Evening star., 1933-08-01
HIS SCREEN FUTURE
REMAINS IN DOUBT
'Washingtonians Gather and
Show Talents for August
Revue.
BY E. de S. MELCHER.

SclOuS Unan DelOIe. III DCol Va
Enemies" which came to the Columbia
yesterday, you, will find him as agree
able, as nicely smiling, as smoothly
dressed as ever and yet more ill at ease
and less able to cope with this acting
racket
We are sorry for this, inasmuch as
Mr.. Rogers, when last here, expressed
himself earnestly and hopefully as
aspiring to a new and potent screen
future. Tired OF being 10 College
he seemed to want to seize the bull
Thespis by the horns and give him
giant toss.
The toss in BEST of Enemies" is such
a minor one that you will barely be
able to notice it all all When Rogers
is around you feel curiously i'll at ease,
and as though wondering II ne VIII get
through the next scene without mlshap:
While the audience, still chock full OF
Roger fans (anxious ladies who have
his autograph tucked away somewhere
still may be heard to sigh and mutter,
.isnt he cute?" as far as being cute
is concerned and other adJectlVes
which have long since begun to hurt
Mr. Rogers soul the time Tor Sucn
things has long since passed. He may
be cute to those who want him to oe,
but beyond that he Is nice young
man with a pleasant personallty whose
acting starts with saving line ana
then stops. If you will watch him the
rest of the time you will observe ina.
he stands around like an anlmateo
totem pole. and that every move seems
to be not only an effort but the OUT
growth of a directors snort.
Best of Enemies calieo
"Best of Friends"-and known origin.
allv as Five Cents a Glass" isn't, ol
course, a film to get excited about. us
theme is gentle and its development
even eentler than that. 1t concerns TWO
families who live side by side and VINO
argue and fight in the manner OF inc
Cohens and the Kelleys. In this case
II isn't as bad as that, since the ngh'-
ees are Frank Morgan and Joe cav
thorne. In fact, their heated arguments
are the best of the film. When tneir
arguments are over and the nero ana
the heroine Marion Nixon) have De-
come as one. the battle is through anc
the picture finished, and you 60 nome
feeling about as you did when you first
went to see 1t.
A Clark and Mccullough comedy
funny if YOU think so-and one OF those
"Do You Remember" which is splen-
did, plus news reels, completes the Dill
+ X x X
20 to the theater-the motion-pic-
ture theater-almost any day now
and YOU will see, along about half way
through the vaudeville program, three
Young ladies-not too young-clustereo
around a microphone all singing (usu-
ally) the same song. 1t has gotten to
be a positive mania-this grouping OF
three. You can't have one-or two
II must be three. As the curtains part,
there they are-smiling sweetly. after
YOU have heard something which is
supposed to be their theme song-some-
thing you are meant to have become
familiar with over the radio. There
they stand-sisters Somebody or other
gay and sweet and Just mite coy. 10Y
Then at the sound of the gong mo the
piano) they begin-a modern song
you've heard it over the air thrice
hourly since it was created. They sing
at first a nicely modulated number-a
soprano, an alto and a contralto. Then
suddenly one of them sticks her neck
forward-and out of the air comes
basso-profundo "boOp- poop ee-oop, or
. "vo-do-de-o," and then one of the
others slides under the mike and you
hear "bup-pup-e-dup' or a
"mmmmmm- boob" which ends with a
snort, sends the audience into fits. After
this there Is no telling what will hap
pen. A series Of grunts and groans, in
terspersed with hiccough, or sneeze,
or 4 Rargle-which all bundled together
goes to make music" It's gotten now
SO that you can never tell what is COM
Ing next. It's sort of a game with
the sisters knowing all the tricks and
you knowing none of them. If some
body only would come out now-all
alone-and sing song without benefit
Of mike, 'boop-poops," or anything
What do you suppose would happen?
We believe the audience would stand
upon its feet and cheer.
I Asst night one of the Wizards larg-
est rooms seethed with Washing
toms talent. You have no idea
how many persons there are in this
city who can sing When Irish Eyes
Are Smiling" and stand on their head
If called upon. On large platform,
some IS aspirants to stage triumphs in
the forthcoming Loew-Fox Revue, kicked
up their heels and made merry tup
until II pm, at which time we had to
leave) before impressario Gene Ford,
manager Carter Barron, assistant Ned
McGurn, assistant to the manager, Irene
Weber, and sprinkling of drama
critics, who came in from the shade
outside to the 1O3 degree room. 1t was
comforting to see all this talent
Frankly, we never suspected Washing
ton had that much. Nice voices, good
dancers, able monologistS, people who
played on saws, who sang into mikes
and out of mikes, who did splits" and
crewled around like leopards-it was
q comforting sight to those who. are
busy planning this revue. Now the
only thing that seems to be missing are
chorus lassies and lads. Evidently the
city is so full of star talent that it
hasn't done much to provide humble
stage fare. Even job in the chorus
isn't to be sneezed at in this revue,
what with all straight velvet and no
catches in this kind of stage debut.
CITY theatric briefs:
~ Don't overlook the opening of the
new musical R-K-O Keith's. Moon
light and Pretzels," which, in spite of
its title, Is having special Wednesday
evening debut at BIS O'Clock. This
Il the film which marks Roger Pryor's
entrance lntO the Cdlkuls Cciiuioiu-
j. Raymond Bell IS being welcomed
to town as a new member of the hard
working Loew firm. He will do special
story work for this F street concern
He comes from the "Sooth" and Is well
known there as a newspaperman, the
ater manager and press man.
Robert Montgomery may come here
sin person" week after next. Gene
Ford, who is arranging Mr.. Montgom-
ery's Capitol Theater New York; stage
debut for this Friday, says that he will
try to bring him here before he hops
OF for Bermuda.
Ethel Barrymore's manager IS trying
very hard to guard the two stage en-
frances of the Earle theater so that
nobody can get in at all. The brother
Of Frank McHugh, he is taking his
aalaYdianshin extremely serious.