The Washington times., 1929-05-24
GLEANINGS
AND
SCREENIN
~ ANDREW &. KELLEY


Il was near TIE close 81 the
pre-Viow Of tie Fox M0pietone
Folli55 when the stage hands IN
the screen revue were pictured
walking ont end refusing % set
the finale. A hearty laugh from
seat directly IN the rear. III
never tell what prominent thea
ter official said the back-stage
boys In the film FoIlies acted
so naturally they couldn't possi-
bly, be actors.
Thib film Eolliss is peach
of ! picture but It win never
be called HGlorifying the Stage
Hands.
Waiter WinchelI, who wants
to leave his job ~ colunnnist
for the New York Evening
Graphic but Is bonna 81 cons
tract is having some fun with
his editor. So we have this ex-
change under the Winchell
signature:
nCoOk demonstrates that one
can be funny avery day With-
out writing in lin mAinteiliQible
jargon. Emile III; Gauvreau III
the Evegraphie.
9The bigshrdlH etaOin.D
Which last Is . printers pi
line and can mean anything you
like. As Charlie Belt says you
must smile when You pronounce
. man anything like that.
One IL the theater's famous
fends reaches D crisis, and prob
ably the end, with the passing
from influence IN the National
Vaudeville Artists m. ". Al of
=. +. Albee. for years king Of
tWO-a-day vaudeville. AIbee,s
overiOrdship Of the N. v. IA. has
been, these many months, the
target for the heavy seige guns
az Slime Silvexmanss Variety,
trade bible Of show folks. Ex-
actly what caused the differences
between the former head 0f the
Keith circuit of theaterB and the
Broadway publisher Is not s
matter of record. Probably It
was series Of nnisunderstand-
inr
At any rate, Variety was
barred from all Keith houses, It's
employees were forbidden to give
news 10 Mr.. Silyerman's ENJOYS
and managers were forced to
buy their copies like bootleg
jugs and read the periodical be-
hind closed doors. Reprisais con-
sisted ii q weekly hamnering
away 1t the Albee theatrical
policies and constant eriticia.-l
az M. W. As dominating voice.
It Was Variety which discovered
that National Vaudeville Artists
had become m actors OrRanixa-
tion whose motto was "Never
Vex Albee.
3 About : year ago Mr. Albee
disposed of his control in the
Keith theaters to interests repre-
scented ~ Joseph p. Kennedy.
Since then n. II. %. fRaFfo-
Keith 0rpheuEn has acquired
the circuit This week the Ma
tional Vaudeville Artists benefit
fund, the inner financial control
Of the N. v. A, elected William
Fox Is president. Albee was
shuffled out Of the commanding
chair he has held for Is years. 3
Meantime Variety win continue
10 say. what iE likes, and some
Of It happens to be the truth.
It destroyed much of the conf
dence and good win which the
erstWhile head Of the Keith cir
cult enjoyed with the paid en-s
tertainers Of the profession.
Now that Mr.. Albee retires from
the Broadway scene--at least as
an active figure Mr.. Sflverman
does some front-page growing.
Not much. but enough to reveal
he il not wearing q mourning
band.
Al an interested and neutral
observer, am wondering who
Slime win pick for his next edi-
torial sniping. After all, fight
news Is the most interesting
thing we peaceful nortals can
read.
Dialogue pictures are easily
enough censured but the result
Is not satisfying to the particu-
lar movie audience. Manipula-
tion Of the fader on the machine
is all that is necessary to stifle
offending words destined to be-
come audible through the sound
boxes. Trial of Mary Dugan,"
which did fine business in
Washington and raised nary q
peep of protest from Lieutenant
Van Winkle did not fare 80 hap
PLY in Pittsburgh at the Penn
Theater. There were moments
in the running Of the feature
when lips moved but no sound
came from the screen. A trailer
flashed before the film was
shown, read:
The management wishes to
beg the indulgence Of the audi
ence for what may seem to be
mechanical defects in the fea-
ture picture about to be shown.
They are not defects but cuts IN
dialog ordered by the PennsyI-
vania Board Of Censors."
As Ruby Keeler (Mrs. AL Jol..
sonl begins rehearsals in 'Show
Girl for Mr. Ziegfeld, announce
ment comes that the millionaire
minstrel win make his. pictures
IN the near future under tie
United Artists banner, The re-.