year—and new blunders?ivor novello’s “the dancing years,” a musical play revived from prewar...

1
Theater in Britain Prospers By Russell Landstrom. LONDON. The British theater starts the New Year with every sign that the golden harvest from wartime enter- tainment will continue. Three years ago the theater had been blitzed into virtual paralysis. You could see a little Shakespeare, hear Mozart, Cesar Franck and Debussy, or watch a girl show. That was about all. Now 40 theaters in Central Lon- don give their large audiences se- rious plays, melodramas and farces, many of them American imports; musical comedies and revues and variety; opera and ballet and con- certs. Theater ticket agents alone sell an average of 12,000 seats a night; about 24,0JH) a week for matinees. Stage stars working on a per- centage basis have earned up to $4,000 a week. Earlier blackout and more frequent air-raid warnings have taken some of the gravy, but the earnings still are big. Lightness Preferred. Light entertainment, with or without music, remains the chief money-maker. American shows con- tinue to fare exceptionally well. The top American hits of 1943 were “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and the anti-Nazi "Watch on the Rhine,” which closed In London early in December after a run of nearly two years. “My Sister Eileen.” which ar- rived in the fall, promised to keep company in the New Year with the other American hits. “Panama Hat- tie.” featuring Bebe Daniels, like- wise a late-comer, was received coolly by most critics but has an unques- tioned rank-and-file popularity. “There Shall Be No Night,” star- ring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fon- tanne, came to London December 15. after a triumphant road trip. “Claudia” and “Junior Miss” also rated high among 1943's American plays. The one which caught on least was Maxwell Anderson's “The Wingless Victory.” Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” which opened in July. 1941, has the distinction of being the longest»»un- ning play, with Esther McCracken’s “Quiet Week End,” younger by only a few weeks, second. Ivor Novello’s “The Dancing Years,” a musical play revived from prewar times, ap- proached the end of its second year in the Strand. “Flarepath.” com- edy-drama against the background of a Royal Ah’ Force station, was running after virtually a year and a half, the many British audiences wondering why it failed in New York. Coward brought out two new plays, “Present Laughter” and “This Happy Breed,” of which the first, a farce in which the author poked sly fun at himself, was particularly slick theater. The year 1943 was one also of brilliant production of classics and near-classics. John Gielgud brought Congreve's “Love for Love” to the London stage and, with an all-star cast, made it perhaps the finest play of the war. Evelyn Williams adapt- ed Turgenev’s “A Month in the Country” for Michael Redgrave. Edith Evans and Robert Donat headed a superlative cast in Shaw’s “Heartbreak House.” Even before he relinquished his part in that play, Donat leased the Westminster Theater and produced Oscar Wilde's “An Ideal Husband.” glowingly mounted, excellently acted The best of the year’s musical re- vivals was “The Merry Widow,” vis- ited by mere than 300,000 persons from early March to the end of September. British musical plays and revues perked up in 1943, achieving a sen- sation with George Black's “Strike a New Note.” starring that superb comic figure, Sid Field, a standby in the Provinces and in Australia for many years. Flanagan and Allen, who have been likened to Olson and Johnson, took a new show, “Hi-De- Hi,” into one of the city's largest theaters in midsummer, later moved to an even bigger house. Already the show has played to more than 400,000 persons. Variety came back strong at the Palladium. It fell short of prewar standards, but it drew the crowds. Four plays widely conceded to have high quality missed popular suc- cess: A revival by the old Vic or- ganization of John Drinkwater's “Abraham Lincoln,” “War and Peace,” an ingenious adaptation in spectacle form of Tolstoy’s novel. “The Prussians,” realistic tragedy of the Nazi occupation, by a Soviet journalist, and John Steinbeck’s "The Moon Is Down.” Up to the end of October the Sad- ler’s Wells ballet had fulfilled four seasons in London, 20 weeks in all, giving nine performances a week, to an estimated total attendance of 180,000. Sadler's Wells opera enjoyed great favor. The Shakespeare Memorial Thea- ter in Stratford-on-Avon had a profitable season. Irving Berlin’s soldier show, “This Is the Army,” was one of the high lights of the year. Because of its short stay in Britain, thousands were unable to buy tickets. Its sjngs caught on immediately and prob- ably will be sung, hummed or whistled for many months to come. CHEERS FOR JOSE—The noted pianist-composer-conductor Jose Iturbi has widened his scope by moving into two-dimen- sional entertainment. In fact, if reports are to be believed, Mr. Iturbi has done so most auspiciously in his first movie venture, mThousands Cheer," now showing at the Palacj. AND NOW MUSIC—and its correlatives comedy, dancing, etc. come to the National for a stretch. That will be in ‘Jackpot,” starring Alan Jones, seen above in a rehearsal with the chorus. Left is Benny Baker, radio comedian, who carries the burden of making the Freedley production a light-hearted thing. How to Influence Actors and Win Their Wives By Jack O'Brian. NEW YORK. Moss Hart assured himself of at least 39 grateful prayers each night when he cast the feminine roles In his air forces show “Winged Vic- tory.” The author-director assigned 39 parts to wives of members of the cast. Hart found out how young service couples hung onto every precious; moment together while he was tour-1 ing air bases getting material for the play. He saw wives of air cadets quietly waiting all week for Saturday night when their husbands would get 'week end passes. He saw them working in five-and- itens, living two and three to a room in little towns near air bases. [ As an expert in good theater, Hart had to turn those poignant scenes to dramatic advantage. But the memory of them didn’t serve merely his dramatic inclinations. They were a guide post for his casting. Mostly On-and-OlT. That all but one of the 39 roles j played by service wives are “walk-; •ons,” or minute parts, doesn't bother them a bit. Some of the girls are used to stellar billing; but being with their husbands Is better than a Pulitzer prize or a movie Oscar to them. Eleanora Reeves, wife of Sergt. George Reeves, erstwhile film star, is the one wife in more than a walk-j on bit. Her husband played oppo- j site Claudette Colbert in “So Proudly We Hail.” One of the best-known of the girls is Mrs. Claude Stroud, wife of, one-half of the Stroud twins of' radio fame. Mrs. Stroud also Is a twin, one-half of the dancing1 Coming Attractions Stage. NATIONAL—"Jackpot,” musical with Alan Jones; starting tomor- row evening. Screen. CAPITOL—"True to Life,” with Mary Martin and Franchot Tone; starting Thursday. COLUMBIA—“Thousands Cheer,” with all-star cast. EARLE—“What a Woman.” with Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne. KEITH'S—“Corvette K-225,” with Randolph Scott and James Brown; starting Thursday. LITTLE—“Abe Lincoln in Illinois.” with Raymond Massey. METROPOLITAN “Northern Pursuit,” with Errol Flynn and Martha Scott; returning Friday. PALACE—“The Gang's All Here,” with all-star cast. Brewster twins, last seen in the Broadway musical “High Kickers.” Mrs. Herman Kantor was, before her marriage to Pvt. Kantor, in the cast of “Hellzapoppin." She was in a USO camp show unit when her husband wired her the good news that she was to join “Winged Vic- tory.” She left the unit after play- ing six show's in ten, hours at Fort Bragg, N. C. Novitiate and Old-Hand. Barbara Williams, wife of Pvt. Alan Baxter, has been in such hit shows as “Street Scene.” and “Ro- berta.” Her husband was the film menace in “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” ‘Saboteur” and other notable movies. Many of the girls are experienced players in much smaller roles than they ordinarily would rate. Some, like Renee Torres, are making their stage debut. Renee is the wife of Corp. Edward Ashley, an MGM featured player. Mrs. Bob Willey was not married when she joined the show. She and Bob, then her fiance, met in New York, each with the exciting news that they were joining the show, neither knowing of the other's good fortune. Then, learning they would be together for some time, they were married. Many of the young wives are ab- solute novices. They don’t for a minute envy the featured feminine players like Phyllis Avery. Jean Mc- Coy, Olive Deering, Mary Cooper and Marv Lenhardt. They know that, of all the serv- ice wives in the country, when "Winged Victory” goes on the road it will be the only Army post that ac- tually will carry soldier wives with it from coast to coast. Mr. Walton’s Family A Handy Clan By the Associated Press. HOLLYWOOD. Few men are as enthusiastic about their relatives, or get as much good out of them as does Propman Ken Walton. Without billing or pay. a flock of them work in films for Walton, sav- ing his company time and money. In “It Happened Tomorrow” Walton’s relatives smiled down from the walls of the 1890 boarding house in which Dick Powell, Linda Darnell and Jack Oakie live. Photographs of persons living or dead must be released by a legal paper from them or their de- scendants, when they are used in a film, and Walton has complete pa- pers on his family gallery which has i worked in at least 20 films for him. A New Year—and New Blunders? By Jay Carmody. A man, perhaps, should take stock at the end of a year, even though it is not printed until the beginning of the next one. There is a consid- erable margin for error in the busi- ness of reviewing the theater and the movies. A man might Improve his record by discovering Just how much of the margin he had left— or when It was that he fell off the edge. Tliere was the Incident of “Ox Bow Incident," for example. That was a very fine picture, an enormous- ly timely and dramatic treatment of the subject of mob violence, in- justice and bigotry. This commen- tator’s review of it was as lyrically enthusiastic as this commentator could be lyrical and enthusiastic. It could not miss the year's 10-best list, the estimate of it at the time went on to say. But it did miss. In checking and rechecking the list of releases, rejecting this picture and that one, and tentatively selecting this, discarding another, “The Ox Bow Incident" never came to atten- tion at all. It was overlooked as completely as if Twentieth Century- Pox had not made it. That was a mistake, the kind a man would bet he could not make until he had made it. Beware af Saroyan. On year-end thought, perhaps that rhapsodic first estimate of "The Hu- man Comedy” last Spring was over- done. Like Chinese brandy, or vod- ka, this fellow Saroyan is deceptive. One does not always recognize his precise capacity to indulge in Saro- yan without having his judgment distorted. “The Human Comedy” was a very large dose and while it was pleasant, it probably was not so inspiring as it seemed at the time. It might be wise to Jot down a memo on the freshly painted wall: Beware of Saroyan, he is never quite so good, nor quite so fantastic as he seems at first glance. The most grievous mistake of the year was in failing to check the re- lease date of “Desert Victory.” It was easily the best documentary pic- ture of the 12-month, the best bat- tle picture ever made. But some gremlin, the one hanging from our Nijinsky’s Shade Currently Routed By Kraft Sisters By Howard Heyn. HOLLYWOOD. The Itch to switch has sired a new terpsichorean twitch. Tschaikowsky, having survived the “jam” treatment, is emerging from quarantine; the last Mendels- sohnlan "swing song” has been swung high and even Virtuoso Jose Iturbi is recovering slowly from tropical boogie-woogie. All signs point toward a return to artistic normalcy, wherein classicists cling to their clavichords and jitterjerks to their own genuine jumpin’ jive. Now what happens? We get the Kraft sisters who adapt classical dance forms to modem rhythm. It should be noted that Beatrice, 22, and Evelyne, 23, were, at even tenderer ages, well-grounded in those particular gliding, weaving, slinking movements highly admired by East Indians. The Rudolph Steiner School saw to that while the girls were living, otherwise tran- quilly, with papa and mama Kraft in Westchester County, N. Y. Switch Plus Itch. Then they got the Itch. The switch-itch. They kept the costumes and the movements. But they tossed out the music. "We decided to try out our dances with typical American tunes.” Eve- lyne explained. “We started with an ordinary swing number, and it worked pretty well. Before long we found this adaptation really had possibilities.” The cafe society in New York thought so too, and kept the Kraft sisters writhing and twisting, in stepped-up tempo, for 10 weeks. A broadway show, "Keep ’Em Laugh- tSee HEYNTPage-C-9.1 Please to Regard a Fantastic Colony at Close of Fantastic ’43 By Harold Hefiernan. HOLLYWOOD. You think they don’t do things crazy-like in Hollywood? Well, take a quick look at just one of the fan- tastic things that happened in mo- vieland during 1943. In those 12 months studios picked more than a dozen youngsters from nowhere and tabbed them straight for stardom. They were ballyhooed to fame via expensive publicity cam- paigns. They were assigned top roles in big feature pictures. And yet. not one of the dozen has yet received more than a fleeting glimpse on the screen! That’s fa- mous obscurity for you. Who hasn’t heard of Robert Alda? Or Jennifer Jones, Ramsay Ames, Gail Russell, Jean Sullivan, the Wilde twins, Joy Ann Page, Dick Haymes, Mary Anderson and John Hodiak? Call ’em the "unseen stars of 1943”—for each has had what amounts to a starring role in at least one picture made but unreleased during the year. A few have two and even three pictures awaiting release. Not Ever Before. Never in its history has Hollywood had such a “backlog” of starlets awaiting an unveiling before a pub- lic primed by terrific publicity cam- paigns to receive them graciously. Paramount’s Gail Russell (no re- lation to the tremendously pub- licized Jane Russell, who has been seen in just one city in "The Out- law”) has a similar tale of woe. Gail, native of Santa Monica, Calif., was “discovered” about a year ago. She loomed so promising that the studio immediately cast her in one of the leading roles of “The Uninvited.” She made good in a hurry, got a heavy rise in pay and an assign- ment to play Cornelia Otis Skinner in “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.” Both pictures have been completed and Gail is preparing for another star part. And yet this youngster is just a name and beau- tiful poster art to millions of thea- tergoers. The two films are slated for early 1944 release and then fans can judge for themselves whether Paramount’s enthusiasm is okay or on the ga-ga side. Another strange case is woven around the same studio’s Diana Lynn, who as a young girl. Dolly Loehr, was seen in “The Major and the Minor” almost a year ago. She was featured as a piano player in “There’s Magic in Music.” Today she’s a sophisticated comedienne in “The Miracle of Morgan Creek,” “And the Angels Sing” and “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.” She was accepted as Dolly Loehr, the pianist, but, idle asks, will she be accepted as Diana Lynn the comic? A Warner Bros.’ subject suffering right now from release jitters is Robert Alda. He was plucked from burlesque early in the year to play the role of George Gershwin in “Rhapsody in Blue.” The film is “in the can,” Alda is one of the most publicized newcomers of the year—but the fan is holding up his opinion. The picture will be out early in February. On the same lot is pretty Jean Sullivan. University of California at Los Angeles queen, who went right off the campus to be co-starred with Errol Flynn in “Uncertain Glory.” The film has been finished two months and, due to the fact that another Flynn picture is now show- ing, may not hit theaters until after Easter. Thus another “unseen star” must wait for the verdict. For the past 18 months the bally- hoo drums have been beating a tumultous buildup for Jennifer Jones. Miss Jones, chosen from dozens of candidates to play the revered title role in “The Song of Bernadette,” has finished her chore. In 1943 she became perhaps the best publicized feminine newcomer of the year. She has much to live up to because every reader of the book TRUTH FOR THREE—“True to Life," the title of the Him next scheduled for the Capitol, would seem to indicate that its prin- cipal actors will figure in establishing some of the eternal verities of humor. Mary Martin, Victor Moore and Franchot Tone are the three pictured above. N has a certain conception of how Bernadette should look and act. The Catholic clergy is especially in- terested. No “unseen star” of 1943 carries more responsibility than Jennifer Jones. This picture is be- ing released during the current holi- day season. John Hodiak became more than a name in 1943. Picked from an obscure spot on the MGM contract list to play the leading male role opposite Tallulah Bankhead in “Lifeboat,” Hodiak hit the headlines when he displayed unforseen ability in that part. The “rushes” told the story of unknown Hodiak. The pub- lic hasn’t the slightest idea what he can do and won’t have until “Lifeboat” is released some time next spring. However, MGM figured the fellow good enough to recall for the hero role opposite Lana Turner in “Marriage Is a Private Affair.” Anxiety of Ramirez. Then there’s Carlos Ramirez, South American grand opera figure, who has appeared in two MGM films, “Mr. Co-Ed” and “Two Sisters and a Sailor.” He, too, is anxiously awaiting fandom’s Judgment. At the same studio is Ann Richards, who has the feminine lead opposite Brian Donlevy in “America.” Ann is an Australian actress, who ar- rived on one of the first boats after Pearl Harbor. She landed the lead in one of MGM’s biggest efforts— and yet the public still must see her in action to make up its mind. Two of the most colorful and best publicized figures of the year, the Wilde twins—Lee and Lyn—have yet to be appraised by the public. They’ve appeared in “Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble” finished several months ago, and grapevine reports .say they steal the story from Mickey Rooney. After the sneak preview, MGM enlarged their parts. You’ll probably be seeing the finished pic- ture within a few weeks. Dick Haymes, a king of the Juke boxes, now in “Pour Jills in a Jeep”; Mary Anderson in “Lifeboat,” Vivian Blaine in “Greenwich Village,” Jean Heather in “Going My Way,” “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay” and "Double Indemnity” (a three-time “unseen star”), and Robert Hutton, reportedly a sensation in “Destina- tion Tokio,” are a few others mak- ing up one of the oddest conglom- erations of Hollywood’s year—the "unseen stars of 1943.” At any rate, they’ll all bear watch- ing. Because in the last analysis, it is the fan. not the studio boss, who makes or breaks the star. OUlMMd k9 the North American klitmoa laa.) chandelier, whispered that It was re- leased In 1942, The gremlin was a liar, but that’s a gremlin's business and It Is the business of realistic. Justice-bent critics to look up release dates and to do honor to pictures as and when they deserve it done. Er- rors like that are unforgivably stupid and public confession is only slightly ameliorative of a sense of shame. But He Did Navigate. In the field of prophecy—where mere critics should never wander, no matter what the provocation—this department ventured but once and learned, in outrageous embarrass- ment, never to go again. That was in the spring, when former colleague Harry MacArthur walked Into the department to an- nounce that he was an aerial nav- igator. “Now, we shall learn whether there Is life on Mars,” was all we could say. Since then, Navigator MacArthur has been virtually everywhere on the explosive globe, fingering his way through the darkness by the light of Aldeberan, Betelgeuse, and a star named Albert, never even com- ing close to Mars. He even found his way back to the drama depart- ment on New Year eve. Big mouths look smaller when closed. An inferential prediction, or maybe it was stronger than that, was contained In this department’s review of John Golden’s “Three's a Family,” which came to the National in the spring. A collection of hoary gags on the subject of childbirth, and a very dull collection at that, was this department's estimate of the play. It would be lucky to sur- vive Its week in Washington, we intimated, and so, in their subse- quent estimates, did the New York critics calculate its likely life. But on and on the play went, which did not prove that it was a good play or that the critics were wrong, but Illustrated the point that a lot of people like comforable old Jokes having a biological basis. A similar mis Judgment, not of dramatic merit, but of a play's powers of endurance—or Is it audi- ences’ powers of endurance—was that made in connection with Fred- erick Lonsdale’s “Another Love Story.” That one was in the autumn, the worst thing that hap- pened in the autumn. Insufferably awful, this critis said, and so do many others, but they were proved insufferably wrong in their estimate of the play’s entertainment to people who do not give so much of a damn about the quality of the theater. It is not a critic's business to write of audience reaction, al- though there is a legend to the effect that they could do so, but they might concede that people might possibly find such plays entertain- ing. At least when people do, it seems that the reporting was in a vague, uncomfortable way on the remiss side. Moreover, probably because of a pervasive feeling of good will tinc- tured with a pinch of penitence for such unbridled wrath, it might not be amiss to concede that there was too much savagry in our review of ‘‘Phantom of the Opera.” It is pos- sible that no one, not even a wooden cigar store Indian, can be as bad an actor as we persist in thinking Nelson Eddy to be. It is possible, but there is a kind of pleasant malice in needling Mr. Eddy’s fans, the easiest people to provoke to wrath among those who bother to read a given critic. There were, of course, other errors, but a man has other things to do than sit around examining his con- science all day. After all, this is a new year and there’s a brand-new' set of mistakes to start making. Wherefore Art Thou, Rose? By J. M. Kendrick. NEW YORK. The 1944-45 theatrical season probably will go down as a headache for Miss Rose Franken, who made a second offering this week in a play called “Doctors Disagree,” which she wrote and misdirected and her husband, William Brown Meloney, produced. Several weeks ago, Miss Franken. who charmed so many with "Claudia,” came forth with a night's bad dream. “Outrageous Fortune,” which appeared to offer the incorrect and unhappy theory that no matter the success and goodness of Jews only sadness could be their reward. Now, in “Doctors Disagree,” she is dealing with some of the dis- agreeable features of the medical profession and assuming that a great prejudice exists, among male doc- tors, against women physicians. It is all very dull and unreal and lack- ing in dramatic appeal. It so hap- pens that I have mixed with doc- tors, have even attended a few oper- ations, and I have never seen two or three, or even more, act as Miss Franken’s characters do on the Bijou stage. Soap Opera on Stage. “Doctors Disagree” has radio’s “soap opera” treatment. As a mat- ter of fact, one unkind—or should we say mistreated?—member of the audience remarked after the first act that he expected a commercial plug to interrupt proceedings at any moment. My companion expressed the opinion, that, at least, would be a relief. The play has an excellent cast. Barbara O’Neil gives a fine perform- ance as Dr. Margaret Ferris, who stands for the best in medical ethics. Judson Laire likewise is good as the sophisticated society physician. Dolly Haas does well in the role of the mother of the boy whose opera- tion is the center of much of the action and dialogue. She Is red- headed and small, with an appeal- ing voice. Miss Franken is capable of much better work. Let's hope she takes time ofT for balance before her next production and that when the new play is ready, as it surely will be, she hires a first-class director to knit the thing together. A Factual Valentino Would Be Stirring By the Associated Press. HOLLYWOOD. Scenarist Lillie Hayward, assigned to write the screen play of Rudolph Valentino’s life, comments that the facts in the life of the screen idol were and are little known. As an example, the world has been told that he was engaged to Pola Negri, who made much capital of it at the time of his death. Asked, prior to his trip East that ended fatally, the screen star replied: "If the lady- says so, what can a gentleman say?” Pursuing the same code, his mar- riages and divorces never revealed the dramatic and heartbreaking truths behind them. If the screen story tells the truth, it will be a sensation to even his closest friends, for he kept his guard up always. Well, almost always. Reverse Psychology Erich von Stroheim thinks more people would go to see the movies if studios advertised them as "lousy” or "stinkers.” “I think it would be better psy- chology,” says the actor, "to tell the public: ‘Tills is only a fair pic- ture. produced by an average pro- ducer and the cast is nothing out of the ordinary, but you’ve seen stinkers before, so you may as well see this one, too!’” TOMORROW RtSJiS VINTON FREEDLErS to" tououot Corned* | IJACKP® LLAN JONES ' 1 «M* JERRY BENNY NANETTE. MARY BETTY LESTER BAKER FABRAY WICKES GARRETT / Lyric* & Hectic b HOWARD DIETZ end VERNON DUKE j Bee* b «UT BOLTON. SIDNEY SHELDON end BEN HOWRYS Directed b ROY HAR6RAVE Denctt Directed b LAURETTA JEFFERSON Wtbts b RAYMOND SOVEY end ROBERT EDMOND JONES Ceetnmes b WVtETTE MATINEES WEDNESDAY A SATURDAY. SI. 10, $1,85. S2.2B. S2.7B ONE WEEK ONLY BE6. MON., JAN. 10 B. t. 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Page 1: Year—and New Blunders?Ivor Novello’s “The Dancing Years,” a musical play revived from prewar times, ap- proached the end of its second year in the Strand. “Flarepath.”

Theater in Britain Prospers By Russell Landstrom.

LONDON. The British theater starts the

New Year with every sign that the golden harvest from wartime enter- tainment will continue.

Three years ago the theater had been blitzed into virtual paralysis. You could see a little Shakespeare, hear Mozart, Cesar Franck and Debussy, or watch a girl show. That was about all.

Now 40 theaters in Central Lon- don give their large audiences se- rious plays, melodramas and farces, many of them American imports; musical comedies and revues and variety; opera and ballet and con- certs.

Theater ticket agents alone sell an average of 12,000 seats a night; about 24,0JH) a week for matinees.

Stage stars working on a per- centage basis have earned up to $4,000 a week. Earlier blackout and more frequent air-raid warnings have taken some of the gravy, but the earnings still are big.

Lightness Preferred. Light entertainment, with or

without music, remains the chief money-maker. American shows con- tinue to fare exceptionally well.

The top American hits of 1943 were “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and the anti-Nazi "Watch on the Rhine,” which closed In London early in December after a run of nearly two years.

“My Sister Eileen.” which ar- rived in the fall, promised to keep company in the New Year with the other American hits. “Panama Hat- tie.” featuring Bebe Daniels, like- wise a late-comer, was received coolly by most critics but has an unques- tioned rank-and-file popularity. “There Shall Be No Night,” star- ring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fon- tanne, came to London December 15. after a triumphant road trip.

“Claudia” and “Junior Miss” also rated high among 1943's American plays. The one which caught on least was Maxwell Anderson's “The Wingless Victory.”

Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” which opened in July. 1941, has the distinction of being the longest»»un- ning play, with Esther McCracken’s “Quiet Week End,” younger by only a few weeks, second. Ivor Novello’s “The Dancing Years,” a musical play revived from prewar times, ap- proached the end of its second year in the Strand. “Flarepath.” com-

edy-drama against the background of a Royal Ah’ Force station, was

running after virtually a year and a half, the many British audiences wondering why it failed in New York.

Coward brought out two new

plays, “Present Laughter” and “This Happy Breed,” of which the first, a farce in which the author poked sly fun at himself, was particularly slick theater.

The year 1943 was one also of brilliant production of classics and near-classics. John Gielgud brought Congreve's “Love for Love” to the London stage and, with an all-star cast, made it perhaps the finest play of the war. Evelyn Williams adapt- ed Turgenev’s “A Month in the Country” for Michael Redgrave. Edith Evans and Robert Donat headed a superlative cast in Shaw’s “Heartbreak House.”

Even before he relinquished his part in that play, Donat leased the Westminster Theater and produced Oscar Wilde's “An Ideal Husband.” glowingly mounted, excellently acted

The best of the year’s musical re- vivals was “The Merry Widow,” vis- ited by mere than 300,000 persons from early March to the end of September.

British musical plays and revues perked up in 1943, achieving a sen- sation with George Black's “Strike a New Note.” starring that superb comic figure, Sid Field, a standby in the Provinces and in Australia for many years. Flanagan and Allen, who have been likened to Olson and Johnson, took a new show, “Hi-De- Hi,” into one of the city's largest theaters in midsummer, later moved to an even bigger house. Already the show has played to more than 400,000 persons.

Variety came back strong at the Palladium. It fell short of prewar standards, but it drew the crowds.

Four plays widely conceded to have high quality missed popular suc- cess: A revival by the old Vic or- ganization of John Drinkwater's “Abraham Lincoln,” “War and Peace,” an ingenious adaptation in spectacle form of Tolstoy’s novel. “The Prussians,” realistic tragedy of the Nazi occupation, by a Soviet journalist, and John Steinbeck’s "The Moon Is Down.”

Up to the end of October the Sad- ler’s Wells ballet had fulfilled four seasons in London, 20 weeks in all, giving nine performances a week, to an estimated total attendance of 180,000. Sadler's Wells opera enjoyed great favor.

The Shakespeare Memorial Thea- ter in Stratford-on-Avon had a

profitable season.

Irving Berlin’s soldier show, “This Is the Army,” was one of the high lights of the year. Because of its short stay in Britain, thousands were unable to buy tickets. Its sjngs caught on immediately and prob- ably will be sung, hummed or whistled for many months to come.

CHEERS FOR JOSE—The noted pianist-composer-conductor Jose Iturbi has widened his scope by moving into two-dimen- sional entertainment. In fact, if reports are to be believed, Mr. Iturbi has done so most auspiciously in his first movie venture, mThousands Cheer," now showing at the Palacj.

AND NOW MUSIC—and its correlatives comedy, dancing, etc. come to the National for a stretch. That will be in ‘Jackpot,” starring Alan Jones, seen above in a rehearsal with the chorus. Left is Benny Baker, radio comedian, who carries the burden of making the Freedley production a light-hearted thing.

How to Influence Actors and Win Their Wives

By Jack O'Brian. NEW YORK.

Moss Hart assured himself of at least 39 grateful prayers each night when he cast the feminine roles In his air forces show “Winged Vic- tory.” The author-director assigned 39 parts to wives of members of the cast.

Hart found out how young service couples hung onto every precious; moment together while he was tour-1 ing air bases getting material for the play.

He saw wives of air cadets quietly waiting all week for Saturday night when their husbands would get

'week end passes. He saw them working in five-and-

itens, living two and three to a room in little towns near air bases.

[ As an expert in good theater, Hart had to turn those poignant scenes to dramatic advantage. But the memory of them didn’t serve merely his dramatic inclinations. They were a guide post for his casting.

Mostly On-and-OlT. That all but one of the 39 roles

j played by service wives are “walk-; •ons,” or minute parts, doesn't bother them a bit. Some of the girls are used to stellar billing; but being with their husbands Is better than a Pulitzer prize or a movie Oscar to them.

Eleanora Reeves, wife of Sergt. George Reeves, erstwhile film star, is the one wife in more than a walk-j on bit. Her husband played oppo- j site Claudette Colbert in “So Proudly We Hail.”

One of the best-known of the girls is Mrs. Claude Stroud, wife of, one-half of the Stroud twins of' radio fame. Mrs. Stroud also Is a

twin, one-half of the dancing1

Coming Attractions Stage.

NATIONAL—"Jackpot,” musical with Alan Jones; starting tomor- row evening.

Screen. CAPITOL—"True to Life,” with Mary Martin and Franchot Tone;

starting Thursday. COLUMBIA—“Thousands Cheer,” with all-star cast. EARLE—“What a Woman.” with Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne. KEITH'S—“Corvette K-225,” with Randolph Scott and James Brown;

starting Thursday. LITTLE—“Abe Lincoln in Illinois.” with Raymond Massey. METROPOLITAN — “Northern Pursuit,” with Errol Flynn and

Martha Scott; returning Friday. PALACE—“The Gang's All Here,” with all-star cast.

Brewster twins, last seen in the Broadway musical “High Kickers.”

Mrs. Herman Kantor was, before her marriage to Pvt. Kantor, in the cast of “Hellzapoppin." She was in a USO camp show unit when her husband wired her the good news that she was to join “Winged Vic- tory.” She left the unit after play- ing six show's in ten, hours at Fort Bragg, N. C.

Novitiate and Old-Hand.

Barbara Williams, wife of Pvt. Alan Baxter, has been in such hit shows as “Street Scene.” and “Ro- berta.” Her husband was the film menace in “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” ‘Saboteur” and other notable movies.

Many of the girls are experienced players in much smaller roles than they ordinarily would rate. Some, like Renee Torres, are making their stage debut. Renee is the wife of Corp. Edward Ashley, an MGM featured player.

Mrs. Bob Willey was not married when she joined the show. She and Bob, then her fiance, met in New York, each with the exciting news that they were joining the show, neither knowing of the other's good fortune. Then, learning they would be together for some time, they were married.

Many of the young wives are ab-

solute novices. They don’t for a minute envy the featured feminine players like Phyllis Avery. Jean Mc- Coy, Olive Deering, Mary Cooper and Marv Lenhardt.

They know that, of all the serv- ice wives in the country, when "Winged Victory” goes on the road it will be the only Army post that ac- tually will carry soldier wives with it from coast to coast.

Mr. Walton’s Family A Handy Clan By the Associated Press.

HOLLYWOOD. Few men are as enthusiastic about

their relatives, or get as much good out of them as does Propman Ken Walton.

Without billing or pay. a flock of them work in films for Walton, sav- ing his company time and money. In “It Happened Tomorrow” Walton’s relatives smiled down from the walls of the 1890 boarding house in which Dick Powell, Linda Darnell and Jack Oakie live. Photographs of persons living or dead must be released by a legal paper from them or their de- scendants, when they are used in a film, and Walton has complete pa- pers on his family gallery which has

i worked in at least 20 films for him.

A New Year—and New Blunders? By Jay Carmody.

A man, perhaps, should take stock at the end of a year, even though it is not printed until the beginning of the next one. There is a consid- erable margin for error in the busi- ness of reviewing the theater and the movies. A man might Improve his record by discovering Just how much of the margin he had left— or when It was that he fell off the edge.

Tliere was the Incident of “Ox Bow Incident," for example. That was a very fine picture, an enormous- ly timely and dramatic treatment of the subject of mob violence, in- justice and bigotry. This commen- tator’s review of it was as lyrically enthusiastic as this commentator could be lyrical and enthusiastic. It could not miss the year's 10-best list, the estimate of it at the time went on to say. But it did miss. In checking and rechecking the list of releases, rejecting this picture and that one, and tentatively selecting this, discarding another, “The Ox Bow Incident" never came to atten- tion at all. It was overlooked as

completely as if Twentieth Century- Pox had not made it. That was a mistake, the kind a man would bet he could not make until he had made it.

Beware af Saroyan. On year-end thought, perhaps that

rhapsodic first estimate of "The Hu- man Comedy” last Spring was over- done. Like Chinese brandy, or vod- ka, this fellow Saroyan is deceptive. One does not always recognize his precise capacity to indulge in Saro- yan without having his judgment distorted. “The Human Comedy” was a very large dose and while it was pleasant, it probably was not so

inspiring as it seemed at the time. It might be wise to Jot down a memo on the freshly painted wall: Beware of Saroyan, he is never quite so good, nor quite so fantastic as he seems at first glance.

The most grievous mistake of the year was in failing to check the re- lease date of “Desert Victory.” It was easily the best documentary pic- ture of the 12-month, the best bat- tle picture ever made. But some

gremlin, the one hanging from our

Nijinsky’s Shade

Currently Routed

By Kraft Sisters By Howard Heyn.

HOLLYWOOD. The Itch to switch has sired a

new terpsichorean twitch. Tschaikowsky, having survived

the “jam” treatment, is emerging from quarantine; the last Mendels- sohnlan "swing song” has been swung high and even Virtuoso Jose Iturbi is recovering slowly from tropical boogie-woogie. All signs point toward a return to artistic normalcy, wherein classicists cling to their clavichords and jitterjerks to their own genuine jumpin’ jive.

Now what happens? We get the Kraft sisters who adapt classical dance forms to modem rhythm.

It should be noted that Beatrice, 22, and Evelyne, 23, were, at even tenderer ages, well-grounded in those particular gliding, weaving, slinking movements highly admired by East Indians. The Rudolph Steiner School saw to that while the girls were living, otherwise tran- quilly, with papa and mama Kraft in Westchester County, N. Y.

Switch Plus Itch. Then they got the Itch. The

switch-itch. They kept the costumes and the

movements. But they tossed out the music.

"We decided to try out our dances with typical American tunes.” Eve- lyne explained. “We started with an ordinary swing number, and it worked pretty well. Before long we found this adaptation really had possibilities.”

The cafe society in New York thought so too, and kept the Kraft sisters writhing and twisting, in stepped-up tempo, for 10 weeks. A broadway show, "Keep ’Em Laugh-

tSee HEYNTPage-C-9.1

Please to Regard a Fantastic Colony at Close of Fantastic ’43 By Harold Hefiernan.

HOLLYWOOD. You think they don’t do things

crazy-like in Hollywood? Well, take a quick look at just one of the fan- tastic things that happened in mo- vieland during 1943.

In those 12 months studios picked more than a dozen youngsters from nowhere and tabbed them straight for stardom. They were ballyhooed to fame via expensive publicity cam-

paigns. They were assigned top roles in big feature pictures. And yet. not one of the dozen has yet received more than a fleeting glimpse on the screen! That’s fa- mous obscurity for you.

Who hasn’t heard of Robert Alda? Or Jennifer Jones, Ramsay Ames, Gail Russell, Jean Sullivan, the Wilde twins, Joy Ann Page, Dick Haymes, Mary Anderson and John Hodiak?

Call ’em the "unseen stars of 1943”—for each has had what amounts to a starring role in at least one picture made but unreleased during the year. A few have two and even three pictures awaiting release.

Not Ever Before. Never in its history has Hollywood

had such a “backlog” of starlets awaiting an unveiling before a pub- lic primed by terrific publicity cam-

paigns to receive them graciously. Paramount’s Gail Russell (no re-

lation to the tremendously pub- licized Jane Russell, who has been seen in just one city in "The Out- law”) has a similar tale of woe. Gail, native of Santa Monica, Calif., was “discovered” about a year ago. She loomed so promising that the studio immediately cast her in one of the leading roles of “The Uninvited.” She made good in a hurry, got a heavy rise in pay and an assign- ment to play Cornelia Otis Skinner in “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.” Both pictures have been completed and Gail is preparing for another star part. And yet this youngster is just a name and beau- tiful poster art to millions of thea- tergoers. The two films are slated for early 1944 release and then fans can judge for themselves whether Paramount’s enthusiasm is okay or on the ga-ga side.

Another strange case is woven around the same studio’s Diana Lynn, who as a young girl. Dolly Loehr, was seen in “The Major and the Minor” almost a year ago. She was featured as a piano player in “There’s Magic in Music.” Today she’s a sophisticated comedienne in “The Miracle of Morgan Creek,” “And the Angels Sing” and “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.” She was accepted as Dolly Loehr, the pianist, but, idle asks, will she be

accepted as Diana Lynn the comic? A Warner Bros.’ subject suffering

right now from release jitters is Robert Alda. He was plucked from burlesque early in the year to play the role of George Gershwin in “Rhapsody in Blue.” The film is “in the can,” Alda is one of the most publicized newcomers of the year—but the fan is holding up his opinion. The picture will be out early in February.

On the same lot is pretty Jean Sullivan. University of California at Los Angeles queen, who went right off the campus to be co-starred with Errol Flynn in “Uncertain Glory.”

The film has been finished two months and, due to the fact that another Flynn picture is now show- ing, may not hit theaters until after Easter. Thus another “unseen star” must wait for the verdict.

For the past 18 months the bally- hoo drums have been beating a tumultous buildup for Jennifer Jones. Miss Jones, chosen from dozens of candidates to play the revered title role in “The Song of Bernadette,” has finished her chore. In 1943 she became perhaps the best publicized feminine newcomer of the year. She has much to live up to because every reader of the book

TRUTH FOR THREE—“True to Life," the title of the Him next scheduled for the Capitol, would seem to indicate that its prin- cipal actors will figure in establishing some of the eternal verities of humor. Mary Martin, Victor Moore and Franchot Tone are the three pictured above. N

has a certain conception of how Bernadette should look and act. The Catholic clergy is especially in- terested. No “unseen star” of 1943 carries more responsibility than Jennifer Jones. This picture is be- ing released during the current holi- day season.

John Hodiak became more than a name in 1943. Picked from an obscure spot on the MGM contract list to play the leading male role opposite Tallulah Bankhead in “Lifeboat,” Hodiak hit the headlines when he displayed unforseen ability in that part. The “rushes” told the story of unknown Hodiak. The pub- lic hasn’t the slightest idea what he can do and won’t have until “Lifeboat” is released some time next spring. However, MGM figured the fellow good enough to recall for the hero role opposite Lana Turner in “Marriage Is a Private Affair.”

Anxiety of Ramirez. Then there’s Carlos Ramirez,

South American grand opera figure, who has appeared in two MGM films, “Mr. Co-Ed” and “Two Sisters and a Sailor.” He, too, is anxiously awaiting fandom’s Judgment. At the same studio is Ann Richards, who has the feminine lead opposite Brian Donlevy in “America.” Ann is an Australian actress, who ar- rived on one of the first boats after Pearl Harbor. She landed the lead in one of MGM’s biggest efforts— and yet the public still must see her in action to make up its mind.

Two of the most colorful and best publicized figures of the year, the Wilde twins—Lee and Lyn—have yet to be appraised by the public. They’ve appeared in “Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble” finished several months ago, and grapevine reports .say they steal the story from Mickey Rooney. After the sneak preview, MGM enlarged their parts. You’ll probably be seeing the finished pic- ture within a few weeks.

Dick Haymes, a king of the Juke boxes, now in “Pour Jills in a Jeep”; Mary Anderson in “Lifeboat,” Vivian Blaine in “Greenwich Village,” Jean Heather in “Going My Way,” “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay” and "Double Indemnity” (a three-time “unseen star”), and Robert Hutton, reportedly a sensation in “Destina- tion Tokio,” are a few others mak- ing up one of the oddest conglom- erations of Hollywood’s year—the "unseen stars of 1943.”

At any rate, they’ll all bear watch- ing. Because in the last analysis, it is the fan. not the studio boss, who makes or breaks the star.

OUlMMd k9 the North American klitmoa laa.)

chandelier, whispered that It was re- leased In 1942, The gremlin was a liar, but that’s a gremlin's business and It Is the business of realistic. Justice-bent critics to look up release dates and to do honor to pictures as and when they deserve it done. Er- rors like that are unforgivably stupid and public confession is only slightly ameliorative of a sense of shame.

But He Did Navigate. In the field of prophecy—where

mere critics should never wander, no matter what the provocation—this department ventured but once and learned, in outrageous embarrass- ment, never to go again.

That was in the spring, when former colleague Harry MacArthur walked Into the department to an- nounce that he was an aerial nav- igator.

“Now, we shall learn whether there Is life on Mars,” was all we could say.

Since then, Navigator MacArthur has been virtually everywhere on the explosive globe, fingering his way through the darkness by the light of Aldeberan, Betelgeuse, and a star named Albert, never even com- ing close to Mars. He even found his way back to the drama depart- ment on New Year eve.

Big mouths look smaller when closed.

An inferential prediction, or maybe it was stronger than that, was contained In this department’s review of John Golden’s “Three's a

Family,” which came to the National in the spring. A collection of hoary gags on the subject of childbirth, and a very dull collection at that, was this department's estimate of the play. It would be lucky to sur- vive Its week in Washington, we intimated, and so, in their subse- quent estimates, did the New York critics calculate its likely life. But on and on the play went, which did not prove that it was a good

play or that the critics were wrong, but Illustrated the point that a lot of people like comforable old Jokes having a biological basis.

A similar mis Judgment, not of dramatic merit, but of a play's powers of endurance—or Is it audi- ences’ powers of endurance—was that made in connection with Fred- erick Lonsdale’s “Another Love Story.” That one was in the autumn, the worst thing that hap- pened in the autumn. Insufferably awful, this critis said, and so do many others, but they were proved insufferably wrong in their estimate of the play’s entertainment to people who do not give so much of a damn about the quality of the theater. It is not a critic's business to write of audience reaction, al- though there is a legend to the effect that they could do so, but they might concede that people might possibly find such plays entertain- ing. At least when people do, it seems that the reporting was in a

vague, uncomfortable way on the remiss side.

Moreover, probably because of a

pervasive feeling of good will tinc- tured with a pinch of penitence for such unbridled wrath, it might not be amiss to concede that there was too much savagry in our review of ‘‘Phantom of the Opera.” It is pos- sible that no one, not even a wooden cigar store Indian, can be as bad an actor as we persist in thinking Nelson Eddy to be.

It is possible, but there is a kind of pleasant malice in needling Mr. Eddy’s fans, the easiest people to provoke to wrath among those who bother to read a given critic.

There were, of course, other errors, but a man has other things to do than sit around examining his con- science all day.

After all, this is a new year and there’s a brand-new' set of mistakes to start making.

Wherefore Art Thou, Rose? By J. M. Kendrick.

NEW YORK. The 1944-45 theatrical season

probably will go down as a headache for Miss Rose Franken, who made a second offering this week in a play called “Doctors Disagree,” which she wrote and misdirected and her husband, William Brown Meloney, produced.

Several weeks ago, Miss Franken. who charmed so many with "Claudia,” came forth with a night's bad dream. “Outrageous Fortune,” which appeared to offer the incorrect and unhappy theory that no matter the success and goodness of Jews only sadness could be their reward.

Now, in “Doctors Disagree,” she is dealing with some of the dis- agreeable features of the medical profession and assuming that a great prejudice exists, among male doc- tors, against women physicians. It is all very dull and unreal and lack- ing in dramatic appeal. It so hap- pens that I have mixed with doc- tors, have even attended a few oper- ations, and I have never seen two or three, or even more, act as Miss Franken’s characters do on the Bijou stage.

Soap Opera on Stage. “Doctors Disagree” has radio’s

“soap opera” treatment. As a mat- ter of fact, one unkind—or should we say mistreated?—member of the audience remarked after the first act that he expected a commercial plug to interrupt proceedings at any moment. My companion expressed the opinion, that, at least, would be a relief.

The play has an excellent cast. Barbara O’Neil gives a fine perform- ance as Dr. Margaret Ferris, who stands for the best in medical ethics. Judson Laire likewise is good as the sophisticated society physician. Dolly Haas does well in the role of the mother of the boy whose opera- tion is the center of much of the

action and dialogue. She Is red- headed and small, with an appeal- ing voice.

Miss Franken is capable of much better work. Let's hope she takes time ofT for balance before her next production and that when the new play is ready, as it surely will be, she hires a first-class director to knit the thing together.

A Factual Valentino Would Be Stirring By the Associated Press.

HOLLYWOOD. Scenarist Lillie Hayward, assigned

to write the screen play of Rudolph Valentino’s life, comments that the facts in the life of the screen idol were and are little known. As an example, the world has been told that he was engaged to Pola Negri, who made much capital of it at the time of his death. Asked, prior to his trip East that ended fatally, the screen star replied: "If the lady- says so, what can a gentleman say?”

Pursuing the same code, his mar- riages and divorces never revealed the dramatic and heartbreaking truths behind them. If the screen story tells the truth, it will be a sensation to even his closest friends, for he kept his guard up always. Well, almost always.

Reverse Psychology Erich von Stroheim thinks more

people would go to see the movies if studios advertised them as "lousy” or "stinkers.”

“I think it would be better psy- chology,” says the actor, "to tell the public: ‘Tills is only a fair pic- ture. produced by an average pro- ducer and the cast is nothing out of the ordinary, but you’ve seen stinkers before, so you may as well see this one, too!’”

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