Evening star., 1932-12-11
Weakness in the Effort
To Protect Plays Climax
Keep Secret the Solution of Mystery Drama.
But This Adds to the Troubles of Reviewer
By Percy Hammond.

ner at Eight" have been fluently broad
cast, from the seduction of its ingenue
to the suicide of its moving picture star
Every one knows that in When Ladies
Meet" a virginia. authoress, about to
be overthrown by her amorous publisher,
is rescued from the doom of unchastity
at the end of the play. II is matter
of general information that Miss Grace
George in "Mademoiselle" assumes the
motherhood Of her wards illegitinate
child Perhaps if there had been silence
about these details the plays would
be more successful than they are.
Mr.. Lewis and his fellow complain
ants are possibly unaware of a review
er's bewildering responsibilities They
may not realize how vast is the con-
stituency of an urban newspaper, in
cluding as 1t does many patrons who
prefer to read about the entertainment
rather than to see 1t. When report a
play 1 am conscious of a duty to drama
lovers who live far from the theater,
Pennington, for instance, and who are
unable regularly to attend its cere-
monies Looking over my shoulder in
the breathless moments of morning
newspapers composition are a dozen
subscribers who want to know about
| the plays without taking the time, labor
and expense Of going TO see them. 4
| feel that ] owe these readers some con-
| sideration and therefore I occasionally
! print the news How, I ask Mr.. Lewis.
can the brilliant performances of Enilyn
williams and Katherine Krug In
Criminal at Large" be constructively
criticized without revealing what they
are and what they do? Should allow
the scrupulous veristic impersonation OF
Elizabeth Young as good schoolgirl.
who, in "Firebird," slays bad actor,
to go unpraised because the polite Mr..
Lewis and others less polite wish to be
surprised? II so, must apologize for
having disclosed the fact that Ethel
Norman and Jack Haley and Sid Sill
vers are very funny In a musical COM
edy revue called "Take a Chance"
X =
MISS GRACE MOORE, the starry
AVA primadonna Of THE Dubarry,"
sends me an ironic telegram expressing
gentle dissatisfaction with my comment
upon her appearance as a kings mu-
sical mistress in that routine operetta.
Miss Moore wires me as follows:
"It is a great consolation, after all
these years of consistent effort and
no mean success, to know that am
still, in Percy Hammond's estima-
ton. a minor goddess of song
thank you for your honesty. 1t is
very touching"
II had a plumed hat would sweep
the ground with it and express to Miss
Moore my regret that mischievous,
hurried and undisciplined. pen wrote
minor" instead of major" For the
beauties of her person and her voice
make her pre-eminent as songstress and
actress IN an otherwise slow, dull and
dated historical charade.
X * *x
MINUTES of the week:
AvA "The Great Magoo" Wherein
Ben Hecht and Gene Fowler obstrep-
erous limners of life in its earthier
aspects, illustrate the character and
habits of the Coney Island sideShow
people. 1t is a chrome panorama, de-
filed occasionally by dirty inscriptions
and glorified now and then by romance
Kelly is gifted and drunken "spieler";
its heroine (Claire Carleton) is a classy
carnival nautch girl, more to be pitied
than censured. Among its other pic
turesquely theatrical figures are
temperamental fiagpole sitter Victor
Killian) unstable, and his sweetheart
(Dennie Moore). A bravado and, one
fears, an inefficient and PROSTATE stunt.
Gay Divorce"-Fred Astaire flying
gracefully to and fro IN the arms of the
levitating and opalescent Clare Luce in
Frenchish farce by Dwight Taylor,
Samuel Hoffenstein, Kenneth Webb and
Cole Porter. This one, though smartly
stupid, is to be attended with real en-
joyment only by old ladies from Du-
buque.
The Mad Hopes"-A comic frenzy
written by Romney Brent, a humorous
and an uncelebrated American actor
from Mexico, at present a popular Lon
don pet in one OF Noel Coward's pro-
found entertainments. In it Violet
Kemble Cooper. Rex O'Malley, Harry
Ellerbe and an enchanting girl named
Jane Wyatt go through its gay spasms
with amazing alacrity. 1t is delirious
vacuum in which the principal charac-
tiers, irresponsible British bankrupts,
idling on the Azure Coast, gasp anus
ingly for breath Belonging among the
better Broadway ephemerae, its ex-
istence will be merry, if short.