The Washington times., 1934-10-02
Draw at Capitol

Off hand you might think the
Fokine ballet was high brow
stuff for the masses. Yet there is
the fact that at the Lewisohn Sta
dium in New York this past sum-
mer thousands of Is and so cent
customers we're turned away I'm.
able to get seats at the July con-
certs in which the Fokine ballet
appeared. That gave Louis K.
Sidney an idea. Into the Capitol
Theater went the Fokine chasing
spring damsels.
There is another sound reason
guiding the Fokine booking. Wash
ington with it's large student pop
ulation has invariably supported
well the intellectual and the ar
tistic in the theater. On the thea
ter map the Potomac shores are
rated an ideal spot for Shakes
peare. The balconies are invar-
iably filled with adolescents and
the matinee trade is brisk for the
Bard of Avon. Walter Hampden
in classic drama has always
drawn we'll here. The afternoon
dance recitals and such events as
the Russian ballet find an eager
and a profitable audience.
I happen to be one of those who
will have to be educated to an ap-
probation of the ballet. The last
time I sat in on such a chorerog-
raphy exhibit was when Roxy
opened the Radio City Music Hall
and I must confess that Mr.. Roth
afel wore me down and bored ME
to slumber with his classic dancers
expressing something or other. I
was not alone. They walked out
on Mr.. Roxy's program by the hun.
dredS even though young Mr..
Rockefeller, Mr.. Aylesworth, AL
Smith and others sat politely to
the farewell.
Bennett as Iris
I think possibly that the fact
Harold Kreutzberg, Martha Ora.
ham and others failed to let the
public in on just what they were
expressing may have had some.
thing to do with the indifference.
There were program notes but in
the semidarkened Music Hall few
had an opportunity to read them.
The dancing masters tell me
that at least half of the city is i'll
terested in the dance. This is par
TALLY borne out whenever a call
is issued for local entertainers to
fill these home made revues. The
army of tap dancers, toe sprites
and ball room gliderS that turn
out is Stupendous.
In the fashionable girls schools
OF Washington and vicinity, the
Seminaries and the private insti.
tutionS Of learning instruction in
grace. delsarte and the classic
arts is part of the curriculum.
Add to these the pupils of the
various temples devoted strictly
to the dance in its various forms
and you have considerable po-
tential audience.
To go with this aesthetic stage
program Carter Barron has booked
Constance BENEFITS "Outcast
Lady" This is. if you please, the
1884 name for Michael Arlen's
''Green Hat" am assured by
those who have seen it that the
Iris March projected by Miss
Bennett has been considerably
diluted and is no longer the un-
moral adventures who fitted
about Europe trying to forget a
tragic marriage. Connie has the
current rage among leading men,
Herbert Marshall, to help her out.
To my mind the Iris March
Of Greta Carlo was her greatest
screen Characterization. To be
sure it was a silent picture, but
''Women of Affairs" was a hum
dinger as directed by Clarence
Brown. Katherine Cornell had her
fling with Iris" on the stage and
made a beautiful job of it. They
say Connie Bennett, knowing she
was inviting comparison, really
stepped on the gas. Coast critics
credit the star with the finest
performance of her career. We
shall see.
Jack Aimes High
Somebody told Jack Garrison
that President Roosevelt likes
hillbilly music and nothing will
satisfy Jack until his act compris-
ing Charlie Bowman and the
Southern Mountaineers twang out
their high boot music in the East
Room of the White House.
Meanwhile he is delighted to