Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-06

; debates the wisdom and JuStlc'
of its decisions.
8 This interval begins the las
week in January. with the Pro
lcerS Guilds annual Dime.
Ind continues until the Academy
1.-THE overall student body in {
snianner of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
is Oscars"
Thanks to the Screen Di
rectors Guild and its annua
Critics Award, we have beer
aparticipant in this years cere'
flonials. This is quite an expert
sence. 1t leaves a man with tht
sfeeling that if the Directors
.Guild has nothing to teach Mrs
Rerle MeSta, she has nothing tt
3each it.
THE Directors Guild could MOI
make a guest feel more at east
or at home. On the othtl hand
it wants him to feel warmly
Welcome. This involves quite &
program for his entertainment
Naturally. it is one that keep:
hopes and guest equally busy
the latter until he begins to fee
something like a chief of STATE
on a visit to Washington.
Back home. after it has taker
its place on the fireplace mantle
We shall look at our Critics
Award always with the memory
that it took us a week to collect
it. Not literally. This actually in
volved only the few minutes al
the Guilds dinner during which
Producer-Director- Writer Del.
nAer Dawes introduced US anc
handed US the award.
But that was only midpoint
In the seuen-days' ritual.
This week-long period began
on a rainy Wednesday night
when we landed at international
Airport in deluge that 36 hours
later added up to the third
heaviest rain ever recorded here
The final figure was seven and
one-half inches, which obviously
was as unusual" as everyone
Immediately said.
The plane was an hour late,
the streets were flooding with a
foot and one-half of water and
some of the canyon drives in the
fashionable west end weIe being
closed.
Nevertheless, instead of taking
logical fight, the Guilds COM
mittee of welcome waited.
ats four members, Mr.. Dawes,
Joseph Youngerman. Norman
Siegel and Barrett Kiesling could
not have been more faithful to
their duty. Or more chagrined
that CALIFORNIA; weather had
suddenly turned so sensationally
irlhospitable.
Followed then, during the next
three days. a series Of quite
little affairs around the studios,
q chance to renew personal
friendships. All prelude. these
=
The big moment and the big
surprise is the Sunday night
dinner at which the Directors
Guild honors not only its Critic s
Award winner-who is the only
speaker of the eyening-but its
members for their top perfor-
mances.
It is the flavor Of this, the
visitor is told by Mrs. George
Sidney, that will be its big
surprise. No one could be more
right than the wife of the Guild S
president.
In print, and on television
Hollywood's big dinners look SO
glamorouS. This. because they
are glamorous, at least from
the outside looking in. From the
inside, looking the other way,
this is the least dramatic thing
about them as Mrs. Sidney says.
What gets the guest is that he
suddenly finds himself in the
midst of what seems to be a
combination of the Junior Prom
and a gigantic family party. One
thousand people are gathered in
the Biltmore Bowl, the largest
downtown Los Angeles hotel
room, for an evening of dining
dancing and prize distributing
For all this community
and industry's-reputed class
distinctions and social stratifi-
cations, the Directors Guild din
ner is democracy rampant
Sentiment CLOVIS, table hopping
produces a kind of perilous traf-
fic, and Mrs. Sidney, unfeazed by
the size of the operation. sees
that everyone meets everyone
else.
Some people. one gathers, ever
eat. But not the Sidneys
certainly. They are, much toe
busy. There is no head table, nc
dais. The nearest thing to q
guest of honor is the visiting
critic, this because he is the onlJ
prize-winner known in advance
The award winning directors
who turn out to include Ella
Kazan, Joshua Logan, Henry
King (the David Wark Griffith
award, and tall young Delbert
Mann, are to be suprisec They
represent the suspense of the
evening, as do the winners of the
Academy's awards which viii
come in March.
The nearest equivalent OF 9
head table is that of the Sidney's
the number of which is 1903.
1t is from this one, located
H-As~a @LA nA,,,lge kn Il