The Washington times., 1928-11-29
IGLEANINGSI
- AND -
CPEE;NINGS
By ANDREW 4. KELLEY

! AAAANSS
If you really want to know
what an actor thinks about
while throwing kisses to the
audience drop around back
stage and I'll tell you, SO help
me Ziegfeld.
tSigned) EDDIE CANTOR.
Already I had decided that
the Thanksgiving turkey would
be devoured in some hotel that
provides giblet gravy and cram
berries cooked in the Cape Cod
method. This is too good an
opportunity to miss to find how
Eddie saved the first 500, 900
and to compare our reactions to
pleurisy. And in the interests
Of strictly accurate information
on taking bows, accept, for
some open moment this Noyenn-
Der holiday, for all except ac-
tors and editors.
How old is John Barrymore ?
The question has been asked
many times since Hamlet Jack
married Dolores Costello and
gave his age as Al. Two aIlx.
ious queries came over the phone
and when Charlie Belt brought
the problem directly to this
desk / looked it up.
According to available rec
ords Mr.. Barrymore, (born
Blythe) had his first merry
Christmas in 1882. That would
make him 46. Make no wagers
with this as an authority. The
information comes from musty
clippings, which as the finan-
cial ads say are believed to
be approximately correct.
This business Of telling ages
is treacherous and not even for
q new sled would I venture to
be unchivalrous enough to dis
pute . lady. Burns Mantle is
. popular dramatic critic on
Broadway. Lately he started
putting the near correct ages
Of actresses in the. back of his
book, "The Ten Best Plays of
the Season" " My dears, the
number Of women in the pro-
fessi0n who never read the
Mantle writings exactly equals
those who claim he tucked from
five to dozen years on the
correct figure. Isn't that
strange.
Very polite, indeed, was this
department to the young man
who came meekly up to the desk
and sought information on the
Warner Brothers talking pic
lures, when they were shown
in Washington, where, all about
Vitaphone, and what not.
The knowledge secured, our
visitor bowed his way out with
q parting adieu that was in-
formative. He had, it seemed, 4
girl friend, who was interested
IN contest being conducted by
a newspaper just across the
street from The Washington
Times. with these correct
answers, she ought to win q
prize,' he said, as he bowed
his way out.
~ She ouglt, indeed. And if it's
the fellow who is helping her
find the answers, she'll have a
husband who'll never be afraid
to ask the apartment janitor
twice to send up hot water.
William Harris, jr., one of the
theater's most intelligent pro-
ducers and one who likes to
open. his plays in Washington,
is becoming active again. He
plans to stage q new drama by
Martin Flavin, as yet untitled.
When Mr.. Harris produced
John Drinkwater's Robert e.
Lee," he conceived the idea of
opening it south of the Mason
Dixon line, in Richmond and
Norfolk, to be exact. Then fol-
lowed a Washington week. In
Richmond, experts on the Con-
federate lore found exactly lat
historical flaws in the Drink
water script. They pointed
them out in detail in a lengthy
protest. In Washington other
inaccuracies distressed those who
insist history must be straight.
One result Of these critical OBJ
jections was the removal Of the
beard from the countenance of
the actor Burton ChurchilO,
who played General Lee. So the
great hero of the Confederacy
was played in New York minus
his hirsute adornment. The
Broadway scribes claimed the
General Lee of the play failed
to conform to the pictorial con-
ception of the Southern military
genius. In trying to please
everybody, the Drinkwater play
survived only few weeks.
In abraham Lincoln" the
earlier Drinkwater success, a
fictitious member Of the Presi-
dents Cabinet was introduced,
to fill non-existent portfolio.
There were protests about his
torical accuracy but the myth
cal Cabinet Officer kept his
place in the play. Lincoln"
was smashing success. What
price critics.
The Actors Equity Associa-
ton has just slapped a $1,000
fine on one of its members in
the Earl Carroll "Vanities" for
slurring the lines of his part.
Producer Carroll had previously
denoted the offender to a place
in the chorus although he has
a great tenor voice. The actor