The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1934-09-13
Favors Broadway

Ing Tor S15,OUO cash ana q per
centage of the profits and is be
ing permitted to make the picture
exactly as he feels it should b.
made.
Actually he has no particular
use for Hollywood after one exper
fence there, and sees NO reason
why pictures should not be made
effectively in the East. HeAl
him on this point:
Making movies started here
on Broadway. Left home and
mother and went West. And
now thanks to a far-sighted
Snowman like Harold Franklin,
will be made on Broadway
again.
mind you, / don't mean that
Hollywood is going to close up.
What do mean is that Broad
way is a great spot and a logical
spot to make a certain number
of pictures each year. Particu.
arly those pictures whose stories
lend themselves to highly
specialized backgrounds and
which call for the talent that is
30 plentiful on Broadway.
81 don't say that it will be
done wholesale. On the con-
trary, 1 think it will be highly
selective, and that the pictures
will be hall-marked, just like the
Park ave. and the Fifth ave.
shops. That's Franklin'S idea
and I'm for him.
Broadway has its 0rganiZa-
tiOnS for opera, symphonies,
shows, night clubs, vaudeville
and radio. No reason in the
world why it can't put on pic
lures. It's a grand idea and it's
worth trying.
For Good Stories
eve hear a lot of talk about
technique and equipment and
facilities and mechanical i'm
provements and electrical CAD
gets and what-n0tS. And with
out all these gadgets and what
nOts we just can't make movies.
"All Of which is swell, elegant,
and fine and dandy. But it
seems to me that / kind of re-
member a line which reads
something like this: The play
Is the thing
"And while the maSter-minds
Of the movies have done all
sorts of weird, wild and wonder
full things with their cOntrap-
lions and gadgets and techni-
calities and technicianS, they
haven't yet found how to make
q good picture without a good
story and without good actors.
eff I remember rightly, guy
named Shakespeare did pretty
well by himself, without the aid
of micrOphOnes and telephones
and saxophones. And I'm told
Il wasn't around then, that be-
ing a little before my time-but
/ have it on pretty good author
ity that Bill the Bard not only
managed to struggle along with
out gadgetS, cOntraptiOns and
cOntrivances, but also had to
get along without the services of
supervisors and secretaries and
COllabOratOrs and adapters, and
he still did pretty good.
mind you, Pm not decrying
modern improvements, but no
body yet has been able to mo-
nOpOliZe brains or talent and
certainly no cOuntry-much less
q section of the cOuntry-can
establish a monopoly on the pro-
duction of anything calling for
creative work. It's been tried
but it just won't work. Talent
will insist upon busting out in
the darndest places and just
where you least expect it.
Frances Starr Play
Frances STAIRS new play, Lady
Jane" is evidently not going to bt
among the new seasons dramatic
triumphs. A consensus of Broad
way opinion is definitely for Mis-!
Starr, lukewarm on the merits O.
the drama. Some excerpts:
John Mason Brown: ut i!
much of play nor does i
gain much from most of its pres
ent performers"
Gilbert Gabriel: But Lad!
Jane turned out to be a talky
tritely put and generally unthrill
ing matter. I must do Mr.. Har
wood the rudenesS of calling i
quite, quite tahSome."
Richard Lockbridge: "There i
no little discussion of the BIZ
'Should-a-woman-tell?' question, tt
which the author has evidentl!
given a great deal of thought with
out, so far as can tell, arriving
at any particular conclusion"
Burns Mantle:
The new H. M. Harwood dram;
with which Arch Selwyn and H
B. Franklin started their season
at the Plymouth Theater las
night, now called Lady Jane
after having been known as 9TH
Old Folks at Home" in London
is a drama making a virtue o
infidelity. Which will probabl,
excite some Decency League o
other.
Robert Garland:
Lady Jane" provides a suav
and civilized evening in the the
alter. Last night a Suave and civ
ilized congregation made mucl
of it. The production is diStin