Evening Star Newspaper, January 8, 1933, Page 39

Stage—Screen Music—Radio AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sunday Star, Part 4—8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 8, 1933. 2 Automobile a Aviation News HERBERT MARSHALL SARI MARITZA VEVENINGS FOR SALE "/ F OoXx —VVhen the Hard-Boiled Critics Cry Like Babes Remarkable Exhibition as the New Helen Hayes Picture, "A Farewell to Arms,” Is Reeled Off With a Private View—Sad but Good. By E. de S. Melcher. YEAR ago Helen Hayes sat backstage in her dressing ;MISS HAYES' performance in “A Farewell to Arms” is SPENCER TRACY BETTE DAVIS 120,000 YEARS IN SING SING” METROPOLITAN CLAUDETTE COLBERT THE SIGN OF, THE CROSS” NATIONAL EDMUND LOWE WYNNE GIBSON THE DEVIL 1S DRIVING” EARLE SLIM SUMMERVILLE ZASU PITTS ATHEY JUST HAD TO GET MARRIED RIALTO ) Broadway’s New Comedy Strikes Popular Fancy “Twenfieth Century." Ly Hecl\t and MacAr*\u’. Details the Doings of a Show Troupe on Way From Chicago to New York. By Percy Hammond. tieth Century” is a mirthful pic- S you may have heard, “Twen-| ‘While Oscar Jaffee, the entrepreneur, |is fuming and sche in his state- ture of what might happen on a | room, the Christus and the Judas of a Chicago-New York express train | stranded German Passion Play appear A room at the National The- 'nothingshort of magnificent. The f A ater and said: “You know, I had an awful time getting into the movies. They just wouldn't have me. For a long time I was the jinx of Hollywood. They'd sign me up—and then they wouldn’t. They couldn’t seem to make up their minds whether they liked my face or not.” She talked about this gayly and amusingly, poking a little fun at herself, and at the same time per- thaps a little hurt that things had been as hard as they were. Her career hasn’t been all on the up-and-up. She was known for a long time on Broadway as a kind of Peter Pan—the little girl who wouldn’t grow up. She was attractive and she was “cun- ning.” $She had been an ideal Toil for Alfred Lunt in “Clarence.” | She had done other “baby roles” | well. "She was known to have a | quavering little voice, big, blue eyes, a nose that shot up into space and a laugh that made school boys writhe with pleasure. She was a type, and as a type she was gooa—but beyond that, | there was doubt. Then came “Coquette,” and in that, thankfully, also Una Merkel. Critics were a little flabbergasted when at the end of this play Miss Hayes made them cry. She has been making them cry ever since. She is at this moment unquestionably the ablest tear- font actress of the day. - While her eyes are still round and blue, her | laugh still girlish and her nose slightly retroussee, she has out- grown_ her Peter Pan years and is no longer a mere “type gy 'HE public will admit this after it has seen her in “A Fare- well to Arms” and “The Son- Daughter.” In these she com- bines all the talents which she has been amassing and rolls out her thunder with all the potency of a full-fledged tragedienne. When she smiles the audience smiles, and when she cries the whole theater quakes with un- happiness. The efficacy of these powers was exhibited recently at a a small, rather ment, eight people of variable mien, and at more than arm’s length from each other, sat be- fore a screen in the dead middle | of an afternoon. The picture was | shown in fits and starts and its| course punctuated by pre-sneeze signs of the current influenza on all sides. Every now and then *“Part III” or “Part IV” came to life, and there was mu tract from the peaceful the whole. Neverthele: the scene had faded from view the lights in the room were tu on, the damage that the pict had done was appar Three hard-boiled” critics s slumped down in their chairs, the as they say, “coursing” | 3 down their cheeks; the chief local mogul of the Loew Fox forces Jooked bleery-eyed and helpless his press man was trying to p: tend that he had smiled througt the whole thing, and a visitor was discovered somewhere towar Jast row stunned, mute and dumb. For a minute, possibly three minutes, not one of these sup- posedly veteran s was able to say so much as “boo! And not one was ashamed at _his or her apparent weakne Said one hard-hearted cinema sleuth: “This is the only time in my life T've ever cried at a film.” An- other sleuth shook his head and sald something like itto,” but he was unable to say more—and a third, frankly and shamelessly, sat in a complete stupor and occu- pied herself with retouching her harassed features. This was what Helen Hayes, and to a lesser extent, but still im- portantly, Gary Cooper, had done. ‘This was the acting of that little girl of whom the crities had said, “She will never grow up.” This was “Babs” past the age of gig- gling and flirting—the Helen Hayes who at this minute has done more than any of the younger actresses to put charm and pleasant sentiment and pathos into the cinema, flow of last nd ned when to de- | | role of"Catherine is not by any |means an easy one. Author jI{cnxixugway didn’t intend that it should be. And while Miss Hayes |is not given the opportunity to | provide the lady with as much jcolur as was given her in the | book, she takes the material at |hand and strikes curiously close to_its heart. Most satisfying is the ending— not the ending which Mr. Hem- ingway complained about (the climax which carried the two lov- ers into a hopelessly out of place “happy ending”), but the one which Washingtonians are priv- | ileged to see at this time. Those | tle credit for -the smooth back- grounds they provide in cur- rent films, have worked out an especially noteworthy back- ground of Wagnerian music for this ending. It seems rather cu- rious that Hemingway's staccato | phrasings should be linked so effectively to the lyricisms of Maestro Wagner. But such is the case. What between Wagner, Hemingway and Helen Hayes there is no reason in the world why the tears shouldn’t flow free and easily. And go, with that memorable | and poignant climax to this film, and with the sudden fire which she shows in the final chapter of | “The Son-Daughter” when she | strangles her husband by twisting his Chinese pigtail around his throat—Miss Hayes may be said |to have reached the heights and | to have definitely scattered to the | winds any impression that she is still no better than a “type.” | She is everything that an actress ichould be—-and a good deal more. When you see her as Catherine you will realize this—if you {haven't already. "Unter Den Linden" Music. OHANN STRAUSS, noted Viennese composer and nephew of the 1 | mortal Johann Strauss, the “waltz |king” is the author of “Unter den | Linden,” which serves as the m hackground for Paramount’s rom: domedy “Evenings for Sale”” Inci- dentally, the Strausses, Johann, the | first; Edward, and his son, the present Johann, kept an unbroken line f 70 ars as directors of the orchestra at | Austrian court balls under the royal egime. Master Traveler. A AN, master traveler, is | ing to escort us every step of y of his “journey” around the and call to our attention things est that ordinarily might escape five episodes, the trip will be the National Theater on ay afternoons beginning w little or no effort on our part, we may ci rcle the globe over an iti planned that we may com- ‘wonderfu This “journ will be covered as \e Mediterranean,” a " “Singa " “China and Japan" i to the Arctic.” anc In Vaudeville theatricalities | | LITA GREY CHAPLIN, ‘ Feat this week. | astute technicians who get lit- | | Tsarevitch Berenday (the prince). also ured on the stage at Loew's Fox |assertion, declaring he will grow one LESLIE HOWARD ANN HARDIN& UTHE ANIMAL KINGDOMY! KEITHS Coward Here Next Week MMEDIATELY prior to its New York premiere, “Design for Living,” the new Noel Coward play with Alfred Lunt, | Lynn Fontanne and Mr. Coward as the stars, will play a week's engagement at the National Theater, beginning | Monday, January 16. The play is being presented by Max Gordon. This is the first time in eight years that the Lunts have appeared with a management other than the Theater Guild. In “Design for Living,” Mr. Coward is making his fourth appearance on the American stage. He was also seen here in “The Vortex,” “This Year of Grace” | and “Private Lives,” all, like “Design for Living,” written by himself. In addition to Mr. Lunt, Miss Fon- tanne and Mr. Coward, the cast of “De- sign for Living” includes Campbell Gullan, Gladys Henson, Phyllis Con- nard, Ethel Borden, Alan Campbell, Ward Bishop, Philip Tonge and Mac- leary Stinnett. The settings have been designed and supervised by G. E. Cal- ‘lhmp. Mr. Coward has directed the play. “Sleeping Beauty™ Saturday. ‘ THE third play of the Children's Thea- ter series at the National Theater next Saturday morning will be one at once familiar and strange to Washing- ton children. The title chosen is “Sleep- ing Beauty,” the famous old fairy tale by Charles Perrault, but it will be pre- | sented not in the conventional, but in Russian style. In general the plot fol- lows the familiar lines, so that children | will recognize beneath the exotic cos- | tumes and colorful settings the beloved |fairy tale with which they are all fa- | miliar. The names, of course, will be | Russian, and one or two innovations will add freshness to the story. Helen Shea, who made her first big success in the famous “Broadway,” will have the leading role of the Tsarevna |Marya (the Sleeping Beauty), while seen as Miska the Bear, will be Joseph Curtin, who last season toured with | Maude Adams as Lancelot Gobbo in “The Merchant of Venice.” Others in the cast are Richard Ab- bott, recently of “The Last Mile”; Mary Emerson, who first attained prominence in the cast of “Street Scene,” and Dor- othy Slayter of the famous theatrical family which once owned the old Bow- ery Theater. They are to appear under | the 2 s of the Women's Interna- tional League Gable and Mustaches. M USTACHIOED celebrities in the reen colony are up in arms. | because of Prof. Leo R. Ken- nedey's assertion, that 80 out of 100 | morons wear hirsute adornment. The | psychology expert of Creighton Uni- versity asserts he made an exhaustive | study of morons and mustaches as the basis of his statement, | “Clark Gable, hero of “Strange Tnter- {lude,” leads 'the Hollywood protest. | Gable doesn't wear a mustache as he | did in that picture, so he isn't one of he insulted ones. ' Therefore he feels | he can speak es an unprejudiced ob- erver “I don't know whether the professor wears one or not,” remarks Gable. “But I might remind him that some of the world's greatest men have and do wear them. Einstein, Steinmetz, Maeter- linck, Grover Cleveland, ~Theodore | Roosevelt — mustaches that never | adorned moronic upper lips.” Gable's contention is backed in no | uncertain terms by other mustached | screen notables. “Absurd,” comments Jean Hersholt, who, aside from being an actor, is a world authority on first editions, an artist of distinction end a former bank director, “The professor ought to find some- thing more useful to study and leave mustaches to the barbers” suggests Ralph Morgan, who plaved with Norma Shearer and Geble in “Strange Inter- | lude” and like Gable worc a mustache for his role. | Jimmy Durante proposes a mustache day as a protest against the professor's whether his nose likes it or not. NATIONAL—“The Sign of the Cross.” ECIL B. DE MILLE'S version of “The Sign of the Cross,” with | a quartet of stars, Fredric March, Claudette Col- bert, Elissa Landi and Charles Laughton, who in turn are supported by a company of 7,500, will open this afternoon at the National for a week's run. There will be two performances daily, including both Sundays. “The Sign of the Cross” is a Paramount production and is based upon the former stage suc- cess by Barrett. Mr. Laughton ap- pears as the half- mad Nero, Miss Colbert is Poppaea, his wife, who loves Marcus Superbus, prefect of Rome, played by Mr.| March. But Marcus repulses Poppaea’s amorous advances, because he falls in | Charles Laughton. lOve with a simple girl of humble orig- in, Marcia, portrayed by Miss Landi. It is out of these entangled loves that the intriguing story of the play is fash- ioned, and through them that it rises to its startling climaxes. The era of Rome under Nero has given Mr. De Mille opportunities for the magnificent and massive effects for which he is famous. Particularly ef- | fective are the sequences depicting the burning of Rome. the lovely Poppaea comes to her marble pool to bathe; the revels of the pa- tricians and the games in the Roman arena. (‘OLI'MBIA—:‘THO Death Kiss.” BELA LUGOSI portrays a “straight” | role, role, as the manager of a studio “The in Death Kiss,” which is now playing at Loew's Columbia Theater, | with David Manners and Adrienne Ames carrving the leading. roles. The setting of “The Death Kiss,” is | in a studio, and all the players enact roles connected with some phase of motion pictures, either as a player for the “Tonart Studios” or as a studio employe. In turn the leading lad: Adricnne Ames; a scenario writer, David Manners: the studio manager, a Lugosi; the president, Alexander T, and the others, are suspected of lved in the murder of Myles ular Tonart leading man. yd Hamilton comedy is also on and the weekly Paramount news flashes complete the program. LOEW'S FOY enings for Sale.” ** EVENINGS FOR SALE," the Vien- nese musical romance based on an original story by L. A. R. Wylie, and with music by Johann Strauss the younger, nephew of the “waltz king” is now playing at Loew's Fox Theater. A cast of stage and screen celebrities, headed by Herbert Marshall, the phenomenal star of “Trouble in Paradise”; Sari Maritza, Charlie Ruggles and Mary Bo- land, enacts the story. The vaudeville bill is headed by “The Master of the Impossible!” the Great In Washington Theaters This Week. NATIONAL—“The Sign of the Cross.” This afternoon and eve- ning at 2:30 and 8:30 o'clock. GAYETY—“Humming Honies.” PALACE—“A Farewell to Arms.’ R-K-O KEITH'S—“The Animal evening. LOEW’S FOX—“Evenings for Sale,” and vaudeville. This after- noon and evening. EARLE—“The Devil is Driving,” and vaudeville. This afternoon and evening. RIALTO—“They Just Had to Get Married.” This afternoon and evening. METROPOLITAN—"20,000 Year: and evening. COLUMBIA—“The Death Kiss.” This afternoon and evening. including | Wilson | The scene wherein | BELA LUGOS! and. ADRIENNE AMES \THE DEATH KISS’= COLUMBIA Nicola, who has attained the credit of being the greatest magician in the | world. Lita Grey Chaplin is also being | presented as an extra attraction. The story of “Evenings for Sale” is the love affair of a penniless Austrian nobleman and a girl from the nouveau- riche middle class. The setting is Vienna in the years just after the war, when the gayety of the famed capitai had reached its highest point. Marshall | plays the role of a penniless Austrian nobleman, who decides to commit sui- | cide after spending one last gay night | at the famous Viennese carnival. Those “Three Youag Men of Man- | hattan,” Gordon, Reed and King, are | also on the vaudeville bill in a comedy dancing and singing act. Then comes Britt Wood, the man with the har-| monica, and also Rector and Doreen, who open the bill. Phil Lampkin is seen conducting the Loew’s Fox Concert | Orchestra in an overture. METROPOLITAN—20,000 Years in Sing Sing. | screen at Warner Bros! Metro- | politan Theater this week contains| a living picture of a world within a| authentic_story by Warden Lewis E. Lawes. This First National pictur- ization of the famous best seller of the same name is being presented for the | first time on any screen, the Metropoli- | tan engagement being a world premiere. | | Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis head a; strong supporting cast, which also in- cludes Lyle Talbot, Sheila Terry, Louis| Calhern and many others 20,000 Years in Sing Sing” is a story | of men without women and women that wait without for their men they can't live without. It condenses into one story the most dramatic and spectacular incidents in the career of a warden These include the humorous and the ro- mentic side of the prisoners as well as thrilling episodes and the grim tragedies. in the lives of the leading personalities | whom Sing Sing has housed. | ~Short subjects supplement the fea- ture, including Eddie Cantor in a re- | issue of one of his most popular shorts, “Getting the Ticket”; Vitaphone's “Old Time Thrills,” with Ted Husing, and| the Paramount Sound News. | EARLE—“The Devil Is Driving.” JEDMUND LOWE in a new Paramount production, “The Devil Is Driving, heads the current program at Warner | Bros.” Earle Theater. The stage activi- | ties are led by Alexander Gray and Ber- nice Claire, seen together for the first | time on a Washington stage in a pro-| gram of song hits from “The Desert | Song” and their other successes. Others | | on the stage program are Washington’s | own entertainer, Jack Pepper: Walter Dale Wahl, Stone and Gibbons Revue | and Maxine Doyle i In “The Devil Is Driving” Edmund| Lowe goes on the hunt for new blondes | and while on this quest runs into ro-| | mance, comedy and plenty of fast ac- | tion. 'The cast also includes Wynne | Gibson, James Gleason, Lois Wilson, | Dickie Moore and Alan Dineheart. | To complete the program there is also | shown Vitaphone's condensed - musical version of “The Desert Song.” which stars the two headliners of the current stage program, Alexander Gray and Bernice Claire. Other attractions are | This afternoon and evening. Thig afternoon and evening. Kingdom.” This afternoon and s in Sing Sing.” This afternoon {the Graham MacNamee talking news world, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing,” an | | **THE ANIMAL KINGDOM," starring HELEN HAYES 'A FAREWELL TO ARMS” PALACE’ reel and the Earle orchestral prelude. RIALTO—“They Just Had to Get Married.” **THEY JUST HAD TO GET MAR- RIED,” now playing at the Rialto Theater, includes in its cast Slim Sum- merville and ZaSu Pitts. The picture was taken from the play by Cyril Har- court and was adapted to the screen by M. Walker and Gladys Lehman | under the direction of Edward Ludwig. In the supporting cast are Roland Young, Verree Teasdale, C. Aubrey| Smith, Fifi D'Orsay, Virginia Howell, David Landau and Cora Sue Collins. The Rialto is offering its third short | musical film feature, of which Morton Downey was the star of the first two. | This new one features Art Jarrett and | Jacques Renard's orchestra. Completing | the program are several selected screen novelties and the latest Universal News, | with Graham McNamee in his favorite role of the Talking Reporter. R-K-O KEITH'S—"The Animal King- dom.” Ann Harding and Leslie Howard, is being held over for an additional six days at R-K-O Keith's Theater. The engagement is now scheduled to termi- (rimce with the final showings on Thurs- ay. Written by Philip Barry, Mr. How- ard was starred in the stage presenta- tion and in transferring the story to the screen Mr. Barry's dialogue is carried over practically in its entirety. In ad- dition to Mr. Howard two others of the original stage cast, William Gargan and ka Chase, are in the picture. Two of the screen’s most interesting personali- ties, Ann Harding and Myrna Loy, carry the two pivotal feminine roles. A Clark and McCullough comedy, cartoons and Pathe News are also being continued, with two new issues of the news reel each week PALACE—"A Farewell to Arms.” [ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S “A Fare- well to Arms.” is now playing at Loew's Palace Theater, with Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper and Adolphe Men- | Jou in the leading roles. The film,| which follows the Hemingway novel | closely, is the story of the love affair | between an American lieutenant in the | Italian ambulance corps during the | war and an English nurse. | Helen Hayes, who is recognized as| one of the screen’s greatest feminine stars, has been on the stage since she was a little girl of 12, when she played here in local theatrical productions. Gary Cooper, who is carrying the lead- ing role opposite Helen Hayes, played | minor roles in his college days and from there he went to Hollywood, where | he made one of his greatest produc- | tions, “The Virginian.” 1 Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd are again on the screen in one of their hilarious comedies, “Sneak Easily.” | GAYETY—“Humming Honies.” | 'HE Gayety Theater is offering a| brand-new burlesque production, | “Humming Honies,” which will be pre- sented today for the first time at the regular Sunday afternoon matinee. Georgia Sothern, held over by popular request, will be heard in all new songs, and Carmen, who has been held over as well, will be seen in some special new dance numbers. The rest of the company is said to be of high caliber. Monday night is gift night, Wednesday nislg x;‘nzney night and Friday is amateur 1 in case there were showfolk aboard. People of the theater are excit- | ing even in their natural state, and when skillfully touched up and elabo- rated in a drama as they are at the Broadhurst_they become irresistibiy in- teresting. Ben Hecht and Charles Mac- | Arthur, authors of “Twentieth Century,” | are the playwrights best qualified to| make these superfluous improvements. | Saucy men, confident, experienced and artistic, they are not afraid to tear down, knowing that it is in their power to build up agein. Vandals in spirit, they are consetructors in practice, and so their operations result in an en- hancement, if they will not laugh when | I use that pretty word, of the play- world’s recreating values. In my time I have had ray share of contacts with the ring-masters and artists of show busi- ness, from Al Woods to Chaliapin, but never have I found them o funny as they are in “Twentieth Century.” On the train as it leaves Chicago, bound for home, as the actors call it, are a theatrical impressario (Moffett Johnston) and his retinue. Despite the fact that he is a temperamental sym- posium of Mcrris Gest, Belasco, Jed Harris and Roxy, he has just produced a ruinous failure and is teetering on the rim of bankruptcy. A drama-hating New York bank is about to foreclose upon his Times Square Theater, and | other creditors are similarly impor- tunate. Troubles, however, do not daunt him, for he is a Broadway fusion, a9 his press agent calls him, of D'Ar- tagan, the Little Corporal, Attila the | Hun and Machievelll. If he can per- suade the reluctant Lady Garland, a primadonna de luxe, to sign a contract, he can take that priceless document to Wall Street and get $1,000,000,000 on it. She boards the Twentieth Century on | the outskirts of Chicago, incognito, ac- | companied by a maid and a sweetheart; and, brilliantly played by Miss Eugenie | Leontovich, she gives amusing battle to the hero. She is so stubborn that he has | to shoot himself in the last act before | she will write ber name on the dotted . George Abbott, the director of the play, keeps it in motion as smcoth and swift as that of the great ambulance from which it gets its title. The con- ductor, the brakeman, and the porters are more real than those of the Penn- sylvania gystem or the New York Cen- tral, as tactfully they handle the spec- tacular dilemmas of the journey. By a cunning manipulation of curtain, and machinery Mr. Abbott enables you to peer into the secrets of a Pullman palace car, permitting you to ‘believe that you yourself are a passenger. The whistles, the bells, and othcr mechanical instruments of railroad atmosphere are | and cause you| faithfully counterfeit, to feel that you are really en route from Chicago to New York with a cargo of sensational companions. Amang these is the frenzied maestro’s press agent, a | profane and humorous two-bottle chap who, when assisted by a couple-of drinks, thumbs his nose wittily to art and the universe. He (Willlam Frawley) is no ordinary Broadway yes-man, dispensing mimeographed and insignificent infor- mation to the newspapers, but a ruth- less field marshal, telling one and all where to get off. His speech, when in- | vigorated with alcohol, is arrogant and | satirical. He calls his employer “Sire” | and, though loval to the phony cause, he sneers earnestly, and quizzically at grotesque weaknesses. When & mascu- line lady-physician enters breezily and | shouts, “I am Doctor Johnson!” Mr. Frawley looks her over coldly and in- | quires “which Doctor Johnson—Sam or Ben?” That line may give you an idea of the author's urban and literate ‘humor. Earle Singer [ [ | | Star of the stage, screen and radio, who, with Alenn%er Gray, tops the vaudeville bill at the Earle this week. | |and beseech his attention. Immedi- ately he conceives the idea of present- | ing them, and Lily Garland as Mary of Magdalen, in a hippodrome production | of the life and death of the Nazarene. Where will he get the money with which to finance his enterprise? Well, Messrs. Hecht and MacArthur shower manna upon him in the person of s rich, enthusiastic and Baptist manu. | facturer of household laxatives. Thas | pious fellow gives him a for $200,000, and straightway he begins to telegraph orders for a dozen lions, 50 sheep, a herd of camels, a leopard or two, Joseph Urban and a couple of warthogs. You can imagine his dis- comfigture .when his angel (Etienn: Girardot) turns out to be an idiot, re- femly escaped from an asylum for the nsane. It is all in the best Hecht and Mac- Arthur vein, fast, urban, blasphemcus and carefully irresponsible. It Sashes harshly as it goes along; and if it tells lies about the drama, it tells them truthfully and hilariously. Messrs. Ab- | bott and Dunning. the producers, do & grand job in their presentation of “Twentieth Century.” The actors they | have selected to play the roles are just the actors who can play them best. I should be rcquested to advise s drama lover which comedy he entwine | his arms about my suggestion woul “Twentieth Ceni " in case “Dinnei at Eight-Eighty.” as the ticket brokers call it, is not avallable. * ® ¥ ¥ Ir John Colton, a faithful and enter- say, “My attitude toward my new drama, Wench,”” I would O. K. it rather than lose his admiration. But since he is, s0 far as I know. the only playwright who does not demand dishonest compliment as the price of his loyalty, I can de- nounce his “Saint Wench” with safety | as a ludicrous, overupholstered, old- fashioned and gaudy antique. Miss Helen Menken appears volub! |a Croatian nympholept, wi back in the seventeenth century, loved a brigand and married a priest in pre- posterous and artificial circurastances. | “Saint Wench” is not a good entertain- | ment and Miss Menken as its heroine is | not a good entertainer. When and if Mr. Colton and I ever meet again I am sure that there will be the usual hand clasps and that he will whisper to me that I was right and he was wrong. | Masefield Here Friday. | J’OHN MASEFIELD, poet laureate of | England, will come to this eity Friday of this week to appear in & sin- gle recital at the National Theater at 4:40 o'clock, reading from his own works many of the poems and poetic dramas that have made him famous through- out the worid Mr. Masefleld will include in his pro- gram “The Everlasting Mercy,” which first won him world-wide recognition and lasting literary fame; “The Widow of Bye Street” and “Reynard the Fox.” Among other selections the laureate will read his earliest verses, “Salt Water Ballads,” based upon his early and in- timate association with sailors and long- shoremen, as well as his famous series of lyrics and sonnets, “Lollingdown Downs.” Popular prices will prevail for the Masefield recital on Priday aftern:on, seats for which may be had at the Na- tional Theater box office. Paramount News. THE problems which will face Amer- ica if the beer law is passed pro- vide the basis for “Legal Crime” a new picture which Charles R. Rogers plans to produce for Paramount. Harry Joe Brown will direct. Col. Stoopnagle and Budd, famous comedy team of the air, have been signed to appear with Peggy Hopkins | Joyce, Rudy Vallee and a host of personalities in “International House,” written by Lou Heifetz and Neil Brant. Sir Guy Standing, who has just been assigned a part with Miriam Hopkins and George Raft in “The Story of Temple Drake,” as his screen debut, will follow this immediately with one of the leading characterizations in “The Eagle and the Hawk.” with Gary Cooper, Fredric March and Jack Oakie. Dorothy Jordan has been signed f the ingenue lead in “Strictly Personal the new Charles R. Rogers production which Pmmngnz will. release, and Ed- ward Ellis, who- made his screen debut in “I Am a Pugitive Prom a Chain Gang,” has been given an important role in the same picture. Ralph Mur- phy is the director, and Mzylarie Ram- beau, Eddie Quillan and Cal- hearn are in the east. Keene Thompson has rejoined Para- mount’s writing staff to collaborate with Bogart Rogers and Lilewellyn Hughes on the screen play of “The Eagle and the Hawk," an air story, written by John Monk Saunders, author g{r :Vmp" Stephen Roberts will ec |