Evening star., 1938-09-07

Take, for instance, the case of Il
the marionette show which opens here
today as part of the effort to elicit
your interest in that picture, they are
saying that two years work was de-
voted to its production. II it takes
that long to make promotional pup
pet show, any one may be pardoned
q curiosity as to how long it took to
make the picture itself.
The answer Is that 1t took four
years; a few months more if one in
sists upon being literal. It was at the
beginning of 1884 that Metro-G
wyn-Mayer purchased Mr.. Emil Lud-
wigs story of the effervescent Marie.
AS result of having bought the bi-
ography, and presumably of having
read it, some one in authority sent
the research department a question.
Where" the questioner wanted to
know, as If Mr.. Ludwig had neglected
to discover was Marie Antoinette on
the night of August 10, 1892"
A question like that might strike
the average person as silly, but those
IN the M-G-M research department
are not average. Nor are they silly
In 2 minutes and II seconds the
answer was shot back:
"On the night of August 10, 1892,
the Tuileries was stormed by a mob,
forcing Antoinette and King Louis
XVI to take refuge in the hall OF the
Conventionl
X
FULL Of admiration for a research
department that can answer such
a question in such a short time, we
have looked further into the wizardry
and statistics involved in the produc-
ton of the picture. which comes to
the Palace on Friday. The results are
startling> They show that the ques-
tion previously mentioned was but
the first of 59,277 which had to be
answered before the studio felt/safe
tn submitting the picture to a world
full OF customers who had vague no.
tions Of Marie and Louis. That num-
ber OF questions can cover a great
deal Of ground, and did cover a great
deal of ground. According to this
departments informant. they were
answered in photography which in
volved 1888 volumes More impress
sive. as statistic. is the fact that
there also was involved a total of
l0,6l5 photographs, paintings and
sketches.
Before the script writer's finished
their task Of defining Marie Antoinette
and her associates to the director, cast
and camera crew, the research de-
partment had turned out grand total
of 100000 words.
Incidentally, getting back to the
marionette show which will be pre-
sented in the Sylvan Theater twice
today, from 2 to pm. and from to
8 o'clock, it will be free. Each per-
Torrance, requiring 80 minutes, will
involve all of the major characters in
the picture and will present them in
seven scenes therefrom. There are
lot more scenes than that, of course.
What. otherwise, would have been the
justification for those nearly $4,000
questions?
THE National Theater's season will
not open on September II with
"Split the Wind" When fall is in the
air and citizens begin to think of the
legitimate theater, that is what one
discovers by calling Edmund Plohn,
manager of the National. Mr.. Plohn,
given a chance. is quick to correct
any such impression. Split The
Wind" a comedy starring Dorothy
Gish was scheduled for the National
Capital on the date mentioned, but
1t is going to open in Buffalo instead
Washington, therefore. will wait until
September 10 when the lid will be
pried of the darkness of Mr.. Plohns
theater with Brock Pemberton's kiss
the Boys Goodbye"
That is the drama which Claire
Booth wrote to indicate that there is
considerable difference between the
manners Of the South and North. It
Is satire, as one might expect. At
least one who remembers Miss Booths
THE Women which Washington saw