Evening Star Newspaper, December 18, 1932, Page 49

NANCY CARRO L, VUNDER COVER"MAN / EARCLE he Case of George Raft, Who Climbs Toward Star flhe Young Man Is Attracting Cinema Attention, and He Has a Rough Road Ahead. but He Iflay Reach the Pinnacle of Moviedom. By E. de S. Melcher. City, September 27 (the year is not given), of French and Italian par- ntage. Is 5 feet and 10 inches 1. Weighs 155 pounds. Has Jolive complexion. black hair and Prown eyes. Hobbies: Base ball ®nd boxing. Thus George Raft, the man who reviving the somcwhal‘ out- oded school of the “flapper”; the an whose fan mail is 'way out of !ligm. who has scarcely lifted a H nger in the cinema and who, at he moment, stands high and de as one of those screen nigmas which blossom suddenly nto great renown and are then xtinguished when some one with B nicer head of hair, a broader smile or a better pair of shoul- gers comes along. You have only to look about fhis week in the local theaters to see what heights Mr. Raft has geached. Two major picture houses are featuring him as the Packbone of their week’s enter- gainment. At the Earle he plays wily “Under-Cover Man’; at the Fox he plays hide and seek with e flaxen Miss Mae West, who, fl the manner of Raft, has sud- genly emerged as a first-class fiower. Thankfully, Mr. Raft cannot be aid to be of the gentle, blue- 'gyed school of male conquerors. He is dark and he is not hand- ome. A former boxer, a ball ;Iayr‘r once with an Eastern eague, he has also done some efirsi-class “hoofing” in some of ghe bigger and better night clubs. e is thus equipped for his his- rionics with a rougher back- round than many of these other tharios have had behind them. " There is a legend to the effect | fimt his sood friend, Rudolph alentino, urged him to try the Tinema back a few years, and that . Raft politely but firmly de- lined. Since then, curiously nough, his features and the dex- | ‘erous hand of the camera have gnolded him so that there are imes when he closely resembles is former friend. More often, owever, that resemblance is ore talked of than real. Raft’s orehead sneaks back more pre- ipitously than did Valentino’s, nd his nose is longer and leaner. hen, too, he is not so tall, and is voice—well, the screen never eard Valentino’s voice—but it jwas probably a far cry from the Btaccato barkings which charac- gerize Mr. Raft’s not unpleasant Wocal abilities. Is it this flash back to Valen- gino which has rushed Raft into uch a perilous limelight? Or is t his own talents and the fact at he has made small, miser- ble little parts seem more sen- ible than they are? Frankly, we can’t quite see what Rl the shooting’s about. Granted hat Mr. Raft's hair sits well on his head, that he acts well| nough and that his manner is/ riendly and his art modest and | nexplosive. But will he go as ar as the oracles predict? After 1, great actors don’t usually tart with boxing gloves and base ! 11 gloves and patent leather | ancing shoes. There is still a| radition which says that an! ctor, like any one else, should tart from the ground up. Mr aft has made a good start. He| as done better than well. But! it is perhaps a dangerous business } o push him too high up onto the innacle of fame. Even for such respected actor as Leslie Howard he climb has been long and thor- | ugh. But that climb has had its | wards. The cinema is all too fond of rowing over sudden “finds” who re lawyers, social lights, bank- rs and prize fighters. Instead of eeping them under a bushel for awhile they toss them into the ir and can hardly wait for them to come down to pick them up mgain. * ok oK % fTAKE the case of Nancy Car- 'L roll. This titian-haired lady, hose smile has always been one f the best this side of the Pa- ific (and who, incidentally, this eek is also appearing in two theaters at once), a few E was born in New York, seasons ago was shouted into im- mediate fame. Even the erudite Richard Watts, jr., tossed verbal garlands all over her and crooned a merry little croon to the effect that here was a potential Duse —here was ciay destined to be molded to great services. Miss Carroll, after some near-brilliant playing in “The Shopworn Angel,” and again somewhat later in “The Devil's Holiday,” sudden- F AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star, WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 18, 1932, — CONSTANCE CUMMINGS " o= i DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR.. VSCARLET DAWN/ METROPOLITAN L] “Student Prince” Coming.l SIGMUND ROMBERG'S world: famous operetta, “The Student Prince,” in new dress and scenic in- vestiture, which is again duplicating its record-breaking success of half-a-dozen | vears ago, will swing merrily into its | | Gertrude Lang. Charles Chesney, Clar- | ly showed signs of weakening. In| “Honey,” the musical version of Miss Chatterton’s “Come Out of the Kitchen,” she was pretty but insincere, and in “Follow Through,” “The Night Angel” and “Personal Maid” the cinema was made to realize that perhaps it had gotten ahead of itself. Then came that painful siege —the sort of thing which many farowell engagement here at the Na- tional Theater, three nights, commenc- ing Monday, December 26, with & poular-priced matinee Wednesday. In the main, the modern development of the operetta, successor to the popular old non-musical comedy, is that of the romantic love story between Prince Karl Pranz and Kathie. the little maiden at Heidelberg, far beneath him in all save heart and soul. The book and lyrics are by the late Dorothy Donelly, who also arranged the book of “Blossom Time” and “My Maryland.” Offered for this engagement at “popular prices,” perhaps the most striking note of the 1932 production is the notable cast of players. Those listed are Allen Jones, George Hassell, eace Harvey. Loraine Wymer, Manila Fowers, Joseph Toner, John Golds- worthy and others. The large student male chorus will also be a feature of this presentation. “BLOSSOM TIME.” *“*RRLOSSOM TIME” comes to the National Theater for three nights, beginning Thursday, December 29, and matinee Saturday. With its absorbing story of the strug- gles and romance of the great Viennese comgoser, Franz Schubert, the incor- poration of more than 20 of his most enchanting melodies and themes in the score, the artistry of the presentiny company, and the freshness and beauty players go through—when, after {of costumes and scenery, ‘“Blossom being told that she was much ! Time” continues to offer all the charm better than she actually was and | that causes it to be hailed as one of | having been flattered round and | i about the seven seas, she asked that her salary be adjusted to the tune of this praise. The studio flatly refused. ment then — fireworks — tears— apologies—the kind of a business which Miss Carroll probably felt was expecied of her. And why not? If she was groomed to be Tempera- | a Duse, if she was told she had | temperament at her finger tips, why not make use of it? The old game again of boost- ing some one into only a mod- erately deserved fame. Actresses, after all, are never “great” merely because they have done well in a single role. Maude Adams was famous for her “Peter Pan,” but she was also famous because she was also excellent in “The Little Minister” and a host of other plays. Ethel Barrymore is not to be remembered only for her “Five Pound Look.” Ruth Chatterton’s success wasn't a single “Mary Rose.” and Lynn Fontanne won't be remembered merely for “Caprice.” The theater, as in the case of the Abbey Irish Play- ers, has always been served best by those who are most versatile | and who can change their moods and their methods when it is ex- pected of them. Fame may come overnight, but in most cinema cases it only stays overnight. ‘That is why it is a ticklish busi- ness—this business of crying “star” ahead of time. Mr. Raft had best be careful. He has only to look close to the lesson learned by Miss Carroll, who, at the mo- ment, is a far cry frcm where people said she would be, to real- ize that the path before him is thorny and rough. Fox Acquires "Pilgrimage. 'HE Fox Film Corporation announces the purchase of “Pilgrimage,” a story by I A. R. Wylie. John Ford, director of “The Iron Horse” and “Four Sons,” will be in charge of the production, which already boasts a cast including Norman Foster, Frank Craven, William Collier, sr.; Minna Gombell and Henrietta Crosman. Bill Topper Sylvia Proos, known as “the little princess of song.” who leads the stage ciow at the Earle this week. | Theater three nights, commencing Mon- | the greatest history. The cast will include J. Charles Gil- bert. Charles Chesney, Harry Rabke, Trueman Gaige, Charles Leonard, Winifred Cahoon, Betty Davis, Robert OConner, Elizabeth Crandall and others. light musical plays in The New Prince. ALLAN JONES. concert tenor, who is the new prince in the “Student Prince,” which comes to the Naticnal | day, December 26, has been placed in |H i | was announced last week a number of embarrassing positions this season on account of his name being 59, much like the former pringe. Allen Tior. While they do not look at all alike, Mr. Jones has been besieged by any number of phone calls and letters from people who have had the acquaintance of Allan Prior. Mr. Jones often answers the phone and the following conversation will take place: “Is This you, Allan?” “Yes.” “Well I am Miss So-and-so. I had the pleasure of meeting you last season while you were playing here in ‘The Student Prince’” and, of course, this calls for an explanation that he is not Allan Prior, but Allan Jones, and much to his embarrassment quite a number really do not believe him. However, if vou should get the two Allans side by side you would at once see that Allan Jones is a young man 25 years old, American born, while Allan Prior is an Australian 32 years old, and tailks when off-stage with a slight English accent. Allan Jones sang the leading role in | the St. Louis Municipal Opera Co. this past Summer, and it was there that Mr. J. J. Shubert heard him sing the role of the prince in “The Student Prince” and immediately engaged him for this season. = PECERR Rcme EKPXCSS n U. s. A. AILED by European movie critics as one of the greatest screen plays ever made on that side of the Atlantic, Gaumont’s “Rome Express,” it by Carl Laemmle, will make its debut in the United States in February, under the sponsorship of Universal. “Rome Express,” according to those who have seen it, is built along lines similar to “Grand Hotel” and “Shang- hai Express,” confining its entire action to one locale, that of the crack express fiyer from Paris to Rome. Conceived and executed as something unique in screen fare, “Rome Express,” reports have it, is taking English and Conti- nental film fans by storm. Not only does this film mark the re- turn to pictures of Esther Ralston and Conrad Veidt, two favorites of the silent screen, but also features a sup- porting cast made up entirely of people who are stars in their own right on the British stage and screen. The line-up includes Joan Barry, who was signed | for American films by Samuel Goldwyn when he witnessed her work in the British picture; Harold Huth, Gordon Harker, Cedric_ Hardwicke, Donald Cathrop. Hugh Williams, Eliot Make- ham, Muriel Aked, Frank Vosper and Finlay Currie. ‘Walter Forde directed it, and Clifford Gray is responsible for the story. . Brooke Selects Site. Tn'!: site of the new Clifford Brooke Academy of Stage Training in the Dramatic Arts.is No. 1000 Connecticut avenue, which is at the intersection of that avenue and K street. Mr. Brooke made the announcement yesterday. The business cffices of the academy | | will be moved to the site on January 1, preparatory for opening the 10-week term, January 16. Until that time en- rollments will continue ¢ the National Theater. Maurice Greet, who is to be assistant director of the academy, is expected to reach Washington in a few days to assume his duties in the work of or- ganization. LOEW’S FOX—“Night After Night.” 6§ IGHT AFTER NIGHT,” the Bromfleld's novel, “Single Night,” is the current film | Theater. George Raft, | Cummings, Wynne Gibson, Mae West | worth are to be | N seen in the leading The action of | film is set in a | easy, an old brown- stone mansion res- serve as an oasis for Manhattan's | young player who | scored sensational | roles in “Scar- | face,” “Dancers in | “Madame _ Rack- ! AW eteer.” has his first screen adaptation of Louls | attraction at Loew’s Fox and Alison Skip- | roles. | @ New York speak- cued from decay to | ] thirsty. Raft, success in minor | the Dark” and as proprietor of the | leading role | “joint.” } Constance Cummings is seen in the | Tole of a Park avenue debutante, who i finds that the speakeasy has been | established in the house in which she | was born. Her frequent visits bring her |in contact with Raft, who is fascinated [by her. And a romance develops be- | tween the two—a romance which is | precipitated into startling channels by |a series of unusual events. Miss West makes her movie debut in | this film. Wpynne Gibson appears as {one of George Raft's ex-sweethearts. | Others in the cast are Alison Skipworth, | Roscoe Karns and Al Hill | Jacques Renard, who is appearing | this week with his popular orchestra, | has with him the Four Eton Boys and Do-Re-Mi, the entertaining radio trio. Others on the vaudeville bill are |Mills, Kirk and Martin presenting “Yuzzle See”: Davie and Darnell in a | high-powered comedy, “The Salesman”; Maximo in a wire act, “The Cuban [wonder“ and Lee Morse, the radio’s | recording _star, singing 'the “blues.” | Phil Lampkin conducts the Loew's Fox | Concert Orchestra. | | EARLE—“Under-Cover Man.” fGEORGE RAFT is the star of “Un- | der-Cover man,” Paramount drama, | | which heads the current program at Warner Bros. Earle Theater. It tells in a sonfetimes thrilling, often times hilarfous and very dramatic manner the story of two young people, a boy and a girl, who through a trick of fate are drawn together in a quest for the murderers of his father and her brother. The cast, led by George Raft and Nancy Carroll also boasts of Gregory Ratoff, Roscoe Karns, Noel Francis and | David Landau. The stage activities are headlined by | Sylvia Froos, known to radio fans as i"the little princess of songs.” Her of- Ifering is a program of new “blue” songs. Other acts are Donatella Bros. and Car- men, a novelty musical offering: Si Wills and Joan Davis, in a comedy bit; three Olympics, in a sensational act, and Maxine Doyle, mistress of cere- monies. noon and evening. - and evening. evening. Constance | In Washington Theaters This Week. GAYETY—"“Girls De Luxe.” This afternoon and evening. LOEW’S FOX—“Night After Night,” and vaudeville. This after- EARLE—“Under-Cover Man,” and vaudeville. R-K-O KEITH'S—“The Unwritten Law.” This afternoon and CLARK GABLE JEAN HARLOW | The supplementary program consists | of short reel subjects. including the | Graham MacNamee newsreel and the Earle orchestral prelude. R-K-O Keith’s—“The Unwritten Law.” . UNWRITTEN LAW” is the subject and title of the new fea- ture now being presented at R-K-O | Keith's. It will continue through the ming Wednesday, when it will give | way to “The Sport Parade.” ‘With a cast that includes Greta Nis- | sen, in addition to Lew Cody, Louise ' Fazenda. Skeets Gallagher, Purnell | Pratt and Hedda Hopper, “The Unwrit- | |ten Law” tells of a man, his home| | wrecked by a man he had pursued for 20 years, only to run him to earth at last and then to find that man about to marry his daughter. with the prob- lem before him as to how to have his revenge and at the same time save his daughter. In “The Sport Parade.” which opens at R-K-O Keith's on Thursday, the cast includes Joel McCrea, Marian | Marsh, William Gargan. Robert Bench- | ley and Walter Catlett. “The Sport | Parade” is a comedy-drama wherein | the professional sport game is turned | inside out. This feature will be shown for three days only. | METROPOLITAN—"Scarlet Dawn.” | **QCARLET DAWN,” with Douglas Fairbanks, jr.; Nancy Carroll and | Lilyan Tashman, is this week's screen offering at Warner Bros. Metropolitan Theater. The companion film on the same bill is the foot ball classic of the , “Notre Dame vs. University of Southern California.” “Scarlet Dawn.” adapted from the novel, “Revolt,” by Mary McCall, jr., tells the tale of Prince Nikita, a Rus- sian nobleman, home on leave from the front. By disguising himself as a peasant he flees the country, which is caught in the maelstrom of revolt, but not without many adventures and mis- | adventures, followed by a faithful and | beautiful servant girl who had served in his ancestral home. The romance between the prince and the peasant girl | and their struggle for existence in Constantinople forms the base for the | plot_of the story. The cast_includes, in addition to Fairbanks, Carroll and Tashman, Shella | Terry, Earle Foxe, Mae Busch, Yala | D’Avril, Ivan Linow, Betty Gillette and others. ‘The program is completed by short | reel subjects. which include the latest issue of ‘the Paramount Sound News. PALACE—"“Red Dust.” S*RED DUST,” the latest Clark Gable- Jean .Harlow co-starring picture is being held over for a second week at- Loew's Palace Theater. The locale is the picturesque region of Cochin. China, with Gable playing a hardened plantation foreman who has forced himself to become completely brutalized in an effort to remain superior to his environment of deadly fever, tropical heat and treacherous natives. Miss Harlow appears in the role of Vantine, born to the tropics, hard-boiled. per- | | pectly at home on the plantation and | | equal to th: men. It is when the beau- | tiful wife of an engineer comes to the | plantation and is involved in a love 11 affair with Gable that the jealous and ‘This afternoon METROPOLITAN—“Scarlet Dawn.” This afternoon and evening. COLUMBIA—"Uptown New York. ‘This afternoon and evening. PALACE—“Red Dust.” This afternoon and evening. YRED OusT# PALACE Automobile and Aviation News Theater Guild Produces Another Play in New York **T)ESIGN FOR LIV] ,"” the new | play by Noel Coward, with Alfred | Lunt, Lynn Fontanne and Mr. Coward | as the stars, will be presented by Max Gordon at the National Theater during the week beginning Monday, Janu- | ary 16. The appearance of the Lunts and Mr. Coward in a pisy by the latter is the result of a long-cherished plan made 11 years ago, when the three were relatively obscure. Mr. Coward wrote “Design for Living” last Spring u"l vehicle for the Lunts and him- ' sel | ‘This will be Mr. Coward's fourth | appearance on the American stage. He was seen first in “The Vortex.” then in his revue, “This Year of Grace,” and, more recently, in “Private Lives,” all written by himself. In addition to the three stars, the cast of “Design for Living” will in- clude Campbell Gullan, Gladys Hen- son. Phyllis Connard, Ethel Russell Alan Campbell, Ward Bishop, Leonard d; Loan and Mac Stinnette The settings have been desigred by Gladys Calthrop. The piay is being directed by the author. | Tnangle Club Commg | “IT'S THE VALET” TO BE GIVEN. NCLUDING in its chorus a local thes- pian, William G. Galliher, and fea- | turing ‘a large dancing chorus which has been trained by one of Broadway's leading dance coaches, the Princeton Triangle Club will come to Washington the night of January 4 to present its | annual theatrical production. The title of this year's musical comedy is | “It’s the Valet.” The prodyction, but | for the training of the dancers, has | been entirely done by the undergrad- uates, The scenes are laid in the days of the Prench Revolution and the cos- | tumes and scenic effects are said to be claborate as well as effective. George P. Swift takes the leading male role, and the “leading lady” is Harry H. Dunham, with Clinton E. Brush running him a clese second. Oth- ers in the cast are Jose V. Ferrer, Wil- lard R. Van Liew. jr, who is also' author of the play: Sidney D. Johnson, Dubois Morris, Hess T. Sears and Pleas- ant J. McNeal. The chorus is composed of 24 swift-footed “ladies.” The performance in Washington will | be given at the Washington Auditorium at 8:30 pm. The club is now on its| Christmas tour. e Fity Performances. S!DNEY HOWARD'S adaptation of Renee Fouchois' comedy, “Prenez Garde a la Peinture,” called in the Howard version “The Late Christopher Bean,” celebrated its fiftieth perform- ance at Henry Miller’s Theater, New | York, last Tuesday. Pauline Lord, the | star. Walter Connolly and Beulah | Bondi are all credited as making mc.s,i Cortez in “Broadway Bad." | RICARDO CORTEZ and Adrienne | Ames have been engaged by Fox | to play leading roles in ‘“Broadway | Bad.” the story now in production, in | which Ginger Rogers and Joan Blon- | dell will also be seen. Ralph Morgan, | previously announced for the leading | role, was replaced by Mr. Cortez after | difficulties in Fox's production schedule | arose necessitating the substitution. | Sidney Lanfleld will direct the William | Lipman and A. W. Pezet story. —_— fiery nature of this savage-like creature | asserts itself and brings the action of the plot to a dramatically interesting climax. The “‘other woman” of the dramatic | triangle is played by Mary Astor. Gene Raymond is seen as Gable's rival and the remainder of the cast is made up | of Donald Crisp, Tully Marshall, For- rester Harvey and Willie Fung. | Besides the feature there is a comedy, | “Now We'll Tell One” with Charlie | Chase; Mickey Mouse in “Klondike | Kid”; a cartoon, and news of the world. | COLUMBIA- ptown New York." ] OEW'S COLUMBIA THEATER is| offering as its current attraction | Vina Delmar's latest novel. which has | been gepnred for the screen, “Uptown New York,” with Jack Oakie in the leading role. Mrs. Delmar chooses plain middie-class men and women as er characters, places them in the setting of a turbulent section of New York and weaves about them a story steeped in human interest end under- | standing. The problem she presents | is that of a promising young doctor, in | love with a girl not of his own faith, | whom he is forced to desert in order | to- marry another. He goes abroad for | further study and when he returns he | finds her contemplating marriage with | another. | The supporting cast includes Shirley Grey, who carries the leading feminine Tole;’ Leon Waycoff, George Cooper, Henry Armetta, Lee Moran, Alexander Carr and Raymond Hatton. Warren | B. Duff adapted Vina Delmar’s story loxiwthecsl;r,nls; is bei presented - i ! . A €] s n “in » Comedy, entiled “Dentist: I GAYETY—"Girls de Luxe.” ¢(IIRLS DE LUXE” opens at the Gayety today sterting with the | matinee this afternoon. This produc- | tion features “Margle,” who is said to | be one of the-most beautiful girls in | the r Jimmy Lake is | fans are anticipating with pleasure her but afternoon at this Ninth the t is country store ‘ednesday is money night, and | is amateur night at the Gayety. | distribution of smiles, FTnal Glaire) Has Starring Role P JACK OAKIE \UPTOWN NEW YORKY E corumMsia m “Biography."” Which Affords Amusement for an Evening. Ben Hecht Writes From His Hiding Place. By Percy Hammond. HEN Miss Ina Claire, S. M., Behrman and the Theater Guild get together as they do in “Biography” some- thing in the way of bright amusement may be expected. They are among the most gifted of the ma’'s practitioners. skilled in acting. play-writing and play-production. Mr Behrman is adroit in the creation of interesting if unsubstantial characters, | bestowed upon situations which. though hollow, are always humorous and tonic Miss Claire, returned from her elope- ment with the cinema, is again one of the first comediennes, adept in the tears, virtues. naughtiness, beauty and charm. The Theater Guild, when under the influence of Philip Moeller’s shrewd intelligence. is the keenest instrument now operat- ing in show business. As all these forces are marshaled in “Biography"” the result 1s a congenial entertainment. Miss Claire’s assignment in “Biog- raphy’ is to represent an ingratuating child of Nature, who, born and reared in a romantic village, grows to be a willing victim of the cosmic urge. At an early age she succumbed to tempta- tion and, finding indulgence in her weakness not disagreeable. she be- comes, in Ben Hecht's raffish argot, a | great magoo. Therefore, when she ar- rives in New York City and establishes herself as a seductive painter of por- traits and a woman of the world, the placid routine of life in the metropolis is disturbed. So she falls gracefully for a radical magazine editor (Earl Larimore) and is persuaded by him to write an autobiography. Whereupon one of her first, lovers, a prim politician from Tennessce (Jay Fassett), franti- cally requests her to refrain from con- fession, since it might interfere with his candidacy for a seat in the Senate. At the end she burns her manuscript. dismisses all her suitors and starts for Europe, there to begin life anew. I thank Mr. Behrman. Miss Claire, the Theater Guild and its company for an empty though satisfying evening with the drama. * % % x BEXN HECHT. co-cuthor of “The Great Ma rail-riding by the Broadway drama- critics with insufficient solemnity. The goo,” seems to regard his recent | cbject of punishment being the pre- | vention of evil. it was evidently their intention to penalize Mr. Hecht so savagely that he would be deterred from further ill-doing in the theater. But after being whipped with scourges and stewed in brine, he announces that he and Mr. Fowler are writing a new play “with chalk on barn doors and out-of-the-way fences under the light of a leering moon.” To the reviewer who was less infuriated by “The Great Magoo” than were the others he sends the following elfin account of his ex- periences and those of his accomplice on the night of the premier: My Dear Percy Hammond: Where were you during the pogrom “The G Magoo,” unloosed at the Theater a few nights ago? Sulking among the leaves of your dictionary, egad, and mumbling in you beard about literature! I missed you at the tar pots, and later when the posse turned the cor- ner with the hounds in full ery, I missed you again. And so did my breathless and beleaguered pal, Mons. Gene Fowler, who was wading up a creek trying to confuse the pursuit When finally we dived into a corn crib, outwitting the vigilantes, one of whom displayed a noose, we peered through the slats at the night full of torches and whispered to each other “Where is Sheriff Hammond?" I am writing this from the same corn crib to inquire after your health and to ask you to find out for us, if Blues Singer Les Morse, favorite of radio and stage, who is singing her blues songs al the Fox this week. | words, | Journey thre | the Angkor you will, what has become of Billy Rose, our producer, whom we last saw drop into a pit silo an inch ahead of Cotton Mather, brandishing a pitchfork. Herr Rose is a dapper fellow, with flashing Broadway eves and a penthouse pallor, in case you should see him. Also, if your absence from the posse the other night was not due to some oversight or previous engagement; I mean if you are a really sincere ad- vocate of letters, could you smuggle us some chalk so we can finish our next opera. Inflamed by the sug- gestion of your baying colleagues, we are writing it on a barn door and out-of-the-way fences by the light of a leering moon. If you wish, you can use this piece of theatrical news as 2 scoop In case there is any check-un by the posse as to where you we.v on that horrendous night when men's ons ran amuck, Fowler and 1 willing to testify that we saw you in the forefront with a sickle. Should you care to communicate with us during the next 24 hours, we shall be leaning on a police box on the corner of Forty-second street and Broadway, disguiced as Cq man Sirovitch, kicking critics as they bend over to salvage cigar butts. Lucky for you you weren't in the posse, as Fowler can drop-kick against the wind from the 40-yard line. As for myself, I refer you to Ln\' record against the Carlisle In- ians. In case you need either of us for anything—advice, comfort or under- standing—three shrill blasts will bring us running. BEN HECHT Despite his gallant grinning Mr, Hecht probably wonders why there were violent complaints against “The Great Magoo's” improprieties when those of other entertainments are immune. I can hear him whisper to Mr. Fowler as Y io in their lurking place. “How hat the authors of ‘Take a Chance id ‘Walk a Little Faster' can get away with ugly words and ref- erences while we cannot?” I suggest that when. or if. they creep out again, as I hope they will. they make a studious survey of Times Square's more popular prose and musical dramas and adjust their works accordingly. They may find in such an investigation that obscenity is a fine art, not a rude one, and that it is to be practiced with success only by artists skilled in beautifying odious ideas and actions. I advise them to spend an evening with “Walk a Little Faster.” for instance, and there learn from Miss Beatrice Lillie and others the trick of being indelicate more or less delicately. * \IISS LILLIE'S efforts in her lively V1 rovue are unlimited, allowing her to burlesque many of the stock-pot roles of the theater in her broadly sub- tle flair for tavesty. She is now a Klon- dike Nell, looking ghastly. as the poem says. beneath her rouge, and again as a blithe caricature of 'a fast Smith College or Vassar girl of a past genera- tion. She spoofs a French chanteuse in a cruel cartoon of Miss Irene Bordoni and Miss Jean Aubert. and as a septic Park avenue belle, visiting the dressing room of a stage star and disconcerting her with brutal remarks. And whenever the librettists give her a chance to be * * manner of speaking. She deftly as Mr. Hecht might say, many of the Callipygean jokes now so favorite with drama fanciers. Bobby Clark of the assists Miss Lillie as an ef- tooge for her. as Mr. McCul- lough is for him. There are the usual girls, songs and dancing. Messrs. Hecht and Fowler should go to s show and also to “Take a Chance,” wherein Miss Ethel Merman as she sings “Eadie Was a Lady” may give them lessons in how to be naughty though nice. Mr. Newman's Journey. “THE journey worth waiting for” is the claim E. M. Newman, master traveler, makes for his new offering this season 'entitled “Around the World." | This series of Traveltalks is to be pre- sented in five episodes, at the National. Instead of deshing helter-skelter from one seaport to another with nothing more than brief glimpses of the coast line of the various countries, Mr. New- man has carried out an itinerary which carries us far into the hinterland. Heading eastward from New York City, Mr. Newman calls first at Ma- deira, then on to Gibralter, Spain, and Palma, capital of the larger Balearic Islands. Greece, the Holy Land and Egypt come next. Then Djibouti, in French East Africa, before an extensive h India, Siam and to at. China to Korer is the next lap and Shanghai at the time when China revealed to Japan 2nd the rest of the world that the Chinese as a fighting race are worthy of considera- tion. The Philippines, Japan and Hawail present a vast wealth of new in . __The then through the Panama Canal across to Iceland. Spitzenbergen and the North Cape, thus completing the perfoct trip ded the world - ]