Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-27

III
~ extraordinary lack of in
terest which has been
shown in the worlds most sue
ceSsful drama of blood, thunder
and inferiority complex, Mr..
Shakespeare's Hamlet" Where
in the name of Jezebel and all
her dancing sisters is this classic
And why has it lain for years
cuddled in dust, mothballS and
velum, miSerably neglected on the
shelf of the giant movie studios?
Years ago Max Beerbohm, Lon
don's pre-war (early 1900 theater
critic, in discussing the why's
and whereforS of this recurrent
drama, said: Hamlet has long
ceased to be treated as play.
It has become simply hoop
through which every very eminent
actor must, sooner or later, jump
Witness those scores of actors who
at the beginning of every the
atrical semester, even now, crawl
plaintively into their managers
office, spread themselves gener-
ously on each knee and whisper,
How about Hamlet this year? ]
could do It. Of course, I could do
it. I'm thin. My legs are good.
I'm not yet 49," To which the
manager replies in one Of the
vulgar inuendos Of this day:
"Baloney!"
Now that hundreds, thousands
even, Of Broadway's most fam
boyant theSpians have trotted out
to the coast, heavily signed on
the pictorial dotted line, 1t seems
strange that one of them hasn't
demanded Hamlet" and gotten
it. If it has been the habit since
the year l to present Mr.. Shake
Speare's most typical drama OF a
hypochondriac to hushed audi
ences, why haven't the chief
moguls of the screen unleaShed 1t
with a background Of soft music
but without, we hope, a happy
ending?
THE answers to this are, OF
course, fairly obvious. Who
could play the melancholy Dane?
But If, as Mr.. Beerbohm said, cit
has become simply hoop through
which every eminent actor must,
sooner or later jump" why hasn't
there been more jumping out on
the coast?
Actors are VIGOROUSLY inclined
to want to play parts they are
particularly untitled for. Miss
Pickford insisted on Kiki, Doug
las Fairbanks would be Petruchlo
and rumor has 1t that no less a
lady than Clara Bow would have
liked to play Cinderella. There
are, therefore, probably hordes OF
gentlemen on the coast, apostles
of baby faceiSm, or youths with
Jaws as generous as the EllipSe,
who have screamed for Hamlet"
to no avail. Yet not one of the
great chieftainS of Hollywood has
so much as thought of this Sor-
row-Smitten youth in tights, whose
kingdom ran rivers Of blood,
whose mother ran from one huS-
band into the poisonous arms OF
another, whose Ophelia twisted
garlandS around her throat and
leaped lightly into the brook.
Splendid chance for actors whose
voices are golden, whose tights
worn smoothly give evidence
neither of boWlegS or knockknees,
whose manner OF speech Is slightly
breathleSS and nobly cultural,
who, in other words, could be
something Of Barrymore.
DISCOUNTING the head Of the
house of Barrymore, who
could assume the dusky robes of
the Dane If Hamlet" competi-
ton was to take place before the
screen? Herewith Is a list of some
Of the stellar male leads" in
cinemadom, and suggestions why
they could play Hamlet-or why
they couldn't:
Leslie Howard-He has been
promised the role on the stage,
could do it probably better than
any actor of the "youngerS" and
is recommended as an Al Hamlet
for the screen.
Charlie Chaplin-HaS threat
ened to assume the melancholy
robes many a time-and yet,
would Chaplin be the same with
out a muStache-or would Hamlet
be the same with one?
Rudy Vallee-YeS, two ladies
seriously said he would look and
act the part to perfection.
Charlie Farrell-Well, If Hamlet