Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-20

cialist sliding into uproarious tam
trumS.
The public reaction to all this seems
to bet all depends on how you
do it. The Loew's hoopla department
has laid upon our desk this morning.
for example, results of balloting on
the best performance delivered in
China Seas" Clark Gable leads the
poll with 1882 votes, which may be
attributed to the fact that a certain
percentage of American ladies would
always give Mr.. Gable vote even
If he were running for President or
captain of the team. or something.
X 4
TN SECOND place, however, we do
not find the palpitating Miss Har-
low or Wallace Berry. who made
being a meanie pay and pay, but
Lewis Stone, who earned 1893 votes
land more, if you ask u.s. as craven
sea captain, known throughout the
China seas as the man who saved his
own life when hundreds of passengers
died on boat he commanded
MI. oIOIlC dPpCdl AL a pa V va
this sort is all the more surprising and
his success the more pleasing because
he has long been typed" as noble
fellow. brave and self-sacrificing. who
went about the world surrendering his
pleasures, and usually his life. in order
that somebody else might prosper.
Eventually, in China Seas" he gets
all blown into tiny particles while re-
deeming himself as a hero, but any
one who gives the matter much
thought will realize his last and only
heroic act was motivated principally
by desire to show up the bos'n who
had sneered at him and that at heart
poor Mr.. Stone was a frightened man
in tough profession. He deserves a
laurel wreath for making the public
like him that way.
If you care, third in the poll went
to Miss Harlow, fourth to Mr.. Berry
and fifth to Robert Benchley. The
critics preferred Mr.. Benchley.
x
A LII $50 members of the second
class at Annapolis will bus over
for the opening of Annapolis Fare
we'll Thursday night at the Metro
politan. The picture plays one show
in the Metropolitan at $50 pm. and
the next morning moves to the Earle
for week.
X X
HARDIE MEAKIN has cir ched the
world premiere of the Maj. Bowes
amateur hour short subject. 1t will
open Wednesday when Katherine
Hepburn's Alice Adams" moves into
R-k-OKeith's. Maj Bowes pre-
sentS the actors just as he does on
the air. They include James Brown,
the colored singer from the Univer-
sity of Missouri Glee Club; the Okla
homa Mustangs from New Jersey,
Adolphus Robinson, 11-year- old tap
dancer; the Morris sisters, with their
saXophones: Doris Wester. who went
from the amateur ranks to the rain
bow room at Radio City in one bound;
the Coogan Hill Billies and others.
Our curiosity aroused by Molly La
lnontS work as Pheasant Vaughan in
"Jalna" and by the intense ballyhoo
preceding George Houston's appear
ance in The Melody Lingers On"
we have cleaned from certain mystic
rious writings of the Hollywood pub
liciticianS a few salient facts about
those newcomers.
To wit: That Miss Lamont got
into pictures by winning a beauty
contest conducted by a newspaper in
Johannesburg. South Africa, where she
was born. The prize was a trip to
London and a screen test. She
promptly got contract and appeared
in 40 English productions before COM
ing to R-K-O Radio Studios. She now
lives in California with her mother,
Is keen on sports and is rated an ex-
ceptional tennis player.
And two to wits: That George
Houston was born in New Jersey, was
the son of a blind evangelist and
toured with him, holding meetings on
street corners and the two of them
singing hymns. He studied at what
is now the Juilliard Institute, went to
the War, came back and studied
agriculture at Rutgers, gave it up
and became sailor on a tramp steam
er, tried being bank runner, a small
town music teacher and finally got
into the American Opera Company
at Rochester, N. Y. That was his
first break. Since. he has sung opera;
been guest performer before President
Coolidge and members of the cabinet
In a performance of Faust" here:
tried his hand at legitimate acting.
playing opposite Francine Larrimore
in Shooting Star" He also appeared
in sundry musical comedies, the latest
Thumbs Up" before Reliance Pic
lures brought him to the coast for his
present role opposite Josephine Hutch
ison.
Thisa anda that-mostly from Hol-
lywood:
Fred MacMurray Is the eighth
Hollywood leading man used in Kath-
arine Hepburn's pictures since she
came to the screen. MacMurray is
the male heart interest in Alice
Adams" which opens at R-K-O
Keith's tomorrow. The others we're
Paul Lukas and Douglas Montgomery,
in Little Women; Douglas Fair
banks, jr., and Adolph Menjou, in
Morning Glory; Ralph Bellamy and
Robert Young, in "Spitfire," and
Charles Boyer, in Break of Hearts"