The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1938-07-22

him he brings to mind Joe Lau-
ries' famous saying, Quality is
always in style"
Among the female dancers the
favorites of OUR audiences seem
to be Lucille Page for acrobat
les, Eleanor Powell for taps, and
Patricia Bowman and Vivian
Faye for toe, and in this I
heartily agree with them. The
best piece of pantomime that
stands out in my memory is
Jimmy Savo doing his "River
Stay Away From My Door" num-
Der.
1 don't think many will dis
agree with me when I say that
Rose King, of York and King,
is the funniest comedienne we
have had for many years.
When conducted the
Daughter of Rosie O'Grady"
for Pat Rooney, I wondered if
there ever would be another
dancer who would be so closely
identified with melody as he
has been with that tune. When
John Steel sang "A Pretty Girl
!. Is Like a Melody" Lady of the
Evening" Tulip Time" and
Tell Me Little Gypsy" a vision
of the great Ziegfeld seemed to
hover over the stage.
THE OPERA STARS
There have been operate
stars, Mary Garden, Grace
Moore, Frances Aida, each one
a different personality, each one
an artist, whose presence before
you conjured up thoughts of the
Metropolitan Opera House, its
Diamond Horseshoe, and its
galleries packed with those avid
opera lovers from the old coun-
try, who in their new homeland
of freedom and opportunity still
worship at the musical shrine
of Verdi, Puccini, Gounod, Wag-
ner and others.
Yes, and there have been tenn
peramental stars whom I shall
never forget, but of these I'VE
judge not, lest we be judged"
only recently I conducted
for Smith and Dale, the origin
ators of the famous Avon Com
edy Four. What a wealth of
tradition these two fine head
liners of the former two-a-day
have.
These artists and others have
made the past seven years the
most interesting ones in my the
atrical career. Loew'S Capitol
has given me the finest orches-
ira I have ever had since have
been in the theater, and that
includes houses in San Fran.
cisco, Los Angeles, Portland,
Seattle, Detroit, Buffalo and New
York, so it hasn't been a diff.
cult task to give these performers
good musical support.
FAVORITE OVERTURES
I am grateful to our audiences
for the warm receptions they
have accorded our overtures. 1t
is a happy thought to know that
the two best received, Atlantis"
and "Kammenoi-O strow" are also
my personal favorites. There
are many people who do not
like the classics, others who dc
not like Swing" and other
forms of modern music, and
they don't hesitate to write ano
tell me so. To all of them l say
this, our overtures are created
with one thought in mind, tt
entertain our patrons, and we
earnestly strive to please the
individual musical taste of every
one in our audience at all times
Many people ask me if hac
my life to live over again. woulc
I again make the theater my
chosen profession. My answer il
most emphatically yes With
others in the theater am en-
gagged N doing one Of life
grandeSt jobs, that of making
people happy. In return TO
that the theater has given M
the most interesting and happi
est moments of my life, bu
none happier than that Frida.
morning in August, 1886, when
during rehearsal at $50 in tn
morning, l was brought a tele
phone message telling me tina
I had just become the father o
a Seven-pound boy. At 1873
that day I played the best frs
Rk@,,, &c