Evening Star Newspaper, November 8, 1931, Page 55

| Stage News and Screen and Gossip AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star. Motor, Aviation, Radio Programs Part 4—8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 8. 1931. BERRY BROTHERS "RHAPSODY IN BLACK "= BELASCO i{ather Disco Efforts to Affairs of the Theater English Shakespeare Co Be Classed Among Waahingtan‘s Early Season “Hits"—Theater Guild Returns With New Play. By W. H. INCE the opening of the new S season, each succeeding week has seemed to suggest, fulness, the fact that something is more or less out of order in Denmark, or maybe elsewhere, so far as the theater is concerned. This despite the herculean efforts of the Theatrical Press Repre- sentatives, Inc., to “bring back the road” and to revive a fading art. ‘To the close observer there has been something of a problem pre- sented as to the cause. At times it appeared as if the coat was the offense, and at other periods it seemed to be the owner who was trying to sell it—if you remember the story. The result has been that our home folks who have with ever-increasing force- | some regard for culture and much | love for the theater, tortured by the frequent misfires of the prophets, seemed to have reached the conclusion that, perhaps, it was best to let it alone entirely, for a while, at least, until things assumed a more dependable ‘atti- | tude. The curreni week, however, has brought a pleasant surprise in the remarkable patronage ac- corded the Stratford-Upon-Avon Players, who have given us as delightful presentations of a group of Shakespearean productions as ‘Washington has ever seen. There was no attempt at the bizarre or sensational in staging or lighting, such as are promised in the Nor- man Bel Geddes production of Hamlet that may or may not ul- timately reach Washingtion. the settings, massive, yet simple in effect, and beautifuily lighted, in connection with human char- acterization and the traditional uraging Revive the mpany Popular and Can Llndvoigt. “Brief Moment,” which the dis- tinguished Guthrie McClintic has selécted as the opening attraction of the Belasco Theater in New York, now taken over by his tal- ented and charming wife, Kath- arine Cornell, and in which, we have been advised, she is to carry on the good work of the master, David Belasco, now no more. The | minds of the local reviewers seem to have been perplexed by the solid merits of his play. First in | permitting a mere newspaper actor, Mr. Woollcott, with apolo- | gles, to steal the star’s thunder, | and then, touching only the high- est spots, in providing an unsat- isfactory third act. A play before its New York premiere, however, |is never presented as complete | and ready for final judgment, and | there seems little doubt that Mr. | Behrman will get busy right now, for those metropolitan reviewers are reputed to be very wicked in their day and generation, if the Vox Populi column conveys the | whole truth. | * ok * ‘“’T'HE first dramatic hit of the| season,” now well advanced, has apparently arrived in Goth- am, and Eugene O’Neill, as might. SETH PARKER SWAY BACK HOME'- KE/THS brilliant Mr. Behrman as to the| } “HELEN HAYES and LEWIS S;VONE S THE SIN OF EUSSA LANDI and LALURENCE OLIVER ® THE YELLOW TICKET”= FOX Yell::; ;n Hard Luck ELLOW is a color that has not many friends, but it has scen | better days. - | In our time and place the unfortu- | have been expected, filed it With | nate shade hes becn associated with the reluctant producers, who sim- | disreputable yellow streaks, ply wen't give a new playwright | journalism and the liks, but onee upon with a message the slightest show |in the world. And yet, notwith- | standing Mr. O'Neill’'s eminence a time it was worshiped as almost | divine. It now lends itself to the title of Raoul Walsh's Fox dramatic pro- | | duction, “The Yellow Ticket,” now at | his “Mourning Becomes Electra” | the Fox Theater. | appears to “lack exaltation in | character conception,” although it is widely and freely conceded | ‘to be a masterpiece. Washing- | ton probably need not worry much |on either account, for although | the trilogy appears in the list of | ‘nroductlons to be presented by from which Washington presenta- | | tions may be selected, New York | |is not likely to surrender it for | | weeks and weeks to come. The rendition of the lines of the|gyjqg however, starts its local famous bard by talented actors, | §;‘nes' of offerings this week with well trained in _ensemble as well | Ajfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne as individual effect, have worked | i “Reunion in Vienna,” the Rob- a miraculous conspiracy that has | ert E Sherwood comedy, which made Shakespeare popular, for a | pas been variously estimated else- | week, at least, in a center that| where. The guild has a way of long has found its theatric art in doing things, magnificently illus- P the talking picture and its thrill | trateq in in the beautiful wickedness of |«Mourning Earl Carroll's “Vanities.” These its production of Becomes Electra,” which may delightfully temper English players have shown us| beyond the -peradventure of a| doubt that the great need of the times in our theater of drama is | not the pounding of its virtues into the heads of numbskulls or okels in “the sticks,” but in tak- | ixg from the production centers | to the American people drama that is worthy in type and in the manner of its presentation. It is not even claimed for the people of this troubled land that | they are superior in mind and | morals to those of other lands, for often they have strayed away ! after false gods. But when any | of these wise and experienced creators of theater attractions either in New York or in Holly-; wood, where rather the imitation | is a matter of mass production, | do their duty our people know how to make their selection and | the{ are always ready to respond | with ‘a patronage that should ladden the heart of any box of- ce, i box offices really have hearts.’ AB against a fascinating reper- tory of the ancient plays that have always charmed men of minds and manners, we have a modern effort at playwriting by the brillilant S. N. Behrman,! * ok ok X the transition from the Shakes- pearean entertainment of the week just closed and enable us to get back on earth again without | marring our landing. Mr. Sher- wood’s ability as a playwright was sensed in Rome,” varticularly; “The Love Nest,” “The Queen’s Husband” and “Waterloo Bridge.” With such an author and so artistic a producer, Washington may well afford to put its own estimate upon this new story of old Vienna. * k X X "THE Shubertian contribution to the new week’s entertain- ment, “Rhansody in Black” should not be hastily considered and sniffed out of sight because it is presented by a company of Necro nlayers, for some of them are real artists, and their offer- ing found favor for many weeks in the critical metropolis, where all wisdom concerning the thea- ter and the mer't of its perform- ance is sunposed to be gathered. Then, too, Washineton already sew and heard “Rhansodv in Black” unon its advent and liked it unusually well. * ¥ % J’UBT a word as to expected locally * what mi our thea- “The Road to| | i | In the ancient world, Assyria, Judea, Egypt, Greece and Rome, yellow was a favorite color of the gods and men. It still holds favor in the East. Christian nations seem to dislike it cordially. Havelock Ellis, in an interesting essay on this psychology of yellow, at- tempts to show how the tide toward But | the Theater Guild of New York, | yellow changed with the arrival of Christianity. From being paid divine honors it became the badge of envy and treachery. In pictures Judas was dressed in it; in France the doors of felons and traitors were painted with it, Jews were forced to wear yellow clothes and in Spain recanting here- tics wore yellow crosses and carried a yellow candle. ; “Fantastique.” ATRONS of Loew's Palace will be transported into the future when they gel a glmpse of the Capitol Theater stage revue “Fantastique, which is now current. From a scenic standpoint, “Fantasti- que” is said to leave nothing to be de- sired. The climax to the revue is the reproduction of an African jungle dance and depicts a scene in a native Ubangi village during the worshiping of an idol. Two other elaborate scenes include a novel doll dance and a modernistic ballet with specially written music to it the moods of the dance. ettt AR TN ter legitimate may be of interest. John Golden, famous for the wholesomeness of his offerings, is Just outside the door with a new one to Washington, “As Husbands Go,” while vague rumor hints that Miss Mae West may soon ap- pear in our midst with a play after her yown liberal idea of dramatic tl‘lought. Al Jolson in a re-engagement in “The Wonder Bar” also looms in sight. Beyond these the mist of . uncertainty hangs heavy on the horizon. All is not well ‘with the ‘theater de- spite the efforts méde by the press agents to revive worthwhile effort in it. It looks to a man up a tree as if “gather the roses while you may” isn't bad advice, if you have a predilection for legitimate drama along Wwith other conceptions :0f entertain- ment that have been crowded into and probably all belong to whnt‘ we know as the theater. yellow-| Only | BELASCO—"“Rhapsody in Black GAYETY—“Step Lively Girls” ( evening. ON THE afternoon and evening. evening. FOX—“The Yellow Ticket.” EARLE—"“Blonde Crazy.” This RIALTO—"“Leftover Ladies.” and evening. ning. | JorN GO whose profits from | “Lightnin'" “Seventh Heaven” and |a dozen other “clean plays” made him one of America’s wealthiest showmen, believes that brighter days are just around the corner for the legitimate theater. After @ lapse of four years he has resumed sending companies on tour, among them “As Husbands Go,” which comes to the National Theafer next week, ard his first to appear in Wash- ington since November, 1928, when he presented “Two Girls Wanted.” “I think we have touched bottom in the depression,” says the producer, “and with = graduai return to normal condi- tions in trade and employment, a_re- lieved and happy public will seek relax- NATIONAL—“Reunion in Vienna.” R-K-O KEITH'S—“Seth Parker” in “Way Back Home.” PALACE—"The Sin of Madelon Claudet.” MADELON CLAUDET - PALACE 7 Stage and Screen Attractions This Week Opens tomorrow evening. Opens tomorrow evening. This afternoon and burlesque) . SCREEN This This afternoon and This afternoon and evening. afternoon and evening. This afterncon and evening. COLUMBIA—*“Susan Lenox, Her Fall and Rise.” This afternoon METROPOLITAN—“The Mad Genius.” This afternoon and eve- Mr. Golden Optimistic 'nllcn in the theater. Good plays, well | acted, will never lose their appeal for intelligent, thinking people who de- mand mental stimulation with their | diversion.” Talking pictures have reached their peak, he thinks, but will continue to flourish in the ratio that they meet the growing public demand for good actors and good plays—and the stage must be depended upon for the development of both. Long rated as one of the few Broad- way producers who is also a shrewd and discerning business man, Golden's re- sumption of activities is regarded as significant. His companies, which “once dotted the country, made his name a household word. Minor MINOR WATSON, fondly remem- bered as the once leading man of the National Players, is prominent in the cast of “Reunion in Vienna,” which the Theater Guild will present at the Nat’onal Theater this week. Mr. Watson has led as varied a career as probably any leading man on the American stage. Since first appearing on the stage, in 1911, with @Blanche Bates in “Nobody’s JWidow,” he has been at various times in stock, in vaudeville, on Broadway, on the road and in the movies. He has twice deserted the stage, once to become an aviator pilot in the Army, after two years emerging as an instruc- tor in flying formation, The first time he left the theater under the mistaken impression that he favored commerce, ‘Watson acted variously as an auto salesman, a securities salesman and as clerk in a glass factory office. “Each time,” he says, “I deserted the 4 Watson stage I got into difficulties that sent me pellmell back looking for engage- ments. Of all the things I have tackled, aside from my theater work, I like flying best. Two years of it has burned deep in me a whole-heated in- terest in flying™ I can never give it up wholly, though on onrushing seasons find me with swiftly diminishing hours on my hands to devote to it.” ‘That, however, is all past now, Wat- son is firmly entrenched in the theater that has made him one of its most sought after actors. In recent years he has been featured in “Howdy King,” Belasco's “Its a Wise Child” and early this season in George M. Cohan's “Priendship.” union in Vienna” is his produc-~ tion with the Theater Guild, but there is little doubt that he will be seen in other Guild productions at the con- clusion of this play. His engagement in “Re- | in first CLAUDIA DELL and WALTER BYRON 'CEFTOVER LADIES % RIALTO JOAN BLONDELL “BLONDE CRAZY "~ EARLE Cagney a New Type AMES CAGNEY, an East Side boy as it goes in Gotham, is the new- est comet in the screen universe to be hailed as a planet. There must be a reason, of course, and Rty Del Ruth, his director in “Blonde Crazy,” says it is because “he is a new type, a mighty sweet actor, who should be a middle- weight Roxer, but is not because he wants to We_an actor. Watch him go!” Cagney himself says: “When I was & kid on New York's East Side I had to keep my wits about me. Kids in that neighborhood have to be on the job to keep ahead of the pack. And thlt’g one of the reasons why I don’t forget. Joan Blondell, a wise-oracker her- self, who plays with him, says he has a marvelous memory—he never forgets. And she won a box of hosiery from her director by spripging a test on Cagney suddenly, in which he ran through an entire scene of the “Penny Arcade” with her, in which they had played two years before, without the slightest hint that it was to be sprung upon him. So there are three reasons why James Cagney is so much talked about, and it is doubtful if they are all. Jimmy has a real flair for his chosen professicn— the other reasons are merely assets. Helen Hayes' Picture HERALDED as one of the outstand- ing talking pictures of the year, “The Sin of Madelcn Claudet,” Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer’s filmization of the Ed- ward Knoblock famous play, “The Lul- laby,” is now at Loew's Palace Theater. Helen Hayes, Washington's very own little artist, is its star. The story is sald to be one of tre- us emotional sweep, depicting the melodramatic career of a woman who sinks to the lowest depths for the sake of her child. It is marked with prob- ably the same stirring qualities and stark drama which characterized “Stella Dallas” and “Madame X,” the nature of the plot leaving room for an adroit blending of romance with the extremes of comedy and tragedy. Humor Wi‘ns Its Way 'HARLES BUTTERWORTH, whose serious comedy is an unusual fea- ture in the John Barrymore picture, “The Mad Genlus,” abandoned a prom- ising career in law for the more pre- lc':fl?u business of making people \ugh. 8ix years ago Butterworth made the change and in that brief time he has become one of the best known of comedians. After a season a Chi- cago variety house and a tour of a vaudeville circuit, Butterworth landed New York shows and proceeded to become a stellar attraction almost overnight. \ He was born in South Bend, Ind., and educated there. Maybe he is a Rockne “Four Horseman” after all. < ALFRED LUNT and LYNN FONTANNE *REUNION IN VIENNA” NATIONAL Decided to ITTLE more than a year ago Ethel Barrymore, then a I 4 cocoa-colored lady of the South, flaming through that uncouth dramatic saga, “Scarlet Sister Mary,” at the Belasco, raised her hand before the hand- some contours of her profile and | brought said hand down with a |thump on her dressing room | table. “My daughter,” she said in |a voice that was filled with the | accumulated fires of many an- cestral Barrymores—“my daugh- ter has had more than nine movie contracts and I have torn them up, one by one.” She then relaxed and, talking | with that sweeping sonority which | is one of the most vibrant of her | virtues, she explained that while |she, personally, had nothing |against the screen she did not |wish to see her young daughter |begin her career in such a doubt- ful medium. Thereupon, daughter Ethel ran around the corner and forthwith appeared in George White’s “Scandals” and now hangs the Barrymore escutcheon on her dressing room door within elbow distance cf Rudy Vallee. Although this action of the young, ampitious, perhaps tem- pestuous, daughter must have left the mother somewhat breath- less (Miss Barrymore—mother— is now appearing in a revival of “The School for Scandals”), the news which comes out of the cin- ema hothouses within the past few days must have done even more. The word is that son Sam- uel Barrymore Colt, brother of Ethel (“Scandals”) Colt and nephew of John (“Mad Genius”) Barrymore and Lionel (“Yellow Ticket”) Barrymore, signed by the Paramount organi- zation and will be launched on a full-blast screen career in some- thing to be called “Working Girls.” This title should make, one might imagine, the Barrymore tribe squirm with an uncomfort- able squirm. For although Mr. Colt is not to be starred in “Work- ing Girls” it is yet a more un- righteous sounding title than most things of that nature which have launched this family in any branch of histrionics. Although the length and breadth of his role has not been divulged, the press sheet which announces such things says that “Sam Colt” (as he will be called in the cinema byways) will be seen in “the part of a fast-living New Yorker.” And further information from the same source states that Mr. Colt was selected hy Dorothy Arzner, vart, and that he will support Paul Lukas, “Buddy” Rogers, Dor- othy Hall and Stuart Hall—all of whom, it is supposed, will not be working girls. The announcement further states that “Colt is a Barrymore in appearance, well built and slender, with classic features and the unmistakable family profile.” Thus it would seem that the junior Barrymores, in spite of the senior Miss Barrymore’s dictum, will probably make their first great name (and one hopes it will be great) on the unknown wide spaces of the screen. Young Mr. olt, who has received his college parchment from an Eastern uni- versity and has taken to acting only since he has become of age, is stepping forth and behaving in much the same manner as did young Douglas Fairbanks, jr., when he found that he had the world before him and a name be- hind him. And since this young man has done nothing but ca: on the tradition of his family wl'a pen—and = probably will—that young Colt will do the same. Now &h-~t the “vounger gsnera- tion” first turns to the films in- has been L onlv woman film director, for this | there were well over 1,000 considerable eclat, it might hap- | * Another Barrymore Has Carve His Way to Photoplay Fame Samuel, Son of Ethel, Goes to Work in the Studios. Mae Marsh Returns—News and Comment of Local Film Theaters. By E. de S. Melcher. Irene Rich’s daughter was with us in the flesh during the week at the Belasco) one re how the order of things is ch: When next the good old- clock has taken a real plunge, geerhatfi yg;mhrvm be first at- mpting television, or, perhaps, b; tgen there won’t be any enter- inment, or, perhaps, it will be wrapped up in a Ktll and taken zncetunw e pellet-sized evening . It all remains to be seen. But, in the meantime, one can’t help but wish this latest son of a famous name well in his new venture. _After all, if it wasn’t for the Barrymores where would be much of our daily ex- citement? * %k * ¥ OF the interesting celluloid events of the future none is more to be looked forward to than the return to the screen of Mae Marsh. Miss Marsh, who used to be the semi-weekly heroine of the screen and who did more for tear- eyed romance than most daugh- ters of filmland, has been more than successful in the new Fox tpicture, “Over the Hill,” and she has been signed by that company to do more and more. Incident- ally, appearing with Miss Marsh :n :Lns lgict\ge. nv‘vhl% will come o the Fox dur anksgiving week, will be thos% chewing glm idols, James Dunn and 1y Eilers, who one week were nobody and the rext just the opposite. Rumor has it that this combina- tion is such a sure-fire tear opus that handkerchiefs will be tied fore and aft of every seat and owners after using them may take them home without charge. . OCALLY, the past week has been full of excitement, and among current exhibits noted along our boulevards are: The endless lines of ladies who are getting the Columbia all out of shape by jamming it in their anx- ety to get a view of that vol- canic Garbo-Gable combination; the excellent results of that ex- cellent actor, James Cagney, in amusing the audience at the Earle; the way that John Barry- more gets his eyes to look like two small yellow fish eyes in “The Mad Genius” (which, unfortu- nately, is too much like “Sven- gali” to be entirely effective); the scenes in “Susan Lenox” in which the dog looks at Mr. Gable and in which Miss Garbo looks at & fish; that unusually fine perform- ance by our own Helen Hayes at the Palace; the news that “Frank- enstein” is soon to be shown at the Rialto, and the report th:! e over 80 at the first performance of the Seth Parker film. And just as an epilogue may we stop and sound a verbal “Taps” in memory of that young and splendid actor Robert Williams, who during the past year dic much to furnish the gayest of tht laughter on the screen. Seth Parker's Friends O estimate can be made of the audience of the air who lsten regularly on Sunday night to Seth Parker and his Neighbcrs of Jonesport, Me., and the inspiring messages sent out from that little group of sincere workers. was honored in having stead of the stage (although |that children 3 i, 3