Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-30

What's more. 1t runs 100 radio
stations, 10 television outlets
and manufactures every last
lphonograph record.
The officials I talked to dunn
mied up when asked what the
USSR spends each year on mass
entertainment. They did admit
however. that It was one Of the
major expenses Of governing
their more than 200 million peo-
pie. In other words, the Roman
idea Of -bread and circuses'' has
been adopted as official policy in
this setup where everybody owns
everything and nobody owns
anything.
Ticket Scalpers Busy
Incidentally. there's a nice
twist to this story Of theatrical
omnipotence. Rifles and regula-
lions Notwithstanding, the ticket
speculator is to be found IN
front Of every theater with a hit
show. Scalping is one form Of
private initiative which even the
mightiest police state hasn't
been able to liquidate.
BY this far down in the COL
umn. it figures that someone is
phoning the chairman of the
Un-American Activities Commit
tee. Congressman Walter" I
can hear him screeching, that
Rose guy says Russian show
business is bigger than ours.
Let's slap him with a subpoena. {"
Well. maybe I ought to tell my
well-meaning friend why he
shouldn't get himself all in a
tiny
On July 4. my new missus and
! boa rded a plane at Idlewild
Airport. Few York. In my pocket
were visas for Russia, Poland.
Czechcslovakia, Yugoslavia and
Roumania. My purpose in max
ing the trip was to explore the
possibility Of an Steven
exchange of artists and enter
tainers between the United
States and five Of the Commu-
mist countries.
Backed by Walter
Though I had discussed the
notion with the State Depart
ment, I had no official status. /
was travelling as a private citizen
under my own steam and at my
own expense. The only docu-
ment I carried was q letter from
Congressman Francis E. Walter.
chairman Of the Un-American
Activities Committee. 1t opened
with. Il think you have an excel
lent idea" and closed with the
line, you can count on nv
wholehearted support" This
letter was my guarantee that I
wouldn't wind up as the hero of
The Daily Worker.
Oddly enough, the first Com
munist show we saw was in
London where Joyce and I spent
a few days with some old friends
1t was the Red Army Ensemble
at Empress Hall, and if the
rest Of the Muscovite shows had
been as good, I might have been
tempted to play footsie with the
comrades myself.
The Red Army Ensemble is
essentially a choral group of 200
soldiers who looked as good as
they sang, and eight girl dancers
who looked better than they
danced. In addition to an assort-
ment of marching songs and
folk ballads, they close -harino-
MED "Tipperary" and AUD
Lang Syne" in their best Slavic
English. At the end Of Act One
a large troupe Of male dancers
in series Of Cossack
gyrations, and the sell-out au-
dience of 5000 threw everything
but Anthony Eden into the air.
Is this outfit a possibility for a
United States tour? A natural"
is the better word.
Next evening, Joyce and I
caught the Hungarian Folk
Dancing Troupe at another Lon
don theater. Here was initial
proof that Communist entertain
ment can be so-what as well as
The house was half
filled and. to give the paprika
kids the best of it. the audience
half-hearted.
The following week we checked
in at the Hotel Kempinski in
Berlin where the Nazis used to
tell each other, Enjoy the war,
the peace will be horrible" The
NaziS were only half fright. be-
cause the inhabitants of West
Berlin are doing right well for
themselves. I'm not going to re-
hash the story Of the two Ber-
Inns. except to say the contrast
between them is so marked that
the Soviets would do well to
abandon their eastern sector. It's
the worst possible advertisement
for their way Of life.
East German Dramatic SIOp