The Washington times., 1930-03-20
BELASCO GETS
READY FOR
NEXT YEAR
By ANDREW r. KELLEY

BelaSco, VINO always manages 70
get at least one hit a season, al
ready looking forward to l930-31
in the theater. AS spring ap-
proaches he forwards announce
ment that Its a Wise Child" his
farce comedy hit rounding out a
full season at the Belasco Thcater
in New York. will play Washing
ton the week Of February Is,
1881, at the National Theater.
So the first booking for the
legitimate season of 1930-31 Is
hereby duly noted, and I trust
Mr.. Belasco will be hanging
around the wings ready to take
an embarrassed bow and speak
appropriately at the end Of act
two on the evening Of the D. c.
opening.
Rudyard Kipling's followers are
now claiming that the English
1iterateur really originated 'f1t" as
used in the Clara Bow sense. The
Kipling volume which elucidates
on TT" is "Traffics and Discover
ies," and a story, Mrs. Bathurst, {"
with the following words used by
a man in describing the charm Of
certain women:
"It isn't beauty, so to speak,
nor good talk, necessarily. It's
just IT."
So much for Kipling and also
a paragraph for w. Somerset
Maugham's claim on the word
In a play called THE Camel S
Back" which opened at Polls
here and closed but a few weeks
later. "It" was analyzed very fully
by one Of the characters.
Without desire to prolong the
controversy, Elinor Glyn's Three
Weeks" with the flaming red
headed Bow, really gave "It" a
standing in our language. Others
may have used the word before
but Clara was the real circulation
manager. Just as others may
have said "Whoopee" before
Winchell made it the slang word
Of the decade.
Wilma Banky's contract with
Samuel Goldwyn expires on April
! and Hollywood advices say it
will not be renewed. Finding
stories to fit the accent is evil
dently too much. Banky's latest,
"a Lady to Love-" current at the
Palace, is her second talker, the
first audible feature being This
Is Heaven" in which the stars
voice was used sparingly.
The lovely Wilma, in this scrib-
bler's opinion, is miscast in Lady
to Love-" And so is Edward 9.
Robinson. I never saw Robinson
since the days when he was a
stock actor on F Street, where !
liked him less than in this fea-
ture in which he seemed to be
just acting and not living the
role.
George Perry Marshall, who
once retained the Robinson act
ing services for a very nominal
sum, considers him one of the
greatest actors on the American
stage. So do I. Only lack of
stature and good looks have kept
him from being ranked with the
eminent Of the stage. He always
could act.
DR.. Herbert T. Kalmus, presi-
dent of the Technicolor Corpora
tion, predicts that the careers Of
motion picture stars will be pro-
1onged 10 or Is years by color
photography. The wrinkles, he
claims, do not show so obviously
in color.
Mebbe so, mebbe so, my dear
Doctor. But neither do the fea-
lures show as sharply as they
might and it's one strong ob-
lection to color as against black
and white for bringing out faces
distinctly.
Better than a month in the
country for bracing up purposes
is opening the mail and scan-
ming two letters such as those
which come from Dr. Margaret
B. Kauffold, of 1918 Eighteenth
st. N. W.. and a Rockville, Md,
correspondent, who pens charm
ing phrases with the ease of a
poet. Having read both missives
a couple of times I can never
again blame the actor who pastes
up his good notices and re-reads
them just to make sure, when
ever he is called adequate"
DR.. Kauffold raises the point
that when this editor pronounced
it Economical" with the accent
on the e" dnstead of "Ecko-
nomical' as if spelled 'Eck~ /,
in a radio talk, that such pro-
nunciation is justified by the
dictionaries and by President
Hoover in his addresses over
the air. With such allies what
more can I say to my WMAL
critic.
AS for Rockville I can only
add as the red Buick rolls down
the main street, harming
town and charming people, par
ticularly -"
''Well," says one of the regular
readers of this column who brings
his frank opinion to the editors