The Washington times., 1929-04-29
AND
SCREENINGS
BY ANDREW r. KELLEY

municipal censor of drama,
drops in on his way from
Florida, to observe there's not
I. . thing the matter with the
stage. "It will never die while
they keep it clean," AYERS Mr.
Casey.
Gamboling about the Belasco
stage last night in "Chauve-
Souris" was a living double Of
Greta Garbo. Who is she?
was unable to pick her name
out of the conglomeration Of
witches" "skys" and "ovas"
that adorn the program. Pos
sibly another Morris Gest find.
You know, the producer with
the fedora and flowing ties
gave Hollywood Baclanova from
one of his Russian companies.
"Are you a cfitic?" asks the
Fox Theater main door guardian
when / present che usual Annie
Oakleys. It depends. When /
write kind words about what
~~passes in review, the managers
say: "Did you read that swell
notice in The Times?" When it
happens to be uncomplimentary
they say: Nobody reads his
stuff" The actor looks it over,
finds out whether his name is
mentioned in the right way.
If it is, he takes a couple of
mental bows, mods his head and
surmises: "That fellow knows
his stuff" If it should be a
"pan," he reads it through and
probably wonders chow does he
hold his job?"
Still, / ought to be happy. /
know a Fox theater usher per-
sonally. And Manager Win
chester contributed a gracious
bow as l exited into the glorious
sunshine of a late Saturday
afternoon on F Street.
There are two little cliques
in Hollywood these days. Those
who are late of Broadway and
those who are all Hollywood.
The newcomers from the spoken
stage are nudging most of the
old, established favorites of the
silent screen into the back
ground. At the Metropolitan
you will observe "Skeets" Gala
CHER and Jack Oakie. Of the
spoken stage, taking very
prominent and effective part in
"Close Harmony" a story CO.
authored by Elsie Janis and CO.
directed by John Cromwell.
These are familiar names around
the Lambs and Friars clubs and
the N. v. A. Also Harry Green,
q veteran vaudevillian, blowing
up a brief opportunity into the
comedy supreme of the feature.
At the Earle Theater, Ned
Sparks, late of the legitimate,
giving Richard Dix a run for
first money in Nothing But
the Truth" Louis John Bar
tells, another Broadwayite, is in
a featured role in a picture
whose dialogue was knitted for
laughter by Willie Collier, and
Helen Kane is singing.
The Palace is all Willard
Mack and none but the Big
Street will take credit for any
fame he enjoys. Robert Ames
and Sylvia Field are others of
Actors Equity.
Only the stars who have
voices that register soothingly
and can add a bit of acting
talent, too, are surviving the
talking eliminations.- The work
is twice as hard. What makes
the passe stars madder is that
the New York invasion has
been marked by a cut in salaries
all round.
Loge box "crashers" at the
Palace face a new difficulty,
our Mr.. Ring reports. Mr.. Gull
len, Mr.. Ratio and Mr.. Harri-
man are no longer magic names
to fool the ushers. You must,
under the new regulation, be
vised by front office execu-
tive. Making it tougher for
the "one-eyed Connollys."
At the Fox / thoroughly en-
joyed the performance of John
Irving Fisher. / could say
without being untruthful that
he is the hit of the bill this
week. In fact, will say it.
The Fox master of ceremonies
is right into his stride. There
was always an air of "class" to
his moments in the spotlight
and now that he has found out
what the Fox audiences like he
Is endeavoring, and quite salts
factorily to fill the bill. Any
entertainer works under a handi-
cap trying to be intimate" in
4 house of the Fox Theater pro-
portions but Mr.. Fisher sue
ceeds amazingly. His piano skill
is unquestioned and this week
he recruits two of the Brusiloff
aliens and the trio are a real
asset to the musical program.
1t was my good fortune to see
Charlie Grapewin and Anna
Chance many, many times in
vaudeville. They comprised a
standard comedy sketch team,
and Mr.. Grapewin was distin-
guished by a shining pate which