novelist as much as it does the | unmistakable facility of the trained dramatist. Some of the farces Mr. Gillette borrowed from the German, such as “Private Secretary” and “Too Much John- son,” were apparently designed Joxly for the passing laugh. This they secured with regularity which denoted expert craftsmaiship and Gillette, a thorough workman, was entirely content to let them go into the popular category with- out great literary assumption, satisfied with his own little mech- anisms of mirth and perhaps with a measure of well justified | self-appreciation because they clicked so perfectly. * ¥ X % And so, the National Theater is well in a position to wish its pub- lic, both the old friends and the new, a happy New Year, with tangible evidence of its prepared- ness to make the wish come true. “w " New “Tower" of Babel. CROBATIC dancers, like airplanes, must go regularly into the repair shop for overhauling, says Andre De Val, of the De Val Adagio Foursome, featured this week in the stage pres- entation at Loew's Palace Theater. In watching these former Ziegfeld artists bounce on their heads, do tail spins and Immelman turns, nothing would seem to be easier. But the fact is that not infrequently while they are on the stage they are stiffiing twinges of pain from sprains and bruises. The ‘most difficult part of rehearsals for the dancers was in making them- selves’ understood to each other. The customary “ally-oop” of European acro- bats served in every instance for giving directions at rehearsals, for they speak a varlety of tangues, De Val claims Paris as his home and naturally is par- tial to the French language. Luis Rosner, born in Rumania, speaks Aus- trian and German. Rudy Masson, na- tive of Argentina, has a natural incli- | nation for Spanish. The lone English- | speaking member of the team is Rene, who was born in Cleveland. ‘The Foursome appears in the presen- tation “Miami Nights.” Others in the cast are umgflm vmnm--donn;d; Burns and 3 ly singers, ai Horton -Spurr, eccentric dancer, besides the Chester Hale Girls. HESTER MORRIS - /> Second Choice” Earle WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MOR COLMANand ANN HARDING T Condered o G/umbfa P Those Hollywood Greeters. FTER the completion of “Con- demned,” Renald Colman'’s new all- talking drama, Dudley Digges, the The- ater Guild actor, who plays the part of Warden Vidal, was asked what he thought of Hollywood and the talkies, He said he was afrald of Hollywood. “I was rather terrified about my irip to Hollywood,” he said, “as I expected the work to be strange and difficult for 2 person whose sole experience has been on the legitimate stage. You can imagine my surprise when I found Hollywood and everything connected with the picture world thoroughly de- lightful. “For one thing, T was overjoyed to find myself in a place where every one was not dashing to a night club every evening. 1In Hollywood people have time to breathe and be polite. The cheerful camaraderie among the work- ers in the studios was a source of pleas- ant amazement to me. I was treated with a wholehearted hospitality ‘which I shall not soon forget.” “The Exquisite l)_oiores." TT was Howard Chandler Christy, fa- mous artist and connoisseur of femi- nine loveliness, who dubbed Dolores Costello, a_Warner star, “the exquisite Dolores.” It was at a dinner in Holly- 0od at which the artist overheard his wife and a woman guest trying to define the beauty of a girl whose name he had not heard. One of the women se- lected the adjective “exquisite.” “The one girl in Hollywood to whom the word exquisite belongs exactly and entirely,” said Christy, “is Dolores Cos- tello, just as the Prince of Wales once called Mrs. Robinson ‘the exquisite Per- dita’” And “the exquisite Dolores” she has remained. Her blonde hair, her large blue eyes, her peachblow com- plexion, her slender and graceful figure combine to make in her the ideal of the present style in feminine beauty. A few years ago, while she was hunt- ing a job at the Paramount studio on Long Island. James Montgomery Flagg saw her and persuaded her to pose for his illustrations for “The Skyrocket,” a story of a screen star by Adela Rogers St. Johns. Flagg said she fitted the heroine of Mrs. St. Johns' story more nearly than any one he had ever seen. The author, in describing her heroine, had written “very slénder, but with no bones anywhere.” Miss Cos- tello “The t” on the screen. Her latest Warner picture, “Second Cholce,” is now at the le Theater. MARY PHiLBIN- /n* The Shannons of° Broadway ” Rrelto i« 4 JOAN .~ TANYA- At-the Gayety NG, “ PuvLLis ; Povau- I Trevelyns Ghost” '» /\/af/'ofla/ h SALLYONEILL and MOLLY O'DAY- DECEMBER 29, 1929, TAGE and SCREEN &Cefle 7077 HoT for PARIS” /n*The Show of “Shows “Metropoliter row evening. ning. ning. PALACE “Navy Blues.” afternoon and evening. evening. Stage and Screen Attractions This Week NATIONAL—“Trevelyn's Ghost, GAYETY—(Burlesque) “Speed Girls.” This afternoon and eve- METROPOLITAN—“Show of Shows.” FOX—"“Hot for Paris.” This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. EARLE—“Second Choice.” This afternoon and evening. R-K-O KEITH'S—“The Vagabond Lover” (second week). RIALTO—"“The Shannons of Broadway.” COLUMBIA—“Condemned.” This afternoon and evening. " farce comedy. Opens tomor- This afternoon and eve- This This afternoon and Young and Old Like Him. ILLIAM GILLETTE is now com- pleting his farewell to New York in “Sherlock Holmes."” One of the interesting things about the engagement is that the Saturday matinees have been sold out weeks in advance. There has not been a seat unsold at any Saturday matinee, and there have been as many standees as the fire law permits. This is considered an evidence that not only is the older generation interested in the farewell performances of this distinguished ac- tor but that the young folks are also clamoring to see the idol of their elders. And that this is true is said to be shown by the fact that entire families, rang- ing in age from youngsters to folks who have reached the age of threescore years and ten, can be found in the audiences. . After all, “Sherlock Holmes” is and has been the ideal detective of every boy and every girl since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle began writing his famous storles, many years ago. There is an illusion, a mystery, a fascination about the tall, slight, brittle figure as epito- mized by William Gillette that has made Sherlock and his good friend, Dr. Wat- son, bywords in all parts of the world. ‘That was the reason ‘“‘Sherlock Holmes” was chosen for Mr. Gillette's farewell. No other character is more closely associated with any actor than is Sherlock Holmes with the dean of American actors. None, indeed, is _as much Mr. Gillette's own as_this. The Gillette tour, planned by A. L. Erlanger and George C. Tyler to cover the prin- cipal cities of the United States, will conclude in the late Spring. Community Drama Guild. THE Community Drama Gulld of Washington is completing plans for the Fourth Annual One-Act-Play Tour- nament of the District of Columbia, to be held from January 22 to February 7, and likewise is sponsoring a one-act playwriting contest, which will offer a Pprize, with the possible production of the winning play. This guild also will complete shortly the arrangements for the production of a second full-length Play, “The Honeymoon,” by John Tobin, OB February 28 and March 1, at Mc- Kiniey Auditorium. " The casting committee of the guild, headed by Maj. Philip Hayes, will meet With the directors of the various drama clubs and groups in the city January 2, at the offices of the Drama Guild in the Pranki n Building, for_the wkr;ofll?m%nz definite mittee that all m‘;"%fimim in the city will send in a list of names of players in their respective groups who may be eligible and available and that themselves will attend the ‘There' are 13 roles tn “The Honey- |piay moon” of varying importance, nine men » and four women, and directors are asked to read the play prior to the end of December, in order that in cast- ing the best players may be fitted into suitable roles. It is the plan of the casting commit- tee also to form an advisory council of all group directors, to assist in the se- lection of players for all guild produc- tions. The members of the casting commit- tee of the Community Drama Guild are Maj. Philip Hayes, chairman; Mrs. Albert Baggs, Miss Anne Ives, Rev. J. L. Kilkenny, Mrs. David Kushner, Capt. Ray C. Montgomery, Mrs. Anne Tillery Renshaw, Rev. Earle Wilfley. The committee on the Yllyw'm.lng contest is headed by Dr. Paul Kaufman of American University, and includes Dr. DeWitt C. Croissant of George Wash- ington University, Miss Sarah E. Simons of the public schools, and Mrs. John Otto Johnson of the Arts Club of ‘Washington. The manuscripts of one- act plays sent to this committee and will be judged by a committee of drama and literary authorities. ‘The playwriting contest is open to all persons in the District, the metro- politan area of Maryland and Arlington County, Va. Marie Moore Forrest, executive seere- tary of the guild, announces that all groups desiring to enter the one-act tournament must send their formal application in on or before January 4. . B . . Bob' Downing Up and Doing OBERT DOWNING, famous trage- dian in his day and unmistakably of Washington, origin, where to scores in all walks of life he is familiarly and often affectionately recalled as “Bob" Downing, is arranging a transconti- nental tour in “Damon and Pythias,” for which he is building an excellent production, the play to be given, the announcement reads, “under the au- spices of the Knights of Pythias.” The announcement is made by Henri Gressitt, prominent among the leading press representatives of New York City, and carries with it excerpts of letters of commendation received from Su- preme Chancellor Alvin M. Lumpkin, Past_Supreme Chancellor William La- dew, Supreme Keeper of Records and Seals Harry M. Love and Mayor Wil- liam F. Broening of Baltimore, Md. In his halcyon days Mr. Downing made “Damon and Pythias” famous in his classical repertoire, which also in- cluded “Spartacus the Gladiator,” “Vir- ginius,” “Othello,” “Julius Caesar” and “Ingomar.” He was assoclated with America’s' most famous actress, Mary Anderson, until she left this country to take up her home in England, and later with Joseph Jefferson and other people of the stage whose names adorn the Hall of Fame of the American theater. Greta Begins to Talk. GRE’I‘A GARBO has completed her first talking picture, which doubt- less will be of interest to a large per- centage of screen fans. It is a new version of Eugene O'Neill's “Ann Christie,” which was done a few years ago in the silent films, with Blanche Sweet in the title role. Immediately after conclusion of the production, which will be released early in the year, the star began to remake the picture in German. Clarence Brown, who directed her in the Eng- lish production, is handling the German revision. The title itself probably will heighten interest in the picture. Miss Sweet made one of her most outstanding *performances in the silent version. The story concerns a generally “bad” wom- an who is purified through months of life on the sea. The success of such a silent film as “The Kiss,” in which Miss Garbo did excellent work, evidently convinced producers that she could not, with the fans’ consent, be shunted off to Eu- rope for good, which was a fate gen- erally hinted a few months ago. Her appeal; mysterious charm stays in the publ heart. ¥ ONiand MAR ALicE EAY one JUANITA ALLEN- Palace (57age) £ Fox (< Sfage) NW/ILLIAM HAINES a0/ ANITA PAGE- HANKS to the enterprise of the Theater Guild Studio—a sort of feeder to the parent organi- zation, after the manner of several “studios” of the Moscow Art Theater—you can now go to the Martin Beck Theater, and, without any of the bother of wangling a visa and traveling halfway around the earth, get, in the English version of the Soviet play, “Red Rust,” an authentic whiff of present-day Moscow air. The “Red Rust” of the play, which was first produced at the Moscow State Proletarian Theater in 1927, is the bru- tality, selfish sensuality and general animalism which began to eat into the party after the period of militant Communism—after the White armies were beaten, all organized opposition crushed and human nature no longer absorbed in a fight for mere existence began to assert itself. It is personified chiefly in the person of one Terekhine, a bully and brute, who rides rough shod over the less vigorous members of the ‘“cell,” finally drives his newest “wife,” an idealistic girl who believes devoutly in Communism—or wants to—and pas- sionately desires to combine Com- munism with * devotion to and from one man, to kill herself. This suicide brings to a head all the latest and hitherto ineffective dis- trust and hatred of the man who has used his party position to satisfy his own selfishness and brutality. The “cell” holds a trial, condemns Tereh- kine to expulson and, although tempo- rarily squelched by the other Bolsheviks of a central committee, keeps after the bully, and finally unmasks him through one of its woman members, and at the very last, at a cry for help from her, closes in on him and drags him away to the finish, which both it and the audience by that time are enthusiasti- cally convinced he richly deserves. In the nature of things no play so specialized in its locale and motivations could move an American audience as it may very well have excited spectators who were themselves actually living the life and facing the same dilemmas as the characters on the stage. The young actor of the studio play, however, with an intense—and almost too vociferous— earnestness. The whole thing is novel, and as & novelty, and & glimpse of present-day Russia, if not as drama in the ordinary sense of the word, it was as worth doing as it is worth seeing. * k% IT is high time to mention two su- perior musical shows—“Sons ©O' Guns” and “Fifty Million Frenchmen.” The so-called musical comedy is so standardized and so often a weariness that the spectator is likely to lose his balance when anything really fresh and clever comes along, but despite this danger, one feels secure in saying that here are two entertainments first class and decidedly worth seeing. “Sons O’ Guns” strikes us as just about what a musical comedy ought to be and nine times out of ten isn't. Its “kidding” of the late war is so sound and witty that it rises to the level The Broadway Offerings o Na\'/)/‘ Blues” Avkbce bert and Sullivan did to the politicians, warrlors, fashionable artists and other accepted bigwigs of theif day. The music is at once lively and charming and in the ingenious way in which the “Marseillaise,” our own war songs, the “dianas” played to bull- fighters are orchestrated into and out of its songs and marches, it every now and then has a.dramatic thrust unusual in such circumstances. The scenes and costumes are similarly successful in striking both eye and - intelligence, Everybody is good and both Jack Don- ahue as the entirely unroutine dough- boy and Miss Lily Damita as the French barmaid are way above the ordinary. Mr. Donahue always has a surprise up his_sleeve amd his tap dancing wouid eharm wild beasts out of, their lairs and make the thrush and skylark pause to listen, * K Kk “FIFTY MILLION FRENCHMEN" is slightly more in the routine man- ner than the other show, but its prin- cipals are clever. Cole Porter's lyrics are uncommonly ingenious and the whole show swift, generous and satis- fying. The scene is Paris and the action is made up of & sort of musical tour of that town, or rather the Paris which the tourist sees. There is an American family from Terre Haute and Ira Rosen and his wife from Battle Creek, both out to see the sights in their different ways, and a young Wall Street broker, who, to win a bet of $50.000 with one of his friends, engages to win his lady love—one of the daugh- ters of the Terre Haute papa—within a month, starting at scratch or behind it, voluntarily “broke,” without his let- ter of credit, his watch or even the loose change in his pocket. Then there is a war-worn lady buyer on her first visit to the city of lighe, and deter- mined, if possible, to “be insulted.” The Terre Taute heroine is played by the frueful and_refined—almost terrifyingly refilned—Miss Genevieve Tobin, and the young broker by Wil- liam Gaxton, who came to the stage by way of the University of Cfllllornrl. Mr. Gaxton is very funny—as a fake Oriental conjurer, an amateur gigolo and in other ways—and one of the things that helps to maks him so is that he really does look like a clean- cut, athletic, well heeled young denizen of “The Street,” with none of the la- de-da-air of the routine musical comedy dancing tenor or the manners of the old-style professional funny man. Wins Prize for So for Sound. Metropolitan Theater has been awarded the local prize for repro« duction of sound by the Exhibitors’ World-Herald, a leading trade journal, according to announcement by the Stanley-Chandall Theaters, operators of the house. Another Stanley - Crandall theater, the Tivoli, was given honorable men- fition in the list, which is drawn an- nually by the trade publication, which of legitimate satire, approximates, now and then, the sort of thing which Gil- - e 4 ‘The prize consists of a ue, is to be displayed in mepmy a of Metropolitan Theater. X