Evening star., 1945-11-13

like a crone who has just been dis
charged by her plastic surgeon as
incurable. It's wit Is a little better
than that scrawled in chalk on fac
tory fences, but not much.
The latter shortcoming could be
flagrantly improved by giving How
ard, a very funny fellow, more of a
chance to frolic for his fans. The
emphasis Of the revue, however,
falls upon dancing through which
the audience sits in an apathy
which amounts to a coma while Mr..
Howard presumably languishes in
his far-away dressing room. 1t is
not that the material which he has
brought to the latest edition of
"The Passing Show" is new. He
has a style that makes new ma
terial unnecessary. The style of the
rest of the production fairly screams
for 1t.
Five lyricists and composers are
credited on the program with the
music for the production at the Ma
tional. None of them is in a posi-
ton to be proud of his performance,
not even If the cuts and transposi-
tions in the performance did not
create a constant threat that the
soloists and orchestra might at any
moment find themselves miles apart.
The nearest thing to a hummable
ballad is a tune called ut Seems
Like Yesterday" Even it seems like
something that you might get mixed
up with a dozen other current or
recently current torchish tunes.
Best Of the topical melodies, with
out which "1he Passing Show
would be even less of q revue, are
those sung by Sue Ryan, a ribald
lass with a song. Then There's Ro-
nance" and Back in the Kitchen
Again." the latter a lament of the
late ladies of the factory production
lines, are either fair or seem so in
the melodic setup of the production
OF the sketches through which the
cast rifles with an apparently sup
pressed yawn, Miss Ryan Is heroine
of the only one from which you
don't expect the moths to fly at any
moment. There Is a slapstick affair
dealing with the murderous rela-
tions which the OPA has engendered
between restaurants and their Gus
toners. 1t has its gusty moments.
OF the others, one which presents
Howard in the familiar garb of q
waiter trying to make deal for two
cups of coffee and another in which
he plays psychiatrist to a large
woman with glands, will stir a guf.
faw or two. It's the mans way
however, that does it after two dozen
other comedians in the same moth.
eaten skits have failed. Even the
arch Willie, sad to relate, falters ir
that one about the bridegroom-to.
be who thinks he is taking a pre-
marital test and winds up having
passed his Army physical.
II you wonder how that one got
into THE Passing Show" just wait
until you see some of the others
They look as if they had been wait.
ing for some actors to come along
and live in them again ever since
before the First World War.
y y
The dances, which are the readiest
resort of "The Passing Show" wher
other things fail, as they almost in.
variably do, are not the kind that
are mad with creative inspiration
Mimi Kellerman and Betty Luster
the ballerinas, and Gil johnson ano
Roger Stark are capable of better
things, although all of them com.
bine to make you like one or two o1
those which have been created fol
the production. There is some live.
illness in a Chinese number and 6
hint Of loveliness in a toe bit, "A
Song Is Born" danced by Mis-.
Luster.
A nod might be given to such
others as Vocalists Bob Russell ane
Ruth Clayton. Comedians Bobb!
Morris and AL Kelly and that funn!
woman, Rowena Rollins, but they al
probably will be doing somethin,
else very soon.
The girls in the chorus were no
beautiful, but it seemed right bravt
of them to be there.
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