Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-14
A Wide Range of Magic and
MYSTERY
By Ph'1ander Johnson.
Mystery.


stage figure that has long been re-
garded with no great artistic rever-
ence. Before an admiring audience
stood performer who took the CEN
ter OF the stage without remorse
and who dispensed with all the
mechauisms that have seemed es-
sential. No jazz orchestra trans
lated into sound the spirit Of
doggerel colloquialism; nobody put
into Anglo Saxon dialogue the do
neStic quadrangles SO Haunted with
perfunctory industry by the French
comic papers; nobody gave wicked
glance of the eye or said a harsh
word. He is a wizard, indeed.
The life of the magician is not so
d happy as it seems. He shares glory
with no one. There is no literary
and musical organization at hand to
supply him with material. He can
not do retail trade with purchased
stock. He works direct from pro-
Queer to consumer. The response
bility of his position is intensified by
the fact that it is undivided. A
magician, despite his calm, is at the
highest nerve tension. kellar would
leave the stage, especially after some
of his mathematical feats, in a state
almost of exhaustion The foot
light wizard rests his demonstration
, squarely in the old Barnum PROPOSE
ton. The public like to be hum
bugged-only the public must not
catch you doing it. The entertainer,
therefore. becomes man fighting
mob, subduing it by artfu1 per-
suasion and sometimes bullying a
little. 1t is an interesting contest,
and no magician, however expert
cnced, feels absolutely sure at each
new performance that this time he
is going to win. Like much in the
theater, what seems most delight
FULLY easy may involve the greatest
nerve exhaustion.
4 i: Z Il
Another musical comedy is Betty
Lee"-or is it the same one with the
names changed, the costumes newly
designed and the dances rearranged?
A fine, large chorus of authors,
music composers and producers is in
evidence before the rise of the cur
tain. Perhaps more then than after
the program is dropped and the eye
becomes chiefly the objective of ap-
peal. A musical comedy is the most
elusive of entertainments. Occa-
sionally one which seems to the
habitua1 observer very much like all
the rest, races far ahead OF the field
and comes in a winner-for no ap-
parent reason. Irene" did this.
Experts attributed its extraordinary
success to the pretty song number,
Alice Blue Gown'-although it was
an archaic fancy, Alice Blue having
been dismissed from the shop shelves
many seasons before. Musical COM
cdy is a game of chance 1t depends
not on the merit of the production,
but on the mood of the audience.
The announcement that the age
limit of the Betty Lee" chorus was
II years was bold and attractive
1t is a step in the right direction.
Producers should soon be able to
make the same announcement for
the tunes and repartee.
4 !; < 4
The city was kept in suspense as
TO the opening OF. the latest Belas-
CO play. There were assurances
aplenty, with Tuuis Dean, the man
ager, in advance performing one OF
those feats of telepathy so familiar,
and yet SO ever-astonishing. Sum-
moned hastily from the calm sue
cessful quietude of another attrac
Gon, he blandly confessed he has not
read the manuscript or seen re-
hearsal or conversed with the COM
pany-and then proceeded TO tell
YOU all about what great show it
was going to be. Ladies OF the
Evening" he declared, us vivid
play, one of those rare plays that
move audiences with that sheer
power of revealing the secret
springs of human feeling and human
action What could be fairer. 1t
compromised nobody; whatever the
author and producer might have
done.