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Stage -- Screen Music -- Radio i Part 48 Pages AMUSEMENT SECTION The Sunday Star, WASHINGTON, RNER BAXTER ELISSA LANDI %1 LOVED YOU WEDNESDAY# FOX BING CROSBY - MARY CARLISLE *COLLEGE HUMOR'- PALACE Problem of Where, When and How to Start]ing Climax of “Gold Diggers" Leaves the Audience Tense, With Fun of the Film Almost Forgotten. By E. de S. Melcher. T would be interesting to know what the public thinks of the ending of “Gold Diggers of 1933.” In this rich and only occasionally ribald musical saga, which is unquestionably the best of its kind, there are a multitude of scenes; pounds, as Shylock might say, of flesh, and any amount of lyric ditties, flung into an expensive Warner Brothers atmosphere by expensive players. The whole film is a light, rollick- ing musical extravaganza, based on an Avery Hopwood farce and made to seem genuinely funny by the workings of drole Aline Mac- Mahon and the equally deft Guy Kibbe. Suddenly, then, as you are pre- paring to gather together your goods and chattels, and after you have seen the various sets of prin- cipals happily salted away in each otgxers arms, you are confronted with the stern and somewhat bit- ter pageant of “The Forgotten Man.” What is the result? You are impressed by the way in which this has been done. You are sad- dened by its glum mission. You are shocked by its truth and pre- ared to roll up your shirt sleeves fn its defence. But you have lost the gayety and the spirit of “Gold Diggers.” You sit cold and friendless and dumb as stone as the lights go on. You are not able to rise up and say to your neighbor: “Now, wasn't that a nice refreshing bit of entertainment?” Which proves what? Well it proves that the Warner Brothers did a magnificent job with this scene. It proves that the actors knew their business and that Joan Blondell may readily become a tragedienne if she wants to. It proves that the last war is still close to the thoughts of every one, and it proves that in what has been called “this de- caying era” even the films have a right to challenge the injustice of law and man. Nevertheless, we doubt if such | a stern little preachment, even | though done on such a lavish scale, should be the film’s parting message. Originally, as it happens, this scene was set plum in the middle of the picture. There is preceded | the philanderings of Messrs. Kibbe | and William (Mr. William seems | to us to be miscast). There it| fulfilled its mission not as a red- hot finale, but merely as one of those revue scenes which you get just before you go out for a smoke. Executives, viewing the picture, |and that a definite climax is | reached. End a Picture | was so explosive, so emotionally ‘deva.st,afing that anything that followed afterward seemed hollow and insincere. So it was yanked from its middle-ground and put | where you may see it today. | ‘This, of course, brings up the point as to what the end of a pic- | ture should be. “Gold Diggers” | indicates to us what the end of a | film shouldn’t be. Granted that {it is effective—that you sit in a| | state of near frenzy watching it | Nevertheless it is not ’the climax for that picture, nor | for any picture which is based on | frolic and nonsence. | Why you should be torn to rib- bons after having had such a good time puzzles us a little. Frankly, we didn’'t want to be. But we should like to hear what the rest of the world thinks. If | comedies are to end on such a| | bitter note, then where will| tragedies end? 1 * ¥ ¥ X N last week’s brief compendium “Wonder Bar" Bought. ARNER BROS. have purchased the screen rights to “Wonder Bar,” the international musical comedy suc- cess, and will produce a fllm lon this Summer with an all-star cast, probably including Adolphe Menjou, Ann Dvorak, Bette rbara Stanwyck and others. Al Jolson will also appear in his original role in “Wonder Bar,” which he produced in New York with great success two years ago. A number of the most celebrated European stage and cabaret entertain- ers will be brought over by Warner Bros. to appear in the musical inter- ludes of the picture. Agents abroad are now selecting talent. Originally produced in Vienna, “Won- der Bar” was later staged in Berlin, Paris and London, as well as in New York by Al Jolson. “Wonder Bar” will bring Al Jolson back to the Warner Bros. studios, where he made his first success in talking pictures in “The Jazz Singer,” “The Singing Fool” and other well-remembered productions. o To Return Next Season. HE Children's Theater of New York, season of “Little Women” in April, is to re- turn to Washington with a new series of six plays at the National Theater, beginning in October. It is interesting to note that of the six plays chosen for. this new serles, pers” and “An Old-Fashioned Girl"— were the leaders in a ballot vote taken | in the audience at the last performance this season at the National, while the other three were also decidedly popular with the children of that audience. The exact schedule for next season will be: October 21, “Pive Little Peppers,” by Margaret Sidney; November 25, “Curdie, the Princess, and the Goblins,” by George MacDonald; December 28, “Cin- derella”; February 3, “An Old-Fash- of reflections on movie goings- on it was hinted that we had hit | | on dislikes rather than likes. We | | offer, therefore, a few added words | |on things that we have enjoyed | | during the past few months: | Mae West doing anything and ! | everything; Gene Raymond Budapest”; Bebe Daniels getting slightly under the weather in ‘“Cocktail | Hour”; Ernest Torrence’s last work be- | fore the camera in “I Cover the Waterfront”; | Frances Dee putting everything she has into some of those vio-| lently emotional “Silver Chord” | scenes; | Ann Harding being sincere, | feminine and likable in that mo- | ment when she confronts Myrna Loy in “When Ladies Meet”; | W.C. Fields getting a real break in_“International House"”; | Polly Moran over the radio; | _ Henry Garat well teamed with | Janet Gaynor in “Adorable”; | _Aline MacMahon dancing with | Guy Kibbe and telling him that he’s “as light as a heifer” in “Gold Diggers”; Georgé Brent and Kay Francis in “The Keyhole The volatile Peggy Hopkins Joyce proving that she is not the forgotten woman in “Interna- tional House”; Dick Powell’s stage act at the Earle; Ruby Keller suddenly no longer merely “Mrs. Al Jolson”; And the splendid imagination that inspired Mr. Cooper’s “King Kong” and, incidentally, Bruce Cabot tells us that the ape was actually 42 feet high (one of them in “Zoo in ioned Girl,” by Louisa M. Alcott; March Irving; April 28, “The King of the Golden River,” by John Ruskin. As before, all performances will begin at 10:30 a.m. and will be sponsored by the Women’s International League. Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Mrs. Harold L. Ickes, Mrs. Claude A. Swan- son, Mrs. Henry A. Wallace and Mrs. William A. Woodin are included among the patronesses of the series which should prove most attractive to Wash- ington children. Resumes Picture Career. of the Dollar Line. “Counsellor-at- Law” having at last concluded its long stage run, Muni is free to resume his motion picture career at the Warner Bros.’ studios. The next vehicle for the star of “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” has not yet been definitely de- cided on. Muni will read a number of scripts while at sea and an announce- ment of what the new picture will be may expected soon after his arrival on the West Coast. Mrs. Muni is ac- campanying him. It is likely that Muni will star in “America Kneels,” a story of three generations of American life which Sheridan Gibney has adapted for the screen. e | Sylvia Opposite Chevalier. | | SYLVIA SIDNEY, who has just fin- | ished the title role in B, P. Schul- | berg’s production of “Jennie Gerhardt” for Paramount, has started work as leading lady to Maurice Chevalier in “The Way to Love” under the direc- tion of Norman Taurog. Although assigned to a role in “Chrysalis,” which is slated to go into production this week, a sudden switch was made so that Miss Sidney might appear before the cameras on June 7 with Chevaller. Frances Fuller, Broad- way actress, who has just completed her role Sunday that is; they used another little however, found that the sequence ! tellow for some of the close-ups). into the which closed its first Washington | with a successful performance | three—“Cinderella,” “Five Little Pep- | 10. “Rip Van Winkle,” by Washington | | AUL MUNI sailed for California last | week on board the President Pierce | | | | since January, 1930. D. €., TIBETAN MONKS —'INDIA SPEAKS?~KE ! SUNDAY MORN NG, JUNE NANCY CARROLL 4 LOVE THAT MAN”/ THSE 18, 1933. \ N Q Automobile and Aviation News AILEEN McMAHON GUY KIBBEE 4GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933/ METROPOLITAN MYRNA LOY \WHEN LADIES MEET ¥ coLumsiIA : Production CTIVITY at the Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer studios reached its high- est peak in the past three and & half years with 18 pictures currently in various stages of production and 12 others being made | ready for work. This represents more | than has been usual at these studios| Among the photoplays now nearing completion on the Culver City lot are two with muiti-star casts—casts which compare with “Grand Hotel” in plenti- tude of stellar names. These are “Din- ner at Eight,” in which Marie Dressler, ‘Wallace Beery, John and Lionel Barry- more, Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Billie Burke and Edmund Lowe have leading roles, and “Dark to Dawn,” with a cast headed by Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Robert Montgomery and the same two Barrymore brothers. At the present time most of the players in both of these productions have been set free to work in other stories, and practically all of them have gone on with new roles without even a temporary breathing spell. _Lionel Barrymore, for example, set off with the King Vidor location troupe, doing “Stranger’s Return” on | location in Eastern California, two hours after he had made his final se- quence for “Dark to Dawn” while Helen Hayes and Robert Montgomery traveled back and forth from the sets of “Dark to Dawn” and “Another Lan- guage” for several days in order that the screen adaptation of Rose Franken's | long-run Broadway play might be put | in production on shooting schedule. “Tughoat Annie” is now being made on location in and around Seattle. Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery have leading roles in this photoplay based on the series of popular Saturday Eve- ning Post stories. “Eskimo” is nearing completion after 12 months of camera work in the Arctic and at the home studios. W. S. Van Dyke, who made “White Shadows in the South Seas” and “Trader Horn,” | is director of this film, with a cast made up almost entirely of natives. Still another current location picture | is being made in the Louisiana bayou | country, where Tod Browning, who | directed the majority of the late Lon Chaney’s melodramatic characteriza- | tions, is doing an original adventure story. | “Viva Villa” is & new film adapted | from Edgcumb Pynchon's biographical | | Eord “ narrative of the noted Mexican bandit, while “Hold Your Man” is a new co- starring vehicle for Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. “Tarzan and His Mate” | is a Johnny Weissmuller sequel to the earlier “Tarzan the Ape Man,” and “Bombshell” is a new production (not | yet cast) and said to have a novel press | agent angle. “Turn Back the Clock” | will be Lee Tracy’s new starring film, following his recent hit, “The Nui- sance.” “Strange Rhapsody” is based on Alex- ander Hunyadi’s Hungarian play, with Nils Asther and Kay Francis, and “Dancing Lady” is a new Joan Craw- ford vehicle, adapted from the Saturday Evening Post story of the same name. Greta Garbo is back at the coast studios after an absence of nine months and has been busy with final details of her new production, which will have a Swedish background but is not yet offi- clally titled. “Penthouse,” based on Arthur Somers Roche’s popular serial, | 1, has just gone into production under direction of W. S. Van Dyke. Although Ramon Novarro and Jean- nette MacDonald have not yet returned from their present European trips to 2ssume the leading roles, “The Cat and the Fiddle” has been placed in produc- tion at the coast, with atmospheric scenes currently under way. Another musical now being made at Culver City is “The Hollywood Pardy” which has a varied roster of prominent names and music by Rodgers and Hart, Naclo Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. ‘The line-up of productions soon to be launched at the studios includes the Pulitzer prize novel, “Laughing Boy”; Robert E. Sherwood's play, “The Road | tor to Rome,” and the Theater Guild 8. N. Behrman comedy, ‘Biography.” These properties are supplemented by “Soviet,” an original ry with s Russian background; “The Late Chris- topher Bean,” which will be a co- starring vehicle for Marie Dressler and Lionel Barrymore, and a musicalized version of “The Garden of Allah.” Two stories with somewhat similar titles, but of widely different character, are “The Education of a Princess,” based on the autoblographical story of the Grand Duchess Marie, and “The Bogus Prince,” an_adaptation of Alva John- ston’s New Yorker stories dealing with the spurious “Prince Michael” Ro- manoff and his adventures. WHEN AND WHERE IN LOCAL THEATERS METROPOLITAN—“Gold Diggers of 1933,” at 2:30, 4:15, 6, 7:50 and '9:35 p.m. LOEW’'S FOX—“I Loved You Wednesday,” at 2, 4:48, 7:36 and 10:05. Stage show, with Notre Dame Glee Club, at 3:55, 6:43 and 9:12 p.m. COL;J%(PIA—“Mlnd Reader,” at 2:44, 4:30, 6:17, 8:04 and :51 p.m. EARLE—"I Love That Man” and stage show. This afternoon and evening. PALACE—*"College Humor,” at 2, 3:55, 5:50, 7:45 and 9:40 p.m. R-K-O KEITH'S—“India Speaks.” This afternoon and evening. Le Gallienne to Tour. EVA LE GALLIENNE will take the members of the Civic Repertory Company on a long tour of the United | States next season, opening in Boston | on October 16. Two plays will be pre- | sented, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Miss Le Gallienne first a) Juliet in Philadelphia, Aj It was said after this pi ction “that as an actress and director, Eva Le Gallienne stepped to the head of her rofession. No such chorus of praise as arisen from critics over a Shake- spearean production in recent mem- ory.” It has since that time been one of the most popular plays in the rep- ertoire. The settings and costumes for this production will be by Aline Bernstein and Tschaikowsky's “Romeo and Ju- liet” suite will be used throughout the play. In “Alice in Wonderland,” Josephine Hutchinson will be seen as Alice and the original company in the roles made lamous by Carroll. “Alice in Wonder- land” was first presented by Miss Le Gallienne on December 11 of last sea- son at the Civic Repertory Theater. In January Miss Le Gallienne trans- ferred “Alice” to the New Amsterdam Theater, where it played until the mid- dle of May. ‘The adaptation of the Carroll story is by Eva Le Galllenne and Florida Friebus. For this production Richard Addinsell, the English composer, wrote 8 special musical score. The settings and costumes, designed by Irene Shar- aff, are exact reproductions of the Ten- niel drawings. The cast for this season will include, aside from Le Gallienne, Jose- phine Hutchinson, Leona Roberts, Wal- Beck, Donald Cameron, Sayre Crawley, Richard Waring, Nelson Welch, Harold Moulton, Landon Her- rick, David Turk, Leste: , How- ard da Silva and others. When the Civic Repertory Company opens in in October it will not only mark the anniversary of its sev- enth season, but it will inaugurate its first season in playing an -extended tour of the United States. e Zasu Pitts Wins Contract. ZABU PITTS has signed a long-term contract with Carl Laemmle, jr., for Universal Pictures. Miss Pitts will be co-starred with Slim Summerville in feature productions, three and pos- sibly four of these pictures being con- templated for the 1933-3¢ Universal program. Miss Pitts’ signing with Universal means that she will concentrate on feature films in the future and that her screen appearances will not be so frequent as in recent years. The sad- faced comedienne appeared in 38 pic- tures in 1932 and has been feat in 16_thus far in 1933, Last week lle and Pitts completed “Her First Mate,” adapted the Frank Craven New York stage hit, “Salt Water,” and within a fort- ared as 8, 1930. | Broadway’s Quiet Broken By Single Show Opening Francine Larrimore Appears in “Shooting Star,” the Story ofa Stnde Star's Rise and Fall. Emil Ludwig's “Peace Conference.” By Percy Hammond. N “Shooting Star,” the only novelty | the rest—p! the parts and | of the week, Miss Francine Larri- | the things w they actually more appears as a husky-voiced, life. wholly self-centered young actress,| President Wilson, as the stern ideal- | riding rough-shod over everybody |ist and altruistic theorist, fighting al- and everythlng that stands in the way | most single-handed against national of her becom! a Broadway success. The producer, as is customary in such more or less bi pieces, | announces that the play is not based | on the life of the actress whom it ap- rently imitates. However that may , the role in which the Julie Leander of the play finally makes her great Broadway hit is a pretty accurate duplicate of the role which made the late Miss Jeanne Eagles famous. The | tragic play is called ‘“Port of Call,” instead of principals are “Rain.” Miss Larrimore imitates Miss ghyed down in order to Eagles’ costume and make-up so closely | hero. Clemenceau dominat that a spontaneous burst of applause|in the same degree in which greeted her first appearance in it on | inated the conference itself, ane the first night, and the off-stage lines | domitable courage, sards which we hear Julie Leander speak to | single-minded devotion to France the unseen audience duplicate the|the audience’s human sympat as they held that of ‘worl ey sense, if not the precise verbiage, of black days of 1919, think of his politics. 35 g sgfihii H zg 1] those of Sadie Thompson in the Som- erset Maugham piece. Julie Leander isn’t a very sympa- thetic young person. She deserts her husband and baby to run off to Broad- way, and she climbs toward success over the bodies of just one man after another, each of whom she squeezes dry of whatever he can contribute to her advancement. Meanwhile she takes to drink and dope and, although she ¢ does become a Broadway star, her short life ends dismally. ‘The play isn't a very good play. It is episodic and altogether too long- | drawn out, and the touch of the au- | thors, Bernll'\'éhe Schgenflzlm‘x’\:ld NoeAl Plerce, I “zadliec - heavy- 3 All the others of the cast of half number of experienced players are, however, ‘Included in the large cast, | bemarels s oreHArom among them Henry O'Neill, Robert| g Gleckler, Robert C. FPischer, Samuel Goldenberg, and Miss git Miss Beverley Sitgreaves Cora Witherspoon, and Miss Larrimore herself —quite “relentless,” in fact, in bri out all of Julie Leander’s hardness an selfishness. The net effect is a vast amount of pother to no very worth- while end. TH! slightly condescending attitude frequently taken toward the subur- ban Summer theaters didn’t apply at all to Emil Ludwig’s “Peace Confer- ence,” the ambitious and very inter- esting production with which Herbert J. Biberman, formerly one of the producing directors of the Theater Guild, llunChlng his season of eight plays at the te Plains Community Center. fifty, in- | version of Donald Henderson Clark’s Here was a company of over d cluding several of the Theater Guild’s | novel, ” which players, a large audience, including | duced several of the Guild’s directors and other visitors from Manhattan, an ex- pertly acted and directed play, in short, all the usual concomitants of an im- portant Midwinter first-night. ‘The work of the German author is | signed less a play, in the routine sense, than dramatic condensation of the Ver- sailles Peace Conference. What he does, in effect, in its eight scenes, is to reduce history to a brief “se- * ¥ X % Another Faverlblm . HILIP FAVERSHAM, it is announced p » will be Barbara man in the gfiésfi 8 if i gfn (i jor Eddie ' cut out and the ‘Wilson, i quence,” with all extraneous matter concerned—