Evening star., 1949-06-12
FoneFreokish
In Its Choices.
For Stordonn
ey Marx eorrce
NEW YORK


NEW YORK.
Stardom IN the tneAies "a O
prohlsmatical thlng, II may come
70 sny one Of mos, any moment
Lee J. Cobb has JUS won star
dom IN his portrayal Of the traxAr.
frustrated man IN Arthur Miller 8
Pulitzer Prize play. Death Of q
Salesman. and this triumph
comes years after he made his nrst
Broadway appearance IN 1888 as
Koch In 'crine and Punishment, !"
For II years he PLAYED in Broad
way stage dramas. then in motion
pictures. but almost always in
character parts.
still q Character. a
Then. in Death Of a Saley-
man" he finds q role which is
really character party. q tagdgy.
defeated person who Is far from
being a heroic role. II IS some
what Of being an Amalgamation
OF all the bitter roles which Cobb
had played in such plays with
harsh sounding titles as Bitter
Stream" Clash by Night" and
TIL the Day Die" But. 1t is q
role that brought Cobb stardom.
A sprightly miss. with brunette
hair and kissable lips, has moved
on from the musical hit, Where S
Charley?" to play the leading and
starring role in the forthcoming
Irving Berlin Robert r. Sherwood
musical. Miss Liberty" The lady
who is the Statue OF Liberty figure
is Allyn McIerie. who has been
dancing up 10 now opposite Ray
Bolger in Where's Charley"
When the producers OF Where $
Charley" began 10 seek a per
former who could replace Miss
McLerie they faced an extraordi-
nary problem because they had
to And n dancer who could match
the rhythms OF Boleer. Also, q
dancer who would not be too pret-
ty--pretty as opposed 10 Bolgers
rather homely features,
Allyn Was Perfect.
Miss McLerie was perfect for
the part because she was hand
some. good looking and hum hum.
but her nose and her forehead
were as pert and odd as those
of Boleer.
But. 1t was those attention call
ing imperfections which made
Miss McLerie star. which made
her stand out In Where's Char
lie?" and which pulled her up to
stardom atop the pedestal which
shortly will be the resting place
Of Miss Liberty" Before the show
even opens she is star. and that
is almost the same that happened
with South Pacific" where Mary
Martin became a star. a Broad
way stage star, before that highly
acclaimed musical was hrst pre-
sented.
The difference Is that Miss Mar
tin had TO wait longer than Miss
McLerie.
It isn't only In the Broadway
companies where youngsters spring
to stardom overnight. Blonde
Anne JeffSeys. who established
herself with her lovely singing Of
the role of Rose Moran in the
musical version OF Street Scene. .
has now returned from Hollywood
to sing the leading role in the ma
tional company OF Kiss Me,
Kate" which will begin its cross
country tour from Los Angeles on
July H. Pembroke Davenport. the
musical wizard from Dallas. Tex,
will direct Miss Jeffreys In the
songs which are designed towards
returning her to Broadway In the
fall In a new musical.
Martha Hunt, Too
Martha Hunt Is another recently
acclaimed star who Ia highly ac-
claimed in her leading role In
The Madwoman Of Chaillot." an
actress who had been q minor
character player up until few
weeks ago when she was named q
star.
There are other players such as
Myron Mccormick and Beta st,
John in South Pacific" and also
Robert Keither In Mister Rob-
erts." and the whole cast in the
comedy. Born Yesterday" who
reserve featured roles for most
excellent performances.
Mccormick. long good actor
on the Broadway stage. adds gy-
ration performance of tattoos on
his stomach in this play. He and
Miss St. John also do perform
ances with fingers and wrists
which are q symphony OF motion.
They are perfect and the best
pantomine performers since man
started talking with his hands.
Mccormick talks with his stomach
and Miss st. John with her eyes.