The Washington times., 1929-09-25
|GLEANINGS'
SAND:
SCREENINGS.
By ANDREW r. KELLEY

this one," chirped sweet voice
directly behind me in loud
speaker volume that made her
intent apparent. / suppose that
by this time she knows.
Well, little girl, after all, it
doesn't really matter. All the
honeyed words that critics here,
there and everywhere set down
about a show can't transform it
into a hit if the public doesn't
happen to like it. Likewise all
the harsh phrases ever written
can't stop a hit. 1t goes for
pictures and plays.
1t so happened that I thought
and still think-Gertrude Law
renee had a Commute comedy
sketch padded into a skimpy
three acts which made very light
fare for a full course theater
evening. The fact that some of
my intimates found the play
very amusing and thoroughly
satisfying hasn't altered my
personal opinion.
Vivid indeed is a recollection
of the torrid blasting Laurette
Taylor gave the Washington
critics, ending up with the con-
clusion they were, collectively,
a bunch Of ignoramuses unable
to comprehend a fine and sensi-
tive piece of playwriting. The
offense was deigning to comment
adversely on Philip Barry's In
a Garden" which opened at
Polls. Alexander Woolcott,
Percy Hammond, Burns Mantle
and other Broadway erudites,
heaped encomiums on the same
play but it went boom, boom, a
dismal and costly flop, after two
weeks in New York.
One Of the very able business
managers of a Washington
newspaper (not The Times)
holds a belief that neither mo-
tion pictures nor drama should
be critically dissected in the pub
lie prints; that news of the new
attractions should be confined
to the bare mention of the
theater menu and the PLAYERS,
film or otherwise, who provide
the entertainment. The public,
he contends, should be permitted
to reach a verdict without
journalistic pre-judgment.
Now, strange as it seems, it
is the commercial theater which
encourages and sustains the
present policy. Obviously the
advantages far outweigh its
faults, for, as the business mana
ger we'll knows, the right kind
of pressure could abolish the
status quo in most of the big
cities on theatrical highways.
Quite naturally theaters like
good notices and profit to
certain degree when critical
opinion is generally favorable.
By the same token there is some
business depression when the
verdict is wholly unfavorable.
But exactly the same situation
would prevail with reviews
eliminated. The public which
desired advance information on
what it was asked to pay
money to see would find a
means of becoming acquainted
with the merit of the new at
fractions, regardless of whether
the newspapers provided it.
This seems long winded and
round about way of saying that
the reviews you read on Mon
days and Tuesdays represent
only one critics opinions. 1t
may not be as profound, we'll
thought out or as authentic as
perhaps your own, but it is the
honest expression of how the
entertainment reacted on one
writer. 1t would be a pity,
and l feel a trifle boring, if
everybody felt precisely the same
way about everything theatri-
cal.
As the end of the column ap-
proaches might set down again
my belief that the Kaufman
Lardner new play, June Moon"
has all the earmarks of a
Broadway hit. Of course it
needs some fixing, but so did
"Show Boat" after an opening
night curtain that came down
at 12:40 p. m. They all need
flxin' after a first performance.
The real problem is whether
they're worth fixin'.
In the hurly-burly of chroni-
cling first night impressions of
the kaufman-Lardner comedy at
the Belasco Theater, the pres
ence of Frank Otto in the cast
was inadvertently overlooked.
Thus this second thought men,
tion Of an actor whom I have
always admired and followed
since the team of Frank Otto
and Lola Merrill entertained me
at the open air theater in No
rumbega Park.
Since the subject has been
mentioned it might be recorded
that Frank Otto married Lola
Merrill, one of the famous Nolan
family of beautiful girls. George
M. Cohan married another. Still
q third of the lovely sisters
married Sam Harris, producer
Of "June Moon"
Thn Mn1oNo - p~Aal-lsr~ n~L