The Washington herald., 1922-09-17
Thanksgiving Day
May Be Opening
Of Stage Season
Construction Work on Theaters
Seriously Retards Activity
In Drama.
By EARLE DORSEY.

ington is slowly evolving from the PLAY
house darkness OF spring and Tumme-.
l. With the week hand comes another
change in the complexion OF theatrio events,
with the Belasco beginning its season ef unit
vaudeville and with the Garrick Players saying
farewell after a stock season that datss back
TO April
The Garrick. OF course. 10 returning TO the
ranks Of Legitimate" plsyhousss. walker
Whiteside is preparing to play a week at the
Garrick, beginning next Sunday IN The Hindu
although there is some question whether
not the shubert interests will continue
the Garrick constantly for similar attractions
during the balance Of the autumn.
Polls prepared, a week or two age.
open October with q weeks engage
of The Bat" but these plans were sud
denly cancelled through the inability OF the
tractors to have the interior Of the theater
finished by that time. The National manage
ment continues silent their plans for the
autumn. and judging by the amount OF work
yet TO be done there it would be surprising
If the Nationals opening is delsyed until No
vember.
The Capitol Theater. at Eleventh street
and Pennsylvania avenue. continues to remain .
mystery. This thester. reconstructed entirely
after the disastrous fire OF several years ago
has already announced that II would no longer
house burlesque attractions. On the other hand
no further statement has been made the
Of its fall offerings.
All in all, the situation between now ana
Thanksgiving is by means promising. II 10
altogether likely that the Garrick will be IN.
only legitimate theater operating through octe-
Der and considering its miniature size this will
be small relief should & real thester hunger
develop
After ThankscivinE however tn. Garriok
POlis and the National should be functoninE
simultaneously. though # is understood the
Garrck will cease be used as 9 theater after
January !.
~ RoBABLY the most important theatrical
- news Of the week is the announcement
II nsv Rel
TO star the oldest member Of his pro-
tcssional famay-Davd warheld-in The Mer-
chant of Venice" which will open at Whining
ton. Del. early in November and which will
probably visit Washington during the six-week
trial tour that prccedes its Broadway opening.
Just what pressure warheld brought to bear
on Belasco to bring about this production is
hard TO say. Warfeld has been crying for the
'Shylock" role for years and years It seems
but each time Belasco found some excuse for
putting him of. Belasco. however, has consented
and David Warfeld has his Shylock role al last.
The tendency of the comedian to play liam
let is a yearning old and as classic as the
theater itself. but WarheId while not exactly q
comedian has varied it by crying for 'ShyIock-
A peculiar one. this tendency Of famous actors
to turn toward Shakespeare. Charlie Chaplin
has the complex and many Of us may vet live
TO see Harold Lloyd try Romeo. horn -spectacles
and all.
Just how much Of fraca. will develop
against prohibition Jokes in vaudeville remains
to be seen now that Keith theater in Frank
lin, N Y, has actually enforced the AIbee order
against the use OF such material.
The first punitive action taken by Keith
vaudeville officials involved a team" Of two
men who were requested. after their first
matinee performance. to avoid further references
to the national weakness. The order was sharp
and apparently TO the point. but on the other
hand. the boys packed two or three jokes which
highly ticlied the citizens Of Franklin.
The two artists" tried hard TO obey hut
the impulse make the folks laugh was cvi-
IDENTIFY bit too strong. first they told the
audience the jokes and then let the audience in
on the They hoped everybody enjoyed
the Jokes because they had just cost the boys
their Jobs. so with these kind words the team
moved and away.
OF Syracuse. N Y. soberly called upon by
the Lord Mayor to rush home grab a bite
dress and the theater. The entir.
week officially proclEimed as "Go-to-the-
theater-week' and the mayor himself
planned celebrate.
For some unaccountable reason the Syracuse
theaters seemed quite ignorant Of the whole
To make matters worse two theaters
picked out that week close for an indennit.
period and business is poorer in the theater
than Syracuse has known for years.