Evening Star Newspaper, February 9, 1930, Page 57

AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sundiay Star, WASHINGTON, Motor, Aviation and Radio News Theater, Screen and Music Part 4—14 Pages D. STAGE and SCREEN C., SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 9, 1930. T Scere ;@m *SevenDAYS LEAVE [lsce FRITz LEIBER ans ViRoiNA : BRONSON-/r [ % Richard m1 ~ /Oo//é Mr.2na Mrs.MarTIN OUNSON- /7 Across fhe World [RAMON NOVARRO atons/ and Qom‘ruydopoou- /n " Devil May Gare" Vumbiz PAULINE FREDERICK s/ CONRAD NAGEL - /n N The Sacred Flame” /\/\e-i-r-opol i+an -Substantial Trend Toward Palmy Days. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The tendency of the theater to get back to first principles asserts itself with gathering force as 1930 progresses at a reliable pace through the blizzard belt toward the vernal setting where the early robin sings of the approaching time of circuses, ball games and other forms of entertainment re- liable and time-tried—not forget- ting the National Summer Stock Company already in activec prep- aration for season No. 6. * X ¥ X The stock company’s record is a remarkable one, pointing to the permanency of reward afforded straightforward and conscientious endeavor. Few road companies can look forward to a sixth season with the same confident expecta- tion that marks the approach of this organization. * % * ¥ New personnel in old favorites constitutes the order of the hour. Manager L. Stoddard Taylor has taken occasion to announce that the “farewell appearance” of “Blossom Time” is bona fide this time. This is not especially good mews, and it is comfortable to re- flect that even the wisest and 08t experienced managers are often mistaken in estimating the future of a long-established favor- dte. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” has been slated for retirement for a half century and,. adding more ‘Topsies and Lawyer Markses and umph in the prosperous return of “The Strange Interlude,” other- wise known as “The Extraor- dinary Irgermission.” * k kX The strictly businesslike thea- ter has attempted the subscrip- tion idea, but on lines of very practical severity, which required ticket agencies to buy for weeks in advance, although it was cer- tain that some of the attractions would not sell the entire audi- torium to the general public. The custom required some very neat bargaining with play patrons and has been challenged frequently. A law of supply and demand, how- ever, asserts itself in theater tickets as well as in more prosaic articles, and the collection of ex- tra profits or the adjustment of occasional losses is likely to bring the problem forward for a long | time in the cities where the large transient population relies on the stage for diversion. The Theater Guild did contrive to revive the custom by which an auditor chose his own seats at the box office and paid directly to the management. * ok k% Tribute was paid to the palmy day theater in New York’s recent experiment which presented some of the old thrillers, both in melo- drama and spectacle, in Hoboken. It found vogue for a while, some of the patrons intimating that they had never known exactly more bloodhounds, has gone on|where Hoboken was and were go- getting bigger and worse. * ¥ % % As the play house reverts to type, the name Aborn asserts it- s{fie side by side with that of Vic- tor Herbert in reminder that Scomic_opera still commands a Joyal following. There can be no inore emphatic evidence of return to the legitimate than the an- nouncement of Mr. Leiber’s exclu- ‘sively Shakespearean repertory, with a change of bill at each per- tformance. * % % % ‘The Theater Guild, after con- tradicting the customary methods of the play house, proceeding on its own lines of advanced sub- ing for the ride. Whether or not this enterprise will eventually weather the vicissitudes that al- ways threaten novelty in the play house, the experience will be worth something. No real theater manager was ever a truly great financier. The productions which a veteran remembers with most Prlde are those which, as they eft him richer in fame, found him depleted in purse. * % % % One of the significant revivals in the theater is the neatly let- tered placard announcing the re- duced scale of prices, with the $3 mark at the top of the financial thermometer even with the warm- ;scriptions and heart-to-heart pub- inc!t.y. registers a resounding tri- est attractions. The Summer sea- son will go still further in its ' SINGER MIDGETS - 5 Scere fiom A “HiTthe Deck” oEOX (O7575) = g =Y BarBARA o KENTH JheNight Ride Riatto RKO. keiths “Cannon Ball" Tommy. TO be the first “human cannon ball” is no mean achievement. To be any kind of a cannon ball at the age of 11 is another. And to have been cat- apulted from the mouth of a cannon all the way up and down the Missis- sippi is something that the most im- portant of celebrities might find hard to compete with. ‘Tommy O'Brien, who in this day and age is one-fourth of the “Runaway Four” act this week at the Palace, which has electrified audiences for the past 15 years, is the proud gentleman who lays claim to having been the origi- nal missile flung from an angry cannon. Instead, however, of terminating his flight through space by dropping peace- fully in & net or a pool of water, in those debonair days of Mississippian traffic, he landed in the arms of his! father and then went into a hand-stand for a “finish.” palmy-dayward course, and ac- cept a $20 bill in payment for two orchestra seats for an entire sea- son of 10 performances. In addi- tion, the good old standby, the or- chestra, will be stanchly in evi- dence to attune the march toward old cordialities that enabled audi- ences to become personally ac- quainted with the players, and to find relaxation between the acts in the strains of the latest music. All this means the kind of theater that produced the majority of the works that still retain their popularity with those who enjoy the theater in its simple straight- forward expression. The Leiber Engagement. CHICAGO. proudly patting itself on|the enthusiastic cries of an enthusiastic the back for having thought of such a thing, has sent out on the road its civic Shakespearean company, with Fritz Leiber. That this organization, much praised in the chilled Lake Michigan regions, should be coming to Washing- ton for the brief space of a week is an event that should deeply interest lovers of the legitimate drama in Washington. Mr. Leiber himself is no fledgling in the art of Elizabethan expression. For close on to a quarter of a century he has been steeped in the lore of “myriad- minded Shakespeare.” That he has come to be the foremost exponent of the Bard of Avon is a generally recognized corollary to his excellency as an actor. The committee that shaped the career of this new company unanimously picked Mr. Leiber as the one man, in the coun- try whose gifts fit himdfor its out- standing representative. To be the head of such a company, to be its chief actor and its chief director, and to cull public, is no mean achievement for any man. It is a fact. however, that from the West Coast to the East the news- papers have been singing the praises of this distinguished gentleman. The nightly metamorphosis that Mr. Leiber undergoes is a considerable feat. From the satanic Iago to the super- sensitive Hamlet, from the crafty Sher- lock to the cross-gartered and giddy- stockinged Malvolio, are steps possible to no one but the most seasoned actor. That his Hamlet is one of the highest peaks of Thesplan art and that his Malvolio is one of “the best laughs of this theatrical season” is the report that has wended its way from the “bandit” city. The capabilities of an actor to evoke such praise must necessarily be great. And, be it remembered, Leiber's aim is to present Shakespeare as enter- tainment, not as education—an innova- | tion that is likely to grow upon the average theater patron. Stage and Screen Attractions This Week. NATIONAL—“Across the World With Mr. and ‘Mrs. Martin Johnson,” motion picture. shown twice daily thereafte: POLI'S—Fritz Leiber, in “Hamlet.” Opens this evening and to be 3 Opens tomorrow evening. GAYETY—"Frivolities,” burlesque. This afternoon and evening. FOX—“Harmony at Home.” This afternoon and evening. PALACE—“Seven Days’ Leave.” This afternoon and evening. RIALTO—“Night Ride.” This afternoon and evening. COLUMBIA—“Devil May Care.” This afternoon and evening. EARLE—“Sally” (second week). This afternoon and evening. R-K-O KEITH'S—“Hit the Deck” (fourth week). This after- noon and evening. METROPOLITAN—“The Sacred Flame” (second week). This afternoon and evening. LITTLE—“The Red Dancer.” This afternoon and evening. ARILYN MILLER- /n"Sally” S " ETHELALBERTINA At the Gayety "sdly" a Fine Picture. "SALLY," the Pirst National Vita- phone picture, starring Marilyn Miller and ed entirely in natural color, has broken all records at the Earle Theater. In consequence the management has set aside its policy of limiting a picture to one week only. An analysis of “Sally” is said to show the reasons why: It is one of the most popular of American musical |shows of the stage. . 1Its adaptation to the screen was care- fully made by First National Pictures. Its Vitaphone record of dialogue and songs is considered without flaw. Its cast was chosen from the highest Alexander Gray, Ford Sterling, Pert Kelton, Joe E. Brown and T. Roy Barnes. It was photographed in its entirety by the improved Technicolor process, with the most costly sets ever con- strueted for a talking picture, and it retains not only the. best songs of the stage version of “Sally,” but some tune- ful new hits. ‘These are c:;l’:red by the :;ll}wmmnt as a few of reasons wl ashing- ton fell in love with “Sally.” |“Willie™ Collier in a Talkie. 'ROM an infantile callboy of 11 years, rapping fugitively on the door of one Augustin Daly, to the star of many dozen - Broadway ‘comedes, is the envi- able record:of William Collier, sr., now an actor for the first time r‘g,\: al talkies in “Harmony at Home," T Guietty, Jsoring the gl f th Quietly ignor: e glamour of the talking film since its L(l.nn\nl. Mr. Collier now steps beside his familiar celluloid son for his-initial debut in this new medium. No sooner did he begin to speak before the harsh ear of the microphone than he began, like Will Rogers, to do a little of what is known as “ad libbing”; In other words he was unable to refrain from cracking into the dialogue. The director had the good sense to record it and as a result, admgirers of Mr. ing to Holl report, new evidence paid players, and includes Miss Miller, | B Collier will find, accord- |1, o Palace RUNAWAY FOUR- - &7age) CAMERA strongly secured to the back of a truck is the parapherna- lia with which Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson “shoot” their jungle scenes. A far cry this from the myriad lights and the multiple mechanical devics ‘which clutter up a set in Hollywood. With the truck facing in the op site direction to the path of the hoped- for animal, so that in an emergency a Speedy retreat ¢éan . be effected, Mr. Johnson manipulates the camera while his wife stands guard with a rifle. This in their first in their most the method adopted film, “Simba,” and also recent travel record, “‘Across the World with Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson.” That there 15 never a retake possible is obvious from the fact that when one of the wild beasts oversteps the Prefer Jungle Methovd"s. mark, or. wants to come & frifie too near the camera when he is ha & close- up taken, Mrs. Johnson” a -bullet. in’ its braln—and thus scene is over! ipped studion. thia famoos sreiine equipped studios, famous pair made a close study of the various new methods employed in the ‘produc- | tion ‘of pictures. “With an idea of keep- | ing up to date on the-technical side of their art, they carefully examined the latest es and’ the vast army’of workers that were wo! themsel: into a “pitch” over the Vhich was leter pan by pap o which was er o ned, upon emmm. Anlo the nml%: they both hea a sigh and said, many gadgets; too much. excitement. Glad we work in the jungle!” THA'T febrile literary lion, George Bernard Shaw, recently self-dubbed |“the dramatic emperor. of = Europe,” speaking in support of a national thea- ter in England, has stated that it is a to give the public what it perhaj plays wouldn't be played in t! @ theater. He said about this: I 'Int‘h see is & theater for the best work —not the horril public what it likes. Nobody knows What the public does like. I was entire- ly myself. They objected to my ex&rmmnly excellent plays and said of the sense of humor which has always branded him as one of the real laugh- makers of the stage. . A Shavian Conception. ter as a duty, just as they go.to church. It the preaching is M:q‘; ': al ar- the > find §t not so the mg::rch habit. Westminster Abbey. ca be i vhis soun. T by 2 ooun- g;y"_s religion so can & n.&cul theater May Work 'M"Wuyl. they were not plays at -1? because they were not what they wers accustomed to, “But people would go to a state thea-