Evening Star Newspaper, April 28, 1935, Page 61

AMUSEMENTS., THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 28, -1935—PART FOUR. AMUSEMENTS, NATIONAL PLAYERS OPEN TONIGHT : PICTURE NEWS Brightly Shine Oberon’s Dramas That Fail When Prospects in Hollywood They Really Should Not This Actress Has Won the Producers and Is y York Critic Menti S N About Ready to Win the Customers—Will Th);risNeeswof t(l)ql;a Se:;olg, V;}fierllmslfnaz?tm;riur Have Leading Role in “Lorna Doone”. Sis B Hisin Bentetint New National Players’ Season Opens.Tonight By E. de S. Melcher. MONG Hollywood’s fairer citizens none seems destined for long life and prosperity so much at the moment as Merle Oberon. Although she is not a Yankee product, she is held in high esteem by the West Coast brethren, and all indications point to her getting along even better over here than she did among the fog-bound reaches of England. Miss Oberon has, in a jiffy, out-| with “Sailor, Beware” doesn't seem to By Percy Hammond. S A lad, taking my first uncertain steps in the theater, it was my desire to grow up to be an angel—to invest, that is, my money in the promotion of dramas whose authors and actors would give me faith in them as sound business enterprises. I thought it would be heavenly to be on tap whenever a showman in need of ready funds would let me in on his securer projects, sharing the profits therefrom in an equitable ratio. I smarted most of her sister compet- dtors. She has recently played rings around our Norma Shearers, Joan Crawfords and Kay Franceses. In the twinkling of an eye she has scored just about 1,000—and if she chose to play Joan of Arc, why then she would probably play it. The announcement that she has been cast in the leading role of “Lorna Doone” therefore does not come as 50 much of a surprise as it might have, say, six months back. | Although she may not be the aver- age person’s idea of Lorna, by the time her present facial mannerisms are toned down she may come within an inch of being the perfect heroine. Definite word has come that Miss Oberon’s almond-shaped eyes. sleeked- back hair and Oriental curves are about to be modified. Instead of the Far East daughter now appearing in “Thunder in the East,” she will emerge as a true British lady, wide- eyed, healthy and normal. Instead of clumping around as a Madame Butterfly, she will trip neatly here and there as a happy offspring of Picadilly. Nor will this transformation be performed only in honor of Miss Doone. The story goes that forever | after she will keep the color in her cheeks and never, so help her, get| herself rigged up in the kimonos of the East again. From now on Merle will eat her mutton and chops with the best of them—from now on she will not half shut her eyes and look sleepily out at Leslie Howard as she did in “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” From now she will be plain Merle Oberon— | have changed him one jota. There was Director Karl Neflsen, directing his players vigorously and at the same time retaining his coat— something which few Broadway and Hollywood directors are able to get away with. And there was Ruth Lee, a real and salty blond, sitting on the sidelines awaiting her cue—and look- ing the place over with what seemed to be a friendly eye. Then there was Ray Bramley, im- maculate, mustachioed and ebulient \ as ever, grinning from ear to ear and walking in at his cue as though heaven was both before and after | him—and Adelaide Hibbard, whose birthday yesterday was celebrated |with more enthusiasm than any | member of this company can ever remember. In the dim distance two young lo- cal actors, John Sikken and George | Calvert (the latter has begun tq make his mark on Broadway), sat by watching the proceedings (they will also appear in “Accent on Youth”) and the stage manager was discovered {in an easy chair, his glasses glued to | the script, his thoughts skipping from | prop to pillar—his whole being very | much concerned with his players. So it goes—one season comes trip- pingly on the heels of the other. And the New National Players on their toes getting set for tonight’s opening. | They are a fresh, engaging lot. Let | us hope that their weekly mimings will meet with such a happy response | that their goings in and comings out of the stage door will continue on and on throughout the Spring and Sum- and if you think that's being really | plain, run up to Keith's and see for yourself how very much mistaken you are. THE eleventh season of the National Players rolls around and for the next many weeks E street will be alive with those dramas which have played | successfully on Broadway and which have as yet escaped Washington. The carefully chosen brigade arrived in town by rail, by motor car and by bus Wednesday, casting its eyes ahead, not only for sight of the waning cherry blossoms, but for that good old thea- ter—the National—seen by many of | them before. There was the Falstaffian Forrest Orr, radiant in health and complain- ing only because his Florida coat of tan had given him many sleepless nights. There was Nancy Sheridan, handsome in a navy blue suit and re- hearsing like mad in the theater’s lobby with Roy Roberts, whose year mer. SPRING somehow always seems to begin with the opening of Glen Echo Park. This season the “pretzel” has got us! It isn't something to be eaten. It's a mechanical contrivance that gives you the jolts, the ups and downs, the fantastic feelings of both pain and joy that are gladly wel- comed in any amusement park. For practically nothing at all you can have been waiting for. All kinds of friendly monstrosities come popping out along the way and if you aren't careful and hang on to your neighbor | the chances are 50-50 that you will | be spun out into Mother Space and | dropped none to lightly onto Cousin | Earth. It's a swell new plaything—this “pretzel” thing—it can jostle you into a good humor and make you friends once agatn with your worst enemy. Try it. - LOCE! playe TS, TOMORROW and Tuesday night the | Drama Guild of Wa.shmgton will present “Crime at Blossoms,” by Mor- daunt Shairp. A cast of 22 people in- | cludes Isobel White, Clarence W. Moore, Betty Owens, Katherine Vaux, Reland White, jr.; Shapiro, Edwin H. Etz, W. S. Hepner, Mary G. Minnix, Murray Bernhardt, Frederick V. Rand, Harold Allen, Roy Bateman, Francis Koonce, Gladys Kerr, Mrs. Ray Zigler, Benton Brooks, Paul Bradbury Walter, Thomas Cahill, Mrs. W. S. Hepner and Mrs. Adkins Briggs. The play has been directed by Denu Connell and the sets have been de- | signed by Paul Bradbury Walter. Tickets are on sale at the T. Arthur | Bmith Ticket Bureau, 1330 G street | northwest. ‘Washington will have its first op- | portunity to see one of the most hair- | raising horror plays of recent years when the Columbia Players present | Patrick Hamilton’s “Rope’s End” at Pierce Hall, Fifteenth and Harvard streets, next Wednesday and Thurs- day. The capable casi includes S. Al- len Foster, Robert M. Miller, Richard Kreuzburg, Bunnie Skinner, George Edwards, Dorothy M. White, Wade Robinson and B. A. P. Doehrer. Jane Lasater Rubey is directing. Tickets are for sale at T. Arthur Smith’s Con- cert Bureau, 1330 G street. ‘The East Washington Community Center will present the Troupers, un- der the direction of Arthur Rhodes, in Edwin Burke's “This Thing Called Love” in honor of the faculty and KEITH’S1"-C A Washington Institution Fascinating..Strange..Exoticl THUNDEREAST MERLE OBERON CHARLES BOYER WARNING..! The monster telks and demands & mate COMING...KARLOFF | in The BRIDE of FRANKENSTEIN Orch. $1.10, WED. & SAT. Crystal Key, Belle | "AME!ICA'S FIRST THEATREY graduating class of Eastern High School on Tuesday night at 8:15] o'clock in Eastern High School Audi- Horlum. The cast will include Albert | Muelhaus, Laura Barrett, Virginia | | Barrett McCalmont, Arthur Rhodes, | Faith Howell, Robert McCalmont, Ed- win Ross, Marguerite Bone, Edward Finlayson and Emily Glenn Finlayson. e performance being in honor of | the faculty and graduating class, no | tickets are on sale, but invitations may be had from Mrs. L. W. Hardy, [supervisor of East Washington Com- munity Center. Shakespeare’s “King Henry VIII” in | four acts and ten scenes, concluding | | with a pageant tableau of the corona- tion of Anne Bullen as Queen of Eng- | | land, will be given for the first time | in Washington by a local company | of players on Thursday night, May |9, at 8:15, when the Shakespeare So- i ciety of this city presents this famous | | masterpiece. The play will be pre- | sented at Roosevelt Auditorium, under | the auspices of the Community Cen- ter Department. Women Wear Big Shoes. Many young women in Scotland wear size 8 shoes. &P BHASCOS GEORGE ARLISS . IRON DURE" GAYETY BURLESK Starting This Sunday Matinee The One and Only “HINDA WAUSAU” The Garbo of Burlesk TONIGHT AT 8:20 SHARP Bal. 85c, 2nd Bal. 55¢ MATS ALL SEATS §5¢ NOTE: Tonight's Performance for Actors Fund of America. CROSBY GAIGE'S PLYMOUTH THEA TRE, N. Y., SUCCESS “ACCENT ON YOUTH" A Charming Comedy By SAMSON RAPHAELSON WIT! NANCY SHERIDAN RAYMOND BRAMLEY EDWINA WISE FORREST ORR ROY ROBERTS RUTH LEE WARREN PARKER J. ARTHUR YOUNG ADELAIDE HIBBARD “A Genuinely Captivating Play”—Brooks Atkinson. N. Y. Times. NEXT WEEK BEG. MON. MAY 6th “PETTICO A Hilarious Farce at the Ritz Only Appearance in SEATS NOw AT FEVER” Comedy Now Current Theatre, N. Y. Washington This Season Special Matinee Tuesday, April 30, at 2:30. RUTH DRAPER Character Sketches climb into this new contraption and | be given the kind of drubbing you | | ST’UDENTB of the Children’s Studio Including “Three Women and Mr. Clifford™ Pde- Oreb., $2.20: First Bale., l‘lulll “ll.l“lll. ll‘. Thestre. Battimore 7, Friduy and Satgrday E -‘-‘.‘. St Surrounding the happy and smiling face of Impresario Stephen E. Cochran (center), the artist has sketched members of the National Players who will start their eleventh season “Accent on Youth.” Today’s Film Schedule. LOEW'S FOX—“One New York Night,” at 2, 4:30, 7:20 and 10 p.m. Stage show at 3:35, 6:20 and 9:05 pm. EARLE—‘“Private Worlds,” at 2, 4:35, 7:20 and 10 p.m. Stage show at 3:40, 6:25 and 9:05 pm. PALACE—“Reckless,” at 2:40, 5, 7:20 and 9:40 p.m. COLUMBIA—“$10 Raise,” at 2:40, 4:30, 6:10, 8 and 9:50 p.m. METROPOLITAN — “Death Flies East,” at 2, 3:55, 5:55, 7:55 and 9:50 p.m. R-K-O KEITH'S—“Thunder in the East.” at 2, 4, 5:50, 7:50 and 9:50 p.m. BELASCO—*“The Iron Duke,” at 3:16, 5:21, 7:26 and | | 9:31 pm. Children Rehearse. of Speech and Dramatic Art, of which Rose Robison Cohen is director, have begun rehearsals on “Racketty- Packetty House,” the famous children’s classic, in prologue and three acts, wi be presented at Pierce Hall on May 11. The children are painting their own scenery under the supervision of Miss Florence Chambers. 3 EATRE “(‘ll RlS wih FRANK HOIGAI Stage Dave P Reckiess = ionon FRIDAY CARDINAL RICHELIEU 3TARRING GEORCE ARLISS tonight with a benefit performance of This is being pzeunw:l in behalf of the Actors’ Fund The National Theater Players will open their eleventh annual season to- | night with the presentation for the first time in Washington of a current | Broadway success, Samson Raphael- son’s comedy, “Accent on Youth.” Tonight's performance will be & double gala occasion for the National Theater as its attraction has been | turned over to the Actors’ Fund of | America and the entire receipts will be given to this charity. Daniel Frohman, the 84-year-old dean of the American theater and president of the Actors’ Pund, will be present for this occasion with stage celebrities, and the other Washington | theaters, notably Loew’s Fox and War- | ner Bros. Earle, will co-operate by | providing entertainers from stage, | screen and radio in a special program to supplement the performance of | “Accent on Youth.” Established and new faces will mark the first performance of the eleventh annual season of what has become a ‘Washington institution—“The Na- tional Theater Players"—Nancy Sheri- dan returns as leading woman for the 1935 season. Roy Roberts will be the leading man. Karl Neilsen, co-direc- tor of one of this season’s biggest hits, “The Old Maid,” a for the past five years identified as director for prominent New York producers, will See Foature ot 310 NOW « “5syrssss Cusdor, COLBERT Tn Paremennt’s Phivate Worlds JOHNNY PERKINS REVUE 32 ROXYETTES HERB COOK & 3 LITTLE WORDS “PRIVATE WORLDS" CAN ALSO BE SEEN TODAY, TOMORROW & TUES. AT THE AMBASSADOR GREATEST AND LOEW’S FOX GERTRUDE NIESEN COOKIE BOWERS 3 FONZELLS BRYANT, RAINS & YOUNG 34 CAPITOL THEATRE GIRLS 4 mgws CONCE] Benefit, of which Daniel Frohman is president. The troupe includes Nancy Sheridan, Warren Parker, Karl Neilsen (the director), Adelaide Hibbard, Forrest Orr, Ruth Lee, Raymond Bramley, J. Arthur Young, Edwina Wise and Roy Roberts. any. New faces include Edwina Wise for the ingenue roles, Warren Parker, Ruth Lee and J. Arthur Young. Ade- laide Hibbard, Raymond Bramley and Forrest Orr are returning again to the company. Glen Echo Open. ITH the official raising of the cur- tain yesterday on the 1935 out- imagined Mr. Belasco or Mr. Frohman approaching me with a or Maurice Barrymore and Mrs. you may have a part of it.” My feeling sure of the prosperity o “A bank may break, a factory burn; & breath may burst your bubble| shares,” I quoted, as I decided to be- | come one of the helmed and prudent | cherubim of show business. The in- itial adventure of this proposed career was a plunge into the fortunes of the late Ezra Kendall (one of the youth- “The Vinegar Buyer.' Joseph | Verne-Reed, in his biography of a real angel, “The Curtain Falls,” closed a chapter with the plaintive sentence, “We were in the red $81,000.” When Mr. Kendall's season ended 1 was| in the red exactly $80. But, unlike Mr. Reed, I was cured. A study of the list of this year’s major upsets convinces me that I was wise when I abandoned a scheme. Numerous and dire have been the disappointments. Many plays upon | which I might have bet the traditional | shirt—before I saw them—were merely | hopeful buckets dropped into empty | wells. If, say, you had had some frightened savings, alarmed by the specter of inflation or other terrors, you might well have been justified in entrusting them to Noel Cow- ard’s “Conversation Piece” and “Point Valaine.” Mr. solvent and as versatile as the Bank of England, was enough to give you confidence. But “Conversation Piece,” though played by Mile. Printemps and M. Fresnay, and “Point Valaine,” despite the Midas touch of Miss Fon- tanne and Mr. Lunt, was little better | fiscally than something by and wn.h Kruger and Toll. “Merrily We Roll Along” was m- titled, | the works of George Kaufman, our |most talented sure-firer. It, too, | languished luxuriously and barely es- < | dlrect the acting destinies of the com- Miss Draper Here Tuesday. RUTH DRAPER, the internationally famous star, who makes her only Washington appearance at a special matinee at the Nationl Theater Tues- day, is a native New Yorker. Her | father is an eminent doctor. Her| 'mnemll grandfather was Charles | | lavish benefactions of Hollywood, you | might have wagered what has been called a pretty penny on the success of “The Jayhawker,” since it was a collaboration of Lloyd Lewis, the first historian of the Civil War, and Sin- clair Lewis, who made it possible for York Sun. She dislikes personal pub- | worth” with receipts surprising to the | | Ucity, preferring to have printed only | box offices. This flop was especially dis- facts which pertain to her work. SDE“turhtng for in it Fred Stone went never permits an interview., She has| down gallantly for the third, and, I| appared all over the Continent of | trust, not the last time. ful F. P. A's favorite comedians, and | mine), performing a genre comedy en- | Coward himself, -as | caped being unprofitable. Through the | Walter Huston to re-create “Dods- \ door amusement season at Glen Echo Europe, and “by command” for the South Africa. many diverting features that make| ‘Although, in order this season to| this park the foremost recreation cen-| make a brief tour of American cities Even the canny and prosperous, | Park, Washingtonians returned to the | British royal t:mqy Has also toured | ——————— manuscript and saying, “Here is a play by Clyde Fitch or Bronson Howard in which I have cast William Faversham and Viola Allen, Fiske. Give me your check and Flans thereupon, were to comply, such invulnerable projects and confidently to await the dividends from my prescience. | though entirely commercial, Theater | Guild’s enterprises, usually as depend- | able as Government 4 per centums, | hinted a deficit. “Valley Forge” by Maxwell Anderson, an author of the awakening “What Price Glory,” was a fine routine approximation of the fu- tile agonies of patriotism, and it left its sparse audiences in a flame of in- difference. Many radically conserva- tive old-timers would have cast their | last shilling on Mr. Shaw'’s sane and | senile delirjum, “The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles,” and would have }lost For it could not be included | among the winners. I myself had I not been taught by the drama to be | cautious, would have put at least a thin dime or two on Louis Bromfield’s entries—“De Luxe” and “Times Have Changed.” Mr. Bromfield is a su- | perior novelist, having the gifts of \ characterization, plot, narrative, criti- cism and atmosphere. Nevertheless, | his presumably earnest efforts failed ignominiously, and Miss Tallulah Bankhead, wondering but knowing what to do in theatrical crises, man- aged, much to my surprise, to make a revival of the classic “Rain” a fail- ure. | et | . Players Second. FOR the second week of their eleventh annual season the National Thea- ter Players will offer another reigning Broadway hit, “Petticoat Fever,” a | fast moving and romantic farce com- edy by Mark Reed. | other bad tip because it was one of | - Pertect nouna Photoots ACADEMY ©f Perfsst Sound Fhotenias E. Lawrence Phillips Th m Benumu Continuous Fro LEE TRACY, CnndNSALLY "EfLERS in L. Also MAY ROBEON and MARY CARLISLE ND OLD GIR ASHTON mnfi‘yi'fv)‘%‘?&a'&um __in_"CHARLIE CHAN IN PARIS” CAROLINA 2™ SadTed % a‘.BfiLOADWAY EILL And Popeye, the or | CIRCL EDWARD G. 'OWN'S_TALKING.™ | DUMBARTON 1343 Wisconsin Ave. JEAN PARKER in_“SEQUOL FAIRLAWN Amco“ou BT 2105 Fa. Ave: FR. WE. 0053 es., Thars., Sat.. Sun. o BINSON in “THE WHOLE RAMON “THE_NIGHT IS YOUNG.” PRINCESS 1119 H St NE. in \| SRR, $1.00-75c-50c ter of the Nation's Capital. One of (the surprises promised by the man-| ‘lgement was disclosed for the first | time yesterday. It proved to be the pretzel—a new and sensational ride in a self-propelled car that traverses a pretzel-shaped track in total darkness. BY POPULAR DEMAND! ANOTHER SUNDAY—APRIL 28 Aboeard the River’s Largest Boat Steamer “POTOMAC Heated lounges if necessary DANCE AND LAUGH WITH ARTHUR GODFREY AND HIS {2-PIECE ORGHESTRA With His Radie Entertainers— Leave 2:30 P. M. Return 7:00 P. M. 70 miles on the historic Potomac with Evvullr Arthur Godfrey to entertain you. arge decks, comfortable. roomy chairs. Refreshments, salads, sandwiches. steak and chicken dinners. DANCING. ADULTS. $1.00; Children, 50¢ Free Parking at Whart POTOMAC RIVER LINE 6th & Water Sis. District 4248 TO- NIGHT T 8:20 SHARI’ BIGGEST SHOW WASHINGTON HAS EVER SEEN Sponsored by §. E. COCHRAN, LOEW'S, Inc,, and WARNER BROS. BENEFIT ACTORS FUND OF AMERICA Penic) frohman m.nonmmu-v!-i.m «“Aecent On Youth” The Combined Stage Shows of Warner Bros. EARLE JONNNY PERKINS STAN KAVANAGH mn /@R WHITNE' i el EARLE'S CONCERT (AR where she has not appeared for some | | time, she will not be in England for | | the London season, she sails for a | vacation in Europe shortly after her‘ — \MONSTE \DEMANDS \'A MATE /4 < ° Corcoran Gallery of Art 14th Biennial Exhibition American Oil Paintings Open Until May,_ 5th . “Time For Outdoor Play Will Always Pay!” FOR THE SEASON gggl EVR’Y DAY NOON °'TIL MIDNITE ONE OF THE FOREMOST RECREATION Centers In the World at Your Door e amnsaoy. GILIEN ECHO Presenting MORE THAN FIFTY FINE FEATURES AMID A SETTING OF SCENIC SPLENDOR THE NEW RIDE THIS YEAR IS THE AIR COOLED SPANISH GARDEN BALL- ROOM OPEN EVERY WEEK NIGHT FOR DANCING TO McWILLIAMS” MUSIC— 9 TO MIDNITE IS GOOD FROM ANY POINT IN D. C. TO THE DISTRICT LINE, AND RETURN OR YOU CAN BUY A SPECIAL TICKET FROM CONDUCTORS FOR 25c¢ GOOD FROM ANY POINT IN D. C. TO GLEN ECHO AND RETURN If Motoring Go Via New Conduit Road YOUR $1.00 WEEKLY STREET CAR PASS FREDDIE BARTHOLOMEW. W_C. FIELD! “DAVID COPPERMELD. 8234 Ave. Silver Spring, Md. 0_P. | | nd n M. MAUREEN o' ‘HONEL BARRYMORE “DAVID COPPERFIELD e Comedy. _Cartoon. News. STANTON o %0dG s NE Finest Sound -ml Cnmlnuaux h:er K}KI'I‘Y CARLI L! in “HERE IS MY HEART. STATE " “The Modern Thea! 6970 Wisc. Ave.. Bethesda, Md. Open 2:30 P.M.—8how at 3:00 P.M, Today Through Fridav. & Daysl L ROGERS in “LIFE BEGINS AT 40.” Matinee Daily This Week. 3:00 P.M Avoid the Night Crow: TAKOMA 4ih and Butte “SEQ OIA " ; — |HIPPODROME opfoner ‘Today-Tomor. Gary Cooper in “Lives of a Bengal Lancer.” ___Continuous 2:00 to 11:00 P.M. CAMEO Foder TOmOIToy - RONALD COLMAN in “CLIVE OF INDIA.” ___Continuous 3:00 to 11:00 P.M. ARCADE_SATISVEIEMD, SHIRLEY TEMPLE in “The Little Colonel.” ___Continuous 3:00 to 11:00 RICHMOND ALEXANDEIA. VA Tomorrow-Tus Maurice _Chevalier. “Folies Be nimfim. of SIDNEY LUST CLAUDETTE COLBERT. WORLDS."” with cm)u.l.s pmvu—z JR GINGER %&s’%" STAIRE, _ IRENE DUNNE in "ROBERTA." 425 9th St. N.W. Phone Me. 9100. 1 3 E L‘ICK POWELL OmRIA DIGGBRS OP 1f 19’!;[” T_ln ; GLORIA __"GOLD DIGGERS ¢ . SAVOY Co. MORRIS “and vumnlu = IETY DOCTOR. WARNER BROS. THEATERS CHESTER __BRUCE_in_"'SOC] W&Pg"&am - Musical. _Novelty. SYLVAN Ist & B. L Ave. N.W. ‘WINGS IN THE DARK,’ MYRNA LgY 20d CARY GRANT, PALM THEATER v Tomorrow — “THE _SCARLET PIM- . uml.{r: HOWARD and BERNHEIMER’S [ sl s v vn, D'