Evening star., 1933-03-01

the hotel sofa looking grave and a
trif1e worn. Then in another minute
he was smiling, looking very cheerful
under that mop of thick black hair
(slghtly grayed from his Counsellor
at-Law'' powderingl. and discussed
the theater world with a twinkle IN
his eye which makes you believe that
his belief in his own comedy powers
is well founded.
Mr.. MUM is an actor worth talk
ing to. He is more than an actor
he is a philosopher and something
of a wit. He will tell you one min
ute about the "theaterless theater"
which he plans-a stage Utopia.
without scenery and doors doors
bother him), and in which there
shall be nobody but hundreds OF
Ruth Drapers." And in another
minute he will be jumping up to see
what the message at the door was,
whistling to his wife Git might be a
( code in which he is saying: Cant
go out now-the press has got me
corneredD, and then relaxing sud-
denly and airing his hopes and his
ambitions. which have to do not with
becoming the worlds greatest Ham
to do perfectly"
He would like to do comedy, not be-
cause it would be a new experience
for him and just lark" but be-
cause in the old days Che has been on
the stage for some Is years-ever
since he was wee bairn") he had
a pretty thorough training in it. The
role he enjoys most having played
was that of an old man in THE
Chief Thing" a Yiddish theater pro-
duction in which his characterlza-
ton was that of a man who got a
laugh out of everything in life-who
found humor tucked away in cor
ner of even the deepest eragedy.
That Is MUM, too. He is Scar
face" ane minute, the "CounSellor-
at-Law" the next, and suddenly he
will blossom out with grin which IS
q happy mixture of the child, the
humorist, the philosopher and the
genial commentator on the theater
and its function.
He does not like talking about his
brother and sister actors. 1T isn't
up to me to say whether they are
good or bad" he says modestly.
x X x
MUM will be delighted when he
can shave off his mustache. I'm
the meantime, however" he says, "it
is doing me good. No one recognizes
me this way" That is true No
one would think of Scarface with a
mustache. The cinema world thinks
of him as clean-shaven, with long
scar down one cheek, a giant dia-
mo,1d stickpin, suits that are pinched
in at the waist and a mouth that
turns quickly down at the corners.
His personality as you talk to him
is curiously magnetic At first he
seems quiet, shy, almost too modest.
Then suddenly you realize that this
is something of a calm before a
storm-that he is thinking deeply
and in another second he is sitting
back, his eyes Off somewhere in
distance, his face tense, his eyebrows
slightly puckered, his manner vital
and his words full and deep with
meaning.
You might call him an intense
dreamer. His dream of a "theater-
less theater" is an indication of this.
He forgets, however, that the theater
ism overburdened with Ruth Diapers
and that there aren't a fistful Of
NUNS.
The trouble with the movies is"
he will tell you, that every one is
trying to copy some one else. They
all want to see that you fit in other
peoples shoes. You must be either a
Gable, or Barrymore-or somebody
like that. What want always. first
and always he became momen-
tarlly tense about this-'is to be my
self. No matter what I do want
always to create a role as l see it
not the way some one else sees it."