Evening Star Newspaper, June 7, 1931, Page 45

étége and Screen News and Gossip AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star, Motor, Aviation, Radio Programs Part 4—12 Pages GLORIA SWANSON-fr \ Indiscreet™ Columbiz Bic busiNess GIRLY- Earle A Bit ofj‘his and That By W. H. Lya»n(.ivoilgt. OHN DRINKWATER'S “Bird|to the wislesépen spaces has not in Hand,” that had been Yet set out upon its venture. twice presented here earlier * w ok ok in the year, was delightfully THIS discussion of a fading the-| revived by the National Players ater and of militant expedi: during the week just closed. Its|tions to make the cat come back—! performance served by comparison the cat being “the road”—opens, to show what a really competent up to the writer a pleasant trail| company of players comprise the of retrospection that halts for the| Cochran repertory corganization.' moment at the name of Dionysius| While more or less regret was ex- Lardner Boursiquot. Dionysius is| presed that John Warburton and not a poor relation of Ring Lard- | Daphne Warren-Wilson _were not ner, as some may suppose, but he | presented by Director Brooke in|was more widely known in the| heir original roles in the Drink-| days gone by as Dion Boucicault.| water comedy, yet Stanley Ridges| He was a man not of sturdy build, | and Nancy Sheridan proved excel- Jent substitutes and fully equal to the tasks assigned them, and| Mr. Warburton, in his creation of a less prominent character in the| play, really increased the merits of the entertainment. Director| Brooke, himself, as is his wont, made his annual appearance as an actor, and succeeded in creating much amusement as “the man who traveled in sardines.” Espe- cially fine was the characteri: tion of Forr Orr as the British barrister who helped to solve the problem of the story. WORD as A to the situation at the National may not be re- sented by those who are still in the dark as to the future activi- ties of the National Players. This week's play, “Whispering Friends,” | one of George M. Cohan'’s fool- proof laughmakers, which faded out of the great world of the the- ater, leaving pleasant memories, not so very long ago, will bring to an end what is known as the Na- tional Players’ “subscription sea- son of 10 plays.” With the final performance of the Cohan play with a broad, high.and even bald forehead and a delicate white| skin, but with smiling eyes and a Celtic wit such as_one rarely meets nowadays. He was an actor, author, playwright, play doctor, manager and creator in the theater, of whom it is written | that he “more than any one man | kept the American drama lively| and popular during the mid-nine- teenth century.” But most impor- tant, in the current discussion, is the fact that it was Dion Bouci- cault who actually originated the system of casting plays in New York and of taking his companies around the country, “thus in- augurating the ‘lorig run’ or ‘road | company’ system, and sounding the knell of the old stock com- panies whence came America’s greatest acting geniuses in_ the theater.” But, withal, one seldom | hears even his name mentioned these days, although, to bring the man closer home, Boucicault, with | one Willlam Stuart, once opened | and ran a theater right here ln‘y Washington, and he left that to| go to New York to direct the aft- erward famous Winter Garden.| WASHINGTON, 3 ]Cyll HoT [QOBERTA BEATTY- Nationa! e D. SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE > DaDDY LONG LEGS"- Fox ln*Whispering Friends” 4 SThe Goob BAD Girl - DiLLie DIAMOND - Seats for Next Week. HE public sale of seats for the en- | gagement of “Strange Interlude” at the National Theater will begin tomor- | | [ row. The box office will open at 9 am. The smart playgoers who heeded the advertisements to send in their mail that season will have been com- Boucicault was born in Dublin,| orders are said to have laid a heavy | pleted according to original plans, Ireland, December 26, 1820, and|tax u save only in the substitution of “Whispering Friends” for “Strict- 1y Dishonorable,” for obvious rea- sons Beginning with Eugene O'Neill's “Strange Interlude” which our once Leonard Hall, writing for the New York Tele-/| gram, described as “One of the most astounding adventures a stage ever held,” it is the purpose of Manager Cochran please his patrons. If the patron- age shows an inclination that the| National Players shall continue,| they will continue; if it shows the contrary, the contrary it will be,| and, perhaps, the best stock com- pany that Washington has had within the memory of the present generation will itself fade into a| memory, maybe to rise again next| year; maybe not. But while it| continues, those who were enrolled for “the subscription season” will| not be forgotten, but will have| first chance at the new produc- tions, when and if * %% ¥ AY HENDERSON; gifted writer on the theater and official press representative of Ethel Bar-| rymore, the distinguished Ameri-| can star, who has just completed | a wonderful tour of “the road,” in| the Southland particularly, while| exulting in glowing vernacular| over the splendid reception ac-| corded the famous lady of the| stage, doesn’t seem quite so hilari- | ous about the prospects for re-| capturing what used to be a great' metropolitan asset, “the road.” Whether it will weagken the hearts nd wills of the forces now form- ing to operate in the hinterland, jor not, remains to be seen. Our| riends, the New York producers, | ike capital, very timid; canceling engage- ments at short notice is their niddle name, and the e: on. are very sensmve,io B died in New York in 1890. He made Ireland and the Irish loved | and lovable on the American| stage. A Newest Note. UT itom the literary department | of the Fox Theater comes the| cheering news that the newest note in | to_Washington. It is simply startlihg! No intimation | whatever preceded ' the coming, and Washington therefore has the right t> be both surprised and deeply interested. This “newest note” is familiarly de- | scribed in “the .news report as Al| Mitchell. More. Al leaped from the | lowly but honorable position of auto-| mobile engineer in a service station,| where he served at a not to> munif. icent salary to engineer.at the piano in a long-forgotten nickelodeon. all as a means tg an. education. However, passfng over the fleeting years when his soul burst forth into| song as a spotlight singer in a theater | in Fcrt Madison, Iowa, a few fast driv-| ing years behind a fieet Thomas, and | years of weariness in trying to cheer | the doughboy hearts during the war— never for an instant forgetting that plano he had pushed in earlier days,| Al has now arrived. They say he is the very essence of | the unique as a pianist and even better in ali the mystic arts that combine to fmake a master of ceremonies of the de luxest brand. That's Al now. And Fox is proud to announce his coming. ‘Washington simply must be wild to see and hear him. . Vanity's Touch. TH.E flashing whiteness of porcelain is the newest thing in costume jew- erly for the Summer, but Clara Bow, in Paramount’s production of the fi mous Willard Mack drama, “Kick In, at Loew's Palace, wears the new white rnaments as accents for pastel-colored ports costumes. _ The: rporcelain is Tought into a triple nécklace, earrings | set is sald Dracelety . ‘{_ i to-date pon the capacity of the theater, | but the management declares there are still many of the hest seats unsold. | The fame of this Pulitzer Prize win- ner by America’s foremost playwright, | Eugene O'Nelll; its novel features, its | unusual starting hour, 5:30 in the aft- ernoon; its peculiar “asides,” and its | daring ‘treatment of matters not always | discussed in public, all these evidently | have had their weight in arousing in- | simply to| masters of screen ceremonies has come | terest in what promises to be unusual | | theatrical entertainment. Multicolor. M ULTICOLOR, Howard Hughes' all- color process, is said to be assum- | ing the proportions of a new “trend” in movie making. Following the success | of the process th the short-subject fleld | producers are now considering its use in | big-scale production of feature-length | ms. Latest among the producing firms to | contract for it is Pioneer Pictures, | which will produce eight 6-reel feature | films entirely in Multicoror. The first | of these, “Yesterday in Santa Fe,” has gone into production at the Tec-Art Studio, with Norman Kerry as its star in the role of a Spanish Don. Jacques Jaccard will direct and Otto Himm will photograph. Most of the action, in old. Spanish background, is at Vasquez Rocks, on the Mojave Desert. Imitating a Master. 'OLLOWING in the footsteps of | David Belasco, the famous stage producer, Columbia Pictures workmen have copied in detail the decorative motif of a fam-us New York night club in building the sumptuous “speakeasy” set used in “The Good Bad Girl.” The result is sald to be so “realistic” that “everybody who has slummed in the metropolis within the last year is bound to get a thrill of recognition out of seeing it.” Peopled with sophisticat- ed metropolitan types, each personally to_represent a_real slice Now York Jie,” - G'aye'f'y Keiths Jay C FLIPPEN~- Palace (Stage) Stage and Screen Attractions This Week On the Stage. NATIONAL PLAYERS—“Whispering Friends,” Cohan comedy. Tomorrow evening. GAYETY—"“Melody Maids,” burlesque. This afternoon and eve- ning. On the Screen. COLUMBIA—*“Indiscreet” (Gloria Swanson). and evening. This afternoon FOX—'Daddy Long Legs” (Janet Gaynor). This afternoon and evening. R-K-O KEITH'S—“The Good afternoon and evening. PALACE—“Kick In” (Clara Bow). EARLE—"“Big Business Girl” (Loretta Young). and evening. METROPOLITAN—"“Lady Who Dared” afternoon and evening. Bad Girl” (Mae Clark). This ‘This afternoon and evening. This afternoon (Billie Dove). This Washington’s Big Film. NATION-WIDE interest in the $60,000 all-Washingtdbn motion picture which will be made to publicize the 1932 Bicentennial Celebration seems manifest in the answers which are pour- ing Into the Washington Chamb:r of Commerce, sponsors of the “$500 sug- gestion contest.” Because contestants from other cities are still submitting entries, the com- mittee in charge of awards has extended the time for receiving suggestions until midnight Saturday, June 13. This will give those who did not receive notice of the contest until recently an extra week in which to submit their selections. ‘Warner Bros. will make the picture, volunteering -studio facilities and serv- ices of their production organizations as_their contribution to Washington's 1932 civic celebration. It is expected that the picture will be made for the most part in Washington. It is hoped to have the two-reel feature ready for release on 2,000 motion picture screens of the Nation before the Summer has passed. Thirteen prizes will be awarded in this Bicentennial suggestion contest. ‘The main award will be $250 in gold, the second prize will be $100, the $50, and there will be 10 awards of $10 each. Contestants are expected to submit a list of 10 suggestions or ideas, to be filmed and i ted in the - all- rios are not desired, nor will they be | received. The camera “shots” suggested are confined to subjects vital to the City of Washington, historical person- | ages, buildimge, sites or other things of | importance in the history of Washing- ton. With each suggestion must be | submitted a memorandum not exceed- ing 50 words to explain why the sug- | gestion is submitted. Talgnted Boy Visitors. iTWO groups of talented youngsters | visited Washington last week as guests of the Boys' Club Federation of America, then in convention here, and at the Fox Theater Wednesday night, ‘where they were entertained, and after | seeing what the professional performers | could do on the stage climbed up be- | hind the footlights themselves to do | their stuff. ‘The two groups hail from Fort Worth, | Tex., and Stamford, Conn. The Texas | boys, rigged out'in cowboy fashion, sang a number or two, accompanied by & d | cowgirl pianist, while the Stamford boys, attired in the most approved Con- necticut Yankee style, showed what kind of music could be extracted from a boxful of harmonicas. + And did they make a hit? They cap- ‘houses. c e s i D T A9 VITTORIA - Earle (Sfaye) Not Unemployed. I OUR former film directors are seen in the supporting cast in 2 | Bow’s new dramatic picture, k | In.” at Loew’s Palace Theater. | They are Donald Crisp, Paul Hurst, ! wade Boteler and Donald Mackenzie ] all retired from active directing by choice, it is claimed. and all electing the less exacting and confining careers of players before the cameras. Crisp, a native of London and an /n>Th e LodyWhoDared” = 3 Metropolitan YKICK INZ = Palace Miss Guinan and Others ISS TEXAS GUINAN writes| from her bleak garret in Le Havre, bidding us to bear with equanimity the affronts offered to her and her belles by the churlish French government. That they were blackballed and for a time prohibited from entering the exclusive precincts of Paris is, says she. not a reason for calling out the militia. She Tequests that no avenging swords be un- | Oxf-rd graduate, directed for Para- sheathed and that we allow her to ad- mount for five years, guiding the just, in her own way and without re- screen destinies of Wallace Reed, | course to arms, the international diffi- | Theodore Roberts and contemporary | culties precipitated by the crisis. This, ctars. He was D. W. Griffith’s assist- | no doubt, we shall do, since it is rec- ant in filming “Birth of a Nation.” and | ommended by La Guinan, whose feats | as an actor won his greatest fame in “Broken Blossoms.” Paul Hurst started his stage career with a San Francisco stock company. In 1925 he was a film direct'r for Vitagraph, and later for Metro. Ince and many independents. Recently he | has been one of the active character and “old school screen detec- Wade Boteler once was stage director | for the American Academy of Dra- | matic Art. During the war he was | active in entertainment for the soldiers. | Afterward he played, wrote and di- rected Douglas MacLean comedies. Mackenzie is one cf the real old timers and at one time was one of the famous screen directors. He went into the films in 1908, and five years later was directing for Pathe. “The Perils of Pauline” was directed by him. Whence: They:Came: 'HE newspaper and law professions contributed two recruits to screen and Leo McCarey hearkened to the cal of the celluloid muse. They are now featured player and director, respec- tively. of Gloria Swanson's picture, “Indiscreet,” at Loew's Columbia. Some years ago Owsley was a “junior dramatic critic” newspaper. It has never been explain- ed whether th: = managing editor thought Owsley would make a better actor than those he criticized or wheth- |er Owsley himself thought so; but anyway a vacancy occurred on the pa- per’s drama stafl and Owsley linked up | with & _stock company, = ultimately reached New York and in “Holiday” so enacted his role in the picture op- posite Ann Harding that he is now regarded in the screen colony as one of the up and coming. McCarey was graduated in law by the University of Southern California. admitted to the bar, and for a time had his shingle hung out. While waiting for a client he had a chance to write a vaude- ville sketch for an actor and did so well that he switched from law to devote his valuable time to writing for the stage. This ultimately bred an ambi- |tion for a motion picture career and he wound up by becoming a dirzctor. | His best assignment of his career was to direct Miss Swanson's new picture. And there you are! | Stlrdom or "Bust." | 'HEN ' she was 13 Mae Clarke de- cided she wished to become a about it! As soon as she had finished in gram- mar school at Atlantic City Miss Clarke embarked upon a career as an amateur actress. No part was too small and no little theater too little for her atten- tion and best efforts. The inevitable happened. She was seen by a dance producer and given a job on the stage. Time went on and Mae sang and danced in local night clubs, until an offer came for a vaudeville tour. She accepted it. Returning to New York ancer in “Gay Paree” and Broadway took notice.” A scout for one of the big film companies signed Mae to a contract and she reported to Hollywood on July 1, 1929. After her first contract she became a free-lance player. Dame Fortune has smiled upon her and she has recently played Molly in “The Front Page” & prominent part in “The Public Enemy” and now 1s 1 in “The Good i Ll i i s entertainment when Monroe Owslel{- on a Philadelphia | screen star—and here is how she went | she obtained a part as a featured | Bad | assigned to her. 4 e gharidan. in diplomacy have made her several New York night clubs heavens of tran- quil dissipation, while other institu- tions of the kind were centers of dis- turbance. Miss Guinan's message desires to rectify the impression that the polite republic’s_incivilities were due to the visit in France of an odious embassy of ill-bred, tactless and quarrelsome American burgesses. ‘““They,” she says, “have nothing to do with my martyr- dom, since their conduct has been ex- citing, amusing and exactly what their hosts expected. If they had behaved themselves otherwise the French would have been disappointed. They shut the door on me,” she continues, “for eco- nomic reasons, fearing that I would ex- tract & franc or two from the traveling suckers and spendthrifts and return to America with my purse full of sous.” Mr. Congreve, whose “The Way of the players in their annual benefit to them- | selves and the classics, was less com- placent about the habits of touring | mayors. “I wonder,” says Walter Hampden as Mirabell, “that there is not an act of Parliament to save the credit of the nation and prohibit the exportation of fools.” | * X ok X 'HE drama, though 'suffering less than cther more important indus- tries in this period of poverty, is sick | from want of nutritious patronage. Its | bankers and producers have done all within their pigmy powers to restore it to its proper place as an investment and a recreation. They have reduced tariffs, cul wages and throttled the | ticket speculators in a manner of speak- |ing. They are doing everything, it | seems, to promote the business of the | stage—except to present plays that are | entitled to prosper. They.employ good actors, good directors, good press agents World” was excavated last week by the » Thomas' “Arizona” or “In Mizzour’ By Percy Hammond. and good scenery, but they are unable to find enough good dramatists to meet what once was known as the demand. The little group of gratifying American playwTights — Miss Rachel Orothers, George Kauffman, Sidney Howard, Phillip Barry, Marc Connelly, Arthur Richman. Robert E. Sherwood and the placidly spectacular, overwrought and overestimated Eugene O'Neill—cannot manufacture _Teal entertainment in quantities sufficient to fill the numerous Broadway stages and auditoriums. In the remote event that an Erlanger, a John Golden, a Gilbert Miller, a George C. Tyler or a Shubert should ask me what to do in the present pre- dicament my embarrassment would be complete. However, I might tell them that many of their theaters are inhos- pitable, ill-ventilated and uncomfortable huts, few improvements having been made in their accommodations since the days of Thespis and his Pullman barouche. That counsel being unavail- ing, I would add that in the prevalent famine of dramatists it might be a good plan to go back to the authors who wrought successfully in the near past. To take the vivid works of Augustus Thomas. Bronson Howard. Clyde Fitch, Oscar Wilde, Pinero, Henry Arthur Jones, Alfred Sutro and Bernard Shaw— to shatfer them to bits and reassemble them in modern plays closer to our heart's desire. * X oxox IF I were either one of the Messrs. Shubert, for instance, I should sub- mit the manuscripts of Augustus to. Rachel Crothers, George Abbott, John Golden, Austin Strong, Winchell Smith and Chester Erskine and order them to make a new play of it. lere.” I should proceed. “are Clyde PFitch's ‘The Truth® and ‘The Girl With the Green Eyes,’ Bronson Howard's ‘The Henrietta' and ‘Aristocracy,’ Washington Irving's ‘Rip Van Winkle,” Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’ And ‘In & Balcony.’ written by one of the roles in ‘The Barrets of ~Wimpole Street.’' ™ ‘What up-to-date changes would Mr. Ab- bott or Miss Crothers make in any of these hits of another generation? Give them the characters and the plots of “The Virginian.,” “The Girl of the Golden West” or “Lady Windermere's Fan” and they might, by altering the dialogue and adding pep and photof® raphy to the action, decant old wines from new bottles. I recommend the experiment to Crosby Gaige. Dwight Decre Wiman, Al Woods. William A. Brady 2nd other producers whose heart i in the welfare of the drama. Nancy'’s N the old days of the theater it was every actor's ambition to play | “Hamlet,” and actresses who felt certain of their histrionic powers | wanted to play Juliet. Thus, two characters from the Shakespearean re- pertoire furnished the goal of ambition on “the old stage”—immortality in the theater. Nowadays, while “Hamlet” is still a | standard by which to judge an actor’s | ability to “play a part,” the woman-folk of the theater have a character that out-Juliets Juliet. It is the creation of Eugene O'Nelll, the American playwright —Nina Leeds in “Strange Interlude.” Nancy Sheridan of the National Theater Players has undertaken the job of creating this character and in so | doing finds herself in an exceedingly | limited circle, for Lynn Fontanne, Paul- | | ine Lord, Elizabeth Risdon and the | | Belasco star, Judith Anderson, have | preceded her. Of course, there can be no real com- parison between Juliet and Nina Leeds. | Where the one character maintains the | spirit of youth throughout the entire action of the play, the other moves on into old age—and that alone is difficult | enough. Where Nina Leeds presents a tremendous obstacle, however, is in the length and character of the speeches | itself. “has & semexkable s DeW ster Chance. memory. That has been thoroughly and finely demonstrated with the National Theater Flayers. She met her supreme test, however, when Clifford Brooke as- signed her the part of Nina Leeds and gave her eight days in which to perfect herself in the role. It is doubtful if any other actress in America has ever at- tempted such a task. If merely memorizing the lines were all, the task might not prove as difficult as it seems to be. But Nina Leeds is a strange character. She speaks not only the natural conversation t-u# ordinary folks are accustomed tc, but also she utters the secret thoughts that go flow- ing through her mind; as.do all the other characters in the O'Neill play. ‘This jumping from the natural stream of natural conversation to the hidden waters of “mind-reading” is a feat in And though she is animated while she recites her “regular lines” she must be well-nigh immobile while passing through the secondary stage— | as if in a trance. And thus, it will be seen, has Miss Nancy a large and elegant contract upon her hands in having to conquer not only the longest part ever written for an actress, but in having it divided up between the natural and the psychie in a way that must make her wonder if she is trying to be a wayward woman or a wraith. And if she succeeds—oh, boy! .as the volatile Maurice Chevaller is wont to exclaim. somebody will have to getybusy with the electric lighga, fof