Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-05


of cities enjoying and supporting q
season OF spoken drama has decreased, stage
folk have steadily drifted to Hollywood and
talking pictures have received increasing public
favor.
Lenore Uric is not of the party of the pessi-
mlstS. She served a stretch in silent pictures
10 years ago-and it was not to her liking
She Is back again on the Hollywood roster to
do a series of talkies. She achieved fame and
success on the legitimate stage under the tute-
lage OF the most astute director of the drama
David Belasco. She has been favorite of
those VINO like their plays hard-boed, with a
lasting emotional kick. She knows the public
the drama and pictures.
THE stage will never disappear" says Miss
Uric. 1T is form of entertainment whit h
will survive any sort of competition. While
stage technique and play-writing have been
adapting themselves to the changed public
tastes. the theater itself has not learned any
thing from the more successful policy of the
picture houses.
But the great inroads made by the talking
pictures will awaken the theater. The speak
ing stage is certain to be restored to greater
popular favor than ever in its history. The
world is entertainment mad and will continue
TO seek the theater as a source of diversion"
MISS Uric pointed out that there has
been no essential change in the relation
between the play and the audience since the
time of Shakespeare. The curtain divides the
audience from the play. The lights are sud-
denly turned out the curtain rises abruptly and
the audience is flung from indulgence in light
conversation in a lighted auditorium to a dark
ened house, with instantaneous change of
focus. into the mood of the play.
After gathering the minds of all these per-
sons and concentrating their attention upon
the play" says Miss Uric, "the players hold
them for the duration of one act and then,
with the dropping of the curtain are forced
TO release them from the atmosphere of the
play. Another interval of an alien atmosphere
and again the cast commands the scattered
attention Of the audience and renews whatever
emotional magic they have in order to create
the illusion of continuity
THE picture people have gone far toward
creating the continuity of mood so important
to the success of any kind of dramatic enter
tainment. They make the lights soft and rest
full Instead of bright lamps the colors are
mellow and conducive to a glowing state of
mind upon which impression is more easily
made.
The decoration of the house, the comfort
OF the seats, the attention given to proper
acoustics all elements which enter into
the entertainment values of the program.
Theater owners have paid little attention to
these details. They have used hard lights
asked the public to sit on uncomfortable seats
and permitted the house to be cold and empty
of emotional values between the acts.
In the picture houses you may see an entire
drama from beginning to end without interrupt
ton, remaining in the grip of it's atmosphere
and characters through the entire sequence OF
the story.
Those who saw the stage performances of
The Miracle know how much was added to
the play by the cathedral atmosphere of the
house and the clever use of smoke and semi
darkness to close scene and introduce the
following one.
7
play like it. would have a special curtain
preceding each act with vital point depict
ing scenes similar to the mood of the act to
follow. I would have three or four Negro
singers with voices that had feeling, and they
would play musical instruments between the
acts and sing songs which would prepare the
audience for the next scene.
Using such accessory entertainment, with