The Washington times., 1928-12-10
|GLEANINGS.
SCREENINGS
AND
By ANDREW r. KELLEY

DaCk ana 1TOu1 O1 CuS HOuSS,
insofar as the so-calied legiti-
mate theaters of Washington
are concerned. The Stage Hands
Union has yielded on the one
point in the d. C. employment
contract which led Gilbert Mil
ler, the Shuberts, Florenz Zieg-
field, George C. Tyler and other
producing managers to protest
vehemently as an injustice.
The union has been insistent
that when rehearsals were called
outside of the regular hours,
the various heads Of depart
ments back stage must be re-
tanned at the overtime wage
schedule, regardless Of whether
they were needed. The arbi-
trary stand led George G. Tyler
to conduct some Macbeth" re-
hearsals in hotel ball room
rather than submit. Gilbert
Miller protested that a job
which would take one man 5
minutes to complete became a
four-hour job for various en-
ployes under the union ruling.
He didn't have the work under
taken. ".Whoopee" ran up stag
gering overtime bills and brought
the issue to a head.
Under the new ruling Of the
union, only such employees as
are actually needed will hence
forth be required for rehearsals.
The question as to whether this
decision shall be retroactive re-
mains now in dispute.
w. G. Fields is dropping out
of Earl CAROLS "Vanities" and
relinquishing volunta a rily q
$4,000 a week salary. He has
been offered more to make
talking comedies for the films.
Frank Fay will replace him.
Youthful Joan Crawford, baby
of the Metro Goldwyn stars, is
to be seen at Loew's Palace The
ater in Dream Of Love-" pic
ture which, was made before
Joan compelled serious attention
by startlingly effective per-
formance in "Our Dancing
Daughters" For some time
this film has been on the shelf,
the delay in release ordered uIl-
til it was determined whether
Nils Asther or Joan should be
the star for billing purposes.
Joan clicked in the flapper film
and thus gets the big type,
although Asther really has the
more prominent role.
Director Fred Niblo has taken
a Student Prince" plot and by
competent direction made it a
creditable feature. ] thought
for q while he was going to re-
sist the hackneyed gesture OF
bravado forced upon all film
actors who must face the firing
.uad. Have their eyes ban
daged? Certainly not. And
another squad of sharpshooters
who point their guns in the air
at the fatal command. But
I'm getting captious or too
blase. Dream of Love" is
really an entertaining film with
the kind of a romance the girls
adore.
They do say that the Craw-
ford child is getting very "high
hat" on the Metro Goldwyn pre-
serves. Development tempera-
ment and all that. If she could
have observed how they were
piling in at Thirteenth and F
Streets yesterday afternoon she
might be asking for a new con-
tract this Monday morning.
"A Night in Spain," the Shu-
bert revue which played Polls
last week, closed for good after
the Saturday, night performance.
Buffalo, which is rated poor
show town, brought up the en-
tire weeks supply of tickets
for Strange Interlude" through
mail orders. The New York
Theater Guilds star attraction
shows every indication of be-
coming the seasons most SEN
sational road success.
Too often it is easy TO fall
asleep or sit with bored expec-
tation waiting for a laugh from
the average short program COM
edv. 1t was a surprise then to
find an audience at the Am
bassador Theater last night con-
vuIsed with an abbreviated slap
stick that is really funny. eve
Faw Down." which is a Win
chellesque title for a Stan
Laurel comedy, bats over 300 in
the laugh league. And it has a
finish that will match any of
George Whites black-out skits.
Dolores Del Rio in Revenge"
was the feature and up on
Eighteenth Street and Columbia
Road we are served our screen
menu without sound trimmings.
I can't report enthusiasm over a
.trite plot that not even pictur-
esque gypsy settings and the
fierce burning of primitive love
could make realistic. Director
Carewe overworks the close-ups
on this glamorous star. Dolores
is a bear tanners daughter who
likes her cubs until they stand
on their heads, roll over and be-
come thoroughly subdued bruins.
Then she despises the tanned and
cowed pets. Dolores tried to
treat her suitors the same way.
Jorga, bandit chief, makes the
tanner stand on her head and