Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26

Wv howdy do!
All the kings horses
and all the kings men are romp-
ing up and down the boulevard!
The militia are Furnishing up
their accoutrements, ready at a
nod of the head to fight or to flop.
Horrid war is on the horizon.
Something, indeed, seems to have
broken loose again. And it's all
because the theater has given no
tice that it is trying to break away
from bad company and be itself.
Movie editors and clerics, as with
the mighty voice of Vox Populi,
are roaring defiantly, They shall
not pass" And big slice of the
world Is wondering if they will.
There is hope, it is true, that
these jealous protagoniStS are
bit mistaken in their Midsummer
tantrum. And there is a posi-
bility that one or both are shoot
ing at the wrong target. Perhaps
If their miSconception of the
eternal veritieS can be put to the
test, the conflict may be averted
and peace may be permitted to
dribble along until the advance
notices arrive in the Fall. Post
ponementS help a lot at times,
and, anyway, the policewomen
appear to be headsteady.
"A GREAT many of our good
- people, it is suspected, get
''the theater" tangled up with
'the show business" especially
since the advent of the talking
picture. Few, it must be admitted,
will deny that the stage, during
the centuries of its existence, like
many of the celebrities it has
helped to make famous, ever and
anon has been disposed to indulge
its idiotic fling Certainly in some
periods of its history it has been
the object of virtuouS vitupera-
ton, both clerical and lay. Its
death and determination often
have appeared to be imminent,
and that is certainly death blow
to the hope that it is immortal.
But if it be true that the hegira
of all the worthwhile players to
Hollywood has attained the pro-
portion reported, then, indeed,
GI1S1C 1Sll v d WIOP VI A4OPC AOA CAAC
American theater, for the ever
present longing of the average
actor to live without work has at
last been appeaSed. And no ma
chine can operate without a
motor.
Those who have taken the flight
to indulge a preference baited
with golden reward include, we
are told, the redoubtable Richard
Bennett, Americas fiery war
horse of the theater," and this
after he has been nurSed through
IS long years of fame and f1nan-
cial support aboard the ship he is
now abandoning. Yes, even Rich
ard has forsaken the dirty
racket least until it can
do better than Hollywood in the
way of real stories, and, perhaps
also in the matter of reward. At
this very moment and right now
it should be chronicled--and not
be permitted to slip out of the
memory-that even our great
dramatists, Eugene ONeill eX-
copied, have also drifted from the
stage immortal to help pep up
Hollywood. George ArliSS, also,
fine actor that he is, has ex-
pressed a preference to join the
non toiling lilies that he may
share in their financial harvest.
Ina Claire, too, our very own Ina,
long since took flight to the sunny
slopes of the Golden State-but
rumor hints that she may come
back. All this is very dreadful
THE chaplains among the kings
horses and the kings men,
however. seem bent upon boiling
and demolishing both the stage
and the cinema show. They de-.
clare that dramatic expression on
the stage in these evil days is
worse than in the movies. There
are some other points Of objec-
tion-au examples, however, being
selected from the movies. Sus-
picion strongly suggests, however,
that there is sore need of some
wise neutral who knows and who
can explain to the overheated
protagonists the exact difference
between the theater" and "the
show business"
Many sterling champions of the
theater doggedly contend that the
theater is not actually bad at
heart, although they are willing
to admit that it did Succumb to
dire temptation from quarters
that appear to be escaping the