Evening star., 1934-04-27

Miss Sten will have tall, lean, some
times spinx-like Gary Cooper for her
leading man.
Then again on June l. Mr.. Gold
wyn will start plotting Miss Sten
through TolStoys Resurrection" Civ
ing her, in this case, the capable
Fredric March as head man" You
cannot say, therefore, that Miss Sten
Is through" With Resurrection"
"Barbarry Coast" Mr.. Cooper and Mr..
March at her elbow. we should say
she was really just beginning.
ONE of the items from England's
Broadway which is provoking
Comment. is the news that the Lunts
and Noel Coward have formed some
sort of a theatric merger and will
present plays of their own choosing
in London. Discussing this recently
with Miss Helen Westley of Theater
Guild fame. We seemed to detect a bit
of wiStfulness on her part, that the
Lunts would not be coming back to
the guild, although" said Miss West
ley. I'VE should be delighted to have
them If we could find suitable plays"
With Douglas Fairbanks. jr.. and a
handful of other native celebrities bat
ting about Picadilly. there seems to be
something about good old England
which has its fascination for the sue
cessful actor these days If we are
TO lose the LuntS, someone, for heaven
sakes, hang on to Miss Hayes and
Miss Cornell and Miss LeGallienne,
and keep them plodding around the
land in the Salubrious manner to
which they have been accustomed.
Ihe only actress who seems to have
enjoyed returning home is Ethel
Barrymore. But that, possibly, was
Tor another reason.
Il HE Cue and Curtain CLUB of
- George Washington University de-
serves more than simple eulogy for its
presentation of Journeys End" last
night at Wardman Park The per-
1ormance was acted with little hint
OF the amateur, with evident faith in
the text, and with indication that
some OF the participants some day will
very likely grow up to be important
men Of the theater. Constance Con-
nor Brown, who directed the produc-
ton. revived memories of the original
by her deft handling of the players
and by her skill in keeping the acting
more restrained than young acting
very often wants to be. Although
some of the voices lacked the author
lty that they should have had; al
though that perilous matter of
whether you should bust OUT with
thick British accents or whether YOU
shouldn't, kept the performers from
always being on an even keel, it was
for the most part an interesting and
effective production and one which
was a great credit to its makers.
The play also presented to local
audiences a young actor who should,
IN theater lingo, go places Al
though he did not have by any means
the leading role, he was completely
at his ease in an assignment supreme
ly difficult for young man of his
years. We refer to Harold Stepler,
who played Lieut.. Osborne, one of the
truly kindly characters of current
theater fiction, with conSummate
ease and complete understanding
Embryo actors would do we'll to model
themselves after him He has the
gift of talking slowly and distinctly
and of reaching his climaxes through
the brain and not through the lungs.
Others who handled difficult roles
capably were Leonard Stevens, as
Capt. Stanhope; Walter Pick, as
Raleigh (bOth of them should, how
ever. remember not to scream in fall
setto); kenn Romney, who inciden-
tally is also valuable member of the
local press; Sylvan Trotter and STAN
ley Peterson. We regret that we were
not able to stay through the entire
play and thus missed the work of
MeSsrs. Hamilton Colt. Karl Gray,
Stuart Abraham, James KinSella and
George Conn. Gunnery Sergt. j. B.
De Spears, F. M. C. r.. M. c., the
clubs technical adviser, who told the
boys how to wear their uniforms and
how to make distant guns sound like
guns rather than succession Of
thunder storms also deserves his share
of the general congratulations.
IT WAS little difficult last night
after two acts of Mr.. Sherriff's war
writings to get down to A. A. Milne.
But having heard that Paul Alexander
and Ruth Perrott were doing great
things in "To Have the Honor" at
Pierce Hall we dropped in for their
last act to see what was what. We
are glad we did. We saw that slightly
over-Whimsical telephone scene done
SO well that you almost forgot how
whimsical 1t was. Furthermore, Miss
Perrott, being a titian-haired beauty,
and Mr.. Alexander being a patent
leather-haired Romeo, not only acted
we'll together but looked we'll together.
Somebody has suggested that they
undertake Romeo and Juliet"
y X
THEY'VE cut some 20 minutes out
of Zig Saw now, and you'll find
more laughs in the second and third
acts. They've had rehearsals after
every performance-even after the
matinee-and Miss Dawn Powell,
whose gift of satire and trenchant wit
is certainly unique, has been working
her head off. So has director Moeller
and the others. Backstage We found
Miss Byington the other afternoon
bobbing around with a smile and great
good will, and looking 40 years younger