Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1931, Page 47

[ k E Stage News and Screen and Gossip | Part 4—8 Pages ADOLPHE MENJOU STHE GREAT LOVER” RIALTO Washington’s CHARLES FARRELL and JANET GAYNOR , ' MERELY. MARY ANN" FO X Dramatic Season Opens Tomorrow Evening \Mew Play “Peter Flies High" at the National and Many Well| Known Players Have Roles—The Situation in New York—Other Stage Comment. By W. H. aflame with W happily may view with calm con- tent, the National Theater tomorrow evening. “Peter Flies High” is the work of Myron C. Fagan, who has several real comedy hits his credit. The star is no less than the brilliant young Glenn Hunter, whose fame was estab- lished in “Merton of the Movies,” continued in the fine drama of “Young Woodley” and reached a climax in George C. Tyler's re- vival of old English comedy. The| company in his support, if not one of those original New York casts, of which so much is written, is unquestionably fine and adequate. All in all, the Nation's Capital, for once at least, may feel truly thankful, without ever a sneer, a Landvoigt. AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star. WASHINGTON, D. C, | “PETER FLIES Motor, Aviation, Radio Programs SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13, 1931 DORIS KENYON and ‘LEWIS STONE V' THE . BARGAIN” = £A GLENN HUNTER HIGH” NAT/ONAL SHETCHES BV SUCOUTH ITH the Great White Way righteous indignation at the wan- ton worthlessness of the anding attraction with which rew season in the legitimate | aters was opened, Washington | if not real satisfaction, the| wholesome comedy which marks| the beginning of the new era at to| have failed in their duty—the New York judgment of a play or a pro- duction does not seem to carry| the weight it formerly did. This sometimes is due to the fact that the wicked producer has a pub- licity staff that outhowls the critics. Very often it has been due to the fact that Hagerstown,| Md., doesn't get the show as it appeared in Herkimer, N. Y., or| Great Neck, Long Island. Some-| body once accused the Yankees of | making wooden nutmegs. Per-| haps the hinterland believes New | | York is suffering from its near- | ness to New England, despite the ‘moral fiber of Boston censorship. | And maybe it is all because the original New York casts that ap-| pear in the tank towns are only| dipped, as it were, and not the genuine metal. Be the cause what it may, it seems a pity that the| theater of brains, the theater of arts and talents, the theater that | used to give our much-ridiculed ancestors keen delight and help to| smother a world of small troubles STA N LAUREL ana OLIVER HARDY “ PARDON US” — PALACE LILLIAN DIXON %816 REVUE "-GAYETY needs so much in our own present | day! It would be appreciated if it giggle or a whoop, for one never|mjght come back repentant and | can tell what may happen before the gentle snow of Winter flies, PR V/ERIFICATION seemed to follow closely upon the heels of prophecy as to prospects for the new season in New York. There has been a great deal in the form serious, bent upon being its real |self and without the barnacles that have sunk it to a very low | water line in the present day, when bilge water is 50 apt to edge | over the sides. koo JHEN the silent movie found a tongue, it leaped too quickly of mere announcement and SUE-|y; 4ne conclusion that it was hu- JOAN CRAWFORD *THIS MODERN AGE “=COLUMB/A Last Call of the Outdoors. O On the Horizon Pictures Announced to Fol- low Current Attractions NE of the delightful customs of the movie is to try to give its public what it wants. If the current picture doesn’t please, | there are more and better where tiat came from. And so each week, before & picture has had its full week’s run. its successor is announced, unless it is so good the management doesn't feel it wise to withdraw it. Metropolitan, Geo. Arliss in “Alexander Hamilton.” RLE < American Pic RICHARD CROMWELL “FIFTY FATHOMS DEEP” KEITH'S tures Do Not Give Clear View of American Civilization { But the British Have a Mistaken Idea That They Reproduce Stories of Our Daily Life— Unfairness ;h a Rccent Attacl(. By E. de S. Melcher, HE movies give an utterly the writing oracles print us as a distorted basis for any|land of emotional demons because sane judgment of Amer- | some of our films have flung wide ican civilization,” said|the hinges of their imagination James Truslow Adams recently in and depicted life as it certainly | an article in which he was draw- | ISN'T anywhere, then let us see | ing a dolorous picture of what for- what his country has to show for eign countries think of poor, | all his celluloid antics. unhappy, mutilated Uncle Sam.| 1In the first place, although few Pointing a finger of shame at the of his films have been shown over malignant influences which he | here, most of them are not only claims creep forth from the land‘sbodgy but cride, and not only of sunshine, oranges and Malibu | crude but superabundantly un- Beach, he bolstered his not un-|imaginative. ABd then many of | familiar assertion by underlining ' his best author$, blushing at the an article in the British Spectator, | thought of such publicity (fearful, | which says: | really, that thelr “works” might “Americans should realize that be mishandled by the cinematic so long as the United States shears), have eschewed the methodically travesties and pro- | studios, leaving only the shabbiest (13 material available. fanes herself before the whole | world by the loathsome pictures | that pour steadily from Hollywood | there is little excuse for complain- | | ing if other people think America | | ridiculous. As shown in many of | the serious and in most of the comic pictures that appear in Eng- | | land America is ridiculous. And {not only ridiculous, but obscene and trivial. If America does not | care enough about her own repu- ¢ A LEXANDER HAMILTON,” a his- tation to control this monstrous Then, again, it is no native hallucination that his best actors have long since left the mother studios to swim a gentle breast-stroke in the limpid Californian _ waters. Although rumor has it that these same studios are perking up, and that one gentleman of American ex- traction is planning to do great things over there, as far as en- tertainment is concerned, the Piccadilly output has been furi- gestion, but always with the eva- sive if, perhaps to leave one doubt- ful of what really may come forth in time. There is yet hope, but still uncertainty. Feelers will con- tinue to emerge in showers from the fertile press bureaus. A fecler, as one should know, is a clever jtem setting forth what may be and what may not. If the public response be encouraging, the feeler may materialize into some- thing tangible and worth while. Washington at this particular time is interested in knowing, not only what is really going to happen, but whether or n is likely to arrive loc is the life of the theater, nevertheless much time and many words are wasted in the vain effort to push bad plays to success. ally. Publicity * %ok X RRENT comment of the big things that are to dazzle New York and later, perhaps, to de- light the reconquered road— meaning the lands beyond the big city—leads to the belief that musical attractions, perh: i1l comprise the biggest “drama’ that the metropolis will see or the road hear about this season, when prospective box office returns are unpleasant matters of specula- tion. : ings will be especially delightful to the lover of good music is more or less doubtful. Even the present promoters seem to rely upon smut rather than sweet sounds to draw their audiences. When collegiate memories are eliminated, perhaps; when the saxophone is barred by law, the muted trumpet declared a crime and the acrobatic element is purged out of the pit and off the stage in favor of musicans trained in the wonders of fine music, something worth while may be expected in the musical line. For some time yet—no one knows how long—glorified or desecrated femininity, glittering eye spec- tacles and humor that for the present purpose might be termed chicksalian in character is more likely to be our portion. And yet, think of this one irrepressible fact —the Carroll ‘“Vanities,” which have excited the gentle morals of the metropolitan critic, a wonder in itself, drew $75,000 as its first week’s reward in the spotless city where everybody is denouncing it. This might indicate that there is something else to worry about | besides the rottenness in Den- mark. FOR one reason and another— and not always because the production itself deserves it, or be- ¢ause the able Manhattan critics * ok ok X ot the happening| but | man. And that seems to be af drawback both to the talking pic-| “"HUE the new crystal swimming | | ture and to legitimate drama. It pool at Glen Echo Park will con- lis certainly the reason for much tinue in operation throughout the of the abuse that is heaped upon MOnth of September. and Summer ex- |the present-day pictures, and cursion rates to Scacide Park, at | there seems to be gradually de- | Chesapcake Beach, will continue to | veloping evidence that promoters| September 20. both resorts have an- | of the legitimate drama are large- | nounced that their regular seasons will ly to blame for it. The art of Lhe“e;fiebfigg evening, when the last hornl picture screen and the art of the| 2 . Fiving ‘stage are two scparate and |, At Glen Echo the park will be in | 1 peration until 11:30 o'clock this | distinct arts badly jumbled DbY|evening, with everything in the way | bunglers, and the mistake has|of amusement devices going at full | been intensified by egotism in the blast to wind up a successful season | movie world of direction and pro- |gloriously. This will include the bril- | duction and by ignorance in the |liant illumination of the pool and the | {legitimate theater itself. Art has|¥hirr and whiz of the thrilimak: been brutally sacrificed in both | the Joy rides and the fun-provokers, e 4 7| today, until the cloce, the park will | for the sake of quiCk money Ie-|precent all its attractions the same as | | turns. It is a pity, and yet what it “the regular help is there for the situation?|to run. S e Even our own young people in this| At Seas] center of educational culture, with| pool will be in operation and | ide Park, also, the salt water the | PHILLIPS HOLMES * AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY ¥ METROPOLITAN Stage and Screen Attractions This Week ON THE STAGE. NATIONAL—Premiere of “Peter Flies High,” with Glenn Hunter. Tomorrow evening. GAYETY—Burlesque)—Lilian Dixon Revue. and evening. This afternoon ON THE SCREEN. FOX—“Merely Mary Ann.” This afternoon and evening. RIALTO—"The Great Lover.” This afternoon and evening. EARLE—"The Bargain.” This afternoon and evening. PALACE—"“Pardon Us.” This afternoon and evening. KEITH'S—“Fifty Fathoms Deep.” This afternoon and evening. METROPOLITAN—"An American Tragedy.” This afternoon and evening. COLUMBIA—“The Modern Age.” This afternoon and evening. “Street Scene” aps, will| That the melodic offer-| probably more than 50 dramatic organizations of one kind or an- other, get their ideas of theatric |art from the movies, and are | strangely intolerant about it. Yet | when pictures like the poor tabloid mous drama “Disraeli” came along, when other gems of the theater legitimate, although butchered and twisted and turned sadly | awry from the originals have been shown, these very same young folks have crowded the theaters where they are shown and have been exultant in their delight. The world’s experience has showw the value of the legitimate the- ater. The feverish, fitful, mad de- sire for what is trying to be its counterpart, but which decidedly is not, is one of the things that stand in the way of its proud re- turn to the spotlight which it once enjoyed and which is its rightful place among all mankind. * ok % ND this brings us back to the premier of “Peter Flies High” at the National Theater tomorrow evening. There may be found nothing of dramatic greatness in Myron C. Fagan’s pleasantry, but the fact that the flying is done in the atmosphere of mendacity and by an ingenious young ne'er-do- well; that it is done by no less an aviator than Glenn Hunter, who has always flown clean and straight in the past in a way to swamp the sympathies of his au- dience, and that everything prom- ises well for an enjoyable real the- ater treat, there is every reason to hope that those who know and admire the charm of theatric art will be on hand to lend encour- agement to its re-entry into the National Capital, ‘7 reproduction of George Arliss’ fa-| various devices, the land and air rides | and other things which contribute to a happy day, will all be going until the Jast train leaves the bayside this evening, and then the fishermen will | begin their own particular season, for things will be quieter. The usual train service will prevail today to and from the District linc and the park via the Chesapeake Beach Railway. [ Popular Priced Matinees. | THE management of the National Theater announces that, whenever | it is possible, during the coming season they will offer their attractions at pop- ular prices for the matinee patrons. For the first three weeks of the sea- | son, for such stars as Glenn Hunter | in his new play, “Peter Flies High;” Basil Sidriey and Mary Ellis in “Cher- ries Are Ripe,” the John Emerson and | Anita Loos comedy, and Madge Ken- nedy and Otto Kruger in Noel Coward's “Private Lives,” the best seats at th Wednesday matinee will be no more than $1, while the Saturday matinees will be priced at $1.50 top. Are There Only Six? WHO are the six most besutiful women in Hollywood? Josef von Sternberg, the Paramount director who ' guided - Marlene Deitrich often, and who has just put the drama of Theodore Dreiser’s famous novel, “An American Tragedy,” on the screen, has mlje his selections. *“An American Tragedy” is now in its second week at ‘Warner Bros. Metropolitan Theater. “The choice of the six most beautiful warqlcn of the screen must be unfair,” admits Von. Sternberg, “because beauty is both transient and a matter of in- dividual opinion. At this time, however, | my choice would be Marlene Deitrich. whom I consider the most ' beautiful woman in the world; Greta Garbo, Lily Damita, Clara Bow, Frances.Dee and | A SIDE from marking the return to | Washington of Glenn Hunter, a popular star in a promising play, and the homecoming of five former mem- bers of the National Players in Mr. Flunter's supporting cast, the presenta- tion here next week of “Peter Flie: | High”"should be of interest for other | reasons. First, it will serve to signalize the Introducing Mr. Bergman Mr. Fagan, the author of “Peter Flies High,” that a comedy can be hilari- | ously funny, even rowdy, and still be in good taste. Born in Buffalo, N. Y., Mr. Bergman advanced from Buffalo to New York and from a menial’s post in a thir rate playhouse to the position of tre | urer of the New Amsterdam Theats one of the most famous and historic houses in the world. Mr. Bergman oc- local debut of Leonard Bergman, a|cupied his high executive post for more nephew of the late A. L. Erlanger and | than 15 years, eventually relinquishing a man not unknown to the producing | it to accept the still higher office of ranks. He has been consistently identi- | general manager of the vast Erlanger fied for a period of over 20 years with the more meritorious of the theater's displays and may reasonably be counted upon to provide an entertainment of more than average merit. As a step in | the right direction and as an exponent | of cleanliness within the theater he has | elected to demonstrate, with the aid of enterprises. | " Few, if any. persons connected with | the theater have had a deeper, appre- | ciation of its evils and ills, and few, it | is said, have labored more earnestly | and sincerely than Mr. Bergman to eradicate the faults and administer to | | theatric needs. UCK has played a most important part in bringing to film fame many players. Frances Dee, vacationing in Holly- wood, worked as an extra as a lark. | she was “noticed” in *“Monte Carlo” and was chosen to play the feminine lead in Maurice Chevalier’s “Playboy of Paris.” Marjorie Gateson, an understudy for Star-Dust Luck to earn his own living when his family lost its fortune. He turned to stage bits as a starter and soon rose to stardom. Phillips Holmes, a student at Prince- | ton, happened to be “noticed as & screen type” by Frank Tuttle, who was directing the film “Varsity” at the uni- versity. Shortly thereafter he had a Paramount, contract. Richard Arlen, injured in a motor | the three leading ladies in the stage | cycle accident at the gate of Para- production of “Little Cafe,” played all three roles in three successive nights when the principals were ill. This un- usual_achievement attracted attention and Marjorie was signed as a Para- mount contract player. Joan Crawford. Each possesses tha vivid something which can project it.g_elt 83 screen electricity—screen beauty, \ Clive Brook, studying in London to become a hmr, was suddenly forced, ¢ | mount’s Hollywood studios, was carried | for first aid into the studio casting office. A sympathetic official offered him small parts in pictures when Arlen complained that his rrevenk him from working at his regu- lar job of delivering films for & lab- oratory, s bt g injuries would | pre toric picture with a masterful portrayal by one of the screen's greatest actors, George A: , is announc by the Warns Metropolitan Th ater to follow “An American Trag- edy,” which is be- ing’ held over for another week and may last even Jonger. ‘The pic- ture was directed by John Adolfi, and cludes many noted including | llyer, Mon- ve, Linel Belmore and oth- ers. George Arliss. At Columbia Saturday ¢(QTREET SCENE," the talking pic- ture version of the noted Broad- way play and hailed by some critics as “the greatest ever produced,” will be the new feature of Loew’s Columbia Theater starting next Saturday. “The Spider” Next Friday, at the Fox. HE attraction at the Fox Theater for its fourth anniversary we: (starting Friday) will be “The Spider,” featuring Edmund Lowe, Lois Moran, El Brendel, George E. Stone and oth- ers. The stage show, besides the Fanchon- arco “Carnival Idea,” will include ‘Disarmament.” an all-talking comedy " | with Washington boys and girls for its players. “Side Show” ‘Warner-Earle, Saturday. WINNXE LIGHTNER, woolly commedienne.” calling her, will be the bright s “Side Show,” a play of circus I af the Warner-Earle Theater, starting Sat- urday. Besides Winnie the players in- clude Charles Butterworth, Evalyn Knapp, Donald Cook and Guy Kibbee. Venita Gould, a distinguished star impersonator, will head the stage show, with a cycle of characterizations of bright lights of the stage and the screen. “Personal Maid” Palace Feature Saturday NANCY CARROLL'S star feature, “Personal Maid,” will be the at- traction at Loew’s Palace, starting Sat- urday, with Pat O'Brien, the reporter of “The Front Page” in the leading role opposite Nancy. The Capitol Theater’s “Miniature Re- vue” will be the outstanding feature of the stage show. “Smart Women” Coming to Keith’s Friday. ¢ QMART WOMEN,” a radio picture, featuring Mary Astor and Robert Ames, will be the feature for the new week, starting Friday, at R-K-O Keith's, where the first of Floyd Gibbons’ “Su- -eme Thrills,” built around President Wilson's declaration of war Germany, will be a special added at- traction, 4 4 its cast in-| 1| “weed” ously mediocre —and one can 2asily understand why Mr. Chaplin prefers his adopted Hollywood bungalow, vulgarity. she should not expect |other nations to be too tender of her.” * x ox % 'HIS virulent attack from a cousin Britisher is a truism, or ‘rnk:her ?mmlld form lofh sickness which afflicts many of the super- i highbrows across the ocean who because his movies are bad? And g0 to the “cinema” for little other |in the same breath why take pul&p?]se than xtro laughr at America | America to task because a few and have their cup of tea. misguided films have squeezed As you sit in a handsomely | themselves out of ollyv?ood in equipped London theater on Re-|unseemly shapes? Pven if some gent street, for instance, you can|of these films are admlittedly lop- stretch out your legs, have a sided, aren't our native movie- 1” and laugh at all this| goers the first to say so? Don't “horrid” Americana while a neatly | they get as mad about them and garbed waitress tucks a tray of rip them all over the whole coun- tea and toast on a “rest” that has try and get more thoroughly slipped up suddenly under your aroused than do their oceanic {elpow from beneath the seat. It| neighbors? The days of the | is, possibly, this tea which makes serpentine Theda Baras, the un- | | 'R 'UST the same, who ever thought of damning brother Englishmen an Englishman so angry at the | draped “vamps” who winked United States films (for, of course, | themselves into oblivion, the com- he has been trying for some time |edies in which foodstuffs came to get angry about something), hurtling out of every corner, are and this mildly lemonized liquid, lno more. which has come to him free of | x A - | even a midget shilling, seems to| TUST to prove that there is still ! put him in the proper growling ~ some hope for our civilization, | mind. S the following is a list of recent AND yet—strange as it may films recommended to the post- seem—there are many of these | vacationist who is lookith for mortals who are apt to forget something to do, and also for those themselves at such a display.|who believe that we are sliding There, before some long-legged|fast down that thorny road to British aristocrat may appear that| perdition: erstwhile lithsome Bow lady—“I|" Bad Girl — Which is neither say, old chappie, but she’s got good proportions, what?’—in a film which does much to mussing his intended boredom; or perhaps Jeanette MacDonald, said to be a great favorite, in something which would chill his family back in dear Bennett in $30,000 worth of clothes, which makes the Regent street dealers look like rag mer- chants. Still, after he has smacked his lips over these un- British foibles and his tea, he will perhaps walk down the Strand, guffawing under his blue-blooded chest, fall into Simpson’s, and there suddenly over an elbow- sized plece of mutton (as heavy as his fatherland) fall to talking to the waiter about those “vulgaaar” Americans and their “taawdry’ cinemas. (And this we have both seen and heard.) 4 ® kX X F now we are to be judged over old Sussex; or, again, Constance | ‘“cheap” nor ‘“vulgar” even if it concerns two “Third” avenue peo- ple who might never be seen on Picadilly Circus; Alexander Hamilton—Boasting the services of George Arliss. A thoroughly dignified and delight- ful film, which could never have | been made in jolly England; The Miracle Woman—With Bar- bara Stanwick as an evangelist who preaches and prays, and pays and pays; Waterloo Bridge—Which proves that even London has pavement ladies who improve through the vision of “love.” An American Tragedy—Which has a court room scene in it worth a visit alone—and one smile by Sylvia Sidney that will just kill you; Susan Lenox; Her Rise and Fall —In which the two great G's of the M-G-M forces, Garbo and Gable, sizzle as no two are said to in the land of tweeds and home- | have sizzled before; spuns by screen entertainment,| Merely Mary Ann—For roman- which is unfair to any civilization, | ticists of all ages who still be- imagine how the Greeks would |lieve that Cinderella was a comely have fared if they had held up a|lass who lost her footwear at the camera to their little home doings! | ball; Why not take Mr. Britisher by |Politics—Dressler and Moran, and the beard and do him likewise2 If .fi?'-’a enough, 4"