Evening star., 1932-01-31

" " masterpieces that have
fallen to its share with
IN its fluCtuating season, Wash
lngtOn has reason to be prOuder
than even little OF N'York, where
the American theater germs abide
and where the best is never good
enOugh-they are so particular.
The fact is that New York simply
has to take lot Of what it doesn't
want Notwithstanding the fact
that its try-OutS have been tried
times beyond counting before it
gets them, the Great Metropolis
is, after all, the dog" that passes
final judgment for good many
millions of theatergoerS - and
dog is a term as inoffenSive in
the present meaning as fur
seal might be to the little fairies
of preSent-day fashion
Now we are to have something
heralded as over and far beyond
anything that has ever crossed
the District line. No less than
"the most perfect revue" The
myriadS who have seen and writ
ten about The Band Wagon" say
it is the biggest, the most elab-
crate. the most unusual, the
grandeSt bit of WhoOpee hurly-
burIy the mimic world has ever
known. And that, perhaps, eX-
plains why a very gifted and a
very careful writer of the king S
English was moved to a state of
ecstatic fascination that made
him call it the most perfect re-
vue." Things will happen that
way. But what does it matter, II
truth is at stake.
Think of it! Only five cities
outside New York in this wonder
full land of remote distances that
have the facilities to house and
welcome such a shoW-and Wash
ington one of them! Nine 7O-tooV
baggage cars needed to haul us
"A loads of scenery and effects.
An advance corps of engineers TO
prepare the way and make
ready the stage. A stage crew
more than five times the crew
usually required, and, wonder of
wonders! not a single, but
double revolving Stage-a new IN
yention that outdoeS them all-ln
order to unfurl its grandeur and
its lovelineSS! Is it any wonder
that we should dust off our even
ING dress, dig deep into our wal
lets. shine up the old automobile
and get ready to see it?
THIS seems like unusual eXtraV-
- agance in introducing a mere
show for a change Of bill at the
National, but there are SO many
things that have been said and
are being said about this Band
Wagon" by hard-boiled, cauStlc
critics and jubilant "1-saW-ltS"
that there must be some truth IN
some of it. and if only 10 per cent
of it is as wonderful and lovely as
it is said to be, all washington
ought to know it.
x
pUT that is not all. Everybody
may not care for revues. Some
surely prefer the play, and to all
each what could be more interest
ing and amusing than a play
about the modern columniSt, the
busy writer who knows every
bodv's business and tells about it
i'm the public press? Well, to
meet that demand the MeSSrs:
Shubert. via the PrOteSSlona!
PLAYERS. have sent down to the
local Shubert BelaSCO a play
called blessed Event" written by
Manuel Self and Forrest Wilson,
and it has been Whispered-it
concerns VoluminouS fact
finder" who, it is claimed, has set
them all talking. 1t is true, they
don't give his name, but rather
hope the vague hint may suggest
the very columniSt you may be
thinking about. There should be
a wonderful audience at every
performance of Blessed Event"
AS cosmic Joy is beginning to de-
velou once again in the human
heart. plays of this sort are said
20 scatter the byWayS with the
roses of mirth, and therefore our
modern theater finds a place for
them, becauSe-you will remem-
ber-all things are, in their tlnal
analysis, griSt for the gods OF the
theater. Even the burleSque of
our local Gayety has borrowed
from the famous Ziegfeld a title,
in part, if not the substance, OF
one of his glorified productions to