Evening star., 1938-08-29

an individual armchair so spaced that
the fat lady from the circus could
walk to the seat in the middle OF any
row without hanging over far enough
on the sides to brush the already
seated customers
THERE must have been a lot Of
people to whom Mr.. Moore's ideas
of luxury must have sounded fantastic
In those days II years ago when he
was just painter down from Prov
lncetoWn bent upon transforming q
cranberry bog. They would sound
fabulous today If the thing was not
there. beautiful, artistic and highly
successful, right before your very eyes.
You just can't do that to cranberry
bogs, but the man did. And before
he finishes, he and Heaven alone
know what will happen. He is out to
create a drama center that sounds
Utopian, or at least Grecian. There
does not seem to be doubt in the
world that ne will do 1t.
Granting that the section around
Dennis fairly drools wealth in the form
OF summer residents, you cannot be-
lieve the price scale of the two the
aters, playhouse and cinema We
have been schooled to believe that
things are cheaper in the country:
everything, whether 1t be cantaloupes
or Ethel Barrymore. Well, Mr. Moore
must have flunked that course, or
maybe he never heard of 1t, for he
ignored the whole thing. Top price
in his movie house, at which only
the best pictures are shown, is 80
cents. In his theater. customers pay
s2.75 for orchestra seats And, be-
leve it or not, as late as 1892 they were
paying s385.
You might think people would stay
away by the thousands at such prices,
but they do just the reverse. The
take an alien word in piece about
Dennis, OF the theater is sufficient
every week to make a Broadway pro-
ducer violently envious. The cinema
is Just as successful
Mr.. Moore's idea is simply that,
given the best. his particular public
will pay the price.
a S PART Of the process of providing
audiences with invariably high
class attractions. the Dennis theater
tplayhouse) dabbles only infrequently
with the untried drama Its policy is
one OF offering big stars in proved
hits. The one departure from that
system this year was the play
Honey" offered as first attraction
OF the 10-week season. Honey"
wasn't what its name implied, even
with Mary Brian OF the movies in the
leading feminine role.
Since then Dennis patrons have seen
such stars as Ina Claire, Jane Cowl,
Jean Muir. Sylvia Sidney. Fred Stone.
Madge Evans, ELISA Landi and Karen
Morley. Plays have included once
Is Enough" The Road to Rome"
French Without Tears" Accent on
Youth" "Lightnin'," Susan and
God" THE Lady Has a Heart" and
Stage Door"
They do bit of stunt casting now
and then, as Phil Baker in idiots
Delight" probably will mean to YOU.
Mr.. Baker. the old accordion man. in
a role created by Alfred Lunt, might
seem to be a very funny thing, but
every one was pleasantly surprised
with the verve and intelligence of
Bakers playing.
The Dennis idea is to import a star
and support him, or her. with perma-
nent company members, the quality
OF which you can see at once from the
roster 1t includes such performers
as Philip Huston, June Walker and
Mary Brian. And then, by way Of
making quality doubly sure, Mr..
Moore and his associate, Richard Aid
rich, have provided the direction of
Arthur Sircom to assure the properly
deft touch.
Dennis, with its lovely setting on
the north shore of the cape, its i'm
pressive buildings and its l2-year rec
ord, sounds like what it is supposed
to be, the parent of scores of summer
theaters throughout the country. But
the man Of whose inspiration it was
born is seeing to it that it is a pro-
gressive parent. Where he stands to-
day looks like an excellent stopping
point. To him, however, it repre-
sents merely beginning.
You must get to Dennis by all |
means.