The Washington times., 1930-01-27
GLEANINCS
SCREENINGS
BY ANDREW r. KELLEY


nave long been close friends.
Mr., SINNERS tour in Papa
Juan" has been something of a
triumph. The play enjoyed
bumper business in Philadelphia,
duplicated the prosperity in Bal
tlmore and seems set for a happy
week in Washington. All of
which shows Producer Gilbert
Miller guessed wrong by pass
Ing up Papa Juan" for the
road. Mr.. Skinner is his own
manager. At the completion of
a brief tour, the star goes TO
Hollywood for the talkieS and
an indefinite stay on the West
Coast.
Polls must come down by
July to make way for the
Governments building program.
The news has stirred the Sun
day feature writer's into digging
up muSty clippings about the
once Albaugh's Grand Opera
House and ChaSe's, before
Sylvester Poll and the Shu-
berts appeared upon the scene.
There is a wealth of history
and tradition due to be cooked
up for the Sunday sections
on the Avenue playhouse.
Meanwhile practical theater
men are asking will the Shu-
bertS pass up Washington next
season?" The Poll custer will
leave them without suitable
theater unless they decide on
expensive alterations for the
Belasco, which is improbable.
Here's one solution of the
problem which a second sight
manager slipped to this de-
partment Saturday; R-K-O has
made such a smashing success
of it's dip into picture it will
soon build or buy a house
with greater capacity in Wash
ington. In that event the
Shuberts will take over Keith's." !"
Sounds reasonable if you can
swallow all the "ifs."
George Jean Nathan quits
the American Mercury and his
literary side-kick, Henry L.
Mencken, March L. New York
gossip says he will affiliate
with the Mirror, the pink
tabloid which already has as
writing stars Walter Winchell
and Mark Hellinger. Nathan'S
last quoted price for taking up
daily newspaper work was
$4,000 a year.
Ninety-year-old John D. Rocke-
feller, still tinid Of the alrplane,
climbs in and merely taxis down
the field with a Florida aviator,
for the glory of MoVietone.
"Bless YOU" "Bless you" says
the worlds richest man passing
out shiny dimes to the pilot and
his wife. Then as an after
thought Bless the Standard
Oil" The wisecrack gets a roar
from the Fox Theater audiences.
Al Smith tells in the Movie
tone this week why he calls it
"Raddio." At least he explains
rather proudly one suspects
that his pronunciation OF the
word is justified by a Harvard
professor in English, Nathan
Haskell Dole. you wouldn't
say "raydical" when you mean
radical" says Al. So far as
is known this is his first and
only explanation offered by the
popular ex-governor on this
diction. Al offers further an
exchange of dialogue with James
Middleton Cox on the hazards
of golf and looks as though he
is enjoying himself in Florida.
Claude Saunders, division man
aeer for R-K-O in the territory
which includes Washington,
baltimore and Philadelphia, ar
rived in the Capital today to
take over his new duties. He
will make his headquarters base
in Keith's house, having, like
many another theatrical execu-
tive, a yen for living in our
beautiful city. House Manager
Corbin Shield is showing the
new R-K-O the sights and also
introducing him to motion pic
ture editors and critics.
Song bootleggers-Very active
nm r Street-are causing the
music publishers no end OF
worry. They take the words
of popular songs, set them in
type. print them on a single
sheet of paper and peddle the
collection of lyrics at a dime
a copy. Of course, they ignore
such thing as a copyright
law and Tin Pan Alley con-
siders them a serious evil
The difficulty is in finding
the responsible king of the
song bootleggers. The pub
fishers have employed detec-
tives and have made some ar
rests in New York city, but
street peddlers all over the
land seem to have little diff
Guilty in getting a supply and
the belief is that each city
has it's own head of this mild
form of music racketeering.
In Washington, the investiga-
ton has disclosed that the
cut of Al Jolson used on the
pink song sheets came origin
ally from a newspaper refer
ence department. How it
came into possession of the
song sheet publisher is now
the object of another investi-