Evening star., 1937-09-12

NiooNNA VA tiiS 1iNills blicdJtI mere.
The dapper little gentleman with
about the foyer of the theater from
now until May is quite confident that
last years success will be exceeded.
His confidence is based upon the fact
that bookings for the house. definite
and tentative, include not only so
many established hits but many new
items Of strongly indicated merit.
The season will mark Edmund
Plohn's first complete year as the Ma
tionaPs manager. Mr. Plohn (he's the
man with the cherubic smile in the
paragraph above) assumed manage
nent of the theater last year at ap-
proxlmately midseason. His was the
directorial genius which supervised the
renovation and resesting of the house.
together with numerous other changes
designed to make it vastly more
comfortable, eye-appealing shelter for
the breathing drama.
1t is the intention of the owner
ship and management of the house
still further to modernize it as rapidly
as conditions permit. Changes made
in the ventilation system during the
Summer, for example, represent a
prelude toward complete air-condi-
tioning. When the latter is accom-
plished, with the possibility of much
longer season for the theater (the
dream of every one connected with the
drama, the house will stand as one
of the finer plants of its kind in the
country.
THE old gold (no advt.) walls of the
auditorium at which so MANY
Washingtonians have looked for so
many years have turned to a warm
rust tone. color which the manage
nent and critics have been trying TO
name with some degree of harmony
ever since the first atomized particles
were sprayed by painters in the Sum-
mer. 1t also has been referred to as
red and maroon. but those words make
Mr.. Plohn unhappy Rust" has been
accepted as suitable compromise,
unless audiences decide to get unruly
about It.
Another novelty which will greet
the first nights audience tomorrow
will be new orchestra, an ensemble
playing under the baton of George
Gaul. But MIR. Gaul and the new
orchestra are not the only significant
musical items which the theater is
prepared to unveil. The Elizabethan
touch of calling intermission wanderers
from their wanderings by Pickering the
foyer lights has disappeared forever
from the theater. Hereafter the sum-
mons will be uttered by mellow set
OF chimes, an arrangement more in
keeping with the new dignified warmth
of the theater. A small item, but one
which seems likely to be talked about
If the chimes are as dulcet as their
billing indicates.
IF ANY interested person still does
not know it, Brother Rat" which
Gid Broadway marathon during re-
cent months, will be the opening at
traction at the National. Among the
new items which will follow it are
talthough not in that order) "Amphit-
Fontanne: Susan and God" IN which
Gertrude Lawrence stars and Osgood
Perkins is featured, Nine. Bovary with
Constance Cummings.
'Tovarich," another Broadway sue
cess Of last season, will start its long
trip across the continent here and
Washington probably will have its
chance to see King Richard IL" in
which Maurice Evans gives that per-
formance about which the whole town
tof New York; still is talking.
That is the character of program
which has been shaped for the theater
Tor this season. Mr.. Plohn does not
see how it can fail. Neither, at this
distance away from the fall of the
final curtain next Spring, can we.
THAT. streak of lightning in the
shape of man which moved from
drama desk to drama desk in Wash
tngton last week was named Rufus
Blair. Mr.. Blair, who is as eloquent