Evening star., 1934-04-09

as an dQdptcI VI 4lIot-- dtC plo
that it is a better play than it
Even if you are an hysterical Sim
clair Lewis admirer. after you have
seen this play you must be conscious
that its new medium is more vigorous
and infinitely more dramatic than
was the book Mr.. Howard has an un-
canny ability of shaping up each scene
so that its finale is as good as the
finale of any well-built play. BY
concentrating on these brief flnales
and by thus carrying the audiences
interest forward at a swift and eager
pace (there are many scenes TO each
Of the three acts) he eliminates what
sometimes was tedium in the book
and makes every new shift in the
story's progression one that is of vital
interest. Perhaps the best of what
might be called these every-so-often
anti-climaxes is the one where Fay
BANTER, as the wife. burns up her
husbands letter. AS her lover puts
his cigarette lighter to it and the
paper springs into flame, the stage
lights fade and all you see for those
next few seconds is the paper held
high and bright and dying in the
now dark and faded room.
While it may be difficult to imagine
this as a keenly exciting bit OF
dramaturgy, as staged by the un-
canny Max Gordon, who is at present
father to four widely diversified
Broadway successes. it is something
that you will remember. Further
than that, as Mr.. Howard has adapted
this story, every little scene has some
device which closes 1t with similar
satisfaction. Students Of the drama
may we'll look to Mr.. Howard for
advice. In the matter of dramatic
intuition and the heightening of emo
tion as taken from the printed page
and translated to the stage he has
no equal.
"Dodsworth," of course, stars Walter
Huston, an actor well known to Wash
ington. particularly since last Fall,
when he played film actor down at
Fort .Myer. While Mr.. Huston's
Dodsworth is a keenly developed char
acter. rounded after that Of Mr.. Lewis
bitter drawing, it is Fay Banter as
the wife who walks away with the
show. Miss BANTER makes the wife
an even more pitiable object than she
was in the novel-such a weak. un-
determined woman, with an eagerness
to escape old age that, like the villain
in "The Drunkard" and other we'll
seasoned melodramas, she gets hiSSed
before the final curtain. At the end
of the play she is left SO cold and
high and dry by her husband that
it is all the audience can do to re-
frain from bursting into wild shouts
OF glee. Miss BANTER makes her an
extremely unpleasant woman. and one
you would like to drown hourly in the
Potomac.
BY now you may have gathered that
We enjoyed this Howard adaptation.
We did. And we think you will. We
went with a lady who said she en-
jOyed it just as much as she did 'As
Thousands Cheer" And that's some
thing, even though 'Dodsworth" is
just about as comparable to "As
Thousands Cheer" as Sailors Beware"
might be to Green Pastures
WITH the announcement made to-
day by the New York Theater
Guild that "Ah wilderness" will come
to Washington next season. there
comes also news that Will Rogers will
return to the stage in West Coast
production Of this play starting early
next month. Mr.. Rogers will play
the George M Cohan role.
!.
TRY to get to see these screen
- celebrities when they come East
One of our purposes In going to New
York this week end was to get a
glimpse of Gloria Swanson and Robert
Montgomery. Miss Swanson was re-
ported Ill" and the M-G-M office,
after three days of searching, didn't
have any idea of Bob's whereabouts.
We've been trying to find him our
selves" they said Presumably Mr..
Montgomery was on his farm up in
Brewster, N. Y where it seems. he
is spending quiet and pastoral vaca-
tion-for which one can't very we'll
blame him.
X r X II
TONIGHT'S lone dramatic offering
= will be the new Queenie Smith
comedy. Every Thursday" with
young film actor Leon Janney in the
supporting cast. Lest you forget, Miss
Smith was at one time one of our
most-sought-after musical comedy
stars, appearing in Tip Toes" and
other musical offerings. She is also,
by the way, the wife of Robert Gar
land. one of Broadway's leading thea
ter scribes.
Il Il X
NTHE DREAM OF MY PEOPLE"
the first talking and singing
motion picture made in the Holy
Land, and featuring the late Cantor
Joseph Rosenblatt, will be shown at
the Masonic Temple Auditorium for
two days, starting next Saturday. Per-
formapces will be continuous from 3
to IL pm. Dialogue is in Jewish, but
will be repeated in English, according
to the announcement.
CTEvE COCHRAN is back in towr
~ and all set for his National Play.
ers' season. Says he, II went to Sc,
The Pursuit Of Happiness in New
York and laughed my head OF. Thi
sounds promising inasmuch as Mr.