Evening star., 1936-04-17
"D|X|ELAND" KIND
TO transformers.
"'The Old Maid" Tour Find
ing Few Tough Spots
on Long Trip.
BY WARD MoREHoUsE.

MEMPHIS, Tenn, April II (N.A.
MAJ Here, beside the Mississippi, I
finally ran into rowing band of act
ors Yes, Broadway actors people who
get up on platform and speak pieces.
They didn't seem real; it didn't look
right. The living theater in Dixie?
Impossible! The South, you see, be-
longs to the cotton planters, and to
Bing Crosby, Mryna 10y, Harold Lloyd,
Gary Cooper, John Boles. refer you
to any signboard. any blazing marquee
-. But there they were, these flesh
d-blood-members-o of -Equity-in- good
standing troupers from up Nawth.
They've seen America. these players
of Harry Moses transforming "Old
Maid" company. The peaks and the
great plains The Dakotas, the North
west. the Dust Belt, the Cyclone Belt
Fifty-eight towns, 80 weeks of playing
And now, as write, The Old Maid
Is in its siXty-eighth consecutive week
nonstop playing-since its some
what inauspicious opening at the
Maryland Theater, Baltimore.
The New York reviewers, if you re-
member, Just didn't, couldn't get ex-
cited over The Old Maid" Harry
Moses, however, was in a pretty con-
tinuous state of excitement from the
evening that he read the manuscript
until sombody telephoned him and
told him he had won the Pulitzer
Prize. It was his notion that Zoe
Akins' dramatization of the Edith
Wharton novel had great heart ap-
peal. So he was quite obstinate. In
three weeks The Old Maid" was SELL
ing out at natinees. And Mr. Moses,
a one-time manufacturer of mems
underwear, began to ask questions
about accommodations for a big road
show in Sioux Falls, Pueblo, e. Paso
and Ogden, Utah.
In Big Auditorium.
Troupers of the American theater
of today have to brave many mu-
nicipal auditoriuns. Big. wonderful
buildings, these auditoriums, tributes
to civic spirit, but how they dwarf
q dramatic play! And an audience
of sufficient number to pack an ordi-
nary Broadway theater gives, Of
course, the corporals guard effect. And
often the acoustics are terrible. The
personnel of The Old Maid" are now
familiar with the auditoriums of the
land. And the big movie houses
They've transformed from town to
town, generally to good business and
always to glowing attention from the
press. I don't think there's been an
adverse notice since New York.
Now, as this company heads to-
ward Broadway it has not only a
monopoly in Memphis and Tennessee,
but apparently in the entire South.
Il seem to have lost track of those
rapidly multiplying Tobacco Road"
and Three Men On Horse" COM
panies for the moment) That's why
a bunch of flesh -and-blood actors
looks so out of place in the cyclone
contry. And why the inclusion Of
the promise, mot a motion picture"
Is often imperative in the billing.
"The Old Maid" company goes
north after a triumphant jaunt. The
adventures of this tour?
At Phoenix the Junior League took
charge. The Junior Leaguers invited
''The Old Maid" and put up a guar
anty. They engaged the Orpheum
Theater, big film house, and man
aged the whole thing neatly. They
even made profit of $1,000.
At College Station, Texas, THE Old
Maid" had terrible time. Lowest
gross for single performance of the
entire tour-$580. The Texas A. and
Iy,fT =
State College for Teachers at En-
poria. Kan. Mr.. Moses has made a
mental note about both towns.
S1S,716 in One Week.
Texas can't be held accountable for
the a.sathy at College Station. San
Antonia-the actors liked San An
tonio-paid $3,816 for a single per-
formance. And a week of Texas
towns brought the largest weeks gross
of the jaunt-$18,716.
The Orpheum, Kansas City, was a
pay stop. Los Angeles was disap-
pointment. A profitable stay, but not
what was expected. The San Fran
cisco engagement was played during
a continuous cloudburst. These "Old
Maid" actors know their America
rain, snow, ice, flood, freeze, dust
storms.
At Salt Lake "The Old Maid" was
triumph. The biggest Salt Lake
crosses since Maude Adams came
through, and Miss Adams was born
there.
saw the performance in Memphis
my seat was some seven miles from
the stage-and. as self-appointed
spy, submit this report to the home
Office: THE Old Maid" is still being
acted with precision and to perfection.
The cast has remained unchanged
through those 80 weeks and 56 towns:
Judith Anderson, Helen Menken, Mar
garet Dale, George Nash
So all these "Old Maid" players,
who have certainly brushed up on
their geography, who have not i'm
paired their artistry, and who'll
doubtless discover, when they get the
Midwest dust out of their eyes, that
they are much better of financially
are now heading home
<copyriEht' 1895. North American News