Evening star., 1934-08-10

This is brought 90 mind BIZ that
appalling error recently made at a
local tfeater when Patricia Bowman
was offered on the same bill with
Here Comes the Navy" This was
IN embarrassing gesture not only on
the part Of the tl1eeter but for the
audience that came shere The Gag
ney film, built for q youngish trade,
naturally attracted nocks Of college
and subcoIleee folk. who, fired with
the enthusiastic slapstick Of the film.
found it hard to get down TO ballet
dancing performed In the classic
method which such an artist as Miss
Bowman naturally adopts. II was a
major crime to hear the balcony sit
back and yawn while this lady
danced In the way which Fokine and
Massine had taught her. II was,
further, q mistake to imagine that a
Cagney audience should want 10 see
such dancing.
II makes about as much sense as
n you took your best friend TO see
Mae West and then 10 top It of
stopped of at the Metropolitan Opera
House for that ballet in Faust"
atASEA aAAg ~ 40 DO NnSEAlLAUl 10 cEk ~
mood In a film theater as II is to set
o mood at regular play. You can't
expect a persons sympathies to be
strewn between Laurel and Hardy and
quartet from "Rigoletto."
The wide range OF amusement COW
cred IN o stage show nowadays Is, Of
course. something TO be pleased about.
For little more than two bits you can
see Garbo. tumbling team. a comedy
duo. radio star. fat lady, a soprano
and one OF the worlds best orchestras.
Besides that, II film star is on the
loose. and can be wheedled into the
theater for the modest sum OF say
5000 for the week, you may see your
favorite movie queen or king do some
pretty amazing stuff-usually to your
sorrow.
However, on an average, stage shows
today are better than they were yester-
day. even IL sometimes the speed with
which they are thrown together leaves
the audiences nerves about as tangled
rs most Of the artists nerves must
be, too.
This matter OF featuring a ballet
dancer along with Cagney film seems,
however, to justify comment. We
doubt II Miss Bowman was too happy
about It either. She had been asked
10 dance In "Scheherazade," at the
Lewiston Stadium in New York. This
would have been one Of the features
OF her year. Yet when she was asked
70 be relieved from her local engage
ment the powers-that-be said, Nay"
We wonder il this was wise. Even If
there was nobody to take her place, she
would have been spared the embarrass-
ment Of young audiences that knew
not what they were seeing. She would
have danced with her whole heart
not with half heart. 1t must have
been little discouraging for her to
hear the ill-timed croakings Of I'LL
hammered youngsters only plucked q
few minutes before that from the gay
and giddy antics Of that excellent
actor, Cagney. She went through
with It nobly. But we wonder If she
doesn't feel less kindly toward Mr..
Cagney than she used to.
MUSINGS at random
Dear Jane Wyatt (Hollywood,
Calif): II YOU can be so good In your
screen debut why the dickens can't
other young actresses be the same?
Answer (not from Miss WYATT:
Because most of the other young ac-
tresses aren't actresses.
And how, Mrs. Pat Campbell. did
you get your dog to 60 up those stairs
so nicely in "One More River?" And
is that dog the same one we watched
you trot up and down the platform
on our trek back from HOLLYWOOD?
CWe doubt 1t. Mrs. Pat, however, is
never without animals.)
II, Mr.. Public, you doubt that di-
rector James Whale has background,
II you 60 to his house you viii find
''Alice in Wonderland" on his library
table.
BY the way, why is 1t that you read
about Arthur Godfrey in some papers
and not in others? Often he is
scratched out locally of a certain
popular syndicated column.
Congratulations today, Mrs. Carter
Barron. on having attained the ripe
age of blank. You can't be over 10
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