Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-11

vt IS the aim of "The PLAY of the
Month Club" to lead bewildered
theatergoers to Broadway's most
i fitting dramas. Operating in way
similar to that of the several book
confederacieS, it undertakes to supply
its members with the best entertain
ment to be found by its market-wise
commissioners. These Investigators,
unlike those Of the literary guilds, are
unidentified. The advertisements of
The Play of the Month Club" are not
decorated with Photographic frieze of its
scouts, and its dependents, therefore.
must trust to unseen and unknown
tipsters. Their record in the first half
of this, their first season, temptS conf
dence. 1t is said Of them that they
were sagacious enough to buy seats for
Grand Hotel" 10 minutes after the
curtain went up. The club is founded
on the same belief that one play per
month is sufficient. 1t puts the overfed
-glutton on a diet, restricting him
to the more nutritious and palatable
offerings. Its latest bulletin proposes
Ivor Novelties The Truth Came" as
the best play of the period, preferring
it to the haggard "Elektra" of Sophocles,
The Theater Guilds yellow-backed Mid
night" AL Woods malicious tub-thump-
er, Five Star Final" and Inspector
General" Jed Harris testament to his
native belief in the Russian sense of
humor.
Although 1.-THE Truth Game" does
not seem to be exactly what the doctors
order, it is as fair a substitute as could
be found by PLAY of the Month Club"
in a pinch. Mr.. Novelties comedy is a
series of pleasant twitterings about a
group of pretty but inconsequential
English people engaged in Irritation and
romance. The author in person acts a
gay parlor desperate, who stops at
nothing in his campaign to win the
rich, hesitant and wiStful belle of the
entertainment (MiSS Phoebe FOSTER. ]
thought that Mr.. Novelties insistent
ROBUSTNESS was just a bit oppressive,
and so, perhaps, did the jury of the
PLAY of the Month Club" But it
liked, as did. his good looks and his
amiability If it did not care much for
his acting or his drama. Miss Billie
Burke Is in 1.-THE Truth Came" hui
morouSly and handsomely imperSonat-
ing an acquiSitive woman of the world
in her twinkling though sure-fire way.
1t was perhaps her bright performance,
and the bland grotesqueries Of Miss Viola
Tree as the awkward and unkempt
daughter of duke, that sold, as the
commercial saying goes, THE Truth
Game" to the oracles.
4 X *&
A RTHUR HAMNdERSTEIN announces
that as a producer he has given
up the ghost. His latest extravaganza,
"Ballyhoo," having failed to attract
pleasure seekers in paying quantities, is
turned over to his employees from the
stellar w. c. Fields to the earthly stage
mechanics, to do with 1t as they see fit.
Mr.. Hammerstein estimates his recent
losses as a purveyor of light Broadway
amusement to be more than a million
dollars. A mere drop, according to
other investors in American securities,
in an empty bucket.
Arthur Hopkins has had his reverses
this season, and so have Charles Dill
ingham, Gilbert Miller, Al Woods,
George c. Tyler, the Shuberts, the
changers and Chester Erskine Their
successes are as needles in a hayStack
of failures. Yet they are undismayed
and they persist in a grim Broadway
determination Garry on!" they cry
as they surmount the flopS and hivvers
Mr. Ziegfeld, learning that Smiles" was
not productive, did not quiz. After
scolding us all for our objections to
his show, he took it apart and put it
together again, with more animated
songs, dances ana WneeZeSs NOW, the
accountants tell me, Smiles" in the
amended version is vivified and is play
ing to over half as much money as
Grand Hotel" Mr.. Hammerstein,
though a son of the indomitable Oscar,
is too sensitive for Broadway's rough
and tumble. When, later in the season,
he ventures to appear again in the
amusement arena, trust that he will
protect his glass jaw with fortifying
opera.
X
CHARLES HANSON TOWNE suggests
- that complete catalogue of young
actresses whose feats of histrfonism
this season entitle them to be claSsed
among the rainbows Of the stage. The
assignment is difficult, since the candi-
dates are so numerous and 50 talented.
Who, Mr.. Towne inqutRes approximate
ly are coming over the hill to sup
plant If not to replace Katharine Cor