Henderson daily dispatch., 1935-12-31

New York, Dec. 31-Feople: Now
that the toupec is coming back-I
saw two the other night in the bar at
Luchow' 's--thc wigmakcrs are order
ing fresh patches of yak hair for
artificial boards and the peasants oe
Bohemia are saving strands meticu-
lously.
Adolph and IRA SEM, father and
son, are kept busy thatching the Met
ropolitan Opera singers thoroughly
for their various roles. This is some
thing new; hitherto the chorus girls
of the yodcling cathedral have been
so careless Of makup and confident
that their caroling notes would charm
sufficiently to make eyebrow pencil
and grcaScpaint superfluous that they
haven't bothered
Now the new head of the Met has
dCcreed that the chorus should at
least try not to look it's age, even if
it cant compete with the front line
ut the French Casino. Edward John
son has retained the ScnZ family as
makeup and wiggcry consultantS.
The elder SEM gained his first fame
rs Il wiggcr although he had been III
the business for years, with the
strange and marvellous peruke he
pumped upon the head of Gloria
Swanson for one Of her movies a
couple OF years back. His son too has
ministercd to the hirsutc and grease
paint beauty Of flicker celebrities and
they look forward to Il busy season
and fat retainer. ,..-...
My own suggestion TO the Met, Of
fcrcd free OF charge years ago, that
the way to popularizc tho house was
to build q runway out into the audi
cncC upon which the dazzling divaS
and shrilling sopranos could cavort,
never bore fruit. And now there's
a law forbidding even the brothers
Minsky to let their gals walk the
plank.
Random Observation: Although the
lovely Miss Josephine Hutchinson ap-
pcarcd capably with Eva LeGallienne
in many an Ibsen drama drab with
gloom and impressed audiences with
her deft approximations of the dire
and dreadful, it was not until she ap-
reared as Alice in Alice in Wonder
land" that the movie mogulS rubbed
their eyes. murmured something about
where she could have been all their
lives and rushed her pleasant docu-
ments to sign.
She has returned briefly from Holly
wood to rehearSe play called Sweet
Aloes."
OF all the pigeon-holes for flicker
art, comedy seems to bring perform
anccs the greatest impermanence. \
screen heavy" can go along for years,
not ut the top, not ut the bottom, but
drawing good salaries the while and
in more or less constant demand. A
leading man can coast comfortably.
The pagIiaccis Of celluloid, when
you reflect upon it. face an appalling
mortality rate. Some shift Voluntar-
lily to other inches, as witness Wallace
Berry who got his start playing hefty
servant girls in the cuStard pie era.
But there are SO many faces missing
we saw and laughted at ten years ago,
Raymond Griffith, one Of the best
light comics of them all. who is now
q director at q higher salary; Buster
kcaton who slipped quietly from pub
lie consciousness after the talkieS
came; Charles Ray whose arc in COM
cdy was diZzily up and down, but who
is now Il successful Hollywood bust
ness man: Harry Langdon--what be-
came OF him?-and Lloyd Hamilton,
dead.
Come to think, the most evanescent-
ly lovely lady seems to be able to en-
rapture fans longer than the laugh
chefs.