Evening Star Newspaper, February 23, 1930, Page 49

| Theater, Screen and Music "Suow Boar-" 5tronal Mary NOLAN- /7 S U ndertoxs - AMUSEMENT SECTION he Swunday Star, WASHINGTON, / SUNKIST Girls - Fox (S7age) “Riato ——— :When Shakespeare Comes To Town.” BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. In the cycle of rejuvenation| now so iridescently in evidence that romping village hoyden “Sari” returns, a personality that defies time and geography and may be defined even as an exotic reflection of our own Sis Hopkins. * o % % The prima donna and her oper- etta present themselves with all the vivacious charm that swept them into favor here when “Sari” | seemed but a butterfly of the lyri- | cal moment in a blossoming wil- derness of sunshine, wit and song, | which in recent seasons has been | left unexplored. It returns from Chrysalis and delighted audiences welcomed it as another evidence | of an awakening Springtime in the fascination of the theater, for it must be admitted that some of | the more or less robot dramas on fatalistic themes have been rather bleak and wintry: * % * % It was Henry Savage who called her just “Mitzi” for the purposes | of the billboard. - The memory of | Lotta, whose name was so pun- gent and exhilarating as to lead | that prince of American farceurs, | John Brougham, to refer to her in those very distant pre-war days as “a dramatic cocktail,” led many managers to envy the crisp a Chicago civic organization, has | feeling ran high, to conduct. title which carries suggestion of affectionate familiarity. Politi- cians have realized its value from | time uncounted. Even Theodore Roosevelt could not be acclaimed truly great until he was referred to, either in praise or censure, | “Teddy.” | e | For, this our romping primal donna, her native name of middle European origin was too much to| say, so Mizzi Hayos was cut away at the middle and we have Mitzi, an established American favorite. 1t is not easy to lure talents of | the Old World 'to this cold and ealculating American atmosphere, but once acclimated to the golden sunshine . which -¢onquers tem- ramental chill, they never go B:ck home. * % * % A similar experiment was tried with Miss Taliaferro. Her name | was altogether a philological puz- | zle, being popularly pronounced *Talliver.” So they changed it to “Nell.” * o Opinions still differ as to ~’hether the manager who so | haughty tone. |folks ain't’got much sense! task of supervising titles, even in neglect of the more difficult one of editing plots, benefited anybody concerned by the removal of the| hyphen from Lou-Tellegen’s name with as much surgical assurance |as if it had been nothing more than some sort of typographical | appendix. The hyphen was part| | of the name which classical en- | thusiasts had learned to admire| in its entirety. With the name| Lou Tellegen he appealed to a| new audience, and a few people| admitted disappointment hecause‘ he had not proved as funny as Lew Fields. * % * % A Shakespearean sentiment | hilariously expressed 'in the Bill Jerome song, which began: | “Bill Johnson said to Mandy Snow, ‘How'd you like to go to a minstrel show?” And Mandy said, ‘Well, I don’t know,” in a very ‘Them mlnstlrtel s | just like wasting your fifty cents. But I'll tell you what I'll do—I'll go along with you, when Shake- speare comes to town.’” | * ok ko The idea of waiting for Shake- | speare is one that gathers popu- Scere from GIPSY DREAMS D C, STAGE and <z SCREEN SUNDAY e from * ANN £ MORNIN: G, FEBRUARY A CHRIS Columbiz P ubce (Stage) 23, 1930. Motor, Avi ation { and Rafiio News PaTsy RUTHMILLER In ~The fvistor” R - Jorg, Sue CArOL- 1" The The Canned Beauties. [N discussing the ilis of the theater Florenz Zeigfeld, pro- | ducer of elaborate musical shows, mentions the greatly increased cost of production. “In the past years,” he says, “I have produced 24 editions“of the ‘Follies. At account ran to $3,000 per we<k. Now it costs $300,000 to produce a ‘Follies' and $33,000 a week to keep it running. ‘There will be no new ‘Follies’ this year, but I will produce another revue. Then the show will be turned into a photoplay. T'll put the famous | stage beauties in a can and ship them around. It won't be lke fresh fruits, of course, but it will be the best canned goods.” radio program. It was a good| enough opera for such men as Humperdinck and Blech to spon-| sor_heartily, and for Dr. Muck,| lar force. Fritz Leiber, backed by scarcely folded his scenery and| Upon-Avon Festival Co. comes to town. permitted to assert themselves in | demonstrative argument concern- | ing the relative merits of Ameri- can or British Shakespeare. The world is at literary peace, and there is no chance of a repetition | of temperamental turbulences corresponding to the Forrest- Macready riots. £ nn Numerous incidents of poets who have had their troubles with politics are easily recalled. Ran- dolph Hartley, a good Connecti- cut American now in charge of the journalistic fortunes of the Stratford players, recalls such an occasion with impressions still a little poignant, despite the phil- osophy into which time has melted them. He wrote an In- dian opera entitled “Poia,” with | that accomplished composer, Ar- thur Nevin, brother of Ethelbert Nevin, whose delicate bit of melo- dious fancy, “Narcissus,” still af- fords artistic verisimilitude to &:arly loves to undertake the easy many a bold and inconvincing 1 departed when the Stratford-| Royal Opera House, in Berlin—hy Patriotic moods are no longer | the first American grand opera to | a Boston symphony conductor| somewhat discussed when wa:i I had its first presentation at the |a coincidence on an anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday. It was| be produced' at a court theater in Berlin, and' it created a politi- cal storm. This was in the year 1910, and the point of controversy the potash business. The indig- | nation created by suspicion of | musical propaganda was so in- !v.ense that the opera had to be | withdrawn immediately to still the oratorical and editorial tem- pest. To this day the librettist regrets that he came into contact with Potash before the name had be- come genially associated with that of Perlmutter.. He does not care to refer to it, except in close friendly converse. He has no ap- parent desire and does not seek to prolong any reference in print to a matter which he is content to regard as absorbed in history. | But a conscientious and modest | literary man doesn’t always know | what is best for him. A slight between nations at that era was|® 'THEL. BARRYMORE was born in Philadelphia, Pa., received her ednu- cation at the Convent of Notre Dame in tke city of her birth and is a mem- ber of one of the most famous families in the history of the theater. Of Irish extraction, her people have been con- nected with the stage for four gen- erations. Miss Barrymore is the daughter of the late Maurice Barrymore and Georgie Drew-Barrymore and the niece of the late John Drew and Louise Drew Mendum, She and her brothers, Lio- nel and John, all have attained the dis- tinction of stardom, which is unusual in the history of theatrical families After being graduated from a con- vent, Miss Barrymore made her stage debut as Julia in “The Rivals,” with her grandmother, Mrs. John Drew, playing Mrs. Malaprop. Following this she appeared in “The Bauble Shop,’ in which her uncle, John Drew, played the lead, and in “That Imprudent Young Couple” and “Rosemary,” in acted. In 1897 she was seen with W. H. Gillette in London in “Secret Serv- ice” at the Adelphi Theater, after which she joined Sir Henry Irving's Lyceum g;erflpany and toured England in “The 5. Returning to America in 1898, she appeared in support of Annie Russell and in 1900 as Stella de Gex in “His Excellency the Gov- ernor.” February 4, 1901, she acted in the late Charles Frohman's production of “Captain Jinks of the Horse Ma- ning. and evening. evening. ning. FOX—“Lone Star Ranger.” RIALTO—“Undertow.” violation of confidence may really do him good. i Ethel Barrymore. both of which plays Maude Adams also | METROPOLITAN—"Son of the Gods.” rines.” Her interpretation of the role of Mme, Trentoni instantly won her stardom and an enviable hosition in the American theater. Since this engagement, Miss Barry- | more has been starred in a long list of successes, with noteworthy cha izations in “Carrots,” “Cousin - Doll's House,” “Alice-Sit-by-the- fire,” “The Silver Box,” “Midchannel,” “Trelawney of ‘The Wells'” “The Twelve-Pound Look,” “The Witness for the Defense,” “A Slice of Lif “Our Mrs, McChesney,” *Declasse,” “Claire de Lune,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Constant Wife.” ML Suc’(“.awl‘s Day Joys. "LIFE is not what it is cracked up to be on the limpid plains of Cali- fornia,” says the demure Sue Carol, who in “The Lone Star Ranger” emerges suddenly with long skirts and red hair. “The supposed origin of sitting at home | watching and waiting for the rain, the bonfires in the hills, the swimming tea parties on the beach, the eternal publicity parade is, to put it vulgarly, baloney! “No!” says Miss Carol in a deter- mined voice. “Life is certainly not a bed of roses” And with that she de- scribes her average day. “I wake with the dawn. Then I dance—yes, I dance right beside my bed. Then I eat—have breakfast, that is. Then I sing—you know, air the tonsils—and if it's bad I go to my teacher. Then I go to the lot and get myself photographed and recorded. After which I dance some more, have dinner, and to insure a ‘sound sleep do a little fencing in my nightgown.” D S S N A Wi W Stage and “Screen Attractions This Week NATIONAL—Ziegfeld’s “Show Boat.” Opens tomorrow evening. POLI'S—Ethel Barrymore in “The Love Duel.” Opens this eve- GAYETY—“Girls rroxig the Follies,” burlesque. This afternoon COLUMBIA—“Anna Christie.” This afternoon and evening. R-K-O KEITH'S—“The Grand Parade.” This afternoon and This afternoon and eve- PALACE—“Ship from Shanghai.” This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. EARLE—"“The Aviator.” This afternoon and evening. Lone SkorRanger” NAGE Land \ ICHARD BARTH /Jfffe Gods * ETHEL BARRYMORE- In'Thelove Duel” Polis ELMESS- /4 Metropolitan EN. JOHN J. PERSHING, vhose public appearances since the end‘ {of the World War have been quite rare, | |18 featured in the Paramount. News the Metropolitan Theater this week. The former leader of the A. E. F. de- votes his news reel “space” to a talk on the building of Washington Cathe- dral. The pictures show Gen. Pershing, who is a member of the Cathedral Chapter and chairman of the National | Committee for Washington Cathedral, | standing beside a model of the com- | pleted edifice in the curator’s office. | ‘The film is also screened at the Am- bassador and Tivoll Theaters during the week. Sir A;ehibnl; to Be Here. IR ARCHIBALD FLOWER, chair-| man of the board of governors of | the Shakespeare Memorial, will arrive | here from England Wednesday to at- tend the opening performance in Wash- ington of the _Stratford-Upon-Avon Fes- tival Co. During his stay he will address the students of the Georgetown University, the American University and | other educational groups on “Stratford | and the Shakespearean Players.” Dressler Extols Garbo. ONE generation speaking, as it were, to another is apt to be slightly more than caustic. Such, however, is not the case when that great shining light of our father's day, Marie Dress- ler, has anything to say about Greta Garbo. Marie, in fact, not only raises| her hat politely to this magician of | emotional fireworks, but bows low in Teverence to a talent which she says is “alone and apart.” ‘“‘Greta Garbo has achieved a niche all hér own,” says Miss Dressler, and con- sidering the vast amount of water that has flowed under the bridge since Miss Dressler began to breast the histrionic tides, she really ought to know. ‘“She's a charming girl, too,” says the dynamic Marie, .who has shaken more people drom their aisle seats with laughter than any 12 other comediennes on the screen. - “I say girl,” she continues eu- lo'ltllfltlflmmr “because she is just that— a dre ly young creature to carry the burden of the great success that she has attained.” ‘Thereupon the blond Miss Dressler heaves a sigh and emllnl that the cause of the sigh fs sight of the }Shakespearre Tl:adi:cion. : OSSIBLY the greatest interest to students of Shakespeare and to | serious theatergoers in the perform- ance given by the Stratford-upon-Avon Festival Co., from the Shakespeare Me- morial Theater, now on its second tour of this country, is the fact that the plays are presented almost in their en- tirety with no rearrangement in the sequence of scenes and in as nearly as possible the manner in which Shakes- peare himself intended them to be acted. At first glance it might seem a sim- ple matter to pursue this plan, and, in- deed, a number of producers have presented the plays in a very crude and simple manner under the pretense that they were revealing to the modern pub- lic the methods of mounting and act- ing employed at the Globe Theater. In many of these productions the crudities of the Elizabethan stage were over emphasized, while the more important elements that should enter into a proper interpretation of the plays were ig-| nored. The' performances given by the Strat- ford-upon-Avon Festival Co. .are de- clared ‘as” nearly in conformity to Shakespeare’s .intent as it is possible to make them. The director of the company‘has, in the Memorial Library at Stratford,, convenient access to one of the finest collections of Shakes- peareana in the world. . All this knowl edge he has brought to his production: He has also sifted the traditions of the | acting of Shakespeare that have passed down from*lip to ear through many generations of actors, and has found here and there a nugget of real value in the midst of a great deal of dross, In this connection it is a fascinating thoutm that ‘it is within the range of possibility that some item of instruc- tion as to the manner of interpreting a character or scene may have passed down verbally from Shakespeare him- self to the ear of an actor of the present time. It is indeed quite reasonable to suppose that some faint, trace of Shakespeare’s definite stage instruction as to the manner of portraying Hamlet has passed down to our generation of players, ‘When the great Betterton first played Hamlet, in 1662, or thereabouts, he was coached in the part by his manager, Sir Willlam Davenent, who had known and had seen the interpretation of Hamlet given by the actor Taylor, who had been instructed in the role by Shakespeare . Inasmuch as the line of Shakespearean actors had been uninterrupted since Betterton’s time, it may be assumed that Shakespeare's | lovely Greta's re, which, she adds hastily, is 8o reminiscent of her's— some years ?ol N verbal instructions have been, in some | very slight measure, transmitted through | { | the spoken word from that time to this Assuming. that the great Shakes- pearean actors in the line of succession passed on the words spoken by Dave- pent to . Betterton, the instructions would have gone through the following links in the mental chain: Thomas Bet- terton lived until 1710. The next in line was Robert Wilks, born in 1670 and died in 1732, 22 years after Betterton's death. Succeeding Wilks the line might have been as follows: Barton Booth (1681-1733), Colley Cibbler (1671-1757), David Garrick (1717-1779), Charles Macklin (1697-1797), John Henderson (1747-1785), John Philip Kemble (1757- 1823), Edmund Kean (1787-1833), George Frederick . Cook (1756-1811), William Charles Macready (1793-1873), Samuel Phelps (1804-1878). Perhaps, it should be noted, lived .until after the great Shakespeare cenetary festival was held at Stratford in 1864. " Undoubtedly he knew several of the players of celeb- rity who belonged almost to our own time, such as Sir Henry Irving, Edwin Forrest and Edwin Booth. ‘The successor to Irving was Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, who was a member of Irving's company. In Forbes- Robertson’s company was a young actor named George Hayes—and that same George Hayes is now one of the lead- ing actors in the Stratford-upon-Avon Festival Co. Waits Long for Minstrels. ISPEC O'DONNELL waited 10 years to see a minstrel show and then he got paid for looking at one! When the freckled juvenile comedian | was a youngster he lived next door to a veteran of the burnt cork circle, who filled his youthful mind with glamorous storles of blackface minstrelsy. But living in a day when the old-time . traveling troubadours of music and mirth were- almost extinct, opportun- ity to see such a show never came his way. Having, ‘however, become one of the foremost_youthful fun makers on the screen, Spec was selected to an important role in “The Grand P did the overjoyed Spec learn that the picture was a film version of a minstrel show, including the complete routine of singing, dancing and jokes of which he had heard so much, but vainly had longed to see. Think of it—a 10-year wait to see a minstrel show, at one time one of the most popular eutertalnments of the theater! . . .