Evening Star Newspaper, October 11, 1931, Page 49

Stage and Screen Part 4—8 Pages RONALD COLMAN and ESTELLE TAVLOR STHE UNHOLY @, AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star. WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 11, 193L RONALD SQUIRE STHE S| ARDEN"= PALACE London Supplies Demand Of Washington Theaters During Week Just Passed But the First Offa'ing of the Professional Players Did Not Find Easy Barrie's Fantasy Scores at National. By W. H. TRETCHING “hands across the sea,” our English cousins, as they are sometimes called, supplied Washington with its real theater this week. At the moment it is rather difficult to de- termine how grateful we are, or how astonished. Had the double bill been shorn of half its attrac- tion and the Barrie play, alone_ been relied upon to provide us theatric joy, everybody might have been happy, whether some of New York’s writers approved of Mr. Hampden in his entirety or not. That distinguished actor was an admirable Admirable Crichton, if, perhaps, by lfzhe Ggllen,e standard. One o the notable surprises of the Tyler reproduction of Barrie’s profound- est fantasy was the rayed feminines after the wreck upon the desert island. One would naturally expect, in this daring day and generation, to see the “exposure” exaggerated. Alas, and perhaps alack also, in;tead, it was as decorously minimized as the strictest censor of the Victorian era of virtue could have wished, thereby robbing the play of one of the contemplation later on. V. Hampden 1s said to have dis- played an undertone of Shake- spearean technique, _which Mr. Gillette did not. Individual taste must determine if his character- ization suffered thereby. There is not the barest possibility of doubt that the audiences which rapturously greeted the play throughout its too brief engage- ment were otherwise than elated with it. It was finely staged and excellently cast, and it is confi- dently believed that if any experi- enced disappointment, it was due rather to the author than to the production of his work, because in “The Admirable Crichton” Sir James M. Barrie abandoned the lighter realm of fantasy with which he is always so closely as- a variant one, judged[‘wonhless because the play read- decorously ar- | incidents for de“gh'i&‘:}'.l Going in the Capital. Landvoigt. public wants, interested patriots must determine for themselves. In either event, it promises to add to the world’s supply of dramatic critics, which may or may not be so good. Would it not be a less costly, if not wiser, plan to ask the critics in advance to desig- nate a committee to read sub- mitted plays in advance of their production? There has long been a notion in the world of thought speculators that a change should be made ine the advance play reading departments of the pro- | ducers, where so many “smashing | hits” have been tossed aside as |ers were not familiar with_the | names of the playwrights. Look (at “Abie’s Irish Rose” for in- stance! Why should a playwright, | after completing his play, be re- | quired to do an eight-day walking match in search of a producer, and only, when utterly worn out in body and soul, to be forced to produce it himself? - Why not find |an “open door” for new play- | wrights? There seems to be no | doubt that the stage needs them. * o heon | JN discussing Paul Green’s “The | House of Connelly,” a current {play in the metropolis, which is said to possess unusual merit, J. | Brooks Atkinson of the New York | Times refers to “actors who can | evoke imagery, rather than those |who merely project imagery.” | This is the very essence of the |demand of playgoers in the back- | woods for “the original New York | cast.” They want to see players who can illumine their character- izations with real theatric art, not | imitators who simply act their parts. Many a distinct New York hit has started out with banners | flying and a good reputation as a | box office success only to be over- |come with hip disease when it | strikes the public pike, and for the very reason to which Mr. Atkin- |son_calls attention. There is a sociated for a theme whose under- | world of difference between the current suggested depth rather|artist who can impart the divine than the surface frolicking of the | afatus and the ham who merely mystical light in Peter Pan. |“acts.” True, the skyline of Man- * ok kK | hattan, which has lured so many, RANSITIONS from joy to sor- row are often sudden; always| deplorable. But such a shl{t' presses at this stage of the week’s comment. J. B. (not Myron C.) Fagan, who but a few years back| gave us the delightfully intriguing “And So to Bed,” provided Mau- rice Brown, who gave us the | not to mention the creature com- forts to be found in the City of the Great White Way, are sore temptations even to the brilliant artist who holds his art above all else, and with his temperamental and fastidious tastes he naturally rebels at exile, even if his produc- ing manager dares to sacrifice anything to recover the memorable production of “Jous- | atronage e End. with a sour lemon, in- | Of the road, which in other days i was said to be a vital asset of the ter theater in “The Improper [of €ven now, is permitted to see Duchess.” And it does seem as, fine artists in a play, but it longs, | if the Professional Players’ Guild, | 9 oW it longs, to extend its/ which made its debut with it in|YISion in this respect. A bad play resentation, was really betrayed ofbenewggp ng o! &gegthcutbhu n being given.the Duchess for our success that has been | denied ‘a good play with a cast of delectation as the first offering, ! ", for by no stretch of generous al-lt;‘grgiogs"s‘le:nn ng no disrespect to “#Jowance c:n “’Il‘hg dlr?pro{);r' Ay Duchess” be include n e “finer and better drama” which|'']PETER FLIES HIGH” landed the Professional Players are said| last night for repairs. A to champion London may have most competent mechanic, no less enjoyed it and even raved ovsrithan Frank Craven; will try his it, as the advance notices claim,! hand at fixing the damaged plane. | but not the London which cul-|And rumor say§ there is hove for tured Americans like to remember,| Peter yet in the not far-distant if our critics have justly recorded | future. their verdict. Our finer and| e Comedy From Phila. better drama, apparently, has a| standard far beyond “The Im- proper Duchess,” which not even PHILADELPHIA, frequently designated the delightful Bordoni could re-, as Quakertown, has done a lot for deem. | the stage, to which the Quakers are s M | traditionally epposed. And the city has O clever and intelligent a pro-| ducer as John Goldeh; gecent- | Rtibuted ‘many merrymskers to the ly in print, told the world that his new production, “After To- theater. The native ancestry of Philadelphia morrow,” has now been modified | established a deliberate manner of in accordance with the construc- |SPeaking with a peculiar drawl. To all uive suggestions of many critics, | Suer parts of the country this drawl is ; e » | humorous. ny o escendan whom he named, giving the SUg-inave cashed in on this knowledge. gested revision by each. Whether | amcng them W. C. Fields, the Dooleys. this signifies the dawn of a new of whom Johnny Dooley was_one of era in the world of play produc-'the famous; Frank Tinney, Florence tion, denoting an intention to col- | Moore, Leo Donnelly and many others, lalborale With the critics, or sim- ey WhOLM et y a wider invitation to dear, old . {)on Populi itself to take a hand |tis season, however, is “Herb” Wil- X FABLE’~ BELASCO ANN HARDING *DEVOTION® KEITH'S Mrs. Patrick Campbell. RS. PATRICK CAMPBELL, the celebrated English actress, will be seen in America for the first time since 1926 in Gilbert Miller's production of at the Shubert-Belasco Theater tomor- Tow evening Mrs. Campbell, one of the greatest names of the European stage, who is usually grouped with Sarah Bernhardt and Eleanora Duse as one of the three greatest actresses of the modern stage, will be best remembered by her Amer- ican audiences for her Eliza in Bern- ard Shaw's “Pygmalion.” She created the role of Paula in “The Second Mrs. Tanqueray” and scored one of her great personal triumphs in “The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith.” Among notable roles that Mrs. Campbell has played during her bril- liant career on two continents are Lady Teazle in “The School for Scand: Rosalle in “The Thirteenth Chair,’ Mrs. Chepstow in “Bella Donna,” Magda, Melisande and Lady Macbeth. Great as a ;Noman and Smger. MM!. SCHUMANN-HEINK'S first | great success, after years of struggles and babies, came when she sang at a benefit performance in Ber- lin, receiving 30 marks for her ap- pearance, but the newspaper critics suddenly awoke to the discovery of a new. contralto in their midst. Shortly afterward Mme. Schumann- Heink was summoned to appear in the place of a displeased prima donna who was to have sung “Carmen” at the Hamburg Opera. She achieved a great triumph and was asked to become first contralto of the Berlin Royal Opera. The great woman and singer now will make her first appearance in Gilbert and Sullivan opera in this country, iy, Jun;les as They ;\re. REALIST!C Ceylonese jungles were | created on the thousand-acre ranch of Warner Bros. for scenes on “The Road.to Singapore,” starring William Powell, now at Warner Brss.’ Earle Theater, Bamboo from Panama, grass thatch- ing from the Philippine Islands, bh‘dt} and monkeys from South America, palms, mosses and quantity cf jugs, skins and tomtoms complete the trop- ical background of the rain-drenched | darkly glamorous romence—all are in | evidence, it is declared. Roland Pertwee, famous British play- | wright, wrote “The Road to Singzpore.” | It is the story of a nurse who comes to Ceylon to marry a physiclan she had known at home. ‘Married to him, his absorption in the needs of his pa- tients, leaves her desolate, and so she falls under the spell of Hugh Dawitry, a 1¢ | lfams, who tops the list in the current in the salvation of the stage in X pursuing the quest for what the {10;: edition of the Earl Carroll Vani. E 2 “The Sex Fable,” by Edouard Bourdet, | CoLLETTE SisTERs “* SVANITIES” = NATIONAL LEW AYRES and SALLY BLAINE STHE SPIRIT OF NOTRE DAME-RIALTO DORIS KENYON and WILLIAM POWELL STHE ROAD TO SINGAPORSE "= FARLE EDWARD 6. ROBINSON and ONAMUNSON SFNVE STAR FINAL® - METROPOLITAN LGROUCHO MARX MONKEY ®BusiNEss® Eolumsid Stage and Screen Attractions This Week NATIONAL—Earl Carroll “Vanities.” Opens this evening. BELASCO—"The Séx Fable.” Opens tomorrow evening. GAYE’rYx—“Parislan Beauties” (burlesque). This afternoon and evening. v ON' THE SCREEN. RIALTO—"The Spirit of Notre Dame.” evening. EARLE—“Road to Singapore.” This afternoon and evening. FOX—“Sob Sister.” This afternoon and evening. PALACE—"“The Unholy Garden.” This afternoon and evening. KEITH'S—“Devotion.” This afternoon and evening. MErROP‘OL!TAN—“Flve Star Final” This afternoon and evening. COLUMBIA—“Monkey Business.” Scenic Creations When the scenery of a theatrical) suggested the set,—a colorful, broken production, especially gorgeous crea- | kaleidoscopic design, and this was car- This afternoon and This afternoon and evening. ave and worldly profligate. Drama naturally springs from it all. tions devised for musical comedies and Tevues, is so surprising as to make the spectators gasp, there is always a story behind it. How and by whom were the settings created? Scenic artists are seldom wholly re- sponsible for the creations. This fact is said to be exemplified in the edition of Earl Carroll “Vanities”, now pre- sented in Washington. Each of the sixty sets of “Vanities”, it 1s announced, was suggested, devised or created by Earl Carroll himself. The detalls were worked out by his art and technical director, Bernard H. Loh- muller, and credit is given on the pro- gram to Hugh Willoughby. Even in this complex arrangement, Mr. Carroll and Mr. Lohmuller disavow honor for the scenic beauty—paradoxically they assert the ideas came from melodies, flashes from a subconscious desire for certain harmonious effects and other sources. Mr. Lohmuller says the ideas practically drop out of & clear sky into their lap. The opening curtain of “Vanities” is a decided novelty, the only one of its kind in the world. It rises and draws off stage at both sides at the same time. An inventor brought the idea to Mr. Carroll and he purchased outright the patented traveler. An artist was engaged to work out a design on canvas in color, and this was trans- ferred to the curtain. A scene designated as a “Field of Daisles”, in which flowers move over | the back and two side walls, never fails to elicit gasps of astonishment. Mr. Carroll is said to have conceived the scene and imparted the idea to Mr. Lohmuller who worked out the general plan, which was turned over to Max Teuber, who' evolved an apparatus to show the moving flowers. Mr. Teuber in his laboratory studio experiments with novelty sceni¢ effects, always hav- ing & number on hand in advance, When Harold Arlen and Ted Koeler submitted the lyrics and music of “Hittin’ the Bottle”, the melody . | rled out with unique curtailed pieces of 1 sce‘_lll'fry. finished out with colored s. | ‘The costumes for the “March of Time” suggested that setting. They | were astronomical and called for stars. Mr, Carroll suggested large stars with girls in them, the stars to be moved around. The moving of the stars was merely a mechanical problem, worked out by counter weights and with steel framework and wire for safety of the girls incased in the stars. The light- ing was another mechanical problem, but an intricate one. It required con- siderable experimentation for perfec- tion. The electrical staff worked at various times five weeks on the light effect for this set. ‘The finale of the first act was worked out entirely by Mr. Carroll, who merely directed the staging and picturing of several tableaux and an unusual cur- tain as the means by which to reveal t{‘:;tn’ was worked out in detail by his staff. Mr. Carroll is said to be as familiar with the mechanics of the stage as any of his technical staff, and he spends a great deal of his time back stage mastering details of luction. He depends less upon others for scenic effects than any other producer and has yet to purchase a plece of scenery or effect from abroad. He has sold in seven years, more than a dozen novelty scenic effects to London and Parisian producers. Py Wants to Be Remembered. EORGE SMITHFIELD, a World ‘War veteran, who was once sta- tioned at Camp Meade as stage director of the educational and recreational de- partment of the War Plans Division, was in the city last week as a member of the company presenting “The Admiral Crichton™ at the National, having cast his lot with the follower: ! of Thespis. i Lifeury Craftsmans}fip. RONAL‘D COLMAN himself acknowl- edges it and it is a well known fact in Hollywood that literary crafts- manship has made his career compara- tively easy. Not that Colman does not work hard. He does. But the succes- sive screen plays in which he has been starred by Samuel Goldwyn were spon- sored by a group of distinguished liter- ary lights. Three of these were earlier Colman successes—“Bulldog Drummond,” “Raf- fles” and “Condemned.” Later successes were “The Devil to Pay” by Frederick Lonsdale, and “The Unholy Garden,” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the latter picture being the current of- fering at Loew's Palace Theater. Now on the horizon, and undoubtedly soon 0 be seen in Washington, is “Arrow- smith,” by Sinclair Lewis. Speaking of this literary craftsman- ship, Colman says: “A fine example was ‘The Devil to Pay’ If Lonsdale's lines had not the airy lightness, the sharp, crisp touch which they undoubt- | edly had, his seemingly frivolous title and perhaps inconsequential _story would perhaps appear to be J trifle, & spurious sentimentalism and unattractive sophistication.” Colman believes that ‘“The Unholy Garden” might be considered an ex- aggerated story but for the clever dia- logue of Mr. Hecht and Mr. MacArthur. He gives great credit, too, to the direc- tion by George Fitzmaurice, Inci- dentally, “The Unholy Garden” reveals Colman minus his Chesterfleldian man- ners. In this picture he is the wily genius of a murder crew, unshaven and disheveled. It is a known fact that Colman loves the story even more than he loved his “Beau Geste.” Doris Kenyon Sills. DORIB KENYON'S return to the screen has been one of the most successful in theatrical history. Her career was halted for several years which she devoted to the care of her husband, Milton Sills, and their son, Kenyon, now 7 years old. ‘The sudden passing of Mr. Sille, just when his health seemed restorcd to the point when he might resume his en- viable screen position, left Doris Ken- yon the alternatives of a life devoted solely to the boy, or return to the work in which she had been successful. The advent of the talkies had made possible the use of one of her most ex- ceptional possessions—her voice. For years she had been studying singing and languages. Incidentally, she is booked for a European concert tour for the coming year. Miss Kenyon's return to the screen is marked by four widely divergent roles, which demonstrate the range of her emotional genius, and which he~e elicited praise from press and pubhe. She is now to be seen at Warner Bros.' Earle Theater in “The Road to Singapore.” Her performance is marked by passionate sincerity, p (] Motor, Aviation, Radio Programs UAMES DUNN and LINDA “S08 SISTER” Three Unusu “Devotion,” “Five-Star ASHINGTON has never had a more strenuous “holdover” week. Three theaters, having rsa‘fled libly through seven days of cine- gnatisz,: fortissimo, now find them- selves lengthening those seven days with seven more, and one may find “Devotion,” “Five §car Final” and “Monkey Business” all over again during the week. Each of these films has its pe- culiar merit. “Five Star Final” because it is one of the most fear- less pictures the in duced; “Devotion,” because of the excellent services of Ann Harding and Leslie Howard, and “Monkey Business,” because the Marx Brothers’ antics are 1n\m1§able and never by any chanee 5 “Five Star Final” is, however, & genuine achievement. It would be important in any year. It is not only ruthless in its theme, but it has actors who definitely know their business. It strikes out boldly where few have dared to strike before and it hammers home a moral which many will be grate- ful for. W even at this late date do not real- ize that Author Louis Weitzen- which this has been taken, was at one time steeped deep in the mires of which he writes. A man who has wielded the policies of a metropolitan tabloid for the daily increase of his bread and butter, he has battled for and against and smirched and been smirched, and he beat a hasty retreat from | it all just as Edward G. Robinson does in the film. It is, therefore, | not surprising to find such bit- terness and such acid treatment| of a subject which has been han- dled before with fervor, but never with such malice aforethought. Mr. Weitzenkorn’s thesis leaves nothing to the imagination. In bold and glaring letters it points and it destroys. Its use of wordsis in no way soft-soaped. Many have been horrified by its brutality. Many have insisted that there is no truth in its sermon. But the upshot of the matter is that it is both brutal and truthful and that the bottom of its soul is as genu- ine as the ire of the man who wrote it. Added to the fact that it is re- plete with some of the venom of this age, it remains something to be seen. As bitter, as cruel, as sharply sarcastic as it is, it is yet excellent entertainment. There are plenty of laughs and s)lenty of tears, the sum total having such | a nice balance that even the timid and the shy will not find them- selves too much on the “outs” after | having viewed it. | Fundamentally sound in | theme and in its treatment by the director, there remains but the | actors who have a hand in it. Mr. Robinson is, of course, the be-all |and the end-all of it. His acting remains as natural and as unaf- fected as it was on the day he was viewed here at the Belasco in a plav called “The Racket.” One of dustry has pro-| ‘There are perhaps some who (T its | ‘WATKINS rox al Pictures Enjoy a Second Week on Washington’s Movie Row Final“ nnc‘ tl‘le Marx Brothers' Film Linger on Account of Their Box Office Appeal—Other Notes of Cinema World. By E. de S. Melcher. | the most kind-hearted villains of | the screen, he has developed into | the most eloquent bad man of the screen, for whom children cry as Ix;;l:h as they used to for a cer- | atent medicine. His acting in this is notably among the high lights of the acting year. Of the }other.s, H. B. Warner is splendid |in the midst of his bereavement and Marion Marsh might have been, too, if she hadn’t started |off so badly as a super-gi | fiancee. 2 Iper-eigstng * ¥ x % ‘MISS HARDING’S acting in | “Devotion” is so silken and her leading man, Leslie Howard, is 50 splendidly sincere that many of the obvious faults which the {film has can be overlooked. It is | extraordinary that considering ;t.he comparatively few pictures | made by Miss Harding she should be able to keep on with such a |vast army of worshipful “yes | men.” That she will continue to do this is evident, too. She has | never yet disappointed her audi- | ence—and she probably never will. 'HE Marx Brothers’ film is good | for any hour or any mood. A | tribute to the comic powers of korn, who wrote the play from these gentlemen is the fact that |they can amuse for hours and hours without having either rhyme or reason at their elbow. They never get anywhere and they never start anywhere. They rank somewhere to the left of Charlie Chaplin. In other words—try to | define their humor! * X x % AMONG those things which we may anticipate with pleasure are: The glib histronics of Carlotta Montenegro as a wild mountain cabaret lassie in “The Cisco Kid,” which will come in time to the Fox Theater. Miss Montenegro is something more than a mere fe- male in this film and is pursued with fervor by Messrs. Baxter and Lowe up and down the cactus rancho country (it's a grand pic- ture); the sensational emotions of Helen Twelvetrees in next week’s film, “Bad Company,” at Keith’s, and the rumor that a certain Buddy Rogers is scheduled for one of the local theaters, with or with- out orchestra. Why, for instance, are the United Artists’ studios going to close down for three months start- ing November 1? Why did Charlie Chaplin laugh so hard when he talked to Gandhi? Why is the Fox Theater going to have a bale of cotton in its lobby? It seems that the great chiefs in deciding the fate of Tallulah Bankhead have agreed that Tal- lulah was not being done justice to photographically. So in her | latest picture they have given her the best available camera man, who will concentrate particularly on her svelte’beauty. All this, even, after Tallulah has knocked a hun- dred thousand or more dead by some of her “looks” in “My Sin.” And what local Lady Winchell says “payssionate” for passionate? “Some of you older people may re- | member the Mexican War in 1845, if you do, I'm going to ask you to forget it, because it has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the reason I ride a bicycle. “To begin at the beginning and for- getting my grandfather and my wealth for the time being, I might say that I began my professional career at the age of 13 as a juggler with a patent medicine outfit that skirmished through Ohio and Indiana, under the guardian- ship’ of one Dr. Amos Johnson, who was disposing of his “Elixir of Youth” to the yokelry of that territory. The nts consisted of quinine, alco- hol and a physic. It was recommended for both internal and external ills. “My compensation was $3 per week and board. In return for that I exer- cised on a platform with a flock of In- dian clubs to entice the more timid of the citizenry to vantage points, where the doctor later would confound them with the merits of his cure-all. “Dropping into & more serious vein, purely to show my versatility as a writer, I may say that I came into this vale of vicissitudes as Joe Lopez, the son .of a Spanish father, My father, Why Worry? Says Joe Cook an_artist, married an Irish-American girl from Plerceton, Indiana, and shortly afterward migrated to Grand Rapids, Mich., where he established an art studio. This venture proving un- profitable, they moved to Evansville, Ind., and thence to Chicago, where I was born. When I was three years of age my father was drowned and almost jmmediately afterward my mother died from the shock. With an older brother Leo, I was adopted by an Evansville family named Cook. “At the age of 14 I left Evansville and the medicine shows behind me, and staked my all on a railroad ticket to New York. For several mz:fids I plcked up a scant living by parading my repertoire of stunts at amateur night performances at vaudeville houses, and, when necessity demanded, giving_side- walk exhibitions for small change tossed my way. “Finally, I broke into timate vaudeville, and remained in it for 15 years. My act has taken various forms at various times. Eight or nine seasons ago it turned into the “One-Man Vaudeville Show.” ‘Then the silver lining. But why ! worry?” Y