Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-25
Bv Lncins Beebe.


~ VERY day now at 1890 you
l. can discover a small but i'm
FASHIONED group Of lunchers
IL hunched over a narble-topped
table In the Piccadilly Pharm-
acy, in West Forty-fi street. Their
impassioned outcries are somewhat
muffied by lettuce and tomato sand
witches. Explanatory gestures fire.
quently upset tall frosted chocolates
into piles Of prompt script. More
forid and expansive arm sweepings
sometimes project morsels of toasted
bacon rolls the length of the room.
They are regarded with respectful ad-
miration by the bus boys and other
customers, for this is the general staff
Of Jubilee" in conference.
Almost daily Sam Harris comes over
between morning and afternoon re-
hearsas at the Music Box next door,
and, rain or shine, Cole Porter, Moss
Hart, Monte Woolley and Hassard
Short foregather there to invoke the
muses. Of revue and wonder if Jubilee"
will ever be ready for its Boston open
ing late next month.
Rehearsals started last week, the
principals and their directors on the
stage at the Music Box, the chorus
and Albertina Rasch, under the
ghastly economy Of single bulb on
the stage at the adjacent Imperial,
where the show eventually will be pre-
sented. Anxious TO report, even in its
gestatory stages, the most feverishly
anticipated revue Of several seasons,
we dropped around one afternoon and
persuaded John Peter Toohey to escort
us over the closely guarded premises.
The youths and maidens of the en-
semble were making faltering passes at
the routine of a number called When
They Begin the Beguin," and Miss
Rasch, who Is short and amiably ro-
tund and attired in black satin trous-
ers and a China silk white smock, was
showing them what it should actually
look like. A lad thumped the piano,
Miss Rssch and an assistant crossed
their arms, faced each other and went
through q sort Of panther waltz, the
youths and maidens watching, imi-
tating after a fashion.
Fearful and wonderful were the cos
tunes, the young ladies preferring an
arrangement cut like a bathing suit,
but made of coarse cheesecloth or net.
Already one dainty miss in zebra
striped swimming suit had been Sc
lected as q. sort Of premier danseuse
of the chorus, about whom many of the
routines will revolve. She Is a Nordic
blond named Austria Neiman and
speaks the so difficult English language
with hesitancy, due to residence until
recently in her native Sweden. The
dancing lads ran to the most abbre-
waited Of swimming shorts, with sports
and tennis shirts of alarming pattern;
yellow, blue, eggshell and crimson, with
silk scarfs knotted about their necks
Because in several scenes these youths
will appear in nothing but swimming
shorts, the boys chorus was called for
selection nekked from the waist up for
the approval Of the casting director
and they are supposed to be Of the type
vaguely known as athletic"
For at least three weeks the chorus
and the principals will rehearse sepa-
rately. After that the difficult bust
ness Of interlocking and timing their
joint routines will be undertaken on
a single stage. The lead singing and
dancing numbers at the moment are
being practiced in the evenings, al
of which complexities life for such
performers as Charles Walters, the
juvenile lead, who has been dancing
at Versailles at night, and James
Keogan, one of the sextet of singing
youths, who is on the bill at the Bit
more's Moonlit Terrace. 1t means fol
them some nice synchronization Of
singing, dressing and taxying back
and forth across town.
Across the alleyway, at the Music
Box, the stage was occupied by DereE
Williams, Monte Woolley, Moss Hart
and an assortment of other important
and patiently perspiring folk. Mr.
Williams, being an Englishman, wore
his jacket throughout, which Richie
Ling, also British, but for thirty -odd
years accustomed to American infor-
malities, did not. Mr.. Hart wore his