Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-20

TUST 80 years ago, when as
toniShed New Workers first
~ reached for their newspaper
across their rolls and coffee
they read on the first page: "a
bloOmer costume made its appear
ance in Sixth avenue day before
yesterday. A crowd of 'conServa-
tives' manifested their hostility
to this progressive movement by
deriSion. New ideas are COM
PEELED to wage fierce battle in this
world before they obtain recog-
milton and favor. Two boomers
appeared In Broadway and two in
Washington Square yesterday"
Although boomers seem TO
have passed into permanent OBJ
livion, and although the news
paper has, long since, devoted It's
front pages to less personal col
umns, the idea behind all this
new ideas are compelled TO
wage fierce battle" ETC., striking,
as It might seem, wistful boost
for the good old bloomers, applies
to that ferociouSly earthly art,
the ''talkies," even In this salty
age.
Battles as royal as the lusty Tits
of Camelot, when Arthur and all
his sbeavered" knights split the
earth asunder, have ragged
around the movie camps, from the
screams OF pale women complain
ing that their children were get
ting poisoned by the average
cinema diet, to swan-throated
stars who cried great, globular
tears because their salaries re-
fused to jump up to the 10000 a
week class. And, too, the matter
Of whether to have music or not
to have music, whether to have
songs or be mum as Saint Clo-
thilde, whether laughing or crying
was more desired by the multi
tudeS, and whether it was true
that Doug Fairbanks was getting
a divorce because he happened to
be playing golf in Scotland-a1
these have brought forth wars OF
the most outrageous proportions.
4 + X
IN keeping with the birthday
greetings that every one in
general is extending the Para
mount Corporation for having
lived 20 untainted years, we might
suggest what at this point are the
accomplishments that have grown
out of all these wars and birth
days and truceS and verbal bomb
shellings and otherwise. And why,
like the boomers, all this has to
be undergone before recognition
and favor" may be obtained.
In the first place, the stars are
no longer creatures apart" Al
though they have less flesh, they
have infinitely more blood. They
have been dragged from the
stellar spaces where formerly they
were noiSily adored and have been
set down more or less humanity as
the running mates of ordinary
mortalS.
Secondly, after long and pain
full siege, it has been discovered
that emotions set forth by the
stage actor may be transferred to
the screen with little difference
witness this weeks Street
Scene" which, faithfully adhering
to the text of the play, energies
still as clear, brilliant and thor
oughly Skillful bit Of cinematic
theatricalism) and that being a
movie star does not neceSSitate
that doleful plunging into affected
mannerismS, which hurled Ala
Nazimova, as dynamic as she was
on the stage, eventually over the
picture cliffs.
Thirdly, the hurried search into
the past for cinematic material
has brought forth some Of the old
classics" which, otherwise, the
younger folk might never have
seen.
Fourthly, and this the most
important of all, the screen has
fashioned a definite pattern for
itself which seems to be working
well. After a long struggle it has
been more or less agreed land
this was first sponsored by Para
mount) that a musical back
ground is an effective means of
heightening the atmospheric con-
ditions. Thus, the screen becomes
an art in itself, combining the
technician and the hosts of
fill in those dead" spaces, which
sometimes amounted to nothing.
Now, with the help of this music,
even the climbing OF q flight of
stairs remember in bad Girl"?)
may be made into something quite
exciting.
X \ ~
PUT don't forget that these new
ideas" were compelled to wage
fierce battle in order to gain
recognition. When Paramount
first used this music much as 1t |
Is today such q howl went up as
,..ty.I.& La,vo va~a% %1xM VIC cInin0toT1 |