The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-04-28

our snow. This was IN 1920. We
couldn't find the sort of girl we
wanted to do Dulcy, when George
told us Il have a girl that's been
working with Aurette Taylor in
her repertory, and also has done
some small parts in England. I'll
send her over to see you. think
some time she'll be good actress"
She came Over-a dark, slen.
der girl with a charming voice.
She played "DuIcy," and maybe
1t win be agreed that she
eventually became . good actress.
She's called Lynn FOntanne.
Now that I'm directing pictures,
it's interesting to note the movie
players who are alumni Of our
shows. Roland Young and Helen
Hayes were both in the kaufman
Connolly opus ITO the Ladies'!
Henry Fonda was made by THE
Farmer Takes a Wife," which
adapted and produced with Max
Gordon on the Broadway stage.
Framed and hanging on the
wall at home: "Variety's" COM
ment on THE Green Pastures"
(Which I have recently finished
filming for Warner Brothers. just
after it opened as stage play at
the Mansfield Theater in New
York in February, 1930-and "Vari-
ety's" second comment when it re-
turned last year after Swear run.
First comment:
artistic success that gives
little promise Of attaining COM
mercial prosperity for its pro
Queer and author. . Latter will
probably be praised more than
he will be paid. 1O.week stay
should be sufficient. pretty
arty for a rnugg, and dreadfully
lacking in box office appeal"
Second comment.
"Seen by 100000 people
pretty arty for a mugg);
total approximate gross of
SS, 100, 900 (dreadfuIly lacking)
in box office appeal. This is
by the same reviewer who
caught the premiere Pre-
diction has since made him as
famous as the guy who ran the
wrong way of the field in the
Rose Bowl football game.
Looks like a limited engagement
limited to rs years."
Even the best drama reviewers
can't be right all the time. Many
a hit failed to discern when I
was calling 'em for the Garment
News.
"The Green Pastures" in Swe-
den, where they have so few
Negroes that most Swedes have
never beheld one. Yet playing
200 nights in the Royal Theater
in Stockholm. and having three
companies in other cities.
How was this possible? must
explain. There's a province in the
west midland of Sweden called
Dalecarlia. It's an old-fashioned,
indeed. almost medieval region,
and is held in the same tender,
sentimental regard by the rest of
the nation as we Americans hold
Dixie"
Dalecarlia's people are funda-
mentalists to the highest degree,
as I learned by going over there
three years ago. They have their
own dialects, their own costumes,
their own age-old customs. Apart
from being Of the same race and
color as the rest of the Swedes,
the Dalecarlians might well CORE
spond to our Negro population Of
the Deep South.
So I'm on e translated "The
Green Pastures" into Dalecar-
liam dialect; George Blicken.
berg, one of Sweden'S finest
actors, played de Lawd" (the
whole company was in black.
face, Of cOurse), and the result
was q presentation that all
SwedeS could comprehend SYM
pathetically.
In Stockholm, in Dalecarlia, in
fact in all Sweden I met only
one man with a black skin, and
he was the child of a Negro
father and a Swedish mother. His
color was no barrier, and he had
been well educated in the Swedish
public schools, where the English
language is a compulsory course.
He was called Sven Oostergaard,
his father having adopted a
Swedish name when he became
naturalized many years previously.
"Mr. Connolly, your play is
dOubly understandable to me-"
he said in a dignified manner,
because 1 understand these
DalecarlianS by reason of being
a native Swede, and 1 under.
stand your Negroes of the lower
South from my father"
An interesting interview and a
| comment to be remembered.