Evening star., 1943-10-17

LOS ANGELES.
There is a story that householders
around the playhouse called THE
Theater Mart" set their clocks by
the sound of a gunshot every night
at half past nine.
The shot is fired on the stage of
that veteran melodrama, The
Drunkard' and, whether or no.
the tale is authentic, it nevertheless
gives some indication of the regu-
larlty of this unique production.
Despite depressions, heat waves.
storms and floods, hardy band
of thespians has mugged through
the melodrama night after night
since its first performance here July
6, 1888. Right now, business is so
good that playgoers have to reserve
seats two weeks ahead.
Not that the war hasn't affected
The Drunkard." 1t has brought
a number of changes. Five of the
cast have gone into the armed
forces. The crew of walters has
disappeared and a group of Holly
wood beauties now dispense the
refreshments. Sam Ethridge. who
plays the title role, journeys out to
Vega Aircraft after every perform
ance to work full shift.
Besides the usual seven perform
ances weekly, the show has added
a Sunday matinee exclusively for
servicemen. The theater has had
Its troubles keeping up it's supply
OF refreshments, especially pretzels
since local pretzelbenders have
gone into war work. Instead of the
tourist crowd, which nurtured the
play through many years, the main
body OF spectators are war workers
now.
Grammar and SudS.
But the show is essentially the
same. The audience is packed tight
ly around little tables in the 35O-
capacity hail. They are given a
liberal supply of pretzels and suds
COR root beer, if so desired. Amid
misses and cheers, the century-old
drama is enacted, the lines un-
changed from the original script.
After an intermission of coffee
and sandwiches, the onlookers see
series of vaudeville acts reminis-
cent of a dead era. The bathtub
sopranos and barbershop baritones
lead a lusty community sing. AS a
farewell, Ada Lilly, the heroine of
the play, sings There Is a Tavern
IN the Town." which THE Drunk
ara revived to popularity in the
early years of its run,
The ghost of P. T. Barnum hovers
over the Theater Mart for it was the
great Prince of Humbug" who first
presented The Drunkard" a hun
dred years ago. Written by an un-
known playwright, it was intended
to be a TRADE against over-i -indul-
gence in LIQUOR. 1t scored successes
under the Barnum banner in Bos-
ton and New York, but piece be-
came lost after a few years.
In the early 30s of this CEN
tury, The Drunkard' was exhumed
by a little theater group in Berke-
ley, Calf. The parents of Gait Bell
saw 1t and recommended it to their
son, who was directing a group
theater in Carmel. He didn't think
much of the relic, but his asso-
clates did, so the troupe performed
1t in Carmel. The show was well
received, and they took it for
snort run in San Francisco and
then came to Los Angeles.
3.2 Forbiddance.
Bell had no end of trouble finding
theater here. Most of the owners
said they had worked hard enough
to gain a good reputation for their
houses, and they wouldn't consider
booking an attraction that served
beer. (This was in the 3.2 daysD
Bell finally found the out-of-the
way Theater Mart and closed the
deal, although the wary owner
wanted sizable advance payment.
The show opened and the rest is
theater history. '"The Drunkard"
has lived to see Tobacco Road"
the long-run record holder on
Broadway, open and close. Holly
wood took the play to its tinseled
heart, and practically every movie
star but Garbo has seen it. And