Evening star., 1945-07-21

Miss Hayes when she read 1t in
Hollywood that she decided it was
for her.
Reuben Mamoulian will direct the
play, which Washington may see
before it goes to Broadway.
X X X
If Hollywood were interested in
our peace of mind it would abandon
one of its currently most popular
cliches. That's the one which has
the heroine and the villainess come
to blows somewhere along about the
climax of the picture. We don't
want the export market to get the
idea that all American women do
is come out swinging when the plans
conflict.
The toughest fight of the season,
our memos show was that between
Joan Bennett and Vivian Blaine in
mob Hill" The sound effects made
it seem that Miss Bennett can hit
harder than any one since Jack
Dempsey. The spectacle, plus the
sound effects, was simply embarrass-
ing, all the way from the first blow
until the end, when Miss Bennett
sort of sat upon Miss Blaine and
explained some of the harsher facts
of her family background.
In the current "a Medal for Ben
: n.y." Dorothy Lamour tears the
dress off Rosita Moreno, who, by
the way, plays character called
Toodles Castro.
The sequence makes logical end
ing, if Hollywood is listening, to
the practice of letting the ladies
slug it out.
CT playwrights, of which there
were nearly TOO last year, will have
another prize play competition un-
der the auspices of the National
Theater Conference. For the third
year the conference has set aside
81 800 in prize money,
Full-length plays and one-act
compositions are sought.
The long play will take the top
prize, $500, with $500 for the second
choice. Ten prizes of $50 each will
be awarded for the best one-act
plays submitted.
The competition will open for
mally on August l, and the soldier
dramatistS will have five months
after that date to submit their Offer
ings. Women in uniform are eligi-
BILE for both branches of the contest,
which is limited this year to Army
personnel.
Details of the contest are avail
able at headquarters of the MTG,
Western Reserve University, Cleve-
land 6, Ohio.
x 4 y
Aside to H. T.: We agree that
keenan, Wynns drunk in without
Love" is one of the best pieces of
acting of the season, but we think
he does an even better job with
the same character in The Clock"
However, our choice of the best
supporting performance of the. year
up to this point is that of j. Carroll
Naish in "a Medal for Benny"
And we still object to calling such
performances supporting" espe-
cially when the principals, in this
case Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de
Cordova, actually play minor parts.
And don't argue.
Speaking of Without Love-" DON
aid Ogden Stewart who did the film
adaptation has just been given the
writing chore of the year in Holly
wood. That is the job of writing
the screen script of Life With
Father" Stewart did a brilliant
piece of work in improving the
Philip Barry play, turning it into
one of the wittieSt pictures of the
year. There is considerably less
room for improvement in the case
of the Howard Lindsay Russell
Grouse adaptation of Clarence
Days story of his fiery, red-haired
parent.
Washington will get its last
chance-but not positively the last
chance-to see the stage version OF
Life With Father" when it comes
to the National August 8 for a
tortnight's stay.
x X * X
We should be the last person we
know to chide Gertrude Lawrence,
who is one of our favorite people.
But we do think she must have
overlooked one of the most drama
tic episodes of her acting career in
her autobiography, "a Star Danced"
That was the death of her leading
man, Osgood Perkins, on the open :
ing night of Susan and God" at
the National theater. He had given :
one of his most brilliant perform
ances that evening in spite of be-
ing acutely i'll throughout the play.
"A Star Danced" does not men
ton it.