Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-06
Show Recipes Need
A Spice of Idea
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

ton there Is an EVIDENT uiSpOSl-
ton to gather up the discard
and start a new deal. Many
new names have appeared in spon-
sorship OF entertainments featuring
music and dancing. Thomas Ball
will hardly be associated on terms
of sedate and mature acquaintance
with veteran producers like Liegteld
or Dillingham;. A half dozen names
are mentioned on the program OF
Sweet Lady" as concerned in the
preliminary construction.
Mr.. Ball is mentioned not only as
che who presents" but as associated
with Mr.. Delos Owen in the musical
composition Frivolity reigns SUI
preme. The picture is ultramodern
not only in costuming. in furnish
ings, but in manners. The figures
who move gayly through the scenes
are afflicted by no bookish tendencies
TO speculate on the social or econ
on1ic results of the unframed cabaret
life, but go the pace as they find It,
IL not in actual experience, at least
superabundantly in sensational print.
K X y y
The chief interest attaching to a
show of this kind lies in the view
point assumed on the part of the
producers as that of an audience
ready to welcome it. In other words,
the real question is, What is the
Idea?" Lights, fnery, dancing and
pretty girls can all be provided. A
musical show can be put together,
so far as spectacular equipment is
concerned. by formula. 1t is as easily
done as to compound pastry with
the aid of a cook book. But the
human equation enters into the pas
try, and il is an aphoriSm of cuisine
that one person will make good pas
try and another, assuming to follow
the same recipe, will fail TO secure
the blend. In the same manner the
Idea animating a revelation of gor-
geousneSs like Sweet Lady" consti-
tutes the really human element in
spite of the anatomical display. The
author expresses his viewpoint,
whether profound or superficial, and
hopefully assumes that his public
own.
Sweet Lady" assumes that the
public is now ready to accept the
people of characteristic gayety
with sufficient seriousness to observe
their customs and habitats and stuoy
their conversation with a desire to
learn more instead, as is often the
case after a deluge of courthouse
conversation, of struggling to for
get.
Sweet Lady" provides no back
ground of substantial suggestion,
either historic. geographical or
chronological, against which TO project
its bubbling iridescences with the
benefit of contrast.
X y x X
up to date" is a substantial and
satisfying phrase when a Snowman
can apply it to his wares with truth,
but what was up to date" day be-
fore yesterday may suddenly become
as far behind the times as King Tut
or an overscandalized film performer.
X + \
An audacity of idea expressed in
language calculated to inspire re-
spect for the intelligence sponsoring
the thought is distinctly valuable to
the managers and welcome to the
playgoers. Sometimes the idea that
gives the narrative a genuine basis
of human nature is little difficult
to find, but in cases where a plot of
any sort plays a reliable part in
carrying an entertainment to sue
cess, such an idea can almost in
Varisbly be detected. It is usually
classified in the vocabulary of show
wisdom as heart interest"
There is a thread of heart interest
In Sweet Lady" which, in the hands
of Lonsdale or even OF an Otto
Harbach (since Mr.. Lonsdale has not
turned his gifts to rhyming as well
as to plots), could have been made
10 provide fair share of logical and
substantial support for this demon
stration. Its chief object seems to
be to afford peep show, whereby
the uninitiated may catch a glimpse
of world which enjoys itself, or
assumes to be enjoying itself, with
a jazz band playing forever and tin
cocktail shakers Gathering about to
take the place of the cowbells years
ago discarded by the futuristic sym
phoniSts. 1t is a serious question
whether there are enough of the
uninitiated remaining to feel much
curiosity as to this phase of interest.
The especial appeal, after all, is that
OF pictorial charm in a revelation of
dancing, vlvacious, graceful and un-
turing. The subtle touch of original
ity is not always present, but the
voice of experience speaks in several
measures of music as well as in steps
OF the dance that are pleasurablv re-
membered.
The Sweet Lady's" young man.
whose idea of existence is a quiet.
domestic life with enough income
from his talent for craftsmanship to
meet the monthly payments on his
suburban home, is hardly sufficient
ly robust specimen to take the place
of the portly old boy who now and
then used to escape domestic tram
mels and plunge into the heart of
nocturnal gayety in hopes of meeting
French actresses and everybody
with the customary experience, as
in this plot, of meeting his own life
partner.
4 X 4 X
1t is on artistic effect as relates
20 line. color, orchestral expression,
together with several set numbers
quite apart from the story that
Sweet Lady" depends for her chance
TO avoid the fate of wasting her