The Washington times., 1928-11-27
By ANpREW 8. KELLEY

-
You for the very friendly man
ner iii which You handled it.
You might easily have resented
my suggestion as an intrusion,
but it is quite evident that you
took no offense.
You say that You differ with
me only in the degree Of iIl-
telligence I innpute to the
readers Of the theater pages Of
The washington Times. 1 am
rather glad that you have erred
IN this, for it shows that you i
do not understand how the
world outside Of Washington
regards your paper, and there
fore its readers and II there 8
one thing ] love above another,
it ii to catch newspaper folks
making mistakes, because they
have caught me in 80 many.
No. did not intend to
impute any lack Of intelligence
to them, because we outside Of
Washington think of them As
the elite Of the irtellige gentsla.
You remember how we used to
think Of B0st0niais as Amer
ica,s highbrOws. Well, we long
ago transferred this to Wash
ingt0nians, and part & ulariy
those who Gevour The Times.
i am glad to be able to
straighten you out on this be-
cause Won ought to know II
iii your business.
i guess my suggestion was
just simply no good. It looked
reasonable when wrote 1t, but
you have punctured ii full Of
holes. There isn't enough left
of it to withdraw. And I am
inclined to think that every
thing YOU said was correct ex
cept that one part about the
imputation Of lack of intelli-
gence on the part of your
readers.
Thanks again.
Cordially yours,
(Signed) CARL IsAEMMLE.
Indeed. Mr.. Laemmle, am
covered with bushes. Such
profusion Of kind words for The
Times and its readers suggests
the fair opportunity for 3
swap, so here goes. Universal,s
latest sound picture, Uncle
Toms Cabin, comes to the
Metropolitan Theater Saturday.
/ know you won't be offended
over giving out this advance
information, and ! am almost
certain Johnny Payette will
like it.
AS one who still retains
deep interest in film tales Of
the night clubs and rogue's gal
lery characters, / can safely
commend Romance of the I
Underworld" at the Fox this
week, as an entertaining movie.
These gay ladies of the
merry haunts who become dis
gusted with the tinseI and fleet
ing Joy Of the midnight reveIs
and whole e-heartedly reform may
be fully as artificial as the
celluloid which tells the story of
their reiuvenation. But there is
something about the hat check
girl of soft, appealing eyes and
wholesome look that makes
everybody happy when she wins
the Park Avenue millionaire.
1t may not be new theme in
pictures, but it is like the
Cinderella thread in musical
comedy. Sure fire with audi
ences if done well. And in "Ro-
nance of the Underworld" the
love element has been deftly
handled.
Just as I was beginning to
believe that Mary Astor brought
nothing particular to the screen,
but good looks and q few ex-
pressiens along she comes and
proves that back, of it all il a
fine talent. She has a certain
dignified beau..J resembling that
f Allie Joyce, although she is
not nearly as competent an act
ress. Still in "Dress to KILL"
one of the best of the earl
underworld chapters, she gave
very creditable performance and
in this picture achieves even
greater distinction in not too
difficult role.
7 bert Elliott plays the / 4rt
of a plain clothes detective for
all that it is worth. which, in
cidentallv, is considerable. Ben
Bard, who was long Winter
arden comedian as one-half OF
the team of lard and Pearl. be-
ONES a thirty-second degree
villain for this film and is
rubbed off the scene in the only
violent catastrophe of the story.
1t is the lone pistol shot in tie
action and even "Derby Dan"
expires while the cameras are
elsewhere.
For this latter innovation in
crime pictures, Director Irving
Cummings is entitled to take
bow. Until the Paul Arm
strong play was filmed the first
requisite for underworld action
was enough lethaI weapons to
equip the Mexican army
As to the verisimilitude OF
New York night club atmos-
phere / cannot qualify as an
expert, having yet to visit one:
Maybe it's just as well: II
the cross sections furnished by
Hollywood are even approx
mately truthful it's as easy to
acquire 4 plum,colored eye % 1t