The Washington times., 1929-06-29
GLEANINGS
AND
SCREENINGS
By ANDREW Z. KELLEY

OY fAINDhbASVv Aes AAASAAANAS8 ~
AS one Of those who looks
over the cinema exhibits on an
average Of four times a week,
hot or cold. rain or shine, /
should like to make one sugges-
tion to the Hollywood producers
of screen entertainment. 1t Is
that the names of the cast in
the picture lat least the princi-
pals) be flashed on the screen
after its completion as well IS
before the story begins.
Speaking as one of just aver
age intelligence / confess in
ability to commit to memory the
frequently long list of stars and
near stars flashed momentarily
before my eyes at the begin
ming Of the feature. Once upon
. time, in the days before the
screen found q voice, there
Mourished q custom which !
preferred, of introducing with a
title, as the story progressed,
each character Of Importance.
Now that this custom seems as
old-fashioned as red flannels,
we have the 1929 idea of pre-
senting the complete lineup for
10 seconds and letting the nim-
BILE wits commit them indelibly
to memory. It is too much Of
q mental test.
Often I see some actor play
q small bit in q picture so ex-
pertly crave to index him with
the players who know their
business. But unless / am con-
tent to sit through a second
show and probably watch some
secondary screen material which
will bore me silly, only by re-
search can ! discover the name
of the actor who pleased me.
OF course there are many pic
lures in which one is ready to
forget all about the cast and all
about the story as soon as
possible. But there are so
many others which offer such
god acting the players who pro-
vide the pleasure deserve a little
more credit.
So again renew the sugges-
tion that the cast Of players be
flashed on the screen at the con-
clusion of the feature as well
as at the beginning. ! know
the average motion picture audi
ence would appreciate the inno-
vation.
Which brings me around to
the subject of masters of cere-
monies and custom of announc-
ing stage acts. Under the ex-
isting system it seems to me
that the acts get little or no
opportunity to advertise them
selves with an audience.
Within the past Is months !
have watched 500 acts, more or
less, perform on the Fox and
the Palace Theater stages. Some
of them were very good, but
right at the moment I can't re-
call the names of 10 perform
ers who provided the entertain
ment / enjoyed.
In the day Of the straight
vaudeville show it was the prac-
tice to designate the acts by
stage annunciators, and, gener-
ally a program. Thus if an act
offered something particularly
pleasing it became a habit to
either refer to the program for
it's name, provided it was not
visible in a sign on the side of
the stage. Folks memorized the
names of good acts and the per-
formers built up a following.
Now we have the name of the
act announced by the master of
ceremony and generally forgot
: ten before the act appears. If
it rings the bell the theater
patron goes home and tells his
neighbor, There's a darned
good dancing act at the Fox
this week. | don't know their
names but they've very clever.
You should see those fellows
throw that girl around"
We have singers, tap dancers,
adagio teams, acrobats, musi-
clans, comedians and contortion-
lists parading for a fleeting few
moments in the footlight glare
and then forgotten-that is as
far as names are concerned.
/ am not concerned with pre-
pairing a brief advocating
printed programs for large mo-
ton picture theaters. realize
the impracticability Of such a
plan.
What / do think would estab-
lish a closer relation between
act and audience is a return to
the annunciator or the printed
sign system, with the name of
the entertainers readily avail
able whenever they did some
thing which made them worth
remembering.
It is conceivable that the
master of ceremony will not
grow enthusiastic about such a
proposal. And yet doubt much
whether it will aimpair his use
fulness or menace his job. AS
q matter Of fact it would merely
supplement his announcement
and give the entertainers q bet
ter chance to impress their
names on the patrons of the
seats.
So ends the Saturday lesson
Lest there be any misunder.
L.. = N 4 a a.. ~