Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-20

III VEN tliilC WI. AlckAtlQ QO6S one
l. OF these "Hot-Chal" things,
cries arise that he Is living in
L. the past. Drama lovers, weary
Of musical comedy's prosaic for
mula, fear that his obdurate adherence
to 1t Is an omen that he has reached
the angle of Renaissance and is obliv-
ious to the shifting horizons While
there may be grounds for these sad
misgivings, particularly in the matter
of "Hot-Chal", 1t is not yet the hour
to tap the melancholy bells All that
Mr.. Ziegfeld has to do to still the
Broadway keeners and change their
signs to cheers is to buy himself a new
libretto.
Now in Hot Char. he has all the
equipment for an extravaganza of the
first flight save novelty. The Ziegfeld
girls are present. In their customary
splendor, and so is Joseph Urban with
his rainbow paint-pots. For a clown
he has Bert Lahr. the shaggiest of the
harlequins, and one who Is unafraid to
crack any joke no matter how reckless.
The igneous Miss Lupe Velez and Buddy
Rogers, prominent emigres from Holly
wood, are at hand, and there are So
licitous tunes out of Ray Hendersons
obliging melodeon But this more or
less precious material Is wasted on a
stale book" telling an old-fashioned
musical comedy yarn in an old-fash-
toned musical comedy manner.
When I say that "Hot-Cha!" shows
signs of decrepitude l speak for the
more advanced patrons of the frivolous
theater, for playgoers who like "Of
Thee 1 Sing" Face the Music" and
1.-THE Laugh Parade" That there are
others of different tastes, preferring
the orthodox to the insurgent, was
l,,yf toft oI1dianPp of ho
New York premiere. 1t was real
congress Of the local fine-f1ower, con-
tanning men, women and children from
every field of metropolitan Importance.
The librettists of "Hot-Chap, MeSSrs.
Brown, Henderson, Hellinger and Kraft,
are renowned as wits and racconteurS,
they are an urban quartet outside the
theater. but in it they seem to lose
sophistication. Perhaps they have been
too long In contact with Broadway's flea
shows, dime museums and shooting gal
leries, and have become a trifie rusti-
Gated. Or it may be that they have
fields conservative predictions, and
share his apparent adherence Of
change Possibly, If "Hot-Cha is not
too successful, they will all get together
next time, and produce more radical
entertainment, emphasizing humor
rather than sentimental horseplay.
4 =
DRESTON Sturges, author of Strictly
Dishonorable," continues to post
pone fulflllment of the promise made
In that vivacious comedy. and loiters in
dolently in gaudy show named Child
of Manhattan" Let us not, however,
lose patience with Mr.. Sturges, since
he may be merely off the path tenn
,.tlx ruin IN h
back. He calls his new play THE Por-
trait Of a Gal"-and what a gall She
miss Dorothy Hall) is shabby dance
hall belle, who says "Perdon me" and
"erstyers," and who throughout the
story Is a mess Of ludicrous illiteracy
and ignorance. 1t is Mr.. Sturges fancy
nevertheless, to mate her with an i'm
posing New York vavasour (Reginald
Owen)-rich, majestic and unsuscep-
tible. There isn't square minute in
its Is acts which range from Broadway
to Tia Juana. and include Park ave-
pital in the Bronx. Child of Manhat-
tan" introduces Miss Peggy Fears as a
debutante producer-and fiery recruit
to the forces that seek to destroy de-
structive drama critics.
IF you are in search Of bawdy vamp
in the Lysistrata fashion, you will
find it in 1.-The Warriors Husband"
where. to use one of the plays own
phrases, the Ninth Labor of Hercules
is given a swift kick in the tunic. 1t is
the idea of the author, Julian Thomp-
son, to take the legend and by misshap-
ing it with comic warts and putty noses
produce a pleasing monstrosity. In
order to do this he shows Hercules as
shy and f1abby giant in falsetto quest
of Hippolyta's girdle; Homer as press
agent, and Achilles as shirker with a
sore foot. Did my iambic pentameters
knock 'em cold?" asks the poet of Gag
ANUS. the herald. This may give you
an impression of the farces incorrigible
irreverence, when it is added that at
another point in the performance