Evening star., 1925-09-12
NEW YORK THEATER
REMOVES CLOTHING
Censors Seem to Be Taking
Vacation or Paying Heed
Only to Politics.
By Consolidated Press.

NEW YORK. September 12.-New
York is enjoying. or at any event is
| In the midst of It's nakedest theatrical
| season. Feminine beauty unadorned
| is being "glorified' at a dozen thea
| ters and nobody seems to mind A
year ago there was a great clatter
| among the stage reforlners and pro-
ducers were fastening to drape their
artists and models" but this year
i the brakes have been taken off, to say
| nothing of the clothes.
Perhaps 1t is because the city is
| torn and wracked by it's most per-
fervid political campaign in half
| century that no one is paying par
ticular attention to what is going on
| or what is being taken off at the
| theaters; perhaps New Workers them
| selves are not going to the ''revues"
| any more and are leaving the
| morals" of the stage to the big
butter-and-egg men" or the big
| grain-and-feed men; who come to
the city at this time of year from
| all sections of the country. In any
| event, the tired business man, whether
| he be in butter and eggs. or grain or
| feed, or cloaks and suits, assuredly
is having his fling at the managerial
| idea. Of the antidote for commercial
| fatigue.
| Economy in Few Clothes.
Evidently the play jury" which
| was to censor the stage, has been on a
vacation, and with the jury away the
producers will play. There has been
| the suggestion that the cost of revue
| production had reached the point
where the managers simply had to
| call halt. Costumes were becoming
| entirely too elaborate and expensive.
! What could be simpler, therefore,
| than to dispense with costume entirely
| on large part of cast and chorus?
| This was the managers way of reck-
oning, and apparently they have not
| reckoned without their hosts, for the
| theaters are crowded by night and
| by day. The percentage of masculine
! attendance. however, is far in excess
! of the feminine, the gentler sex as
whole not caring especially for the
manner in which their sisters are be
| ing glorified.
| A year ago there was the fitting
of a nude figure across a dimly
| flood lights are turned loose with all
their whited glory upon the Ewes and
Venuses and Aphrodites that dot and
| languish in the productions of the
| season. In some of the revues efforts
are made to improve or emphasize
| the hdndiWork of nature. Altogether,
| 1t is the boldest season the managers
! ever have attempted and they are
| getting away with ii to what they call
| big money" 1t costs the wayfarer
anywhere from S4.40 to $3.50 at box
| office prices to list the institutions
of art along old Broadway.
Laugh at Arrests.
| A year ago they were arresting
managers for displaying photographs
| of what might or might not be seen
| on the stage. This year the town
would laugh inlmoderateIy at such a
move.
The more serious phase of the new
| theatrical season is about here, how
| ever, and it may be that the Eve and
! Venus and the girl of tomorrow"
! shows will slow down or disappear as
| the ''drammer' comes to take its
place in the fancy of the public. The
| revue producers are by no means con-
| vinced of this, nevertheless, and are
| planning new STARTERS for later. in the
| Autumn and Winter. Just how much
| farther they can go without running
| afoul of an aroused public sentiment
remains literally to be seen.
| Meantime the "butter-and-egg men"
who take an artistic interest in the
! gloriication Of the American girl had
better hurry to New York. The pres
ent state of things cannot go on for
ever. Some bright evening there will
| come crash and a rapid covering up.
| Then, in the usual order of things.
there will be a period of quiet, and the
| first thing you know the lid will be
| lifted once more and a new period Of
glorification will appear