Evening Star Newspaper, December 8, 1936, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS. The Show I s On” Brings : Mad Merriment to Town Beatrice Lillie, Bert Lahr and Gardiner Load Handsome Revue With Laughter. BY JAY CARMODY. minded being kept out late. long time at the National Theater last In fact, every one loved it. ({Taz SHOW IS ON” was on & night, but with Beatrice Lillie popping in and out that way, no one What with some new skits and considerable juggling of the old ones—the program apparently was printed a bit early—one never was Quite sure what was coming next. That it might be Miss Lillie kept every one on edge and turned the whole thing¢—— into a sort of a surprise party, with Miss Lillie as hostess. When it was ‘pot Miss Lillile who came through the door, or riding down a moonbeam, it " was Bert Lahr, Reginald Gardiner, Paul Haakon, Mitsi Mayfair or Gracle Barrie. Whoever it was, it seemed quite all right with the audience. And why shouldn’t it have been? Vincent Minnelli's new revue is shiny and pretty and gayly colored. More importantly it is touched with mad- | ness of the kind that remains happy all the way from its buffoonery to its satire. It ribs everything and every- body and there are moments when it ridicules “even itself. That's always fun, especially when Beatrice Lillie has something to do with it. * x x % WHTLE “The Show Is On” is » freighted most heavily with the gift of laughter, there is dancing of a high order by Paul Haakon, ably as- sisted by Mitzi Mayfair. Haakon's ballet numbers are things you'll re- member long after most of the show has been forgotten. Gracie Barrie, Washington’s sweet- heart, looking lovelier than ever and singing at least as well, carries the vocal burden of the show. She has had better songs despite the fact that virtually every resident of Tin Pan Alley contributed to the music, which was sung, danced and played so. far into the night. Beatrice Lillle uses “The Show Is < On” to prove that she still is inimi- table. She has even perfected those inflections, expressions and gestures which give perfectly ordinary words the most extraordinary meaning. She sprang them all, with devastating ef- fect, in a skit in which she sits in Row A and destroys John Gielgud's Hamlet. Gilelgud, played by Reginald Gardiner, ends up on his knees in the aisle pleading with Miss Lillie to go and do likewise to Leslie Howard's Hamleta It's hilarious. * Xk X K Il" ONE could forget the Hamlet skit, one might boldly say that ‘Miss Lillie is at her best when she sings a moon song designed to end moon songs. Sitting in a mechanical moon that rides at the end of a long crane far out over the audience, the droll Lady Beatrice scores terrifically with this bit. It got off to a slow start last night, but it did not end that way. It's hilarious, too. But even Beatrice Lillie cannot keep B ki e camot tep e Jane Withers Climbs U};) On Shirley’s Popularity BY SHEILAH GRAHAM. . 8 (N.AN.A).—Shirley Temple is giving way al Jane Withers. The latter will be paid $5,000 a week for her forthcoming personal appearance tour. Inci- e’s mother is telling every one e 'adding, “Of course, they don't see each other OLLYWOOD, December at the box office to riv H are now the best of friends, very often.” ... Merle Oberon, cured is greatly enamored of Brian Aherne, g~ with whom she crossed to England. Jean Rogers, pretty Universal con- tract player, was consoling Cary Grant at the BTOWN gy Derby for the » temporary ab- sence of his real romantic interest, Socialite Bobbie Mullineaux Coop- er, who is another facial edition of Cary's first wife, & Virginia Cherrill. The actor pooh- poohs the rumor making Miss Cherrill the bride of the Earl of Jersey. “They are two sensible peo- ple,” is how he puts it. Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy are not as friendly a8 they were. It seems that Miss MacDonald, not content with the lion's share of the singing in «“Maytime,” staged & hys- terical scene when Director Robert Z. Leonard wanted to bring Eddy into one of Jeanette's close-up shots. Work was abandoned for the day—adding to the production cost (already about $900,000). The Marlene Dietrich and Dotglas | Fairbanks, jr., companionship duo in| Tondon is reaching the stage where Douglas is thinking of returning to ‘America with Miss Dietrich in Jan- uary in hopes of appearing in her next picture for Ernst Lubitsch—at the moment, “The Angel” ... Ginger Rogers, without make-up of any kind, and clad in polo coat, slacks and beret, was protected from autograph hounds and possible kidnapers at the recent “After the Thin Man” pre-view by Jimmy Stewart and four other men who surrounded her until she reached the safety of her car .. . Talk- ing of Stewart, if you ever happen to meet him, ask him to show you his latest gag—12 ways of killing a baby! The Carole Lombard-Clark Gable affair is non-existent, but, for want of more amusing companions, they con- tinue to go about together. . . . ‘The expensive imported car that Constance Bennett rents to studios for $200 & day cost her $29,000. It has recently achieved the distinction of an imposing coat of arms in Mervyn Leroy's pro- duction, “The King and the Chorus Girl.” The crest is stuck on with mo- lasses; glue would spoil the paint- work. . . . Willlam Powell, again suf- fering with eye trouble, is resting at Lake Arrowhead prior to beginning his role in “The Last of Mrs. Cheyney.” Needless to write, the presence of Jean Harlow at the same resort is just snother pleasant coincidence. When will these two screen favorites take the plunge into matrimony? WHERE TO DINE. Sheilah Graham. one from coming eventually to Bert Lahr in this review. If you are won- dering how they team up, the answer is “swell.” ‘There is a perceptible difference in their clowning, of course, but they fuse neatly in the several sketches which bring them together. Best of their common bits (let's not argue) is a skit that probably will make the Theater Guild's face pretty red some day. Miss Lillie is the “geeld’s” box-office girl. Lahr is ihe representative of Cain's warehouse, scouting the guild and Eugene O'Neill. As far as he is concerned, the guild and O'Neill have got something and he is out to get it. If “hilarious” was not so tired, it could be used again in connection with this bit. Lahr does two vocal solos. He bel- lows and grimaces beautifully through a song called “Trees” in the first act. He does the same thing in a piece aptly titled “Woof” in the second. L I N UNBILLED sketch, fresh as to- ‘morrow’s milk, paraphrases “Tova- rich,” current Broadway success, to inject the political element into Min- nelli's cavalcade. Lahr, a once success- ful Republican manufacturer reduced to the status of a butler in a new rich New Dealer's home, makes the role very funny. Then, of course, there's Reginald Gardiner. Gardiner must be the fun- niest Englishman in the world, even if his burlesque of one of the great- est orchestra conductors drew prob- ably less laughter last night than ever before. His imitations of wallpaper, furniture and trains went over much better. Gardiner teams up with Miss Lillie in some of the best spots in the show. In addition to the Gieldgud skit, there is one called “The Reading of the Play,” which is as fine a piece of non- sense as you've seen in years. It is not, however, the cleanest either In language or impiications. * x x *x “THE SHOW IS ON,” for all its length and loose ends, was a grand performance last night. It prob- ably will be better tonight, for they were working on it during the opening. ‘Working on it with hammers and saws and things. You could actifally see them at times. It gave one a feeling of helping to throw the thing together. Every one expected Minnelli’s first venture as a producer to be a beau- tifully staged, handsomely dressed af- fair. Itis. that Shirley and Jane of her heart attack for David Niven, e e Errol Flynn and Lili Damita are | returning to Hollywood, scene of many | of their marital battles. The couple had hoped for a second honeymoon trip to England following their recent reconciliation, but on the verge of sailing Flynn was ordered to report back to the film city for the lead in | “The Prince amd the Pauper.” . . . | Claudette Colbert has gained 5 pounds, | but lost her sense of tmell, the latter | an aftermath of her recent auto accident, The Maharajah and Maharanee of Indore are living in Gail Patrick’s mod- est bungalow during their Hollywood stay. . . . A first-class battle is ex- pected at R-K-O between John Ford | and S. J. Briskin when Ford returns | from Honolulu. During the director’s absence Briskin remade Sean O’Casey’s tragedy, “The Plough and the Stars,” into & “boy-meets-girl” proposition. (Copyright 1936. by the North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.) Where and When Current Theater Attractions and Time of Showing. National—“The Show Is On" at 8:15 p.m. Capitol—“Our Relations,” at 11 am., 1:40, 4:30, 7:20 and 10 p.m. Stage shows at 12:50, 3:40, 6:30 and 9:10 pm. Earle—"Go West, Young Man,” at 11 am,, 1:35, 4:25, 7:15 and 10:05 p.m. Stage shows at 12:35, 3:25, 6:15 and 9:05 p.m. Palace—“Love on the Run,” at 11:10 am, 1:15, 3:20, 5:25, 7:30 and 9:35 pm. A Belasco—"“Gypsies,” at 12:04, 2:04, 4:04, 6:04, 8:04 and 10:04 p.m. R-K-O Keith’s—"“Rembrandt,” at 11:57 a.m.,, 1:40, 3:43, 5:46, 7:49 and 9:52 p.m. Columbis — “Tarzan Escapes” at 11:15 a.m., 1:20, 3:25, 5:30, 7:35 and 9:45 pm. Metropolitan—“Three Men on s Horse,” at 11:20 a.m., 1:20, 3:25, 5:25, 7:25 and 9:30 p.m. Rialto—“Mutiny on the Bounty,” at 2, 4:30; 7:06 and 9:42. Little—"Evergreen,” at 11 am, 1:09, 3:18, 5:27, 7:36 and 9:45 p.m. Ambassador — “Go West, Young Man,” at 6:15, 8 and 9:45 p.m. Uptown—*“Charge of the Light Bri- gade,” at 2, 4:35, 6:55 and 9:25 pm. | give an incredibly convincing imita- Tivoli—“Big Broadcast of 1937, at 2, 3:55, 5:50, 7:50 and 9:45 p.m. Howard—"“Missing Girls,” at 12:30, 70 years of buying, selling and lendingondiamonds, jewelry, etc. Libera! Loans at Lowest Possible Rates CASH FOR OLD GOLD «:::n-tu—-v & FREE T E. HEIDENHEIMER Established 1866 DECEMBER 8, 1936. Eleanor Powell (center), the popular dancing star of stage and screen, has the stellar role in M-G-M’s new filmusical, “Born to Dance,” and Virginia Bruge and Jimmie Stewart are prom= inent in her supporting cast. Reginald Gardiner a “Hit” With Pantomime Routines Beatrice Lillie’s Find Entertaining Audi- ences at the National With Parody on a Symphony Conductor. BY ROBERT B. PHILLIPS, Jr. HE young man sat at one end of a reddish sofa in the lobby of the Hotel ‘Washington. He was reading glanced up as if expecting some one to walk up and say “hello.” a news weekly, and occasionally he To an interviewer in search of an interviewee, that was not quite enough of a sign. A better clue was the young man's brown hair, slightly wavy, cut—or uncut—as a musician might like it. Such hair as a chap named Reginald Gardiner might muss and¢ frazzle in giving his famous parody | of a symphony conductor in “The Show Is On,” at the National Theater this week. There was but one approach to the problem. A question. An answer. A | handshake. We were in the midst of an interview with Mr. Gardiner. Until last season Reginald Gardiner was an absolutely unknown quantity | in the United States. Beatrice Lillie brought him over to appear with her in another Shubert revue called “At Home Abroad,” and he became in- stantly a celebrity here as well as in England, where he had been more or | less well known for a dozen years as a legitimate actor, an entertainer in cabarets, a performer in musical shows. In “At Home Abroad” Gardiner’s task was to come out between acts and Il in the time while the stage hands | were dashing around back stage, shift- in gscenery for the endless series of production numbers. A tall, suave and rather personable young man, he made no particular impression on his audi- ences with the first part of his stint, | which consisted of some explanatory monologue. When he actually went into his act, however, he immediately popped the sleepy customers out of their chairs. He could, with his hands, tion of & ship steaming into harbor, or, with the aid of voice and feet, create a rip-snorting train. * *x ¥ ¥ THE Gardiner routines are princi- pally pantomime, & fact which doubtless accounts for their enormous and lasting fame. By enduring I mean that almost everybody who saw “At Home Abroad” still remembers his didoes, whereas s gag writer who heard his best line repeated for & laugh after it was a whole season old (unless the line happened to be something brillian like “O yeah?” or “So's your old man”) would faint dead away with surprise. Audiences forget lines and the situations which made the gags seem especially funny at the time. But pantomime is childishly easy to recall. Our Mr. Gardiner had s great ad- vantage over the other comics in the “At Home Abroad” company. Some of the more literate spectators could re- call two or maybe three of Beatrice Lillie'’s best lines after the show was over, and could repeat them for the benefit of dinner parties, losing most of the effect because the script was manufactured to be spoken by Miss Lillie and not by the second hand wags of the haut monde. On the c trary everybody who had been awake at all could recall Gardiner’s amusing antics, and perhaps give & fair imitation of them. * x * % SOM! people have advanced the theory that Reginald Gardiner started the craze for “handies,” but if he did he has made no confessions. He is, in fact. extremely blase about the whole business and considers noth= ing he has done so far is more im- portant than the five-year contract he just signed with M.-G.-M,, providing him with some extremely useful money. Not to intimate that he is —_— Open 'TH_2 AM. Choice Wines, Mixed Drinks. Also_ Featuring Savory Steaks, Chovs and Other Choices ® Fried = Halibut Stesk with Tartar uee Vireiats Crab_Cakes with Tartar Sauce Baked Fresh Ham with Sweet Potatoes © Fried Rockfish with Tartsr WSeuee Vit eur Raw Rar—Regular Sundsy dinners. 81 and $1.35. bored with the business of Amuslng‘ and entertaining people. In conver: tion with him, asking about the origins | of some of his sketches, he keeps re- peating that he “tried out the idea and it seemed to amuse people,” s0 he | did a bit of polishing and wound up with the finished product. The train number, by the way, was evolved at a boys’ school banquet, where, as a returning graduate, he was supposed to be the big entertain- ment of the evening. He went to the place totally unprepared, except for a few stiff jolts acquired at a cocktail party. When he was called upon he suddenly got up and began telling the boys that all his life he had imagined & locomotive as a great monster, which scared him stiff. He went on to dem- The picture will be at Loew’s Palace Thursday. onstrate, The demonstration got a lot of laughs and & big hand. Later he worked on and perfected the sketch, which depends more on sound than on pantomime. It was put on over B. B. C., the British radio set-up. The Duke of York heard and like it, and ordered & command per- formance. Senor Gardiner, although he may not have known it at the time, was on his way to Hollywood. Out there they are talking about convert- ing him into a legitimate actor again, somewhat along the lines of a younger Roland Young. He says the idea is 0. K. with him. He is not much wor- ried about the future of handies. Tokio-China Air Service. Air service between Northern China and Tokio, Japan, will begin soon. GAYETY BURLESK NOW PLAYING THE KING'S JESTING JESTER MIKE “MUGGING” SACKS MIKE'S ADDED FEATURE LOVELY LILLIAN DIXON Chorles Laughton, Clark Gable and FRANCHOT TONE ia “MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY” DANCER’S PERSONALITY OUTSTANDING IN FILM Good Music, Poor Comedy in “Evergreen,” on View at Little Theater. Wmmummflnuh “Evergreen” the Gaumont-Brit- It depends mostly upon just how much of the English filmusical manner and how much of Sonnie Hale (the import duty on that guy should be raised until it's prohibitive) you are willing to undergo in order to get to the better moments of the film. ‘The better moments consist mostly of Miss Jessie Matthews, a gracefully sccomplished dancer and probably the warmest and most captivating person- ality of the British cinema. Any one who knows Miss Matthews will need no urging to see her again. And movie- goers who do not know her can be as- sured that she attractively makes up for the slow English technique, which is evident even in this outstanding British musical of 1934. 8he even makes up in some degree for the Hale antics, which seem to delight the Britons, and making up for the Hale antics is no mean achievement. Miss Matthews has plenty of oppor- tunity to practice the arts at which she is s0 skilled, however, singing and dancing her gay way through a story in ‘which she portrays a young lady im- personating her own mother, who was & famed musical comedy star of a quarter of a century ago. Her dancing lives up to the title the G-B people have given her—“England’s dancing divinity”—and the music of “Ever- green” is good—“Springtime in Your Heart,” “Dancing on the Ceiling” and “Over My Shoulder” being prominent in the score. The Littl's program also includes oW KEITH'S = CHARLES LAUGHTOR in his greatest role os ‘REMBRANDT" | GERTRUDE LAWRENCE IMAND ..o Now Edition of . . . “THE MARCH OF TIME® COMING... @ “WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE" PRTION FOMER o AveSYORA ¢ KOt ML BOBBY BREEN “RAINBOW ON THE RIVER™ AT romON o CuaBts TIRvORTH LILY PONS “FHAT GIRL FROM PARIS® GANE RATMOMD © JACK QAN 9 156 G AMUSEMENTS, & fine picture of Hindu life, told in the words (supposedly, not veritably) of & Hindu family elephant. “Nuri” is the name of the elephant and the picture. H M — Law on Amusements. Under a new law in Venezuela any one presenting an amusement per- formance must notify the government three days in advance. AT 8:20 Wed. . Mat, MESSRS. SHUBERT Present Beatrice Bert Lillie Lahr fa Vineente Minmelll's New Musical ““The Show Is On”’ REGINALD MITZ! PAUL GARDINER MAYFAIR HAAKON GRACIE BARBRIE WALTERS ALLEN Next Week beg. Mon., Dec. 14th WALTER HUSTON N ROBERT !Dllozm JONES' Othello o i szt Nights, $1.10 to $3. Sat. 85¢ to $2 AI‘IOEAL ts $1.10 to $1.10 to §2.75. te $3.30. LAST 3 DAYS MAE WEST In Poramount s “Go West Young Man” LAST 3 DAYS 1 “3 MEN ** HORSE” A Warner Bros. Riot With Va L€ CAPITOL. STAN OLIVER e STA G £ oo &zt WATERS MILLINDER aad THE MILLS BLUE RHYTEM DARD OLUMBIA < C SCAPES’, - MAUREEN OSULLIVAN % ‘sns HILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA EUGENE ORMANDY. Conducting Tonight 8:45—Constitation Hall Soloist—MISCHA ELMAN Tickets $1.00 to $3.25. T. Arthur Smith Bureau, 910 G 8t. N.W., in Witt-Hamill Music Co. HURRY—LAST 2 DAYS GABLE JOAN CRAWFORD IN “LOVE ON THE RUN" _|SECO ¢ Direction of Sidney Lust OPPOSITE WHITE HOUSE ALL SEATS 25¢ TILLIRM.| KCADEMY Of Perfect Sound Photoplay et niipe 2,0 . Lawrence Phillips' Theatre B Continuous From 4:30 s GUINN WYN 11 b EANF. GIBSON 1n “THE ON o1 S95 5200 Var + “VALIANT 18 THE WORD PO CARRIE 11th & N. C. Ave. §.] HOURS TO KILL." MARY BOLAND. W, L BON_COMES HOME ™ Cormedy m_f FAIRLAWN XS0 26, LITTLE “Rcouiien vout .{‘!SSI! TTHEWS .;‘n-”‘ 'EVERGREEN.” _Also_“NURI_THE_ELEPHANT.* ¢ Conditione: M _PO" d MY GREAT zmlg'%nw bl 8241 G!nr{ll Silver Spring. Md. o Continuous From 6:00 P.M i The Last of the Mohicans,” RANDOLPH SCOTT and BINNIE BARNES, STANTON 6th and C Sts. N. Continuous Erom § 40P A CLARK GABLE. JEAN HARLOW and MYRNA LOY in “WIFE VERSUS SECRE- TARY."” “SHAKEDOWN." with LEW _AYRES and JOAN PERRY. STATE-BETHESDA B:fhria: it - Bethesda. Md. LESLIE HOWARD in “PETRIFIED FOREST.” GLADYS SWARTHOUT in “Give Us This Nigh FALLS CHURCH. VA. STATE = “G:BReid LEE FREDDIE BARTHO-| _ MARGUERITE EOBFY; iy, | TABOY in- “LEGIOH DEVIL IS A 81SSY.” |~ OP TERROR." TAKOMA 4th and Butternut Sts. Nt ki Tre ROBERT TAYLOR 'and BARSARA STANWY! “HIS BROTHER'S WIFE.” ______Selected Short Subects. Colonial Village lington. Va. STRUCK." _wit SOWEL _and JOAN BLONDELL" o FOWELE e o Jack Holt. ~Dangerous Waters . CAMEQ MT.RAINIER. MD Today-Tomorrow SHIRLEY TEMPLE in _ “DIMPLES.” ARCADE rATrsaiipe s w"‘go’d;?:?:gn'ju(h Chatterton » 9th. Between F and G day-Tomo: WIN in __“PIGSKIN PARADE.” MILO ®ockviie wo. __| Charies Rugetes. “wives Nos AMBASSADOR ‘& MAE WEST. RANDOLPH SCOT ALL-STAR CARTOON are day. December 39, Ong Perform 8 LEY TEMP! ] " Mohes Mones 'LE in “DIMPLES AVALON ©org; A5, & Mo MARION, DAYIES d_CLARK GA: BLE nny 7OAIN AND MAEL AVENUE GRAND *¢° 7 A% latinee 2:00 P.M. FRED A 4 N, 3] ilfi:}flgssfififi&fifimfiz'; = TRAL ‘Zlometwst ouiy MA}S‘I‘O(’;A&AVA% and E LA GABLF COLONY % W% SHIRLEY TEMPLE in “DIMPLES." Mickey Mouse. Ave_and 7 Arey one Farracot in DIED AT DAWN ALL-STAR C. day. December 1?2 ance Only at 10 Adults_20c:_Child One Perfon An. | Prices Mlll:nte 2:00 PM. Jack Benny, Gracie Allen, George Burns and Martha Raye in “THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937.” MICKEY MOUSE. SAVOY ™ WARNER BROS. THEATERS HUSSY. TIVOLI ™= 5% B Bso™ ™ Matinee 2:00 P.M. Jack Benny, Gracie Allen George Burns and Martha Raye in “THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937.” SILLY SYMPHONY. d 544 Matinees Daity at 3 3. T ROE with BRROL FLYNN AN __OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND. . Only at 10:30 AM Adults. 20c: Children. 1bc. " [JESSETHEATER "$:45%™ “DIMPLES,” SHIRLEY TEMPLE, FRANK MORGAN SYLVAN‘T-‘ and B L Ave. N.W Double Feature. “EAST MEETS WEST." ABLISS. THE MAN 1 A GEORGY MARRY DORI NOLAN, = MICHAEL WHALEN. PALM THEATER %™ “PEPPER,” JANE WITHERS. IRVIN 8. BERNHEIMER’S Ball room classes. Tuesdays and Thurs days. Teaching, 8 to 9. Practice. 9 to 11 Tap. health, childre: 2 it N.W. Ballroom Dancing Private & Semi-Private New tention civen 110 Maryland Ave. et E BEGINNERS’ COURSE BALLROOM DANCING Register now for small class starting “n. Dec. 11, at 9 P.M. Leila Fowler. 110 Marylond Ave. N.E. Atlantic 623t e sgtor e SRR Leroy H. Thayer Fox-Trot—Tango—Waltz—Rhumbe Learn to .ead well. follow easily, De. R Ry A dance analysis —without obligation. Btudi open from 10 to 10 1215 Connecticut Ave. Me. 412 “America’s Notod Danciag Insiructor” DON_MARTINI Walts - Fox Trot-Tongo-Rumbe-Tay Talented Teachiers Private Lessons DVANCED—LOW RATES “u R 8t. N.w. Natienal 3761 ote Fill NEwomt O