Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-27
Weather Conditions Do
Not Hamper Theatrical
Affairs Of the Capital
Season Opens in Full Blast Tomorrow Evening
With Rise of Shubert-Belasco Curtain Worth
while Attractions Scheduled for the Autumn.
By w. H. Landvoist.

TT isn't good showmanship to
talk about the weather, except
in plays. But try to stop the
proletariat during these balmy
days of September and see where
you get. However, notwithStand-
ing and nevertheless, the weather,
strange to say, has demonstrated
even in it's late approach to Fall
temperature, that the theater has
its friends, and that they are cast
ing their votes in the box off1ceS
for its return. Not only that, they
are willing to take chances, and
even to forgive and to forget, when
the play they patroniZe is not one
of those great hits we read about
more often than we see in Wash
ington. The. importance OF this
fact Is more evident to the close
observer than it may seem to the
atcl1-and-carry division OF our
population. The National The
alter broke-not the ice-but the
record in an onrushing heat wave
to see Glenn Hunter in q new
play that wasn't up to the stand
ard, although it might easily have
been made so with some show OF
concession on the part OF the
cock-sure playwright. But with
all that in the way, the box oftice
receipts for the week discounted
the weather and kept the financial
men some time at the duty. or
counting them-"a record" they
said.
Again last Monday, with Cher
ries Are Ripe" still short Of what
it eventually will be, house that
tossed something close to $700 in
the Golfers for the night, in spite
of a hysterical thermometer and a
perfect breeze control in the
weather Bureau, added an en-
couraging sign. When people turn
out to do that on one Of the warm
est evenings of the year, 1t is a
sign of interest akin to sacrifice
for a good thing. And so, what
ever may be the reports from out
living hamletS, even from the great
metropolis, with an Arthur Hop
kins failure after only four per-
! formances, courageous managers
who think 1t worth while to send
their wares this way-alwayS pro-
yided they manifest an honest
and an intelligent effort to please
may be sure of a sympathetic
response from the National Capt.
tai. And that's that, as the cur
rent wisecrackers so love to re-
mark.
TOMORROW evening, with all
the impressiveness that can
be created for the occasion, the
once famous theater of David
BelaSco'S choice, now called the
Shubert- BelaSco, will open its reg
ular theatrical season in due form,
albeit with "Once in a Lifetime"
which we are told SO Wearied its
original company after 401 per-
formanceS in New York that they
had to take a two-week vacation
for regeneration. And when the
Shubert-Belasco reopens, Wash
ington will be hitting on all 8 or
IL cylinders, as may seem the big
ger, so far as the legitimate the
alter Is concerned.
But, lest the reopening tomor-
row evening may not seem impoS-
ing enough-for the news of the
Shubert Undertakings which are
to supply the attractions hasn't
required many columns of any
mans journal to record thus far
the Messrs. Lee and j. ]. Shu-
bert are announcing a sort Of
bigger reopening a week later,
with "the American premiere" OF
1.-THE Improper Duchesse," whose
star, Irene Bordoni, has not yet
begun to cultivate the habit CT
playing to less than capacity at
every performance. When thing
is to be done, 1t should be well
done. And the emphatic manner
in which the MeSSrs. Shubert are
now re-opening the BelaSco with
what amounts to a double-header,
suggests the notion that they, too,
believe that the theater legitimate
has its friends, and that they are
ready to 60 with a fair start and
q worthwhile race to follow.
TT seems only fair to explain, at
this point, that "the Improper
DuchesSe" will be the first offer
ing in the new season Of what Is
known as THE Professional Play
ers," an organization jointly allied
to the exploitation of good drama
and the Shubert forces. The as
surances of this organization last