Evening Star Newspaper, June 7, 1931, Page 46

AMUSEMENTS. Flashes From the_ Screen News and Comment of the Photoplay. By C. E. HE scarcity of story material shows itself mostly in the newest, talking pictures of smart dialogue variety. The talking pictures are really talking ictures. Many of them are en- irely devoid of action, in the sense that we knew action in the old silent days. Entirely too many dialogue plays of the stage have been switched to the screen, many | of the plays unsuitable for mo-| tion picture production. One of the principal attractions of the screen is action—plenty of action. Where the stage is handi- capped, the screen is able to give amusement with all sorts of goti and movement. If one goes back as far as the old-time Keystone Comedies, he will remember that the success of these pictures was largely based upon their action. The humor was secondary, follow- ing along the line of action. Then came the best of the thrillers, all filled to the brim with life. Thi was really the big day of the mo- tion picture—at least, from the standpoint of entertainment value. Today there is such a dearth of story material that mearly all stage vehicles are being turned in% screen plays. This is not a wise move on the part of the pro- ducers. Some stage plays turn out to be excellent photoplays, but others are entirely unsuitable for the studio. To cite a case of this kind, one has but to turn back to the Elissa Landi-Lewis Stone pic- ture in Washington last week Through many reels, this particu- lar film was dialogue, with posing by the principal characters—the sort of dialogue which results in sleepy audiences and a desire that the Keystone Comedies come back to life. What the screen needs today is the original story—with action. It cannot possibly live on the cast- offs of the stage. Smart dialogue is all right in its place, but too much of it bores an audience to extinction. With the screen’s ad- vantages over the stage, producers and directors should realize the value of action. For 30 years, the photoplay lived without talk. Now it is all talk. What a change the past two years have made! * kX X There will be an effort made to get a bit of action in the new Marilyn Miller picture, “Our Social Whirl.” First National announces that the star is to have a “daring role” and that she will leap upon the cow- catcher of a locomotive coming her way. There will be no sing- ing and dancing in the picture, which will be a complete change Jrom the other pictures in which Miss Miller has starred. Mervyn LeRoy will direct. * k X X MOLLIE MERRICK, The Star’s correspondent at Hollywood, writes that the lack of suitable story material is being felt around the studios, and I quote from her letter as follows: “The producers and directors want stories ‘with meat in them, something that has not been de- vitalized or written to the talents or needs of any one person. Some- thing, in short, written for the screen. The history of the screen | shows that the camera needs spe- cial writing. Now and again, some director works miracles with material intended for other use— novels and stage plays—but these are isolated cases. More likely| than not, the novel which scores| & big success falls short of screen gotency. It often turns out that ad novels make good screen Blnys. Also authors with estab- shed reputations have come to Hollywood under huge salaries, and they have turned out very weak material. As a result, the producers are becoming increas- ingly dubious of the wiseness of their ways. Of course, with 800 pictures made in Holywood each| year it would be impossible to| have them all good.” The coming of the talking movies practically eliminated the amateur scenario writer from the fleld. It is admitted by the scen- ario offices that many of them do not even open the envelopes of unsolicited manuscripts. Members of office staffs have instructions to return such material to the writers. The scenario editor of ‘Warner Brothers, talking to the writer in Washington recently,| stated that in the thousands of amateur scenarios submitted to his company since the establishment of sound pictures, not a single one ‘was used and not a single idea was found upon to build a picture. This does not sFeak very well for the amateur writers, but one must understand that they are seriously handicapped in producing any- thing for the sound pictures. In the first place, they are unfamiliar with sound technique. In writing dialogue for the screen, they are unprepared, and they know little of the form and structure of mod- &rn scenario writing. In all this,| however, they are not far behind the expensive writers who are| Signing contracts and traveling the long way to Hollywood. Many of these writers have never penned & line for the movies when.they are employed at large salaries. How can they jump into studio work, turn out perfect stories, and earn their salaries? ‘There is a tendency among pro- ducers to purchase “story ideas” from established authors. Then the work of producing the scenario and dialogue is turned over to trained studio writers. In this manner, Ursula Parrott wrote the synopsis, or skeleton, of a story for Ann Harding. The studio writer is familiar with camera needs and &he movie angle, and this par- cular plot was turned over to the Scenario office for adapation and elaboration. it Flashes from Hollywood: Clara Bow has asked to be re- leased from her Paramount con- tract, and_the request, accord- . 4ng to officials, is now being . considered . . . Hollywood play- ers are left out in the German Ufa Company’s plans for Eng- “lish editions of pictures. Entire ~ British casts have been em- : ployed . . . Joe E. Brown is to star in a picture called, “Local Boy Makes Good” ... Marie Dressler is to be starred in “Em- - ma,” @ story written es; v her by Frances Marion . . . or ’;Iu name of the Richard Bartigslmess picture has been Nelson. changed from_“Spent Bullets” to “The Last Flight” . .. Joan Bennett has been awarded the leading role in “She Wanted A Millionaire” . . . Loretta Young and Charles Butterworth are co-starred in First National's “Merry Wives of Reno.” * ¥ % % UBLIC disgust killed the spon- sored film, according tc many writers, and the producers did not lose much time in signifying their intention to eliminate all adver- tising from pictures. Writing in Film Daily, Jack Alicoate says: “No motion picture keynote of re- cent years has met with as much general satisfaction, both from within and without the industry, as the trend away from screen advertising or sponsored pictures: With no more chance of mixing than oil and water, the married life of the sponsored reel and the screen was doomed at the start. is | That its moving day finds so little economic wreckage in its wake is no doubt due to its comparatively short sojourn. The departure of sponsored films was no doubt hastened by the militant Nick Schenck and his splendid uncom- promising attitude toward -them. Their passing is mourned by f¢ This from Type Craft: 'To give this kind of entertainment (sponsored films) to the public under false pretense is an affront to every theatergoer’s intelligence. It should be stopped. If the pro- ducer finds it necessary to go into the advertising business, let him so advise his prospective customers by displaying the fact in the lobby so the customers may decide for themselves just what kind of entertainment they choose to accept.” * %k * X When a single picture goes into expense of more than a million dollars before a single penny is realized, it is some- thing for the producer to think about. “The Smiling Lieuten- ant,” starring Maurice Chevalier, has cost more than a million. Of course, the genial Maurice is said to be the highest paid en- tertainer today, but a large part of the million has gone toward making a special version of the picture for the British Isles and another for the French. The studio met all this expense be- Jore the picture was released. * ook % Short Flashes, "THE FRONT PAGE" is scheduled for exhibition at the Palace quite soon. The picture has metx with success wherever it has been the featured attraction. “The Lone Wolf’s Son,” adapted from a Louis Josegh Vance story has been purchased by Fox. It is said that the Howard Esta- brook story, “Frontier,” which will star Richard Dix, rivals “Cimar- ron” in action and thrills. “The Other Man,” Willlam Powell’s first starring vehicle with Warner Brothers, is nearing com- pletion. It will be followed by a story called “Divorce Detective.” Sally O'Neill has been assigned to the lead in the Fox picture, “The Brat,” taken from the stage play by Maude Fulton. Universal, for some reason or other, has canceled the produc- tion of “Blind Husbands,” in which Erich was to play and also direct. The picture has been re- placed by “Ex-Bad Boy.” Marilyn Miller, it is said, will star in “The Lady from New Or- leans.” Genevieve Tobin is the latest re- cruit to the Radio banner. She will play the feminine lead in “Strange Women.” Betty Comp- son will have the leading charac- ter part, and other players signed are Ralf Harolde, Edmund Carew and Colin Campbell. It is announced that “Guards- man” will be the first Alfred Lunt- Lynn Fontanne picture for Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer. The story is taken from the stage play of Ferenc Molnar, and camera work starts this month. William Haines will be the star of the “Get Rich Wallingford” series. It is reported that Marie Dress- ler will take a trip abroad after she completes work in a picture called “Politics.” “My Sin” will be the title of the next Tullulah Bankhead picture. It was first announced that her picture would be “China.” “Street of Women” has been purchased by Paramount as a vehicle for Claudette Colbert. The | is an original by Polan Will Rogers is working at the Fox studio in “The Plutocrat.” At the same time Sally Eilers is working in “Bad Girl,” Elissa Landi and Victor McLaglen in “Wicked” and Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in “Merely Mary Ann.” Jetta Goudal, Dorothy Patterson, Joel McCrea and Peggy Ross have parts in the Rogers pic- ture, which is taken from a Booth Tarkington story. Ann Harding is to be starred in a picture called “Devotion.” Not a Swan Song, WHEN Gloria Swanson announced that her new picture for United Artists would be an original story by De Sylva, Brown and Henderson, Holly- ‘woodites shook their heads in doubt, Song writers as dramatists? couldn't be done. » Those most directly concerned with all the head shaking, however, were the least concerned what Hollywoodites thought about their abilities as dramatic authors. They plunged into their work with characteristic zest and turned out a straight drama, entitled “Indiscreet,” in which keen critics say Swanson was never seen to better advantage. The picture is now at Loew's Columbia. 1t “Play writing and song writing have i this much at least tn common —original ity contrast successfully then you might as well toss it in the waste basket.” ‘The story of Miss Swanson’s new pic- ture sets the star in a turbulent sea of emotion. She is trying to save her sis- ter from an unhappy marriage with a discarded suitor, and as the result of her efforts finds her own romance in grave danger, due to circumstances sometimes tragic and at others humor- ous. It is in these “circumstances” that the authors let their imagination create originality of a high degree. At any | inspired rate, the story a truly dramatic portrayal Gl . | that work on their initial film venture trio has since crashed: THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 7, 1931—PART FOUR. AMUSEMENTS. Ticyrdi et tipi Nowhand OUT OF DOORS Washington's Players DRAMA GUILD—“The Piper.” OSEPHINE PRESTON PEA- BODY'S mythical folk fantasy, “The Piper,” will be offered by the Drama Guild of Washington at the National Sylvan Theater, in the Washington Monument Grounds, on June 17 and. 18, with a cest of 150 actors, dancers and singers, assisted by the United States Marine Band. This final production of the Guild during the present season will be staged by Willilam F. Baker, assisted by Esther Galbraith, with authentic and colorful costumes of period of the play a: a feature,-in a colorful outdoor spee- tacle " ‘The action of the piece is laid in the town of Hamelin in June, 1284. A wandering piper has succeeded in na-' ding the old town of a plague of rats, for which he has been promised a large | sum of money. The bargain has not been kept by the more or less honest burghers of the town, end so the piper decides to spirit away the children in| revenge. ‘The myth-material throughout is that of the Pled Piper of the Browning poem, of which parts of the story are to be found in the folklore of divers countries, but definitely attached for all time to the town of Hamelin, on the River Weser, in Hanover. The scenes are laid in the market , at _the Crossways and inside the Hollow Hill, whence the Piper has secreted the chil- dren. ‘The 24 principals in fantasy have been chosen from dnm‘i“ Ips in the reinforced designed by Dorothy Croissant _and Ethel Jones, assisted by Drama Guild {members and others. Reserved seats may be had at the >ffice of the Drama Guild, in the Frank- lin Administration Building, and at T. Arthur Smith’s, 1330 G street. Reverted to Type. 'HEN Mrs. Adelaide Hibbard went “on the air” last Tuesday over a local broadcasting station in the Na- tional Theater Players’ period she re- verted to her first form of public enter- tainment—recitation. In Boston years ago Mrs. Hibbard won fame as a declamatory artist, reciting famous poems and narrative stories. From the platform she went to the stage, where she is now rated as one of the finest character artists in skirts. With Garbo CLARK GABLE, | The young act:r_who plays opposite Great Garbo in “The Fall and Rise of Susan Lenox.” He had roles with | Norma Shearer in “A Pree Soul." and with Joan Crawford in “Laughing Sinners. Two Weeks for a Close-Up. TWO weeks to get a single close-up! That was the time said to have been spent by Wynant D. Hubbard, ad- | venturer and explorer, in gettinga short bit of footage for “The Buffalo Stam- pede,” the sixth of the series of Vita- phone short reels, ‘“Adventures in Africa” (this week at the Warner Metropolitan. The close-up was that of the Buffalo stampede, from which the Vitaphone short gets its name. Africa’s code is “kill or be killed,” and in “The Buffalo Stampede” natives are said to have been devoured or clawed to death in an attempt to capture the ferocious beasts of Africa’s forbidden | wilderness. The water buffalo is a! i vicious attacker and also the carrier of | the tsetse fly, which is the cause of the deadly sleeping sickness. While on the .trip through Africa, Hubbard icaptured several buffaloes which he in- tends to interbreed with native cattle, hoping eventually by this means to pro- duce cattle that are immune to the dreaded sleeping sickness. Each foot of film in these new ad- venture series is declared a thrill. New Master AL MITCHELL, New master of ceremonies at the Fox Theater. Limits in Molnar Comedy. A NNOUNCEMENT comes from Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer that Ferenc Mol- ‘nar’s “The Guardsman” will be the first costarring sereen produetion for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, and will commence this month. Sidney Pranklin, whose pictures include “The Last of Mrs. Cheyney,” “Devil May Care"_;lna “A Lady’s Morals,” will di- rect “The Guardman.” The supporting cast is now being selected. ‘The Guardsman” was produced on the New York stage by the Theater Guild seven years ago, with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in the leading roles. This_comedy ranks as one of the most popular of Molnar’s plays. DANCING. . BALL ROOM DANCING, AS TAUGHT BY Tonsona AT B st mwe 1 Bat. 3080: m DAVISO! ctice, s _— ‘naveiat: E |in many | Not In That Nine-Act Drama | Scene from “Strange Interlude.” to be produced by the National Theater Players for scven evenings beginning June 15. | NATIONAL PLAYERS—“Whispering Friends.” EORGE M. COHAN'S American | comedy, “Whispering Friends,” marking the tenth week of the National Theater Players’ reg- ular subscription season, wil be the attraction this week, commenc- | ing tomorrow evening. “Whispering Friends” has never been seen in Washington, but, getting un- der way tomorrow night, it will be presented at mat- inees on Wednes: day and Saturday, well as every ening. One of the recog- nized geniuses of the theater, George M. Cohan, has written and played in many comedies. This particular farce-comedy. “Whiperingf8 Friends,” is said to have an “edge” on most of his other works, partly be- cause with it Co- han struck a rich vein of humor. bas to do_with a young insurance agent who has little or no money, who meets up with a wealthy widow and “marries a fortune.” Immediately tongues begin to wag. A sensitive fellow, the insur- ance man feels that even his friends believe the wors‘—that he married for morey. Upon the return from their Roberta Beatty. It 1| the bride, making honeymoon the newly-weds are vic- timized by practical ers with a thea- ter party, to which the bride's best friend, a girl the ‘bridegroom has never met, is invited, and also the bride- groom'’s pal, a fellow fl‘mo has never met some. Then things in the end all four principals are volved in & number of ticklish situa- tions. A maid and & butler are also drawn into the comedy, but matters are eventually straightened out in the true Cohan manner, with gales of laughter for an accompaniment. ‘The National Theater Players, under the capable direction of Clifford Brooke, | hope to make this the crowning comedy | of ‘the season. | GAYETY—"Melody Malds.” | i ¢RILLY" DIAMOND and her “Melody Malds” are at the Gayety The-| ater. | According to its producer, this show | may be taken as a fair sample of what is happening in the business, where, it| is sald, there has been a systematic | “toning up” to the profession and the | injection of new life, new jokes, new ‘flll‘l‘S and new scenes. Miss Diamond says her show is good burlesque. A fine cast, together with a | chorus of pretty girls trained in their business, is one of its features. | | _ Supporting Miss Diamond are Bily | Fields, Clyde Bates, Wanda De Von, |Chuck Callahan, Lew Costello, | Petel, Sally Van and Joe Delano. | Priday night is Amateur night at the | Gayety. | THEL BARRYMORE has closed her 9,566-mile tour of the one- night stands of ‘the South, Southwest, Midwest and East. She began -her adventure at Princeton University March 2, and. in all appeared in 66 towns, 60 of them for cne night only, covering 23 States. Since Sir Johnston Forbes-Robert- son completed his farewell to America in 1916, it is said, she is the first im- portant player to undertake an in- tensive tour of these smaller cities. F Audiences Vary ing from one to four thousand peo- ple have witnessed | single perform- ances in which Miss Barrymore appeared. and “her receipts have es- tablished records theaters. even Sarah Bernhardt in her Texas tent days equaled some of the houses whieh Barrymore drew.” Richmond, Va., gave her her largest Ethel Barrymore. News From the Road. single night's receipts, and Cumber- | land, Md., the lowest. With few ex- ceptions the 8. R. O. sign was dis- played wherever the actress appeared. | In some towns Barrymore was the first living professional player many of the younger generation had ever seen. As the majority of the former legiti- mate theaters in the smaller cities have | crumbled into dust or been refashioned to receive the light and sound of Holly- wood the actress trod boards not made historic by Booth or Modjeska or by her own glamorous family, but en-! livened by the sounds and shadows of , the Pickfords and the Chaplins of the mechanical age of entertainment. | When motion picture palaces did not open their doors to her she set her scenery in civic, lodge and school audi- tori ums. Barrymore declares that the public of these cities is as keen and informed as that of the metropolitan centers and | that the days of when the country may be referred to as “the sticks or the ovinces” have passed forever. Barry- Kon‘a tour is said to have been fol- lowed closely by New York producers, who are trying to decide whether or not | to send other companies in this hitherto neglected territory next season. Just Full VWHAT becomes of the “extra takes™ which are discarded in motion picture productién when the “best take” of any given sequence is selected and used as an insert in & finished | motion picture? At the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio, to take one of the biggest plants as an | example, it is said this surplus footage | is held in storage for three years, the normal life of the picture, so that if. in making prints, any portion of the nega- | tive should be destroyed by fire or ac- cident substitution can be made from the “extra takes.” At the end of the normal life of the picture, however, the reserve shots are 1o longer needed and are burned. Last year 200,000 pounds of such film was of Silver. burned and from the ash 250 pounds | of raw silver were extracted. It repre- sented 40,000,000 feet of film. The amount of silver contained in | the coating of sensitized film makes the | burning of the film a very profitable, instead of a wasteful, method of dis- posal. Every year in a specially bullt in- cinerator’ M-G-M has an enormous bonfire of the accumulated 3-year-old stock of “reserve shots” and up in smoke go the faces of such stars as Marion Davies, Greta Garbo, John Gil- bert, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Lawrence Tibbett, William Haines, Ramon Novarro and Buster Keaton. But there’s money in it! What Is Gloria Like? WHAT is Gloria Swansen really like? Movi> fans—men. and women i alike-—invariably ask that question about Gloria Swanson. There is some- thing about her that provokes curiosity. “Well," says her special representa- tive—and he ought to know—“Miss Swanson, for instance, is mortally afraid of being killed in crowds. That's why she frowns on making personal ap- pearances unless it is absolutely impos- sible to avoid them. The last time she made appearances in New York -and London at the premiere of her-pleture she had to be carried r door. The sight of clamoring fans ing about, the shouts of police officers, and the general excitement proved a little too muech for her. In New York she actually fainted. “She doesn't like to be ‘yessed.” She ugh a flatterer with speed and ease. She knows when she has something good, and yet she never kids She has a quick temper, and acquires likes and disiixes easily. Either it's good or it isn't. She can be con- vinced, though she must have respect for the convincer’s campetence. “Gloria has a shrewd knowledge of what the public wants in movies, espe- cially women, and—but why tell every- thing? Why not study Gloria herself? She won't fool you—nor, by the same GAYETY--BURLES& | BILLIE DIAMOND DIRECT FROM CLUB OAKLAND, NEW YORK token, is it easy to catch her napping. \Over and above all, Gloria Swanson is alvays the mistress of the situation enlightenment.” think basically alike. poot, young or old, they are firmly that confronts her.” n. ¢ ALWAYS find talking to the vari- ous women who visit the studio,” says Loretta Young, star of ‘Big Busi- ness Girl’ “a source of interest and ‘These women, most of them wives, comes from all walks of life and from all parts of the country. It is the wives I enjoy most. They give me so much that helps me in my work. Listening to them I learn their opinions of husbands, children, small- town life, large cities, current politics and_fashions. “The most interesting thing these married women reveal is that they all ‘Whether rich or con vinced that a career, such as mine, Is absolutely the acme of perfection and the sure road to happiness and con- tentment. Even those wives who a happily married and enjoying the secur- ity and comfort of a nice home, a lovely husband, and lovely laughing children, feel that a career would be even more wonderful, At least that is what th2y sa, 1 wonder if they would believe me if I told them that, thrilling as my work , there are times when I just want to 3 rush away from it just as they want to run away from thetr husbands and children. e An Illusion Destroyed. ENTIMENT, the beautiful out- growth of love that 15 not born in the shambles of life, and which alwaye in a material world has heen rudely and often ruthlessly bruised and buffeted about, s2ems always to elude the rugged, ambitious pursuit of picture drama. No character in dramatic fiction, per- haps, has ever been more exquisite in spiritual beauty than Sir James M. Ba: “Peter Pan,” which was im- mortalized by Maude Adams in the le gitimats theater. It did seem, with the youthful fresh- ness and innocence of little Betty Bronson, that Peter Pan might find a resting place even upon the screen, and s0 add to the lovely memorles of an ideal quite out of touch with the va garies of the modern world. Whether he did, or did not. the llu- slon is now- being uiterly deetroyed in the flambuoyant announcement, recent ly launched, that “Peter Pan has grown Glen Echo Park. NY visitor to Glen Echo Park ought to have a good time. The new Crys al Pool, with A I,mere is the boat ride through the new {“Old Mill,” a 830,000 scenic master- : the ing * m"” ride, 20 cars of front-wheel drive, tte shooting with moving targets, the “skee ball alleys,” the last word in bowli alley pastime e. In the Midway, the kiddies’ own, will be found fun, with thrill upon thrill on the coaster dips, {he whip, the aero- plane swings and ferris wheel. In the evening, in addition to the | bathing in the flluminated swim- {ming pool, will be found a wonderful dancs fleor in the big ball room, with McWilliams' enlarged orchestra to de- light ths dancers from 8:30 until 11:30 o'clock, except Sunday. Cars go to Glen Echo every few minutes, marked Glen Echo or Cabin John, and there is plenty c? fres parking specs at the big frec admission resort for motorists, SEASIDE PARK. STRICKLAND'S Orchestra, playing the liveliest of lively jazz, is one of the big features this season a Seaside Park, the Chesapeake Bay amusement resort, situated just beside the railway al at Chesapeake Beach, and reached in an hour by trains from the District Line station, after a pleasant ride through the rolling hills of Southern Maryland. || ON THE the seashore, with sand beachze, diving boards, pools for kid- IROM Loew's Palace comes the an- nouncement that “Front Page, described as “the screen version of a dramatic story of news- | paper life, and one of the ‘smash hits’ of the late New York theatrical season,” will be the featured its pure filtered water, brings dies, life guards and everything. Then | 1 Patrens of the ballroom are said to be enthusiastic over the peppy strainy served up by the Strickland ensemble, and the various other attractions mow in full swing. The big pool is as popu- lar as when it made its debut, last season; the dodgem, the custer ride; il.he skee ball alleys, the biue -streak coaster, the skooter, and s multitude |of other features help drive the blues |away and give the customers cheer and | recreation in the open air. ‘There is free parking space at the beach after 8 pm. and also at the Dis- | trict Line station all day, for those |who go to the park by train. Picnic rgrounds are available at the park for 7 partics. MARSHALL HALL. 'HE steamer Charles Macalester makes regular runs to Marshall Hall. now open, with many attractions, including the pleasant ride dezn th | Potomac_ River, passing Moun? Verzon and other historical astos on tha | journey. ‘The Hall itself is rich i» hisiorical interest. Many acres of griind retain their old Colonial charm and ford |a wonderful place, to ic. PFree idmclnx may be edjoyed in the breege- |swept pavilion. Also rcller coasters, | shooting galleries, airplane swings and | other devices may serve fo while away pleasant hours. | On week days the stesmer leawss Seventh street wherf at 16 am. 230 and 6:4 and on Sunday Bt HORIZON | series of Charlie Chan adventures, with ‘Warner Oland featured as the Oriental detective, will be the attraction at the | Pox Theater starting Priday of the | current week. This excerpt from the | Earl Derr Biggers romance has some- up!” and that “Betty Bronson, who rose | attraction at the Palace starting Sat- | thing to do with a murder mystery in’ to the heights of screen fame (sic) in the adorable Barrie character, has for- saken the ingenue ranks and has be- come a ‘heavy’ in a forthcoming Colum- bia production of ‘Lover Come Back,’ in which Miss Bronson depicts a ‘baby vamp. Critic to Co-operate. ROBERT E. SHERWOOD, playwright and movie critic, has been retained by Howard Hughes to prepare logue for “The Age for Love Dove's new picture. “The Age for Love mantic drama, is based on the novel by Ernest Pascal, who also adapted the story, in coilaboration with Frank Lloyd, the director of the picture, which goes into production within a month. Sherwood, formerly editor of Life, and suthor of several plays and screen stories, is one of Amarica’s most popu- lar motion picture critics. 2 dia- Billie Summer Clothes urday of this week. Teddy Joyce, lead- i;llf a revue called “Crazy Rhythms,™ | be the accompanying feature pre- sented on the Palace stage. ‘Warner's Metro. politan has an- nounced as its fea- ture, also due at the same scribed as tion ture which has Newfoundland and off the rugged, ice.bound coast of Labrador, when 26 lives were con- tributed from a sealing vessel in an explosion.” The tragic incident doubtless will be recalled by readers of the dally news- TS, p“p'r'hz Black Camel,” another of the Warner Oland. | far-off Hawaii. A Fanchon-Marco idea that has much to do with a big- | time vaudeville show and the peerless | Al Mitchell mastering the ceremonies | will be the supporting features on the | stage. | _“Smart Money,” with Edward G. | Robinson as its stellar light, a First | National.Vitaphone production, is billed Ifor the Earle Theater for the week | commencing Saturday,. reinforced by & | stage show that includes the pianist son of a former President of Nicaragua, Don Zelaya: Serge Flash, the rubber | ball manipulator, and the California Collegians, with ' Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers When and if Gloria Swanso est screen drama. “Indiscreet, out of Loew’s Columbia Theater, Which is not likely to be very soom, it is announced that “The Lawyer's Secret.” presenting Buddy Rogers, Clive Brook, Richard Arlen, Fay Wray and Jean Arthur, will succeed it as the Columbia attraction. The picture is said to be Paramoun most gripping production of the year. Doug andr one of the biggest shocks he transmitted | to the producers, who about that time | were giving serfous thougnt to cutting | stars’ salaries and reductng “overhead,” was_delivered by the mammoth scenic castle he erected, with great stones and that seemed silly. Why this evidence of permanency, they asked, { whole business would be junked after “Robin Hood" was finished. But Doug knew his onions, as they say in up-to-date society. For that solid masonry, those big s what they seemed. They were just imi- ] | tations made of a composition that was JOAN CRAWFORD Shows what Hollywood is wearing. The sports suit is pure white, with plaid blouse for contrast. The straw hat is of the bandeau variety. Lowell Sherman to Shine. OWELL SHERMAN has signed a new long-term contract with Radio Pictures and is to occupy a prominent position in the line-up of new pictures to come from the Radio Studios during the coming year. Sherman has contributed numerous talking screen hits to this company both as star and director during the past year. His latest picture, “High Stakes,” soon will reach the screen, with Mae Murray, Karen Morley and a notable supporting cast. Once an Actor, Always Sich. | spread like plaster over prepared sec- tions, numbered and ultimately hooked together to make a castle cr what would you. After the picture of “Robin Hood.” they were carefully stored away, and subsequently they were rented out whenever castles” or scenes requiring VWHEN Douglas Fairbanks made his, famous picture “Robin Hood: other evidences of structural masonry | when the | es, etc., were not | the Jungle. imilar masonry were to be made. They paid their way and eventually lessened the cost cf “Robin Hood.” Doug. for some time, has been down in the South Seas or some other mps- terious localities, and late news says he is hurrying back with \Mary, whom he caught up somev here overseas, and also laden down with all sorts of trophies in | the form of peits and hides and what not snatched from the cangers of the. jungle to do duty in authentic | fcr African and other jungle film crea= ticns of build-them-who-may. He's go~ ing to rent them out, tco. But Doug has an envious cnemy somewhere, for only a Tew nights ago some wi er of authority over the adio ups and tells the radio audience “there ain't no more jungle in Africa™ and that these jungle thrillers are fake. irom here to there. Now if there “ain’t no jungle,” how is Doug going to pzy the expenses of his recent trip by renting out his jungle | trophies? Euam O'NEILL'S massive play, “Strange Interlude.” which Man- ager Cochran and Director Clifferd Brooke have selected to follow the close of the “subscription season” of the Na- tional Theater Players, is developed by nine characters. It is the most pre | tentious undertaking in the history of the local repertdty organization, if not of stock production generally. ‘The play has nine acts, five of them are presented between 5:30 p.m. and 17:40, and following an intermission for dinner, the remaining four after 9 pm. “Strange Interlude” was intro- duced to Washington by the Theater Guild of New York, with Ralph Morgan and Pauline Lord in the leading roles. Stanley Ridges and Nancy Sheridan have been assigned to the same parts. “The woman in the case” in “Strange Interlude” is Nina Leeds, a sorrowful yet commanding figure, groping through life in search of & something she seems unable to find. When her fiancee crashed to death while fighting in the air overseas, all that life held for he: seemed to depart forever. A period of nursing and promiscuity with wounded veterans only made her the more morose, ‘Then she marries a shallow plodder, just to satisfy the craving for something to mother. Later her pros- of real motherhood are snatched her when she learns that there is insanity in her husband’s family. She tic | then turns to a brilliant doctor, shock- latest picture, so states a story from the studios, declined the use of a dressing room, but converted his director's of- fice into a make-up parlor, thus again illustrating the proneness to eccentricity on the part of “The Royal Family of Broadway.” Clark Gable, who will bear watching, also has a role in the picture. \ W OPEN " BRINGS THI surrs Loc! GLEN E “THE FUN PACTORY OF WASNINGTON" FREE _ABMISSION AMUSEMENT PAR TODAY AND ALL SUMMER SWIM IN THE NEW. $200,000.60 CrysraL PoolL WITH SEASHORE SAND BEACH FROM 10 A. M. UNTIL 11:30 SIASIICORI TO YOUR PRICES e TR i S ALSO MORE THAN FIFTY BIG AMUSEMENTS THE IDEAL PICNIC PLACE BASKET, PARTIES WELCOME HOW TO GET TO GLEN ECHO CARS More of O’Neill’s Play. | ing him with the proposal that he be~ | come the father of a child for her— | and the doctor acquiesces. | " From there on. perhaps, “Strange In- terlude” had best be left to tell its own story. Its drama has been pronounced upendous,” “profound.” “incompara- ble.” Critics have praised it in the highest terms and condemned it as un- | speakable—and vet it has fascinated thousands, while even more have dis- | cussed it pro and con. George Jean Nathan, the noted critic, says that its drama has never been | surpassed by any other living play- wright. Amateurs Taking a Hand. LESL!E HOWARD, an ardent cinema | fan, is now contending that the | best picture ever filmed was taken along | the Cornish coast of Great Britain, Recently, at the M-G-M studios, | Howard “shot” the scenes himself and vas director, cameraman, technician nd is now the proud exhibitor of the picture, whose cast was made up of glenda visiting at the Howard Summer ome. ‘This interesting bit of news that drifted in from the studios, however, fails to give the title of the picturs or to say whether or not the big public is to be favored with a glimpse of “the best the screen has ever done.” M CoharsC ATIONAL NIGHTS—$1.00, 75¢c and 50c WED. and SAT. MATS.—50¢c and 35¢ COCHRAN o ThE National MONDAY NIGHT AND WEEK D CLIFFORD, BROOKE « CRL i, frreo R il “gum,@"g ashing ER on. Theatrnegoenss K STARTING MONDAY, JUNE 15TH INCLUDING SUNDAY, JUNE 21ST BAT SALE TOMORROW AT 9 A. M. ©rchestra, $1.50; Baleony, $1.00; 2nd Balcony, 50e Most Important Event of the Summer Season EVENINGS ONLY AT 5:30 DINNER INTERMISSION, 7:40 TO 9:00 FINAL CURTAIN AT 11:00 The Theatre Guild’s STRANGE INT EUGENE O’NEILL’ ERLUDE MASTERPUL DRAMA IN NINE ACTS