Evening star., 1937-07-06

1NdIAFc 10 UlS JOU dIlu ~ 4S SET
for some time in August. 1t calls
Tor an early start.
Going Native" is not just another
local talent extravaganza bulging
over with homemade sopranos, scale
hopping quartets and muscular ma
gicians who make pianos disappear
Years in show business, during which
he has become the best friend of lots
OF people and his own severest critic
wouldn't let Mr.. Ford do anything
like that. His objective is to turn the
homegrown talent into the kind of
show which audiences will enjoy and
which participants will use as a spring
board to dive into fame and fortune
Going Native" has been Synony-
NOUS with going places ever since
that first show back in 1888. In that
initial edition were lot Of individuals
who have been looking at footlights
from the paid side ever since. Evelyn
Tyner was one. She has made so many
appearances at Rockefeller Center's
she was the boss daughter. She
isn't, though, she just plays the piano
well enough to hang on-for Ia
months if you want to be precise about
1t.
The three Yates sisters, still in
vaudeville, were on the same bill
So was Frances Rands. Marjorie
Mitchell made so good in q subsequent
Ford show that she kept on in musi-
cal comedy until Cupid tripped her
up recently. Bill Brady, one of the
principals in New Faces Of 1887
climbed up from the chance Going
Native" gave him. And there was
John Lippy and ever so many others.
Tenors and sopranos willing to
give lung for the cause of big
Der and better Going Native" IN
1887 will have their chance at audi
tions later this month. So will pian-
lists, violinists comedians, dancers and
magicians. How one additions a
dancer or magician is one of those
occult things that only those in show
business understand. The dates have
not been set. They won't be kept secret
q second longer than it takes Mr..
Ford to get things so set that he will
be at the mercy of talent which won't
rest until its name is smeared in bril-
Liant bulbs on theater marques.
X X
"OUR American Cousin" which is
so full of merit that the Roadside
Theater has been full of customers for
. week and Monday, entered its last
lap in the barn on Rockville pike last
night.
If any one needs to be told what it
Is all about after all these years, We
refer them to the feature stories
which appear in the papers every
lincoln's birthday Those stories in
variably point out it was "Our Amer
lean Cousin" which Lincoln saw at
Ford's Theater the night he was shot.
The Roadsiders may have achieved
better casting in long past produc-
tions, but it is doubtful. If they ever
do it again, they ought to be the first
to call it a miracle. And the choice
OF play Eve still insist Kitty Prichard)
Is so much better than the opener that
1t hardly looks like the same judg-
n1ent was involved.
Our American Cousin" is not mere
II a perfect mixture Of the booable
and cheerable, it also has Fred Has
kin as an excellent Lord Dundreary,
Charles Christianson as Asa Trench
ard and Lansing Hall (whose name
sounds like charm school, who
te really the most charming dairy
maid on any stage within trailer dis
tance.
"A BLOKE, Albion for egg named
Ralph Reader showed up at
Carter Barrons Office in the Capitol
Theater yesterday afternoon. Reader
Is kind of Noel Coward. He is here
for two reasons-one, to attend the
Boy Scout jamboreed: the other to