Evening star., 1933-02-05

" Tallulah Bankhead. 1t is
large and it is handsome.
It was painted by expensive and
popular and justly noted Augustus
John. It was first visible at the
Royal Academy of London. Thou
sands of theater worshiping
patrons passed by it there daily
and remarked at Mr.. Johns un-
canny insight into London's ia
vorite actresS-an actress who
was once described as a "frail
little girl with cornflower blue
eyes and pale yellow hair"
This is not the Tallulah Bank
head that film enthusiasts have
seen. Miss Bankhead had scarce
ly scattered the salt of the sea
from her on her voyage back here
than she was plucked from the
dock and hurled into the middle
Of as strange a Hollywood career
as any one has had.
If the Augustus John picture
can cry it probably did. That
somewhat radiant actress was
Immediately given ,Garbo roles.
Since it is a fact that most act
resses, once they become great"
pass through an amazing gallery
OF sorrowing characterizations-
the kind in which they pay and
pay and pay-Hollywood probably
decided that Miss Bankhead
should run the gamut of the bad.
And bad she was. Not probably
her fault, for even her friend and
sometime adviser, Playwright
Owen Davis, couldn't get her into
the straight and narrow. But she
went from "Tarnished Lady" to
'The Cheat" to MY Sin" and to
that impossible Thunder Below"
in which even a pack of seagulls
were frightened.
Then came Devil and the
Deep" and "Faithless," in which
she smiled for a minute and then
ran down the vale Of tears again.
A sad, sad business-and one
which did nobody any good.
TOMORROW night 1t is said
that Miss Bankhead will come
to Washington smiling, gay and
bright. Instead of long eyelashes
soaked in sorrow, she will reveal
lustrous, shining "orbs," and will
be neat and healthy and coneen-
tional to behold. Although sooth-
Ing press angels have stated that
her beauty will be as evident as
ever, this beauty will not be
cloaked in down. -at-the-heels felt
hat and raincoat. She will be
gaudy and giddy daughter of Park
avenue, reeking with coin and
bouncing with enthusiasm.
Tomorrow will be an event.
It will be an event, whether
the play is good or whether it is
bad. It will celebrate the scat
tering of Miss Bankhead's Holly
wood shackleS. It will reveal her
to American audiences "in the
flesh" for the first time since the
British took her up and made her
a thousand-fold more famous
than any one ever dreamed she
would be over here. It will be
something of a halfway point in
her career-to stay on the stage
or to return to the f1lms?-that
will be the question.
Miss Bankhead's career has
been an illogical one. No one has
succeeded in the exact manner in
which she has. Her Broadway
roses have been thin and few.
Small parts here and there; sue
ceeding Constance Binney in "39
East; something before that
called "The SQUAD Farm" then
Foot Loose" and finally Mice
People" in which, curiously
enough, Katharine Cornell had a
part which was even smaller than
hers. From a not too cordial
Broadway to stardom in London
the princes favorite"-lines Of
hero worshipers, Bankhead gowns,
Bankhead shoes, Bankhead ho-
siery, probably Bankhead candy
all the superficial hoop-la which
afflicts those who are suddenly
and overwhelmingly popular.
Broadway gasped. Looked over
its files. "But why-why Bank
head?" it said, scratching its
head.
Her roles In London were Tor
the most part light and enter
tanning. She seldom cried. She
was noted as a Coincidence"
That Is why London gaSped
when Hollywood began the ira
gedienne business. London has
seen her in Rachel Crothers' LET
Us Be Gay" and "Her Cardboard
Lover" and "The Gold Diggers."
It had also seen her in an early
Coward play, Fallen Angels,
and as Camille. But 1t preferred
her when she smiled.
No wonder then that Holly.