Evening star., 1933-09-27


corner of Wiltshire Boulevard Il
back again, via the Brown Derby,
other places where free speech al
were angry with your neighbors
Sulting them, you passed it off witt
sarcastically doubtful of small o.
rival with a bitter so what" Thi
way of Sparring with your enemie:
wide open for whatever else might
At that time it never occurred to any
one, however, that the cinema would
take this up and shout it across the
screen. A few weeks ago we heard a
modest little skip it" in some film
we forget which. We thought to our
selves then: We'll, as long as they
offer this in small doses to the public
the public can't possibly pick it up and
use it in the way in which it dig IL
Eat Sop few seasons ago"
We were wrong. If you attended Mr..
de Miles gargantuan spectacle OF
small boys running large city this
week you must have heard almost a
hundred skip its" Yesterday, too,
for instance, we were Mortified to hear
pretty Maurine O'Sullivan say (in
"St,.ye Mother" in which Alice Brady
once again plays a painted stage
Firago): We'll, in mothers words, so
what?" Whenever the dialogue came
to an impasse the phrase would be
dragged out again. And in This Day
and Age" whenever the lads become
mentally befudd!ed there are a slew
Of skip it's"
= A few seasons ago a noted British
author, Eric Linklater sat in a speak
easy one night and recorded what he
considered to be slice of real Amer
lio1o itco1f int q
series of IL zat SOP" Yeah, that's
3d." His essay was a most enlighten-
ing example of what is used in the
home, on the farm and at a bar-this
being a cross-section of American life.
If he had been there today We are
afraid his diary would have been one
long skip it, punctuated with 80
what's" and he would have been
amazed at the tenacity with which the
American public hangs on to such
things.
The other evening We played a game.
1t consisted in seeing how many skip
tts' we could say, and how little else
we could say. The game was very easy.
You can say practically anything with
Skip it." And if you get into jam
all you have to add is a so what?"
and you're safely out of the bushes.
AS a game this is all right. But as
continual dialogue it becomes exceed
hgly irksome The fact that the screen
g using it so much becomes, in fact,
downright bore. Count the number of
times you hear such a phrase in the
next three films you attend. And
Froan aloud every time you hear it.
BY now We are thoroughly aware that
Hollywood coined these vapid phrases
and that it has become comfortable
for it to use them. 1t is an easy, dull,
stupid way to get around saying
nothing 1t is time something else was
Invented.
For an answer We can hear Holly
wood saying: Skip it, or again, so
vhat!"
DREVIEW OF THE Emperor Jones"
= yesterday Not as exciting as the
play But triumph for Paul Robson
mo, he's a concernt and opera singer,
and no relation of Mays! Don't know
whether the public will take to all that
fake scenery or not. Still. it is work.
manlike Job brilliantly acted by Mr..
Robson and with the addition of some
music which allows Robson occasional
bursts of singing. It comes here in an
other week, after Miss Robson gets
Through being lady for two weeks at
R-K-O Keith's. This film. incidentally
I"Lady for a Day'l. has done so we'll
that it is being held over for another
week And, lest you forget, Arthur God
frey Is there, too-doing his work with
such gusto that it is all Hardie Mealin
can do sometimes to get him off the
gtage.
WELL-Aimee died! Not literally,
fvS but in vaudeville lingo. she died"
All the fire of her evangelistic yearnings
could not gct her across the Capitol
lNew York; Theatel. So she will not
come here. Yesterday messengers sped
hot-foot across the giant Loew-Fox
Theater to tell the management that
Aimee Mcpherson had been Cancelled.
Managers wrung their hands and shed
disappointed tears. Across their lob
bies flaming announcement told the
story of ADuee's imminent approach.
What she would and what she would
not do had been broadcast from every
Publicity nook and Granny.
But Aimee died. And therefore she
will not be able to build that temple