Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-12-25

M in the theater was that of
wv Cupid. This was many
a years ago. Cupid was sup
posed to stand firmly and quietly
on a pedestal in a Canadian vii
lage theatrical production. Miss
Dressler fell off the pedestal.
That fall was the beginning of her
rise in the theater.
Whether she has had her ups
or her downs, whether she has
left the stage and climbed back
onto it again, whether she has
sometimes not been funny when
she was meant to be funny-al
resolves itself into this: We can't
afford to lose Marie DRESSER.
This is our Christmas wish
and our New Year resolution. It
comes because Writer Jack Moi
fit has said that prosperity" is
Miss Dressler's last picture That
she is ready to retire. Even more,
that she has retired.
So, while other cinema players
are eating away at their Christ
mas birds, and while player this
is planning to be starred with
player that, and while Miss Gay
nor is definitely released from
her eternal love-feSt with Charlie
Farrell, and while Mary Pickford
is almost through with making
Secrets" (thus keeping Leslie
Howard from his intended Christ
mas holidays in his new house in
Surrey, which he told us about
in the middle of Animal King
dom" last season. and while
Hollywood runs a little wild over
having a day to itself outside of
the studios-the real thought of
the moment is that Marie DRESSER,
one of the last of the real trouperS,
must not be lost to the films.
Mr.. Motif has said: "She is an
old woman and she is very tired"
This we have respect for. But,
selfishly and every other way, the
prospect of facing a new cinema
year without a Dressler laugh is
a little appalling.
There are few players in Holly
wood for whom one feels genuine
regard. Stars bob up so quickly
and are lost so quickly that one
has scarcely time to catch ones
breath before there is something
new under the sun and the new
order is the old order. From the
moment, however, that Miss
DresSler appeared in the talkieS
a new kind of a feeling came into
this game. While there had been
funny comedians before, and
funny condolences, these, except
in the case of Mr.. Chaplin, were
invariably of the cuStard type and
were comparatively useless If they
we're not blessed with a pie or
other kind of a missile. Miss
Dressler's entrance was the signal
for good humor and pathos. She
was the first woman to combine
the smile and the tear, the first
actress, who, blessed with neither
beauty nor grace, grabbed her au-
dience by the scruff of the neck
and said: Laugh, darn you-and
now, cry"
From small parts which she
made to seem large and from
large parts which she made even
larger, she fought her way up
through a sea of pretty and vapid
Hollywood faces, and she emerged
as their queen mother. Then, all
in one or two jumps, by attend
ing to business, by working very
hard particularly for a woman
Of her yearS-remember that
scene in Emma" in which she
was waltzed around in the air?)
she became, as she is now, the
one really great personality of
the cinema. Miss Pickford has
lost her greatness. Miss Carlo
is too much of a myth to be great.
Miss DreSsler is known by all and
loved by all. She has her public
at her fireside as well as in the
theaters.
This, then, is the one time when
she should not retire. Having
whipped up more laughs in Pros
perity" than 10 other comedians
could have done, having created
for herself the most worthwhile
corner in the cinema kingdom,
having just begun to prove the
fact that people can go on max
ing funny films even after the
half dozen mark, she should Ger
tainly not throw up the sponge
Perhaps it is unkind to wish
her work when she prefers not to
work. Perhaps she feels that If
she continues her cinema career
the path may lead downward