Evening star., 1939-02-26
Wailing Wall
Has No Place
On Broadway
Stages Business
Goes On at a
Merry Clip
By Mark Barron,
Associated Press Stan Writer.

There has been gossip around the
Broadway cracker barrels that busi-
ness in the theater has been ailing
considerably in the last fortnight
or two and that the Rialto shows
are perishing from famine. Such
q report - not candidly correct,
even though some such melancholy
announcements may have come
from stage managers who attempt
to adopt the technique that Gloomy
Gil Dobie once used in discount
Ing the chances of his usually ex-
>cellent football teams at Cornell
This is the customary end of the
theatrical season, and at this time
of the year business at the box
office annually drops drastically and
there are ordinarily only dozen
or so plays and musicals able to
survive the oncoming vacation pc
on the Broadway scene at the mo-
ment, although it is admitted that
some of them are marking time
until they can gather in the ex-
pected harvests of Worlds Fair
audiences.
But even at this long stage be-
fore the fair it is difficult to buy
tickets Immediately for ABE Lin
coin in Illinois" "Hellzapoppin,"
kiss the Boys Good-hy." Leave
1t to Me- "Mambas Daughters"
oscar Wilde" "Outward Bound"
"Set to Music" STARS in Your
, Eyes" The American Way" The
Boys from Syracuse" THE Little
Foxes" and THE Primrose Path"
>. That presents a dozen hits on
Broadway at the moment and that
doesn't count the other shows which
are doing just medium business.
Your correspondent. always being
a person curious about other peo-
Piles pocketbooks since the days
when he conducted Theater Guild
plays across the globe, would say
that "Hellzapoppin" is the major
money hit on Broadway 1t wasn't
an expensive show to produce, the
stars are working on percentage and
the theater has been selling to
standing room only for months.
= The profits of "Hellzapoppin,
should they ever be known. should
be almost as unbelievable as those
of "Abies Irish Rose"
In contrast is the hit "Stars in
Your Eyes" Aside from the rou-
tine expenses, it was an extravagant
, show to produce. with gilded sets and
costumes. 1t has two highZ-
stars in Jimmie Durante and Ethel
Norman. with costly cast support
ing them.
> A similar situation is that of THE
American Way" which is undoubt-
edly attracting more money than
any show in town, but which cost
an extraordinary expense above the
routine charges. 1t has many huge
settings which require an extra stage
crew. It has cast of more than
200, which has a group of stars in
cluding high h-salaried Fredric March.
1t is housed in the largest legitimate
theater in Rockefeller Center. 1t
Is a tremendous show and a tremen-
dous success, but it can never for
one minute be less than that, for its
overhead is too terrific.
Probably the prime economic sue
cess in theatrical production in re-
cent years has been Tobacco Road"
The cast is small and stars are not
needed for the leading roles And,
as Producer Sam H. Grisman said.
"All we need to put on the show is
a curtain, a simple set and a bucket
or two Of sand" The play has made
- fortune, is playing its sixth year
both on Broadway and the road and
apparently will be here forever.
Show business is financially happy
at the moment, so pay no attention
to the weepers, for Broadway has al
ways been suffused with crocodile
tears