The Washington times., 1929-05-31
GLEANINGS1
SCREENINGS
|: AND
By ANDREW r.. KELLEY


you're patient enough with old
Father Time.
So it develops that when
Wesley Eddy took ten days off
about six weeks ago, leaving
the Palace stage at short notice,
he was only making a talking
picture in the Metro Goldwyn
New York studios.
Mention at this late day is
timely because stray gossip had
the erstwhile NJ. C. eloping with
blonde stenographers, making
whoopee on Broadway and do
ing other more or less unconven-
tional cutting-up while on what
was presumably a vacation. As
a matter of fact, he was pre-
pairing a Movietone for his
Pittsburgh debut. The "tired.
out" excuse was the most con.
venient ruse to cover up too
early announcement Of Mr..
Eddy's departure from Wash
ington.
The Eddy debut in the talking
picture was evidently a success,
for this account of the M. C.'s
Penn Theater inaugural is given
by reviewer Cohen in Variety.
"If Teddy Joyce, the Penn's
m. c. and the Pittsburgh flap
pers' idol for whole year, made
it tough for any one to follow
him, then Germany won the
war. The reception Wesley
Eddy got from the tried-and-
true Penn mob in his first week
here made anything Joyce ever
received in any two of his 81
weeks shrink in comparison. A
riot; that's the only way to de-
scribe the Washington Palaces
former m. c. in his initial ap-
pearances. All he did was to
sing two songs, IF I Had You
and st. Louis Blues On both
occasions the show stopped for
several minutes until Eddy had
time to figure out where those
cold Pittsburgh audiences. were
he's heard so much about.
"Novel introduction put the
new m. C. in solid at outset.
Eddy had talking short of him.
self made in New York prior
to opening here, and reel was
flashed ON screen preceding
stage show. In this he intro
duees himself, pays tribute to
Joyce and is about to announce
the first number when he SEEM
ingly shutters. Then Eddy him.
self steps from the wings, tells
his shadow he's the new m. c.
and asks the screen to fade
away. They, Eddy and his
shadow, carry on conversation,
recalling boyhood days together
and such, with reel finally con-
descending to blow, leaving ros-
trum to flesh and blood. After
this it was duck soup for him.
Good showmanship this on part
of whoever conceived the idea
and stunt went across like
million bucks "
While on the subject of NJ. C.'s
this is q convenient point to
mention that Jack Pepper, the
boyish idol of the flapper trade
in the days when the Earle
was q combination vaudeville
house, has been married. A lot
of the folks insist Pepper was
the hest M. C. who ever hit
Washington, but let's not argue
about it. The new Mrs. Pepper
is known professionally as Gin
ger Rogers, and bride and groom
are working together in the
Orientale unit which provides the
stage bill at Major Bowes' Capt.
tol theater in New York this
week. The ceremony took place
nine weeks ago.
The one big disappointment
in box-office business for the
season which has passed for
Polls was the slim audiences
which turned out to greet Hal
Skelly in "Burlesque." A great
show, but the initiated inter-
preted the title as offering some
thing from the Columbia circuit
and stayed away. Arthur Hop
kins closed the big Broadway
success early because the road
public would not buy it.
Paramount is ready to release
the play as film musical. The
title for the screen feature will
be dance of Life" The Holly
wood reports have it that Have
lock Ellis has accepted $4,000 in
return for the right to use his
name. Ellis wrote a sex novel
with this catchy title, but it
has no relation to the celluloid
tale of Skid and Bonnie.
Warner Brothers made the
first all-talking picture. Warner
Brothers made the first screen
operetta. Now w. B. turn up
with the first screen musical
filmed entirely in technicolor.
We have had sequences of fea-
lures cameraed in violent reds
and greens, such as Richard
Dix's "Red Skin." but this new
picture. "On With the Show"
comes closer to natural coloring
than anything the screen has yet
offered. Upon this point every
critic who has seen this picture
seems to agree.
In the Warner Brothers West
ern studios, jealously guarded in
bank vaults, are the only
cameras yet equipped to take
| these improved colored films.