Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-30

season with a good hit, said
Brock Pemberton in a recent in
terview with a Herald Tribune
scribe in New York, when people
are just getting back from the
country, the SeaShore and Europe,
you have audiences that are keen
on being entertained. They want
novelty end freshness and diver
sion critics and playgoerS
haven't become bored with num-
Der of shows. The menace
of hard times which has affected
the amusement field as a whole is
no menace toward superior the
atrical productions, but
serves only to eliminate shows
from the bottom up. Even
if times should get worse-perish
the thought-there will always be
a public for successful and high
grade plays. Someone will al
ways have money"
There Is a lot of meat in what
the distinguished playwright and
producer says, If you are not dis
posed to be argumentative. And
that is not all he said, for he in
timated that the legitimate the
alter has an even break with, If not
the advantage over, the talking pic
ture houses because Of their i'm
mense overhead. That part of the
interview must have been intended
for New York, however. Much
might be said and written in
analysis of what Mr.. Pemberton
is quoted as saying.
GAYS Mr.. Pemberton: 1.-The peo-
- pie want novelty, freshness
and diversion" With the entire
xarmulae limited. to about two
SdRre plots, and with the Metro
GUdwyn Mayer film ! / brar y
shpwing about a quarter of
on its shelves, the prospect
Of novelty and freshness in
the matter of plots and, for
that matter, in story seems some
what doubtful, even without wait
ing to hear from the other coun-
ties. It might also be a difficult
matter to impart seeming nov
city and freshness to the method
Of treatment of an old plot and a
worked-oyer. story. The theater,
therefore, Is thrown back upon
the talented and finished players
to inspire the dramatiSts IN pro-
viding something different" for
public diversion within its temples
at least. 50 1t would seem. And
so the hope Of the theater, IS 1t
ever has been, is the utilization
Of the dramatic talents and the
atric art Of its dramatiStS and
players. And this hope seems to
be realized by what follows of the
Pemberton quotations: 1.-THE men
ace of hard times which has af-
fected the amusement field as a
whole is no menace toward
superior theatrical productions
Even ii times get worse-perish
the thought-there will always be
a public for successful, high grade
plays"
THEREIN lies the keynote to the
whole problem in the theater
-"high-grade plays" but with the
IF they are presented by talented
players with theatric art" High
grade plays bungled by bad actors
won't turn the trick, any more
than will high-grade players with
a theatrical flop, as they call the
bad plays. Thus the duty OF the
producer is plainly set before him,
and for the reasons set forth he
Is also shown why the theater is
immortal. The fails.Ee te EsI 81 ;
nize two little facts, the NECESSITY
for high-grade plays presented
with Theatre art by competent
players, and the gross disregard
of the public from whom the audi
enceS are drawn, by letting the
theaterS deteriorate in many WAYS
and by box Office discourteSy and
other tricks of the trade, furnish
the prime reasons why "the road
was lost to the theater" and why
the movie captured it's audiences.
It will take more than press repre-
sentative enthusiasm to remedy
these evils, and Washington, the
Capital Of the United States, is
right here to tell them so.