Evening star., 1943-07-18

season upon the success OF play:
which deal in one way or another
with childhood or adolescence. Neve,
within the memory of those too lazy
to do any research on the subject
have so many children, nor such
brilliant tones, strutted their little
hours upon the stage with such i'm
preSsive results at the box office
kiss and Tell" Tomorrow the
World" JAMIE" Junior Miss" all
rather strictly about children, were
among the Broadway hits of the
season, the latter a hold-over hit
from last season.
Adults in flocks crowded the
theaters where these were playing.
Producers wore their happiest
smiles. Critics, who for some rea-
son or other are regarded as the
natural enemies Of the precocious
young, showed not merely a normal
benevolence toward bright child
actors, but went out of their way
to praise their very precocity. A
good sign, they found the collective
excellence Of Patricia Peardon,
Skippy Hoemier, Joyce Van Patton,
Nancy Nugent, Lenore Lonergan
and many another. A good sign,
they found it, not only for the
theater but for a species that is
going to have desperate need for
wise offspring when the current
crop Of adults finishes dismantling
the world.
Children Useful Generally.
A play, indeed, did not have to
deal exclusively with the theme of
childhood to attract attention for
even its casual side to the young.
Even the most cynical theater-goer
has been forced to recognize the i'm
portance of the on-rushing genera
tion in such plays as Harriet" and
"T'he Skin of Our Teeth" pair OF
dramas whose accent was definitely
placed elsewhere.
THE children's hour on the stage"
they said, and it made many a
story in the course of an otherwise
none too -writable season.
The movies, which is the un-
written angle of the story, were a bit
tardy in catching on to the popular
ity of children and adolescents. But
they suddenly have done so and If
the giants of Hollywood the op-
portunists as some cynics have called
them-follow the lead, such pictures
dneffvon@ fN into Nvyr1a
(More than three of any type pic
ture makes cycle.)
The first intimation locally of how
silly the cinema was being in con-
tinuing to make anti-NaI pictures
instead of dealing with adolescence
was in the case Of presenting Lily
Mars"
Rooney Tradition Fails.
Before that excerpt from the
works of Booth Harrington, starring
Judy Garland, opened at the Capt.
tol Theater only one other picture
ever had succeeded in remaining
two weeks at the house. That was
one of the Andy Hardy series. That
it remained overtime was deemed
due entirely to the fact that its star
was Mickey Rooney whose case his
tory is filled with upsets OF tradi-
ton. It was, therefore, put down
as sort of freak which probably
never would be repeated so long as
the industry produced enough pic
lures to provide the theater with a
new one every Thursday.
The presenting Lily Mars" item
was favorite with its M-G-M pro-
ducers, but they had no notion it
would be the second picture to hold
over for fortnight. After all, they
reasoned, and so did people with
even less interest In the financial
aspects of it, 1t was nothing more
than a routine sort of Harrington
piece, sentimental, stingy and all
that. Why should it hold over?
When 1t did, the explanation was
that Miss Garland suddenly had
come of age as a personality. She
was a sort of Rooney of her sex. a
versatile child who could not only
sing, but had way with comedy
and could, in way, do an accept
able dance routine.
It was just Miss Garland's grow
ing stature as an entertainer, they
said, and wasn't 1t wonderful?
Then Came Another.
Skipping week or so, the theater
came back with another of Metros
courtseys to its younger players,
"The Youngest Profession" The
player in the second case was Vir-
ginia Weidler and her vehicle was
one Of those improvised pieces Of
juvenillia which had elements of be-
ing dashed off without hope that 1t
would be any great financial success.
The public, however, lost no time
In demonstrating that the picture
was just the thing 1t had been wait
ing for, a piece of domestic comedy
which, whatever 1t lacked Of in
spiration. presented a picture of
family life In America as 1t was
viewed sentimentally, probably ret
respectively. That, too, remained
for a second week.
The notion that Miss Garland's
sudden increase in stature as an
entertainer explained the success of