Evening star., 1936-12-06

perhaps can do a better job will
That depraved and rebellious tho
Sation in recent days when good fellow
10 discuss Naughty Marietta"
In many instances, the admission
was made sadly. 1t Is not the custom,
strangely, for those not on the movies
pay rolls to grant superiority to the
Aims in any respect 1t is all right to
take the attitude that the movies are
f1ne in their way, even getting better,
but after all one must remember the
stage Is the stage. To feel otherwise is
to ally oneself with the upstart ana
whippersnapper set.
But a great many persons do feel
otherwise. They have compared the
two Mariettas, the one that came ever
the footlights and the one that bounced
the latter taught great many more
citizens Victor Herbert's music and
made them like it. For all its lack of
flesh and blood, the film version was
the lustier and more vital creation.
The Illusion of life was more definitely
In the screen story.
Nor was this due simply to the fact
that Hollywood sang Herberts music
the louder. Rather it seemed to derive
from the fact that the work acquired
scope. 1t was bigger and because of
that (here's heresy) better That may
not apply in many cases, but it seems
to in operetta.
There was an aura of nostalgia love-
illness about the stage Marietta. In
the movies she was a lively, capricious
mink.
That is quite difference.
PAUL HAAKON, here this week in
The Show Is On" no longer has
to steal shows. Like great many 9TH
ers, however, that is the way this as
tcnishing Danish dancer got his initial
avalanche Of publicity.
Press agents, those fellows who can
look at stars without blinking, like to
tell the story of Haakon's show theft.
His big chance came in the show which
introduced Nine. Jeritza to musical
comedy. She sang. He danced. She
pleased the audience. He bowled it
over. The audience that night was the
kind that preferred bowling over and
1t gave Haakon tremendous ovation.
Nine. Jeritza gave him something else,
something unpleasant at the time but
which eventually proved good for him.
1t all happened right here in Wash
angton at the National Theater.
The stage, long reputed to be a
Jealous mistress, is especially jealous
of Haakon. There is pretty general
feeling among ballet enthusiasts that
he is just what the movies need. If it
is correct-well, Hollywood also always
gets its man.
WITH that spirit of self abnegation
wv for which it Is noted the motion
picture industry has acquired title to,
and some time soon will produce
stage Door" That's the latest Kauf-
man Ferber composition in which
Hollywood and all its works come in
for some merciless ribbing
R-K-O is the buyer of the film
rights and its casting of the picture is
an item of more than average interest
It will bring together Burgess Mere
dith, Katharine Hepburn and Ginger
Rogers.
Meredith enthusiasts, their name 10
cally being legion. will be glad to see
him escorted into the highways and
byways of the land by two such box
office favorites as the Misses Hepburn
and Rogers. One of the big regrets of
many in connection with Meredith's
first film, "Winterset," was the lack of
box Office names in the cast. With
Just one he might have had a chance
to meet the people who select their
movies by the names of the stars.
And the people meeting Meredith
would have encountered one Of the
finest talents lately brought to the
screen.
R-K-O Is not giving up on Mere
dith regardless Of how much or how
little money his first picture makes.
They have bought him apparently as
. long time investment.