Evening Star Newspaper, September 6, 1931, Page 23

: Stage and Screervl‘ News and Gossip | . Part 4—6 Pages INA CLAIRE and “REBOUND” ROBERT AMES - KEITH'S Theater Not /Worried, But Are the Erlangers And Shuberts Friendly? Guns Are Being Charged on Both Sides in Annual| Production War—News of the Theater Guild and What Its Changes Mean. By W. H. Landvoigt. VEN the demurest playboy of theatric journalism reserves the right and frequently exercises landing a wallop on the tenderest spot in the anatomy of the the-| ater when the spirit moves him. Indeed, one of the most pensive of its observers took an elegant crack at the institution in Gotham within the week. His solemn de- duction, perforce, happens to be! the movies' fondest cry, that “the theater has little use for nature.”| “Where the pavement ends.” he continues, “there the drama draws the boundary.” One naturally ex- pects, at this point, to be greeted | with a fervent outburst on the possibilities of the far-reaching eye of the camera and the won-| ders of the wide-open spaces. In- stead, however, the writer wan-| dered aimlessly on and ultimately | perorated with the deduction that | nature is realy a very essential thing after all. But there is, nevertheless, abundant and joyous evidence that the theater is not without its friends. luckless wight who “passes reflec- tions” upon its counterfeit. Cov- ered with the leprosy of commis- sion and omissior. though the movie may be, you've got to take it or leave it without comment, and smile when you do it. adoring nymphs that blow their| bubbles at its footstool in irides- cent tribute have a way of inject-| ing venom of a kind that may inconvenience, if it doesn’t hurt, when the bubbles burst. It should be apparent to the weakest intellect, especially at this time, that the wild endeavors to “Save Our Stage” are nothing more nor less than a meek and humble request to the august cinema merely to move up and make room for a fellow passenger. Apparently that isn't being done now. And 5o the supreme endeavor of the moment, locally at least, has been to stir ug interest in Mayor Jimmy Walker's spotless city and to keep the candle burn- ing brightly in good ol' Nu Yawk, whether its beams reach the be- nighted hinterland or not. i e UR world of the legitimate theater in Washington, un- fortunately or otherwise, is divided the privilege of| Yet heaven help the! Thc}Fontaine have apparently eluded talk theater, pray let it be theater in Washington and not theater a< presented exclusively elsewhere. * ok ok % WASHXNGTON is peculiarly in- terested in anything that| affects the New York Theater Guild, because to that institution | it is indebted for some of the! finest drama it has enjoyed in re- cent years. Reports of the resig-| nation from executive positions in the Guild of Theresa Helburn. long famous as its executive direc- tor; of Philip Moeller, its accom- plished production director, and of Maurice Wertheim and Law- rence Langner, directors of organ- ization, have given rise to specula- tion as to their cause and effect It appears that, hereafter, a com-| mittee of two from the Guild board, changing with each new production, will do the production supervising. For instance, Miss Helburn and Mr. Wertheim wil! | supervise James O'Neill's new | trilogy, “Mourning Becomes Elec- | tra,” while the Robert E. Sher- |wood new play, “Reunion at Vienna,” will have Miss Helburr and Mr. Langner for its super- | visors. It has been the general | | policy of the Guild not to permif, | the exploitation of any of its i players above the others, even |though Alfred Lunt and Lynn the restriction. Perhaps the new | arrangements in organization | have been devised to appease| personal ambitions, or to keep | |them within proper bounds. The zeal and devotion of the Guild to | the best interests of the legitimate theater have seemed beyond ques- tion. Its well wishers therefore will comfort themselves with the| thought and belief that any| changes made in its management are the result of well considered desires for improvement that will in nowise interrupt a splendid course of achievement. Looking Ahead Attractions Booked for Autumn Sea i Washingt on, | ¢()NCE IN A LIFETIME" terminated its New York engagement with | between two establishments, which | its 401st performance, and after a two- . singularly enough represent the| week la; two great fountain heads of the theater of the present day. They are the Erlanger interests, on the one hand, and those of Messrs. i y-off will start its “road 'Mll""i in Newark, N. J., Monday, September 21. | ‘Though booking had been arranged | for between the New York closing and | Lee and J. J., etc., on the other.| the road opening, it was canceled by | And each is reported to be waging | Sam H. Harris, the producer, it is said, war upon the other. The barker | when he learned that members of the of the Erlanger army, just NOW.' company preferred the two weeks' vaca- appears to be soft-pedaling, after on 15 the two weeks' additional work. the positive and definite an- nouncement of the good things As it was the only play of 1930-31 that ghead. The barker of the Shubert | Fan through the hot Summer, the mem- forces is blowing lustily on his| bers of the large cast felt that a short bugle and announcing with an rest would be of benefit. equal semblance of certainty what is “planned” for Washington in the months before us. There seems, however, to be an evasive tone in the otherwise harmonious blasts foretelling the attractions for the Belasco Theater. ington’s proper attitude, perhaps. should be to sit still and keep taby tional on the promises of both hostile armies, neither despondent nor z_et too_confident, but quietly tab- m}z' off the promises as they are wealized. It may be interesting, ‘at the close of the new season, to pote which did and which didn't. Illusion has ever been the aim of the theater. But since first the stage and then the movie began to invite the general public $0 a close inspection of its in- sides—what goes on behind the scenes—illusion’s only roost has been in the managerial offices and its chief employment a doubtful one when plans of forthcoming roductions are to be announced. o that nature in the theater might be likened to the lure of the loving man who whispers sweet nothings in the willing ears of his Dulcinea until his fell pur- pose be accomplished and then. majestic-like, hurls his victim into | antly | the trash heap and nonc! inquires, “What are you goirfg tc do about it?” A proper respect for the dignity of the National Capital at thic period, when the eyes of the world aré focused upon its decisions in matters of supreme importance. would seem to suggest the relega- tion of Manhattan small talk to the side lines, especially in affairs affecting amusement. If one must Wash- | T | | | | now ¥m myself again.” “Once in a Lifetime” has been an- nounced to open the season at the Shu- be'r(-Bem;co in Washington Septem- ber 27, 'HE well known musica! comedy “Fine and Dandy,” starring Joe Cook, will be the attraciion at the Na- Theater the week beginning Monday, October 19. ‘The show comes here, it is explicitly announced, with its original New York cast of princi- pals_intact. “Fine and Dandy” owes ils book to Donald Ogden Stewart, its music and lyrics to Kay Swift and Paul James. It is a Green-Gensler production, pre- sented by Erlanger Productions, Inc. Mr. Cook's supporting cast will in clude ‘Nell O'Day, Alice Boulden, Jam: Howkins, Dave Chasen, Eleanor Pow- ell, John W. Ehrle, Ethel Wilson, George Schiller, the Tommy Atkins sextet and the Merriel Abbott dancers. FH.ED STONE, who has lined up with the Shubert forces, according to a report from their office, will appear in a new musical play in October. “My long vacation,” he says, “has put me in wonderful shape and I cin do a lot of stunts that were beycnd me when I appeared in ‘Ripples,’ I hadn't fully recovered from my airplane acci- dent then—I was still pretty stiff. But Are you_ever going to revive ‘The d of Oz'"? he was csked. t can't be done,” he replied. “Dave Montgomery is g-ne, and a piece like | that can't compare with the big, fast musical shows that are pui on today. Why, “The Wizard of Oz w:s produced for $30.000. That's the cost of the | finale of your first act t-day. Some of | the old-timers might enjoy it, but the | younger generation wouldn't sit through it. If it had & new book and new score lczhr‘nigh'. n‘l‘n a (e‘lx' weeks, but with those nges wouldn't be & revival—it mml:e be a new show.” 5 Wi % AMUSEMENT SECTION . he Sunday Star, Motor, Aviation, = Radio Programs WASHINGTON, D. SUNDAY G, WALTER HUSTON and ‘CHIC’ SALE ® THE STAR WITNESS® £ARLE skercHEs BV subouTH SYLVIA S “ AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY “ METROPOLITAN JOAN CRAWFORD and MONROE OWSLEY * THIS MODERN AGE® — COLUMBIA New “Vanities” Keeps Up | The garroll Reputation — | Critic Finds the Attraction "Dumb in Its Dull Indecencies’—But There Are a Variety of Opin- | ions Regarding the Producer's Efforts. By Percy Hammond. | T IS said of Earl Carroll that he | possibly examine the newspapers to has no sense of wrongdoing and find something suitable. By doing so is, therefore, unable to distinguish he would discover that Earl Carroll's rectitude from iniquity. That his | “Vanities” is no place for a cleanly | habitual trespasses as a showman man and his family; and he would | are due not to a passion for depravity, | therefore save himself and them from but to an innocent belief that any- a disagreeable embarrassment. “The thing that is is O. K. This inability to Band Wagon,” Le would be informed, discriminate between the foul and the is humorously concerned with the in- fair 18 offered in defense of Mr. Car- | timacies of bath room plumbing and roll's latest “Vanities” Some of his | Some comic indelicacies representing friends tell me that he regards his gn;;‘:;i?mf‘;gf’“%“s"',c‘\f‘i,éi‘f, i new spectacle as_entirely unobjection- | bul' they do mot admonish. < i se who w week to learn from the reviewers that wige i cut of town upon a rail. His it was not. exhibitions disgust but do not anger There are evidences that this ex- me, and I suspect that his shows are Dlanation ‘of Mr. Carroll's dsliniquentias | 0, Yorse han nis audiences. 1 would is correct. His new show in his new theater is so dumb in its dull in- not lift a finger to prevent the per- | formance of the “Vanities,” because I decencies that it could not properly have been the deliberate product of a know that it exbilarates many bored and hardened persons to whom abnormal _excitements are mnecessary. When Will Mahoney and William nasty mind. Here is a fellow of ab- | Demarest present their little idyll of normal vanity, ambitious to cut a fine | Sodom and Gomorrah, they inspire the figure in the amusement world. He | $3 sophistocates present o expressions | has a limitless and daring treasury |of rapture, To & few others the with which to finance his cnterprises, | “Vanities” s an emetic rather than and it is his announced desire to lead 'an entertainment. the theater out of its wilderness. In . e | other days he has been “crucificated.” r - e e ST ey IR e SIS Rute oU prosccuted. humiliated, penalized and appoirtment. Among the stout | disgraced for his offense against pro- priety. Yet he hcs learned nothing from the agony of experience. Among standbys of George Cohan, John Golden and his guests at the first performance of | the newest and vilest of the “Vanities” Brock Pemberton. Within the past fortnight these usually dependable ¥as that most austere of police com- | friends have innocently betrayed us in scioners, Police Commissioner Mul- i ints eood b Beatt rooney, accompanied by his family. The e iy = invitation to Mr. Mulrooney to join but bad in .?‘11 offl the;n tell | the party could n e interesting st s awkwardly, forget- Ty Ol o e DeMl. 2 | ting ‘that In the drams as.well a5 in | has every reason to pacify the con- ' Other artistic rackets manner is more | stables, ~ It must have been given important than matter. Mr. Golden's simply because he did not realize that | “After Tomorrow.” Mr. Pemberton's his play contained anything _that | 4 “Three Within the Hour” and would' affront & chaste officer of the , Cohan's “Friendship® are good storle law and his household. ell acted, but. inefciently told. i aster ‘ama-lovinj A few- of‘my subscribers ‘complain, | L advise ¥, ¢ i g | as usual, that to denounce a play for readers to lfimd]thg\ h;’ prele{‘mca‘ . o sometimes dirtiness is to advertise It Into. Pros- | toavira" debauch, The - | perity. They suggest that in the mat- | | beautiful debauch,” The “Vanities” is ade for those of evil or complacent ! ter of the “Vanities” a plous secrecy | m 1 3 S ibs Soteed e reew IS EE Lo ice ShOCE £ FANRY drama-lovers be lured to attendance. Give a show a bad name, they say, and it will become popular, because notoriety in tke theater is synony- mous with success. So, they claim, the critics err when, reporting an evil en- tertainment, they proclaim it as such. It is possible to differ from that | opinion. The reviewer who “adver- | tises” a degrading spectacle by de- nouncing it knows that theatergoers who desire such amusement will. not be further harmed by it. Their taste cannot be made lower. But he con- ceives it to be his duty to inform the less sophisticated of what is happening on the stages. I can imagine that an innocent suburbanite, planning to take his wife and children to a show, might and evening. KEITH'S—“Rebound.” FOX—“Huckleberry Finn.” Thi EARLE—“The Star Witness"—J and evening. COLUMBIA—*“This Modern Age. and evening. Broadway drama are | g MORNING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1931. DNEY ‘ ke JACKIE COOGAN and MITZI GREEN * HUCKLEBERRY FINN* FOox MAE CLARKE and KENT D " WATERLOO BRIDGE” — &OI:JEJ__OAS Seéscgn Opefis New York's Theatrical Attractions Fail to Score '} Without a Hit During the Past Two Weeks—-"Green Pastures” and "Once in a Lifetime” Leave Broadway. BY MARK BARRON. EW YORK, Sept:mber 5 (#). -— The first fortnight of the new theatrical season has failed to bring forth a single outstancing hit. All the new shows have been called tnin, mediocre affairs by the critics. * ‘The three shows of the opening week were soundly cenounced. “Thre: Times the Hour” is called a novel, but unim- portant melodrama. “After Tomor- row” was the recipient of vicious re- views, and the new “Vanities” drew such reprimands for its risque cketch-s that ecritics almost ignored the re- meinder of the revue. The two openings of this week fared itle botter. George M. Cohan played in his own new comedy, “Friendship,’ and that fact tempered somewhat it: disparaging reception. It was called a repelitious and unimportant play, although critics admitted that when Cohan is on the stage no one pays any attention to the play, anyway. They are happy morely to watch Cohan act. ‘Thomas Mitchell brought in his new comedy, “Cloudy With Showe! and although the reviews were nct harsh, they wcre not enthusiastic. Mitchell brought over something of the mood of “little action” into this new medy. It concerns a young collega tessor and his entanglements with curious co-eds int'nt on writing theses x life of the modern woman.” matter of fact, more inter:st was g drama than in ony of the new arrivals. An enthusiastic farews was given the “Gre Pastures,” and it played to 0.0 during its last w-ek. That means that there were 50 to 60 standees at every performance. So, “Green Pastures” has “Once in a Lifetime” departs week and Broadway sits back expect- antly awalting its first big hit of the n, col N Asa Jown in 4 depar A A. MILNE has finished his new * play and given it the title of “They Don't Mean Any Harm.” He has cabled Charles Hopkins that the man- STAGE AND SCREEN ATTRACTIONS THIS WEEK METROPOLITAN—“An American Tragedy.” This afternoon RIALTO—“Waterloo Bridge.” This afternoon and evening. This afternoon and evening. is afternoon and evening. oe E. Brown. This afternoon " This afternoon and evening. PALACE—“Secrets of a Secretary.” This afternoon and evening. GAYETY— (Burlesque) Sam Raynor’s “Gang.” This afternocn depa:ting | | uscript will arrive In New York ready | for rehearsals in 30 days. There is & possibility that Miine may come over | with the sciipt. Hopkins has a John Galsworthy play in_rehearsal now, and the Milne play will come next. Both will have half- British and half-American casts. JFOUR vears ago Chester Erskin was a hungry young man who spent most of his time trying to find a vacant bench in Brvant Park on which to gather a few hours' sleep. He walked into a theater by accident one day and Olga Petrova gave him a walk-on part in a new play she was doing. ! | That_started the theater career of young Erskine and he decided to be a director. _His staging of “Harlem.” “Subway Expiess” and “The Last Mile" MARY BOLAND and .CLAUDETTE COLBERT ¥ SECRETS OF A SECRETARY” — PALACE 'Concerning Comedi And Their Thwdore Dreiser Speal( cives a FCW Items Abou ] By E. deS. HEODORE DREISER, last week's 60-year-old birthday boy, in the midst of tossing e 21S Popularity On and gf the Stage s Well of a Couple of Funny Men at \Vor\(. and pol]y Moran, at Rest, t the Hollywood Colony. Melcher. THE local world knows, of course, by now just what Miss Moran thinks of Clark Gable. She claims verbal brickbats to an that every young girl, mother and assembled multitude, exclaimed grandmother on the “lot” almost “God knows how much I owe 10 goes into a faint at his approach. Joe Cook and Ed Wynne!"—which, Some of the scenes he plays with it is said, so alarmed some of his Garbo in “The Risz and Fall of admirers that they dropped what- Susan Lennox” are said to have - < wilted the casual passerby with ever they had in their hands (pre- their heat. And as for the great, | sumably not earthenware) and| glamorous Garbo—the idol of the stared at him for some minutes stgdlosgl\dxss Mclvradn c}aims thx;}t1 | " when this silent lady of the nortl lnTs}:m;y s’:finceh'd Dreise first called her “Poly” in her deep. e fact that Mr. Dreiser, Amer- | sonorous basso, she almost dropped ica’s foremost authority on the 'deep 2nd perhaps dull tragedies | of the lower strata, could so far! | forget himself as to pay tribute to| | some of the lighter moments of |life seemed to these worshiping “yes men” a very odd idea inaecd. Supposedly a man of somber mie: filled with a “cloudy-with-shower. disposition, Mr. Dreiser has invari- ably exhibited himself as one who | laughed at laughter and hugely enjoyed tears. Now, however, that the truth is out, and that such a man of pro- | digious talents openly admits that | comedy as well as sorrow filters | thrcugh his_veins, there is cause for much hat-throwing in the streets. Candidetes for similar statements have been seen ap- pearing in the larger alleys wait- |ing for such glad-given eulogies, and word from Hollywood indi | cates that much grief is there among the comediana, who, while having made ordinary mortals augh, yet seem not to have pro- duced so much as a giggle from Mr. Dreiser. 1 * | “H{ILE whistles blew and traffic 1 hurrahed and the gre:t burly subways of New York blasted birthday greetings to Mr. Dreiser, as he in turn doffed his mantle before the Cook-Wynne shrine, locally there was cause for similar explcsions. For, close at hand—in | fact, in the very center of our turmoil—one of the ablest come- diennes of Hollywood, Polly Moran, | was giving forth great glad cheer. | Miss Moran, admittedly not such |a favorite with this department | until the recent “Politics,” now | looms high as one of the ablest |laugh-givers in the kingdom Whether you believe it or not, she can be funny at 10:30 in the morning—a feat of no uncommor size when you remember that o ok | wringel dead. 'R INOW that Miss Moran has de- parted, and Mr. Dreiser has slipped into the sixties booming forth great words of abuse at the picturization of his “American Tragedy” (locally on exhibition at the Metropelitan), it seems appro- priate to echo his words: “God knows how much we owe to——" well, other than Joe Cook and Ed Wynne—let us say, Marie Dressler, Will Rogers, Zasu Pitts, Charlie Chaplin, Joe E. Brown (welcome. brother!), Mitzi Green, and all the other host of comedians (even El Brendel—this with a tear) who make us forgst temporarily what dull mortals we are. % BUT hasn’t a change come over the cinema horizon? Aren't there more clouds nowadays than sunshine? When we tread the paths of the mammoth film par- lors, don't we find there less laughs and more gloom? Witness all these ‘“American Tragedies,” “Waterloo Bridges,” the gangster series, the Ruth Chatterton tear- the Ann Harding “East the emotional writhings of the gorgeous Garbo, or the cynical histrionics of Marjorie Rambezu. Where are the Buster Keatons and the Harold Lloyds, of yesteryear? Almost gone— apparently—but not _forgotten. | The more laughs the better—the more Polly Morans the better— but where are they? * ok k% | PARAMOUNT 2mong the week's news gadgets was the storm of protest echoed by a hundred cxhibitors in New York against gangster pictures. high prices and the contemplated sales policy of M.-G.-M. What. said these mighty Lynne elevated him in the short space of two| most stars’ alarm clocks don’t go men, is the earthly use, for in- years to become one of the foremost off till soon after the noon gong. stance, of paying Constance Ben- directors in the native theater. Late last season the Theater Guild commissioned him to adapt and direct Savoir's drama, “He.” Now Erskine be- gins his fifth year in the theater as an independentproducer, although still as- sociated with the Guild. He now has | “I Love an Actress,” a Hungarian com- | edy, in rehearsal. Later in the season | he will stage the Guild's production of “Son_of God,” a Lador drama by Paul | and Claire Sifton. | JULIAN WYLIE has arrived from | ¢/ England to put on a show which was sald to have been impossible to stage. ‘This is the “Good Companions,” taken | from J. B. Priestly’s novel. It Tequires a gigantic castle to disappear in_thin air before the audience's eyes. Wylie specializes in illusions, so the task is | easy for him. He began his career as a_magician, even now he spends | Christmas holidays touring through ;| small villages and giving magical shows. He hasn't spent Christmas at home in | | 20 years. He has an exceptional mem- ory for people and names, and he is noted for his keen sense of humor. | ARTHU’R SINCLAIR and Marie | O'Neill are due to arrive from their sojourn in Ireland next week and will immediately revive “Old Man Murphy.” . | Feminine Beauty. \FANCHON & MARCO are said to ! pay a glorious tribute to the | feminire bzauty of all nations in_their | presentation, “Olympic Games Idea | dedicated to the Tenth Olympas | which will be held in Los Angeles | " Audiences reviewing this production, a beautiful entry from practically every foreign country which will participate in the Olympics. The producers have gowned their Sunkist Beauties in cos- tumes typical of the nations they rep- resent, and & unique musical arrange- ment introduces and serves to distin- guish one c‘nm'y from another, < now at the Fox Theater, are promised | | Migg Moran, was not only funny thén, but she had a laugh for | every minute of the day—even in those wee small hours before her “entrance,” when lipstick and grease-paint were doing their darndest otherwise. 5 * x * |“HoL LY WOOD,” said Miss Moran, casually ensconced on her dressing room sofa, looking | more like a human being than 99 | per cent of her $3,000 a week | sisters, “is a city of mortgages and | moving vans. Any time of the | dey you can see a van moving in |and someone moving out. Mort- | gages are stocked high on the | roofs — everywhere, except. of | course, on my house, which is about as big as an— Asked whether she enjoyed the | life, she smiled and said, “Oh, its grand.” Did she think it was easier than the stage? “Easier? Sure. Why I feel like a rag when I come off the stage here—" (you may remember she was at the | Palace last week) “and out there, why, you chat with the director one minute, do a scene, have an- 1other chat, do a scene, have your |tea, do a scene. Oh, it's lovely! Why I've shed long honest-to- | goodness tears during a scene and the next second been laughing with Marie over some foolishness. |One of the commonest remarks | heard in the middle of a tea party is ‘Oh, I just died terrible,’ and, sure enough, out there in the mid- dle of lights, music and whatnots Miss Crawford may have been throwing her soul away to heaven, and in a jiffy she’ll with us, drinking tea, and then out there dying ‘terrible’ again.” | nett $30,000 a week? What,indeed? And then some bright light came | along and announced that “it isn't | the sex in films that is objection- able, it's the treatment of sex.” Milder news rumbles along the “flicker” boulevards include defi- inite word that Robert Mont- | gomery—the tall, gangling lad |with the one expression whose method of being himself is said |to have torn whole households apart—is to play the Noel Coward role in the film version of “Private Lives.” Norma Shearer will, of course, be half of the “Lives” and others in lesser capacities will be Reginald Denny, Una Merkel and Jean Hershoit. * ok % ‘QUMPTUOUS. to put it mildly, 2 "was the dinner given last Tuesday by the Universal Brother- hood in honor of the re-opening | of the Rialto. Gentlemen of the press and their ladies and ladies of the press and their gentlemen sat around the banquet table, and afterward, without so much as having to move a finger, witnessed the new film “Waterloo Bridge.” Plecsant it was to see not only the film but the smiling faces of | Messrs. Flader and Collier, who | will be with us again now that the scal on the door of their Ninth strect theater hds been burst | asunder. 7And, by the way, there is a rumor of no uncertan magnitude d- | to the effect that (here the ladies are requested to reach for their smelling salts) Lew Ayres, Univer- sal’s shiek par excellence, will ap- ar in person at the Rialto some ime before the blooming of the late season’s crocuses. ‘