Evening star., 1936-06-14

he is at present playing the role OF
almost "a -bounder opposite Janet Gay
nor in Small Town Girl" Hollywood
thinks that in Robert Taylor it has
found the man to step into the Reid
footprints.
Taylor is young and is learning to
act. In a surprisingly short time he
has conquered whatever fear he at
first had before the camera and has
given some first-rate performances.
In that Irene Dunno film at Keiths
he was painfully awkward until in the
last half, when partially submerged
with old age, he came out of it with
flags flying. Since then he has de-
veloped an ease before the lens that
is unusual for one who has played so
infrequently in pictures, and while he
exhibits an inclination to grin all over
the place, when it comes to the mo-
ments that really count he seems to
b up to them.
This is all the more surprising when
rou think of the stars with whom he
las been associated. Most newcomers
turn into icicleS when confronted with
celebrities. To Taylor, however, the
fact that he has played opposite Irene
Dunno, Janet Gaynor, Joan Crawford
and now, or shortly. Carlo, seems not
to bother him at all.
This ability to step up to a star and
take 1t is what has set him up in the
world. The fact that he has had Miss
Dunno, Miss Crawford and Miss Gay
nor running after him instead Of his
running after them has made his path
all the roster In fact, there are many
people today who believe he is on the
way to out Gable Gable (although he
hasn't as yet learned the Gable punch).
Taylor would thus seem logically able
to fill the bill If M-G-M prepares him
for Wallie Reid roles. At the moment
he is too busy playing the arrow-collar
boy to cut loose and ramble out on his
cwn. However, after he has played op-
posite Garbo who will there be left?
When he has run the So-called 'gamut"
of the stars they will have to keep him
busy with something. And since to-
days youth knows little Of the type of
story wherein Wally Reid used to play,
why not whip some of them out and
see how they wear? 1t seems like a
good idea. After Taylor has finished
with Armands booth Opposite Ca
mille) give him Reid's. They might
At.
TOMORROW night Washington's in
formal Summer season" will open
with a performance of Around the
World in 80 Days" as presented by
the Roadside Theater. Just how you
can get around the world in 30 days
in that playhouse we don't quite see.
However, the Roadsiders have neat
way of surprising their audiences, and
they can do far more than you might
suspect.
So give them hand on their open
ing. They are young. eager, talented
group, and they have prospered hand
somely in the past two years. They
are out for entertainment as well as
for "art'-in fact, We suspect that
they realize that art" wits little
in the heat. They go ahead with rip
snorting performances that do not
take too much gray matter to follow.
Their plays are invariably well cast
and we'll rehearsed. And the atmos-
phere is enlivened by soda pop in the
foyer" the gentle snorts of trains in
the distance, a couple of mosquitoes
nesting next to your neighbor and
other minor exhilarations.
It's all very good fun, and if you've
enjoyed one of their plays, you'll go
again. The back row it isn't very far
back) where you can lean back and
prop your head up against a pine
plank is particularly recommended.