Evening star., 1937-02-28

outSet-We have not gone per-
manently dotty. Not yet, any
~ way. Judging from the express
sions on the faces of the citizens who
wandered by the door of the drama
department a couple of days ago, they
thought what we laughingly call a
mind had taken its leave for good.
Just because they saw us sitting there
all alone roaring with great glee.
But everything is all right. 1t was
tust a book. Such book it was, too.
All unimposing and mite dusty about
the edges, it lay upon the bargain shelf
outside a used-book store. Then the
fate which guards over and enrlcheS
the lives of the undeserving prompted
us to take a look. So for a mere
quarter we've had more fun than a
hundred quarters ordinarily would
provide.
The title Of this valued tome is
Little Stories From the Screen" The
author presumably was one William
Addison Lathrop, and the contents OF
his work are some Is synopseS OF
movie scenarios sold to the studios
pair Of decades ago. The book was
copyrighted in 1917.
And If you think the little stories
from which screen plays are made
have not advanced in these last two
decades you just come down and take
a look at this book. You'll be watched
closely while you look it over, of
course, and you'll never get it out OF
our sight. It's kept locked in the
hotel safe under guard night and day.
It's priceless.
THE purpose Of Mr.. LathropS Lit
tie Stories From the Screen" ac-
cording to the foreword, is Ito show
the handling of wide variety of
themes, in range of one to five reels,
as accepted at various studios" And
in the first line of his foreword he
points out that lit is we'll for the
reader to understand that the stories
are not offered as literary efforts"
He's not kidding. There no point,
however, in taking Mr.. Lathrop to
task for the ludicrous aspects of these
scenarios. There's rare unintentional
humor here, but the only fault is that
the authors works have become the
victim of time and circumstance. The
things we're sold to the studios land
these are only 25 out Of 1901, so he
must have known what the Holly
wood lads wanted.
What they wanted, it seems, was
plenty of the drama of conflict, with
Right and Wrong being definitely right
and wrong and with right always tri-
umphing. After plenty of action, of
course. Action, in fact, seems to be the
keynote, with the plot amounting to
nothing more than incident in most
cases. Plot intricacies increased on
q definite ratio with the length. A
five-reeler was a honey as far as the
hero's ups and downs were concerned.
There's one yarn in the book that
has a plot which is no end fasci-
mating. Anyhow it's swell reading.
The guy who wrote the thing was
miles off, it now appears, when he
as good as Gone With the Wind" in
some respects. When you pick it up
and start to read you're lost; you can't
put it down
This tale started out as "The House
Cat" was produced by w. A. Brady
and the World Film Co, with Ethel
Clayton as the star, and came out
titled Mans Woman"
According to generally accepted
standards" it begins, marriage is
the elimination and hnality of a
woman's life. Once she is married,
her individuality is supposed to ex-
pire, and even in the eyes of the law
she is classed with aliens, idiots and
other incompetentS. A husbands rela-
tives, and usually the husband HIM
self, demands that her life be little
different from that of a house cat"
All, there is irony there. Mr.. Lathrop,
bless his soul, was coming right out
to crusade for women's rights in a
motion picture.
WELL, THE House Cat" goes on
w to tell about Desire Galloway,
who was not girl destined to be
content with the life of house cat
a saucer of warm milk, soft cushion
and a pretty ribbon. No, Desire was
"18, ambitious, energetic, capable and
'doer Of things.
Desire had a party one night, it
seems. She hung the decorations her
self and then shooed Grandpa Gallo
way off to get dressed. Grandpa
stopped in the library, though, and
forgot about dressing. The point is
brought up because it was there
Desire, herself half dressed, found him
an hour afterward." What we'd like
to know is this: Just what the heck
was Desire doing running about the
house and into the library half
dressed?
I,n~ - TnciNo (fbarosr a.