Evening Star Newspaper, May 7, 1933, Page 43

Stage -- Screen Music -- Radio RN o W T AMUSEMENT SECTION he Sundy Star. WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 7, 1933. RAMON NOVARRO MYRNA LOY ATHE BARBARIANY FOX GEORGE ARLISS S THE WORKING MANY EARLE Season of the Wandering Film Star Is Here Again Slowing Up of Affairs Out Hollywood Way Has Sent the Featured players on Tours of the Picture Houses of Larger Cities. By E. de S. Melcher. HE season for wandering film stars is on. From now on we may expect a tairlyi consistent stream of West | Coast celebrities, who, with the | slowing up of studio activities, | start their annual pilgrimage' East. During the warm, bright months to come, Washington, as every other major city, will doubt- less be privileged to see many of | these Hollywood people, who, be- | ing a restlegs lot, prefer to earn | a few extra coins by invading the stages of the picture houses rather than eating up their Sum- mer on the sizzling beaches of Malibu. This week we are fortunate in having Miss Talmadge and Miss Blondell with us. Next week Dick Powell comes to the Earle. From then on it will be a scramble, with the local theaters trying to get the biggest and best stars available. This is a good idea—if the stars have anything to say. Last sea- son the material which was given the wanderers was, however, pretty awful. They were sent out of Hollywood at a moment’s no- | tice, made to learn a script as| they came East on the train, re-.| hearsed feverishly in a hotel bed | Toom the day before they ap- peared, and then did a puny little act before a loyal but slightly dis- appointed audience. We hope that screen stars, if they have an inkling that they may be called upon to make one o( these' personal appearances, will begin now searching for Proper material. After some of ast Summer’s fiascos we could easily imagine that if Garbo had been sent East she might have appeared in an act of “The Charm School.” It would seem like a very wise idea for the studios to begin plowing around and shaping up their stars for this sort of work. ‘We cannot imagine, for instance, that Loretta Young and George Brent increased their popularity by the kind of a skit they pre- sented here; as also Bette Davis and Warren Willlam, who tried their best not to mind acting in a little sketch which was weaker than water. If now, these hand- some people are to do this kind of thing again they should be ‘warned in proper time, and made to think not only what they would enjoy doing, but what sort of busi- ness would suit their talents best. Herewith is a brief chart of the kind of thing we should enjoy seeing here during the coming months: MISS GARBO—Appearing in a scene from “L’Aiglon.” JAMES CAGNEY—Doing any- thing but that soft-shoe dance in a light blue suit with yellow shoes. LORETTA YOUNG—As the Madonna in “The Miracle”—not in even half a minute from “Life Begins.” PAUL MUNI—As himself. KATHERINE HEPBURN — In skirts—and not in “trow.” RAMON NOVARRO — .Singing “J'ai Deux Amours,” which he sings very well. HELEN HAYES—Coming on to the stage and just sitting down and crying, so that she can see what her audiences have to go through. GARY COOPERyAs Hamlet. (He is the only man in Hollywood who looks unhappy enough.) MAE WEST—As “Peg o' My Heart.” JOAN CRAWFORD—With Fran- chot Tone in the balcony scene from “Romeo and Juliet.” THE BARRYMORES—In a brief revival of “The Jest.” LILYAN TASHMAN—With an act and not just clothes. POLLY MORAN—Just busting out on the stage and saying, “Hello, Folks,” the way she did once at the Palace. WHEELER AND WOOLSEY—In apiething that is funog production immediately. l:dnr.. Goldwyn will make definite his ln ROBERT MONTGOMERY—In a scene from “Private Lives.” NORMA SHEARER — Reciting that fine speech from “Strange Interlude” which was left out. ZASU PITTS—As Ophelia, which, incidentally, she would be swell at. CLARK GABLE—With all the boys who are supposed to look like him. This includes Nils Asther, George . Raft, Franchot Tone, Johnny Weismuller, Lyle Talbot, Douglas Fairbanks, jr.—or so the film magazines would have you believe. UNA MERKEL—As the heroine of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” MARIAN DAVIES—As “Kikl.” * x x X T will actually happen on the stages of the Fox and the Earle will probably be quite differ- ent. We may expect two “ro- mantic” stars playing together in a detective-story skit; a dramatic star singing “Shuffing Off to Buffalo”; a singer doing a scene | from “Design for Living”; a dancer imitating Maurice Che- | valier; a radio star giving her in- terpretation of Ethel Barrymore; an ingenue doing a Mae West, and any number of popular but comparatively unknown players standing up behind the footlights and saying: “I can't tell you how nice it is to be in Washington.” Then as there is no applause, “Washington is my favorite city.” (Polite applause.) Then, after the skit: “I can't tell you how much your enthusiasm has meant to me.” (There has been no ap- plause.) “I shall always remem- ber how good you were—”" one lady claps her hands together to tell her child to behave—“I shall cherish it—always—" and, she exits hastily, while the orchestra plays furiously so as to drown out the sad truth that only 11 people in the audience applauded, and these probably because they woke up just in time to pretend to themselves that they knew what was going on. We hope for better—but we ex- pect the worse. Unfortunately, when stars go East studio execu- tives say to them: “Now, remem- ber, all they want, is to get a look at you.” * K ok % BE sure not to miss this week’s “Good-by Again” at the Na- tional. Onme of the real Broadway successes of the season, and one which seems destined to outlast the Summer, this Osgood Perkins- Sally Gates comedy, widely her- alded as a sure-fire laugh piece by Broadway’s intelligentsia, is coming here somewhat ahead of time. Donald Woods will play the Perkins role and Leona Pow- ers, released from ink wells and divorce grounds, will be seen in the role created by Miss Bates. Other National Players will ap- pesg in shorter but also “fat” parts. Pictures for Eddie and Anna. AMUEL GOLDWYN is back in New York after having launched two of his screen productions in London. Eddie Cantor in “The Kid from Spain” and Ronald Colman in “Cynara” are both record successes in the British capital. A new picture for Eddie Cantor and one for the blond actress from Soviet Russia, Anna Sten, will occupy Mr. Goldwyn’s attention in New York for a few short days. George Kaufman and Robert Sher- wood are working on the script of the Roman carnival that will star Eddie Cantor. The star, Director Frank Tuttle, Art Director Richard Day, Costume De- signer John Harkrider and Arthur Hcrnblow, jr, Mr. Goldwyn's produc- ferise with. e producer. " Sar, pro- lucer. r, pro- ducer and staff are expected to migrat to Hollywood in a few days to begin for Miss Sten and for the Eddie mnlllw JOAN CRAWFORD' GARY COOPER \tODAY WE LIVE # PfiLACE’ T seems timely, with Noel Coward riding the “crest of the wave” of the present-day authors, that the National ‘Theater Players should elect to present one of his best comedies, “Hay Fever,” as the fourth play of their season at the National Theater the week bl‘gln-l ning Monday, May 15. ‘The story of “Hay Fever” takes an English actress, on the wane, and her husband, son and daughter for a so- journ at a country house near Lon- don. Lacking an audience, but still earning for the atmosphere of the theater, the lady turns the home into a supposed theater, using the members of her family for her supporting cast. When week end guests, individually in- vited by the family without the knowl- edge of each other, arrive the house- hold becomes a bedlam with scream- ingly funny situations which only a Noel Coward can concoct. In “Hay Fever” Leona Powers will be seen in the part played here last by Constance Colller and other members of the cast will have adequate support- ing roles. German Film Tl’\uraday. **T)ER RAUB DER MONA LISA" (“Theft of Mona Lisa”), a Ger- man-produced talking film, will be pre- sented at the State Theater, 6968 Wis- consin avenue, in the village of Bethes- da, on Thursday evening by the For- eign Cinema Guild of Washington. The film will be shown in German dialogue at 8:30 J).m. and in English dialcgue at 6:30 and 9:45 pm. The story is based upon the actual theft of the Da Vincl painting from the Paris Louvre in 1911. Leading roles are played by Willy Forst and le von Molo. Music for the picture, “Tell Me Why You Smile, Mona Lisa,” was written by Robert Stolz, composer of “Two Hearts in Waltz Time.” Aherne Leaves for London. London stage has snatched two of Hollywood's brightest lights for the Summer season. Brian Aherne depart for London immediately upon completion of his role opposite Marlene Dietrich in “The Song of ,” to appear opposite Diana Wyn: l, star of “Cavalcade,” in a new Clemence Dane, entitled “Wild Decem ber.” Aherne will return to America in September to resume his screen work as a Paramount contract player. Paramount_has borrowed two femi- nine stars, Benita Hume from Metro and Glenda Farrell from Warners, to play opposite Cary Grant and Jack La Rue in “Gambling Ship,” which goes into production this week. Buster Crabbe’s honeymoon has been cut short so that the Olympic swim- ming champion, who made screen debut in “King of the Jungle” might join the cast of Paramount’s “Stairs of Sand,” the Zane Grey story now in production. Claudette Colbert has been switched mount’s “Torch Singer,” to go into pro- duction shortly. Helen Twelvetrees will be given the “Disgraced” role and will work under the direction of Stuart ‘Walker. “Three Cornered Moon,” current % groldwly hit, has been purchased' by [ Dram " LS ” DIPLOMANIACS! KEITHS ZASU PITTS SouT ALL NIGHTY RIALTO ESTHER RALSTON PAFTER THE BALLY coLumsia WHERE AND WHEN IN LOCAL THEATERS NATIONAL—National Pléyers in “Good-by Again,” tomorrow evening at 8:30 p.m. GAYETY—“Girls de Luxe,” at 2:15 and 8:15 p.m. EARLE—“Working Man,” toda! Stage show, with Joan and 8:55 p.m. at 2, 4:30, 7:10 and 10 p.m. ondell in person, at 3:30, 6: RIALTO—"Out All Night,” at 1:52, 3:52, 5:52, 7:52 and 9:52 p.m. R-K-O KEITH'S—“Diplomaniacs,” at 2, 3:50, 5:40, 7:45 and 9:45 p.m. COLUMBIA—“Bondage,” at 2:53, 4:38, 6:23, 8:08 and 9:52 p.m. LOEW’S FOX—“The Barbarian” and Norma Talmadge and George Jessel on stage, this afternoon and evening. PALACE—“Today We Live,” this afternoon and evening. METROPOLITAN—"Picture Snatcher,” evening. erch Directs H.imuelf. A'r least one-fourth of the scenes in Paramount’s’ “The Eagle and the Hawk,” in which Frederic March ap- peared, were directed by himself.. Be- cause of propeller noise and the ab- sence of the director, all scenes taken of March in the cockpit of an airplane, both on the ground and above it, were carefully timed and directed by the ac- tor himself. “And those are the finest scenes in the picture, too,” declares Director Stu- art Walker. Constance’s Next. TRA = Lady” will be Con- lhnc:mnmnl lett'u R-K-O Radlo pmw:h;; ring vel e following comj “Bed of Roses,” now in production, was essured today with the signing of Ken- yon Nicholson to write the screen play. Nicholson, who formerly headed the atic School at Columbia Univer- success this afternoon and *M" to Be Released. AmlCAN release rights to the Ger- man thrill production, “M,” which just ended a three-week run at the Mayfair Theater in New York, have been purchased by Paramount Pictures Distributing Corporation, according to an announcement made by George J. Schaefer, vice president and sales man- ager. “M” was directed by Fritz Lang of “Metropolis” fame, and shares mobile and viation News ‘DONALDV WOODS' oA JAMES CAGNEY ALICE WHITE VPICTURE SNAT GLEN ECHO PARK. THE Spanish ball Toom now open at Glen Echo Park features 15 instru- mentalists and entertainers under the Ermnll direction of David McWil- . Designed by a famous firm of architects, the Spanish ball room sets a high mark in halls of its kind through- out the country. Spectacular lighting of a type not heretofore used in any cther installation of a similar char- acter in the United States is in evi- dence. The cove lighting is of the tube type of light source and flood lights, equipped with various colored lenses, are installed in the window recesses. This equipment is connected to & spe- cially designed “Thyratoron” control which can be set to any program of color lighting desired and operates au- tomatically to produce color effects that are unique and distinctive. The floor contains 8,000 square feet of dancing area and accommodates 2,000 persons; the stage can hold a 50-piece orchestra. Patrons of the park are now getting the : first view of this great improve- ment., 'WILSON LINE TO OPEN. THURSDAY at 9:30 am. the 8. 8. City of Washington' will pull away from her slip at Seventh Street Wharves for her inaugural run to Mount Vernon. With the round trip fare reduced, Wi onians are of- fered an inexpensive way to journey to this famous landmark. Moonlight trips will begin Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. The feature of the moonlight cruises this year will be Lou Dancing, as Sings in Arabic. "GHOON!BT EL HOOB ALAL NEEL” is the name of the new song Ramon Novarro sings on the screen. Novarro sings both in English and Arabic in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “The Barbarian.” Furthermore, di the course of the picture, the star is re- | the: quired to speak not only but in in those lan- also and devoted to himself in it. - mnnfimmm to ter the vorrect accen ted, “and Novarro simply has KTROMLW Nominations and Awards, With a Note on Old Days Critic Picks Some of the Disagreeable Sights of the Season and Then Casts Back to Theater of 84 Years Ago. B}' Pel’Cy Hammonfl. urge to supplement the func- HIS being diploma-time in the drama, we playgoers feel an | Tge tions of the officlal awarders with further citations for con- | lmuch of the tragedy as was performed, 7 L ulthough Mr. Macready abode the pelt- ing of the pitiless storm with admirable firmness. When he asked the mob to hear him a placard was hung from the spicuous services performed. I nomi- |uppn bozes inscribed, “No apologies! nate, therefore, as candidate for the | You have been proved a liar.” season’s most disagreeable sight the | Then arose louder yells, accompanied bare feet of Alfred Lunt and le‘by rotten eggs and a bottle of asa- Coward in “Design for Living"—as hid- | foetida, which diffused a most repulsive eous a set of naked dogs as ever I laid | stench throughout the house. As the eye to . . . I should. like also to get|play proceeded the fury of excitement recognition for Miss Constance Collier’s | increased, and as Mr. Macready came esthetic rendering of America’s DPet on as the King a heavy piece of wood epithet in “Dinner at Eight"—an im- gnd siz orchestra chairs were flung at polite dissonance made polite by Miss | him from the parquet. The police were Collier’s musical if insalubrious ven-|seemingly indiflerent to these violences, triloquism of her librettist’s lines . . . and so the militia was summoned, and Osgood Perkins wins a voucher from|soon arrived in force. Gen. Sandford, me for his effective pajama-manners in | the commanger of the 1st Artillery, who “Good Bye Again,” as {reely he shows |wgs in the audience, sent to the arsenal himself en dishabille to_us and his| for filed pieces, loaded with canister and tragedian, 85 | loathed one another, as easy | times do, and their feud drama critic of amen , Miss Sallie Bates, in the theatrical privacy of a hotel bedroom . . . Miss Hope Williams would win a vote from me for her more or less deli- | cate ment of things more or less unmentionable in “Strike Me Pink;” but that show is a revue, not a drama, and cannot, in the allotment of legiti- mate testamurs, he considered. And if this racket of distributing posies was on the level, Miss Ethel Merman, if I may coin a by Mr. Lardner, would be the recipient of many floral offer- ings. * ok ok % THE Hugheses and Brandeises of the Pulitzer Supreme Court paid no attention to me when a year or two ago I advised them seriously that the cinema must be included in their de- liberations. So I do not hope that they will listen to my plea that they should think also of the musical comedy bal- | lad as an instrument of good or ill in the career of the human race. Perhaps I am wrong, but I believe that more lives, this season, have been influenced by such words and tunes as “The Song is You,” from “Music in the Air,” or “Let’s Call it a Day,” from “Strike Me Pink,” than there have been by “Alien ,” “The Cherry Orchard,” “Both Your Houses,” “Autumn Crocus” or “Nine, Pine Street.” Many young per- sons are influenced by Mr. Kern's mel- ody and Mr. Hammerstein’s rhyme, to dance, to kiss and to get together, “having been warned of the perils of the second, mid-channel act.” . .. I know also that Mr. Kern's hymn to heaven, entitled “The Night Was Made for Love.” 1 superio Artist,” “Mourning Becomes Electra” or “Alice in Wonderland,” as & solution of what may be regarded as our problems. * X X x PRACE pipes its langourous notes these days above Broadway's once bloody gutters. The ertswhile arro- t Shuberts flutter the white flag of vency, and Erlanger, once a mighty and a 1 is now but an ‘Woollcott, & dramatic critic, was barred from the Winter Garden, and Ham- mond, another, was prevented from at- tending a first performance by Miss Elsie Ferguson, or it may have been Miss Fay Bainter. Not particularly that it mattered, all was hatred, but by maker. Macready was England’s most stentorious an, and he was enemy to Edwin Forrest, America’s pet as Forrest was to him. They b some- was fomented by the the New York Herald. an uncanny ‘feel’ for the proper way to pronounce our words.” Colman Motorind. ITH Ronald Colman enjoying the| with ' Seventeen lives were lost in the riots that followed 's performance of "llubethx" in New Yarkwcityrl:: years . am now a npl:o of the occasion mn'?; an ancient friend of mine, who was there Richard Slsraceral vits ihas ever Nappenca 13 in this city—the result of Edwin Forrest’s cogrse and Macready, the English tragedian. On Y’ as Macbeth | grape, and @ battery arrived, headed by |Col. Yates. But even the soldiery was unsuccessful in quelling the anger of Mr. Forrest's partisans, and they con- | tinued, both inside and out of the the- ater, to hurl missiles and to utter cat- calls and threats of vengeance against Mr. Macready and the British for their alleged ill-treatment of Mr. Forrest in | on. | While the din was at its height sev- eral rowdies went to the bar room be- low and set fire to it, but the flames were quickly extinguished by the Na- | tional Guard. So enraged were the riot- |ers at the militiamen for having thus | frustrated their choler that they knocked them down and beat them up. | During the banquet scene four wounded | soldiers were brought into the bozes and medical aid was demanded for them, | which was luckily at hand. At this mo- | ment a volley of musketry was heard, |and almost instantly another and an- other. The first was fired in Astor | place, the Infantry having their rear to lthe theater, a little to the left oblique. This discharge (at the command of | the sheriff), we regret to say, proved | fatal to 17 savages. The mayor ordered |the second discharge in Eighth street. | As Mr. Macready and his company per= | sisted_unflinchingly to act the traged in dumb show a dismal sight appeared. | A dead man, stiff and stark, with bullet iwaumi in his head, was carried into the | center aisle. Another corpse was laid |out in the offices below, a man of the name of Phil Mansfield. Still other mis~ | guided aisturbers of the peace were re= moved to the morgue, and an innocent bystander in Astor place was killed by @ stray bullet as he was getting into the | car on the railroad. Two hundred cap- | tures were made, including that of Jud- | son, the editor of Ned Buntline’s Own, | one of the wildest of the rabble. It was | he who threw a stone at Mr. Macready, | which, missing its distinguished mark, | struck the third witch, thereby inca- pacitating her from further perform- ance. Those were the days when the drama and its acting were essential, and men would fight over which player was more artistic, Bert Lahr or Walter Hampden. e New British Musical. CELY COURTNEIDGE, seen Te- cently at the Roxy in “The Ghost " | Train,” heads the cast of “Soldiers of the King,” the latest Gaumont-British musical picture to reach these shores. “Soldiers of the King,” a Gainsborough production, will be shown th.rouxhnu., the United States shortly. Miss Courtneidge, who has appeared in revues on the American stage with her husband, Jack Hulbert, will be seen in a dual role in this production. Hul- bert, who, by the way, is one of Eng- land’s favorite comedians, wrote the script of “Soldiers of the King.” Edward Everett Horton and Anthony Bushell, both of whom are well known to American motion picture fans, head the supporting cast, which includes also, Dorothy Hyson, one of London’s most popular ingenues. Maurice Elvey per- sonally directed the production. e Benchley an Actor. Tmz is one sure way for motion picture producers to get back at caustic-penned critics—and that is to make actors of them: ‘That is naet e b a2 - critic. He was signed yesterday to mmmumugxo’m{’umfi virulent attacks on Mr. | pact agreed unanimously that he came near stealing the picture, mmi?::wmancmna:mm trionic career without fear or trepidae ¥ e