Evening star., 1938-04-08

center piece of his one-act play cycle
| to Somerset Vaughan for criticism
that Mr. Vaughan replied: Il hope
this is good play 1t was not when
I wrote it, Well, Mr.. Vaughan got
his wish so far as the box-office appeal
OF "Fumed Oak" was concerned. The
public loved the idea of Casper
Milquetoast getting drunk one day,
telling his family what he thought of it
down to the last dirty name, then
walking out never to return. It may
have been the Coward touch which
the thing acquired through the play
wright's portrayal Of the central char
! acter, but there was the Coward touch
and it made no difference about the
| comparative antiquity of the theme.
There. is no reason to assume that
one dull play in the cycle of Coward
dramas means that something serious
has happened to the playwrights
talent. Any one is entitled to write
bad play at any time, and if thousands
of other human beings take advantage
of that liberty of action, why not Noel
Coward? 1t seems bit strange, how
ever. that he could not think up a
single trick to conceal his apparent
boredom with his plot. He never gave
any indication of the eXhaustibility
of his supply of clevernesses.
Mr.. Joseph S. Edgerton gets the rest
OF this column to give you an aviation
editors own story of what it is like
to visit Hollywood. Take it, Joe:
Dear Jay:
I might just as we'll confess right
now that vacation trip to Hollywood
by air is apt to be a pretty confusing
affair, leaving the traveller wondering
whether st. Louis. after all, is not
west Of Kansas City and whether
Wichita isn't just across the street
from Amarillo. or did 1 take a nap
then? Just so, impressions of Holly
wood, during "streamlined" flying
vacation are likely to have some
puzzling features, in retrospect. It's
the speed that does it, Jay-it's a
dizzy world.
And, while confessions are in order,
I might as we'll get the commercial
features off my chest at once. The
flight was a junket-a grand and
glorious junket-but iunket just the
same. 1t seems that Transcontinental
g. Western Air were inaugurating
service into the new North American
playground-the Boulder Dam Grand
Canyon (advD area-and that Para
mount is doing a romantic (adv.), his
torical (adv). colorful chats free, be-
cause think they do deserve a little
credit film in Technicolor (advD of
the history of aviation. So we went to
Hollywood, the Grand Canyon. Boulder
Dam and other places. burning up a
week Of leave in the process.
Now, Jay, a week is not a very
elastic affair, even when you do have
an extra day thrown in for good be-
havior and. as mentioned before, it
is not strange if the impressions re-
ceived in some 1000 miles of travel,
lnterspersed with such unrelated &C
tivitieS as inaugurating a new airport
and new whoopee club, camping in
the desert and lunching in the swank
Casa del Mar (that. Jay. is no adv, be-
cause the Casa is private club with
full membership roster and waiting
list), and visiting a beyootiful (adv)
movie star and the keen. alert (no
advD pilots of the 1st Wing, G.. H. O.
Air Force at March Field. Riverside,
Calf, and the giant Douglas plant
(adv) at Santa Monica, Calf, where
they are completing an airplane (the
DC-4-advD 50 large that there really
isn't any good reason why it should
fly at all Oh, yes-and Boulder
Dam and Lake Mead and Joshua trees
and cactus and the Arizona desert.
If you find that paragraph con-
fusing, Jay, that makes us even.
Well, we CHATS not editorial-there
was party Of us reporters hiding
away from the city desk, jay left
Washington at 1888 am. of cold,
raw, windy morning on an airliner of
Pennsylvania Central Airlines. They
deserve some credit, too. Jay. At
Pittsburgh we transferred in the rain
to very comfortable 2l-passenger
DC-3 club transport of T. w. A. land
that's the last time I'll mention either
of them). And so, off across Penn
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, etc-that's
as far as any of us can remember the
proper order-to Hollywood Gf you
think that's advertising. let it lay).
In Hollywood, Paramount got us in
its clutches. And (to be little trite)
how! May I be more frequently
clutched, amen. We went to the stu
dios and saw Fred MacMurray, Betty
Cradle, Andy Devine. Joan Bennett
uh-Girley,er er. Shirley-uh-and,
oh. yes, William Wellman, or is he
producer? No, director. that's it
he's directing Men With Wings"
Well, anyway, Jay. we saw lots of
people, some of them of very superior
wearing loud clothes. What clothes!
Well, Wellman Chats the way he
always refers to himself. thus: Well,
boys, Wellman has still got umphD
has got together a mess of antique
airplanes for this picture and I'm not
fooline about that antique" Some
OF them are actually originals. Jay.
He has old pre-war pushers and all of
the war types and even three DH-4B
airmail planes. If they all get in the
movies, Jay, it's going to be better
museum than Paul Edward Garber's
Smithsonian. They have pretty
weird story about one of the Spad's
in this picture. Maybe it's publicity,
but it's still good It's Wellman's
story. let him tell it:
"Wellman got to looking around for
a Spad. Wellman had scouts out all
around-well, everywhere, looking for
a Spad No Spad. So Wellman said,
Boys. you've got to get a Spad.' And
they looked around some more. Finally
one scout got word of a wartime air.
plane hidden away in the basement of
the Imperial Hotel at Imperial Calf.
He went there and, sure enough. it was