The Washington times., 1928-11-26
GLEANINGS1

AND
By ANDREW r. KELLEY

Have you gone over COM
pletely to Broadway or does your
soul belong to Marse Ziegfeld (,
phones a steady customer Oh
this column who complains that
screen drama as the entertain
ment Of the majority should
never Yield type dominance to
the higher-priced diversions.
Net exactly, have been
going to the movies since the
days when it was considered,
we'll, not quite proper-to pat.
ronize the 5-and-1O galleries OF
the cinema. Our best people
then, if they became afflicted
with this loW-brow amusement.
complex, often were accustomed
to peak carefully about before
they emerged from the modest
parlors of the young industry.
And they felt a little bit
ashamed il the luck had them
encounter a somebody whose
opinion they valued highly. What
a. change contrasted with to-
day when the First Lady Of the
Land can pick out her favorite
r Street picture, buy balcony
seat and vet suffer no loss Of
official dignity.
The movies have improved and
my devotion has increased rela-
lively. / laughed at Charlie
Chaplin long before Gilbert
Seldes gave us all permission.
John Bunny and flora Finch
had won their places as screen
comedians on my books and the
assaults of the intelligensia on
the illiterate barons of the rising
HOLLYWOOD never changed the
opinion. I was sold, lock, stock
and barrel on the glorious talent
: the curly-headed ingenue star
Of Biograph, who was to be-
come the great Mary Pickford::
Griffith's birth Of . Nation, !"
the first ambitious film to be
booked at So top, was one OF
the great factors in breaking
down this patronizing prejudice.
and. of course, the construction
of the modern cathedrals DEVOTED
to the celluloid reels, plus big
Ger and better pictures, has
completed the job. Only occa-
sionally does one confront today
those supercillious folks who de-
clare with a much-assunned
pride, II never go to the
movies" And having made this
damning statement, await the
look or the word that will class
them as superior beings.
So | 20 to the movies. Four
and five times q week gener-
ally. and though it comes under
the heading Of duty, the task Is
more often a pleasant one:
But, like Stoddard Taylor,
have never lost my enthusiasm
for the spoken stage or the
thrill and admiration that q
good actor in flesh and blood
can provide. / can sit compla-
Gently by while the West Coast
raids the Broadway casting
agencies and carries Pullman
loads of stage celebrities to the
California lots, content in the
knowledge that soon these COM
petent voices will be emerging
from the ssVitaphone and the
Moyietone sound boxes. Richard
Bennett and Robert McWade
in "The Home Towners," now
at the Metropolitan Theater,
furnish a good example OF the
fine things that are coming with
the steady progress OF the 'au-
dible films. "a.
The Broadway producers,
both of musical comedy and the
legitimate, are frankly alarmed
at the encroachment of the
once silent drama on their do
main. They watched Holly
wood sign AL Jolson, Fannie
Brice, Eddie Cantor. George
Jessel, John Barrymore, Lionel
Barrymore, Lionel Atwih,
Clark & Mccullough, Chic Sale,
Van & Schenck, Ed Wynn. Joe
Cook, and hundreds of lesser
footlight prominence, for whole
or part time services with the
sound pictures. The greatest
of playwrights have consented
to take a fling at the screen
and the highest priced fiction
experts are pinned down with
contracts. Now they are after
the cream of the stage speak
ing voices.
However, Broadway, is not
standing still, Mr.. Megfeld ponrs
out money for writing brains,
talent and costly accoutrement
and the net result Of this con-
genial blend is a production
folks will get up at 6 o'clock
in the morning for. and stand
in line to pay $3.50 a seat.
Charles B. Dillingham;, the
Shuberts, David Belasco, George
Tyler, Arthur Hopkins, Jed
Harris, the New York Theater
Guild, Gilbert Miller, George
White, George M. Cohan, Will
liam A. Brady, Brady and
Wimans. Aarons & Freedley,
Jones & Green, Earl Carroll and
A. H. Woods are just a few
who refuse to admit the musical
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