Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-12-07

One of these, Getting Cert
Shubert where it will be the pl
fortnight. It is being sold as a
"tWofer"; or two tickets for the
price Of one. which is consider
ably below the going rate In
holiday turkeys.
Time, something like 35 years
of it, has done nothing Tor, and
rather a lot to. this farce writ
ten by Wilson Collision and
Avery Hopwood.
AT this point in human prog
ress, or whatever is the word
for it. Getting Gertie's Garter"
Is a withered crone of joke
that must have been pretty bad
to begin with. It Is about a girl
who spends the first hours of
her honeymoon trying to return
q jeWeled garter to the former
lover who presented it to her a
year before in a moment Of
mutual madness.
The funniest thing about this
back in the postwar days
must have been the complica-
tons. The funniest thing about
1t last night was that the bride
Of a few hours. implicitly rich
sort of girl with a country
house, was wearing no wedding
ring. Nor an engagement ring.
In fact, her solitary jewel was
the garter OF massed rhinestones
which she was trying to give
away.
\ It is a little thing, but in
dicative of the devil-may-care
way these productions are slung
together.
The one constructive thing to
be said for Getting Gertie's
Garter" it has reduced unem-
ployment in Actors Equity by
eight. These are divided, four
and four, between the sexes and
whatever their artistic short
comings, shyness is not one of
them.
This is f1agrantly apparent
from the moment the first of
the girls, Dodi Bauer 1t says on
the program, makes her appear
ance demanding to be compro-
The demand is uttered in
a high. rasping voice that sets
the speech pitch at a level I'M
heard since the Shubert dealt |
in burlesque under the name of |
Gayety.
After Miss Bauer and her re- |
luctant COMPROMISED, the stage
becomes a bedlam of humans
afflicted with an identical OBJ
session. That violently used bed
room doors do not become un-
is only slightly less
remarkable than the fact that |
the audience does not.
When they are not racing into
the nearest hiding place, mostly |
In pairs, Gertie and her ferni-
nine associates are anatomically
concerned with garters, worn
apparently to impede circulation
since they serve no other prac-
tical purpose.
The performers in Getting |
Gertie's Garter" who give UNI
stintedly of themselves are play
ers who have largely escaped |
attention around here most of |
their lives. Gertie is played by
Velle Davenport, whose distin-
gushing vocal mark is to pro-
the servant Aliens name
rs "Aleen." These society types.
The new husband, who forgot
to give her a wedding ring and
from whom she is trying to con-
ceal that garter. is played by
David Tyrrell. Mr.. Tyrrell whose
nickname is KILLER" is an inter-
esting type in that he looks
something like Sonny Tufts and
talks like Make Rosenblum. In
one moment of exuberant antici-
patton of his nuptial night, he
literally chews the scenery, feat
few theatergoers actually have
ever seen.
The others are Nat Burns who
directed the play as well as por-
traying "Aleen," Eulabelle Moore
as Gertie's uninhibited maid, and
Larry Bockius who committed
the narrowing blunder of giving
Gertie that CHASTITY garter.
The costumes, credited to |
=