Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-05-10

served would be to provide an ex-
traordinary comedy interlude and,
then, by contrast to make the modern
film look so much better than it
actually may be.
AS for the comedy values of one
OF the early reels, they excel the best
OF today There was time, for in
stance, when Mary Pickford broke the
Nations heart in a D. w. Griffith
piece called The New York Hat"
Last Friday, this 1912 tear-jerker
fluttered and skipped across the screen
at the Sulgrave Club and refined,
cultured audience just laughed. There
was nothing else to do, of course, with
Miss Pickford looking like mouse
buried under an avalanche of flowers
and straw and feathers, in other
words, wearing the New York hat"
The film story was dismal to the
point of being deliciously funny.
Miss Pickford would have died laugh
ing at herself and Lionel Barrymore
twas he handsome thenD being SOL
EMMY pantomimic for the sake Of
art and D. w. Griffith.
X
THE NEW YORK HAT" was just
one of many interesting items
In the program arranged by the Mu-
scum OF Modern Art for the Film
Society OF Washington. The selec-
tions went all the way back to the
late ZOOS. 1t began with q news reel
i~1o Two Oh
ing Pennsylvania avenue Uttered with
horse-drawn vehicles and pompous,
bulgy citizens (what a fat people we
were then!,. It skipped on, then,
through an early Easter parade on
Fifth avenue in which more fat peo-
pie looked untidily overdressed and
came to a pretty climax with the
Three Little Pigs"
All in all it was one of the most
entertaining film programs which
this department has seen in years.
And, far and away, the most illumi-
mating. If subsequent programs Of
the Film Society are fractionally as
interesting, Robert Lincoln O'Brien,
Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss and other
epO1lSOIS VI UllC llCW
probably will have to hire Constitu-
ton Hall to accommodate the mem
bership. The Friday meeting, II we
can stop talking about the pictures
long enough to mention it, was an
experimental venture. 1t was pri-
vate affair with an invited audience
composed Of Ambassadors Of foreign
countries and their wives, Govern
ment officials and men and women
prominent in art, music, literary and
civic circles.
It served as prelude to organiza-
ton Of a large subscription group
under the banner of the Film So
ciety, a sort of town hall of the
screen" 1t Is the intention to show
the best of foreign films, old films,
documentary pictures, those with un-
usual subject matter, those exceling
in photography or other special merit,
all Of them offering excellent enter
tainment and amusement.
4 X ~
THE old films f1atter the current
product In other respects than
photography and technical merit.
Acting and direction have come long
way since The Great Train Robbery"
That first of the cops and robbers
photodramas may have thrilled your
Great-Aunt Bessie, but Hollywood
really has learned how to ripple spines
since then. It is not thrilling today,
but 1t is fascinating. And when the
bandit losses the locomotive fireman
off the tender after a fight that
wouldn't be tolerated In an amateur
film today. the body" is so obviously
dummy the scene is absolutely
horror proof
The insertion Of one reel OF Greta
Carlos Anna Christie" in the pro-
gram was happy idea. 1t demon
strated that even the comparatively
modern picture ct was made in 1880
has excellent entertainment value In
such an arrangement. It was mighty
fine to see the great Carlo looking
younger, much rounder-faced and
speaking that alluringly Swedo-
English she since has lost.
If the program IS typical speci-
men OF what the Film Society intends
to do, this department applies right
now for a pair Of seats. And can
think OF a lot OF other persons who
would be delighted to do the same!
\ u X X
WARNER Bros local staff enter
tanned and entertained and
entertained Saturday in honor of
Shep Fields. It was a buffet luncheon
to start with, turned into a ping pong
tournament b. mid-afternoon, and
finally came to a brilliant climax with
every one listening to the Kentucky
Derby ON the radio. Every one, that
Is, but Fields. He left right after
luncheon and lot OF stories about
how he has Nightmares dreaming he
missed his radio broadcast. A good
tale-teller, the man whose orchestra