Evening star., 1937-05-14

eSANAo
star grows just a bit dim as result
of public boredom because Of too much
radio A gigantic chorus Of YOU
should have ve-listened-to-me will as
cend to the heavens that day. When
and if it comes.
There were some, not necessarily
his bosses, who are among the more
liberal on the subject, who watched
Fred Astaire's newest picture. Shall
We Dance" on the score of what his
weekly radio appearances might have
done to his drawing power. The con-
clusion already is that it did nothing.
It neither helped nor hurt. The vast
tribe of Astaire-Rogers fans appar-
entity is Just as vast as ever. Not
only here at Keith's but everywhere
else the picture has been exhibited
that Is the case
But that has not settled the mat
ter. The die-hards refuse to accept
Shall We Dance" as a criterion. It
is too good picture, they say, and
saying that, they are settling back to
wait for the eighth chapter in the
Astaire-Rogers saga. Or maybe the
solo starring one which Astaire will
do next.
SO FAR as Shall We Dance" is
concerned 1t is a good picture.
One Of the things (there are num-
ber) which makes it so was the re-
fusal to let the old formula get it
down. 1t was changed quite enough
to keep any one from saying it was
just another one in series OF
Astaire-Rogers films.
One OF its accomplishments in the
line OF freshness is to emphasize a
new side to Astaire's dancing. In
several OF his previous pictures he
has more than intimated that the
ballet also is putty in his hands.
Shall We Dance" makes that point
very clear.
Nor is it only in the number he
dances with Harriet Hoctor. that ex-
traordinary ballerina, which makes it
EVIDENT that there's bit Of Nljinsky
IN the Astaire repertoire. That is a
sort Of climax of the demonstration
but the Introductory passages. for all
the fact they are cloWned, are just
as effective. More 50 as far as Ger
tain ballet enthusiasts are concerned.
Putting Miss Hoctor on display so
prominently was another of the better
ideas in Shall We Dance There are
few ballerinas like her. Others can
Ioe eA l.,k
30 many also have faces like horses.
Not Miss Hoctor. She is lovely. She
could just sit in a chair, never dane
ing a step, and still start stampede.
(Which We would join)
X
JUST as every one knew it would,
"A Star Is Born" will remain a
second week at the Palace It is so
good that it kept Romeo and Juliet"
out Of town -. The latter will follow
the March opus Kitty
Prichard lets it be known that
Murder in the Red Barn will be
the first re-re-re-re-re-v -vival of the
Roadside Theater -. There are too
many res" in that. This is but the
third time the Roadsiders have done
the play Gloria Swanson, who
has been facing only newsreel
cameras for long time now, is going
back to work. Columbia has signed
her for THE Second Mrs. Draper" ;"
It's about married woman whose
step-son falls in love with her :.
Excursion Broadway late-season
hit, has been bought for pictures at
a price of sl25,0OO. No wonder
playwrights like Hollywood despite
the current coyness of Broadway . . .
John Trent. the actor B. F. Shulberg
virtually dragged out of an air
transport pilots seat. won't play the
lead in Let's Talk of Love" Ton
&ilitis is why, The attack occurred