Evening star., 1940-08-05

anOther tWO-WeeK run at Ine Darn'
theater tonight, Mr.. Jones came
upon certain blunt and straightfor-
ward stage directions. "Ishmael ap-
pears" 'the gypsy vanishes,' Maria
appears" Maria vanishes," were
some of the notes he read. Tricks
like these call for, either a strange
conglomeration of mirrors and lights
like that gadget which recently had
the Cross Roads Theater in a
dither, or a "scrim" between player
and audience. Lighted one way the
"scrim" is opaque, lighted another
it becomes transparent, almost in
visible.
Mr.. Jones told himself conf
>dentially there was only one mate
rial that would give him the effect
he wanted. 'Mr. Jones'" he said,
being in formal mood that
evening, you must get yourself
some English shark-tooth theatri-
cal gauze." So he set out, modern
Jason in search of his golden fleece.
He arrived in New York at 6:55 am,
hied himself Immediately to the
Abbott Scrim Profile Co. They had
the precious stuff, all right, but cut
ting off the mere four yards for
Mr.. Jones' 12-by -60-foot piece was
a suggestion at which they merely
laughed.
So Jason went on, with no Medea
to charm him against the fire.
breathing bulls. He secured New
York, scurrying from Times Square
to West End avenue to Greenwich
Village and back to midtown. At
AIT pm. a dropping Mr.. Jones
found what he wanted, left over
from '"The Boys From Syracuse
and returned triumphant to Wash
ington to concentrate on scenery for
Murder"
We only hope no historian of the
Roadside feels called upon to re-
port, as Bullfinch says of that other
Jason: What became of the golden
fleece afterwards, we do not know
but perhaps it was found, like many
other golden prizes, not worth the
trouble it cost to produce it," Fol
Mr.. Jones' sake, we hope his English
shark-tooth weave theatrical gauze
turns out to be worth every minute
spent securing New York.
Miss Catharine Ryan, star of the
Cross Roads Theater's current boz
office hit, Nuhl Cahrd's Fallen An
gels" has hangover every morn
| ing, for the duration, she is afraid
1t is not due to what the ads politely
call "overindulgence,' but rather
is something Miss Ryan can blame
on the fact that she is a conscien-
tious actress.
In the second act of Fallen
Angels" Miss Ryan is called upon
by the author, to toss off numerous
glasses of champagne. The Gross
Roads management, following COM
mon theatrical practice, supplies
ginger ale to substitute for the
sparkling grape. This would be fine
except that Miss Ryan never liked
ginger ale in the first place and
maintains now that she feels plain
terrible of a morning. She even hints
darkly that she is not getting the
best grade of ginger ale in those
champagne glasses every night.
And she is not certain she would
not feel better if Director Howard
Wentworth suddenly demanded COM
plete realism for the scene. But
she carries on, grimly.
| y
Coincidence note: On Thursday
nights jury for THE Night of Janu.
airy 16" at the Willard Roof were
Senator Henry F. Ashurst anc
Bruce Macnamee, director of the
United States Travel Bureau. Ter
years ago Macnamee, then New
York newspaperman, selected Sen
ator Ashurst to serve on radio
drama jury {You, too, might b.
jury member any Tuesday, Wed
nesday or Thursday night)
X X X
More anent "Mllrder" at the Road