The Washington times., 1929-01-21

SCREENINGS
By ANDREW r. KELLEY

"~~tNN0 Wv VII &~@AA 49, 49,
"Fioretta," now in the midst Of
three-weeks' engagement in
Philadelphia. Desiree Tabor,
tried out in the role Of the
Duchess and finding it largely
decorative. turned in her notice,
as did her predecessor, Tessa
Kosta.
What the girls with the voices
would like is a chance at the
role now handled by Dorothy
Knapp, minus vocal embellish-
ment. But Dorothy has a cop
per riveted hold on that assign
ment.
Incidentally, Mr.. Carroll will
tilt the scale for "Fioretta
when it goes into his own thea
ter. It will be $7.70 for or
chestra seats, which is S1.1O
more than "Whoopee" or the
rival musical hits are charging.
John Golden sends along some
cheering news. He puts a new
show, starring Francine Larri-
more, in rehearsal today, and
the opening is scheduled for the
night of February IL at the
National Theater. Rachel
Crothers wrote this one and it
is at present titled Lets Be
Gay"
Miss Larrimore, you may re-
call, has had two seasons DEM
onstrating her Workmanship as
Roxie Hart in Chicago" the
lurid Maurine Watkins melo-
drama. Before that she was in
"Nice People" one of the first
of the wild flapper plays.
Another February booking at
the q Street playhouse is "Tne
High Road" which was one of
the first of the new seasons
dramatic hits and has just
taken to the road.
Belasco observations: Kate
Smith shaking 'em hot and fast
in Jersey walk" and reducing
at the rate of q pound a show.
Kate leaves for Chicago next
week to take up 90 weeks Of
r. K. o. vaudeville time. Rob-
ert Capron pulling Eddie Dow
ling's monologue from a stage
box and getting away with it
nicely. Mary Deery, erstwhile
of the Fox ballet now stepping
out in one for a tap dance and
as half of a sister team. Very
good. John Kline, Harriet Hoe
tor, and other principals Of
Three Musketeers' enjoying a
busman's holiday. Charles EN-
erson Cook in the lobby tabbing
a fine Sunday night audience.
Sometimes boorish minority
in an audience can be so annoy
ingly rude to an entertainer,
they inspire sympathy for the
victim and pity for their own
ignorance. Such an exhibition
was given at Loew's Palace
Saturday afternoon when a few
ill,bred patrons "razzed" Doro-
they Nevin, whose fine voice
was worthy of close attention
Her gestures, it is conceded,
were a bit extravagant but her
well-trained voice was way
above the average heard in
presentation acts.
Song completed, the soloist
retired to the wings amid
thunderous applause. Not all
the pleadings of Wesley Eddy
could induce an encore appear
ance, or even a bow. Which
was one occasion, at least, where
absence registered contempt
very effectively.
Picture Addict writes this
department clever letters anent
the movie programs Tin which
/ agree almost 95 per cent?, but
he makes such embarrassing
comparisons i hesitate to COM
nit them to type lest an end
less controversy develop.
am sure though he viii be
interested, as matter of news,
in the fact that Wesley Eddy
stopped the Palace show cold
Saturday afternoon. Now, ]
know stopping the show is
generally expert showmanship,
implying a knowledge ofa all
the little back-stage tricks, such
as manipulating music, bows.
etc. But this hating the pro-
ceedings was genuine. Wesley
just sang the chorus Of "I'll Get
By as Long as / Have You"
and they forced an encore. Yes,
sir, Picture Addict" / am sorry
you were not present. But
maybe you were.
And az between Wesley Eddy
and that imitation Sam Bernard
comedian who starts off leading
the Palace Syncopators, well,
I'm in favor Of going right into
the dance.
Submarine" feature which
was road showed in many of the
Granger houses at $3.50 top, is
now on view at the Earle, q
graphic picture of the horror
and agonizing suspense attend
ing the sinking and rescue Of a
U boat, woven around an inter-
esting story.
There are some remarkable
underwater scenes, in fact all
of the ship ahoy atmosphere of
Uncle Sans fleet captured by
the camera is realistic.
The weak link in its story is
that Jack Holt as q hero spends
all night making up his mind
whether to go to the rescue of a