The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 31

-1 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1932 SOCIETY SECTION FIVE Want Ad Headquarters, Cool 49(H) Other Press Departments, Court 5450 THE PITTSBURGH PHESS 1 DRAMA MOTION PICTURES HOLLYWOOD GOSSIP rniriiraawwia rrn 1 1 ra i in 1 1 1 1 ri wmvm 'ixartram Venality In i Tire Show Shops 1 Mr. Johnny Lovo, Who Suffered Rigor Mortis in 'Scar-1 I face.Comes to Life Again at Nixon Art Upheld By Hammond Wonders Why Plays Minus 'Money Appeal' Are Produced I On With The Show I Support of Legitimate Theater Duty of Pittsburghers, I Privileged to Witness Plays Before New York Hm By FLORENCE FISHER PARRY WITH IIIMim IHIII'lilM f'C IS NOT the office or inclination of this department to write of plays and pictures it has not yet been witness to. And however it may lend itself to a production of either stage or screen, AFTER its presentation, it can do no more in advance than mention with ISlinilillllliriliniWrJIiiSISIIII'tllllllllBy KASnB hi imwk (...... 4 ft rlfo IS that man where have I seen him before?" asked any number of Nixon patrons last week as they looked at the lobby display of the performers in -The Pure In Heart" opening tomorrow. SCORES CULTURE FAD high, honest hope the attraction that is forthcoming in our city.

ft Points to One Dramatist Who Deserted 'Arty Pose It was the picture of Osgood Perkins that caused the queries, and the majority of the puzzled ones undoubtedly were of that veritable army who were thrilled and chilled to their very toes at "Scarf ace." champion gangster film of all time. And Osgood Perkins was the Johnny Lovo in "Scarf ace," the slim, cold-blooded coward who at the end loses his superficial nerve and dies grovelling in his den as two bullets iud into his body from the gun of "Little Boy," chief lieutenant of Scarf ace. played by Paul Muni. Lovo, youH remember, at the outset of the blooey-blooey film, is the gangster boss with only one major rival. He hires Muni to do his "rough work," hammering the hordes of bootleggers into line and intimidating the speak-easy thugs to open up a wider market for his beer.

And" then Muni proceeds to un By PERCY HAMMOND EW YORK, Oct. 8 Now and N1 then petulant voices are to be "The Pure In Heart" is the Theater Guild's second offering of this fledgling season; and that this estimable organization already has brought two of its major offerings of theyear to Pittsburgh before their New York premieres, should be testimony enough to the high regard our city is held in, in New York producing centers. Probably there. will be no production of the year that will arouse deeper and more argumentative interest than the dramatization of Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "The Good Earth;" and for us to be witness to the week of its most intense development is an exciting privilege to us who hold the theater high.

This week we shall repeat the same experience; participating, by our own reception of "The Pure In Heart," in another play's last stages of development, and determining, to a large extent, its fixed mold. It will be OUR responsibility if scenes are altered, dialogue changed, and the nuances of meaning heightened or subdued. Each spontaneous laugh; heard crying for a non-commercial theater a theater uninfluenced by gainful motives and devoted to the service of culture rather than the enrichment of its sponsors. dermine his boss and take over the throne of i 4 Played Walter Burns -r-xERKINS also will be remembered for his unfor- Monahan gettable performance as Walter Burns, the Recent undertakings along Broadway indicate that the call is being answered by numerous undertakings of an unsaleable nature. Plays, have been produced so lacking in market value that the only explanation for their appearance is that their producers are not business men.

I am asked frequently why such enterprises as "The Budget," "Triplets'' and "Bidding High" are launched, when it seems certain that they coollv savaee manaeine editor in "The Front Page" who makes that Mrs. Parry deathless statement about the so-and-so stealing his watch just as the curtain bangs down on the last act. Perkins has the leading male role in "The Pure in Heart" as a each hand-clap, will play its conspicuous part in the final presentation of the play. Theater Will Survive Tt ND IT seems to me that when we in Pittsburgh are selected as the ne'er-do-well doctor, one of the backers of a show in which the heroine. June Walker, is making her stage debut.

To his lot usually on stage or have no money appeal. Surely, it is said, these managers and artists are aware that their product cannot be sold, and that there is no hope that ft' it screen falls the assignment of portraying a person of no moral scruples. Born in West Perkins at an early age felt the call of the stage, and, of course, had his first experience in amateur productions. So when he graduated from Harvard College, where most of the loyal sons of Massachusetts martriculate, he had but one ambition to" become an His first professional engagement was a principal role in the Kaufman-Connolly satire, "Beggar on Horseback." and he won his spurs then and there. From then on Osgood Perkins became something of a personage in the show world, coming into great prominence by hi excellent performance in the Jed Haris production of "Uncle Vanya" two seasons ago.

His other appearances include roles in "A Thousand Summers," "Eldorado," "Spread Eagle" and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow." He has appeared in one other film in addition to "Scar face," some sort of potboiler called "-'Mother's about three years ago. a. Wherever he goes he carries with him a. little box. It contains paints and brushes and when he Is not acting, playing golf or tennis, you'll usually find him busy at a canvas.

He's a pretty fair artist, too, it is said. June Walker in "The Pure in Heart" at the Nixon. nim nixrraiiiiiira JTx. audience before whom producer, playwright and players are to gauge the merit of their effort, a serious responsibility devolves upon us. which we should make an honest effort to deserve and realize.

There never has been a time when intelligent and thoughtful SUPPORT of the legitimate theater has assumed so definitely the shape of a duty, as in these times. The theater is the oldest form of entertainment; dramatic expression," and the effort to duplicate human emotions for the delecta- tion of an audience have played conspicuous part in the artistic development of civilization: and always, where the drama thrives, there is to be found a cultural center. It is a shallow observation although you hear it given voice too often in these times that the theater is dying! Because its shadow has been captured on the screen, and multitudinous carbon copies of its ancient gestures have provided an eager world with its replica, is no argument against its survival, and in its original form. So long as such things as selectivity, good taste, creative talent and the enjoyment of its fruits still prevail in human nature, the Theater will persist, and provide intelligent entertainment-seekers the most satisfactory COMPOSITE of all the arts. The persuasions of personal magnetism, pictorial design, tonal blend of voice and song, literary expression all these are more likely to be embodied in the theater than any other medium of artistic expression.

And even though the motion picture will continue to claim more and more people away from the theater and provide them with the daily bread IP entertainment, there always will be the eternal quest for SPECIAL isictation. Something EXTRA-ordinary; something which by its very infrequency will preserve its claim to distinction and Special patronage. Adult Film Audience Non-Existent LAST WEEK provided an excellent example of the essential DIFFERENCE between the stage and the screen; and the limitations that will forever be imposed upon the screen because of its UNIVERSAL audience. "The Good Earth" was a faithful theater form of a rare novel; for two and one-half hours it sustained one mood: that of frugal, quiet, homely simplicity. A typical theater audience sat spell-bound through 10 Red'Heads Not So Fickle, Says their efforts will be financially reimbursed.

Perhaps it is fantastic to believe that they are indifferent to barter and exchange, and are active sheerly for the dubious joys of sacrifice. Still I am almost persuaded that venality in art has its advantages and that the non-commercial theater is a boon only to those who do not have to go" to it. Wearies of Solitude Mr. John Howard Lawson, author of 'Success Story," once disdained to dicker with the box office, preferring to write "Roger Bloomer" and "Processional" for himself rather than to traffic with the paying public. Grown weary of solitude, however, he now extends the canny Hollywood hand of bargaining to the drama's customers and asks them to buy his merchandise at terms profitable to one and all.

His new play, therefore, is a tactful negotiation between art and show business, a blend of super-salesmanship with the Better Things. I have a letter from Mrs. Edward A. Norman, 1075 Park Avenue, N. which berates me in phases full of fury for not celebrating more gleefully the advent of "a vital expression in the theater." "Success Story," she infers, was an inspiration for pirouetting in the streets, yet I elected to sit the dance out.

Like the lady in an Ibsen play, she complains, though Meet John Pringle. et al VERYONE knows that Greta Garbo in reality is Greta Gustavson but do you know Lolita Dolores Asunolo De Martinez? No? You do. TitianHaired Nancy Carroll too for Lolita, is nobody else but Dolores Del Rio who trimmed her name down so it would fit into marquee electrics. And how about Rasmus Karl Thekelson Gottlieb? Never heard of him? Yet, how you cheered him on as the big, tobacco-chewing buddy of Jack Gilbert in "The Big Parade." Rasmus now calls himself Karl Dane. As for Gilbert he carries the prosaic tag of John Pringle, not so Not Hot-Tempered and Unstable, Actress Declares Special to The Pittsburgh Press tOLLYWOOD, "Oct.

8 Nancy 1-1 Carroll, famous red-head, rises 'Organ Of Death Tuned HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 8 Hollywood's organ of death is being tuned up once more for the use of Paramount studios. The organ keyboard will be used to explode hidden charges of dynamite on a setting where 500 atmosphere players will work in scenes for "A Farewell to Arms," which co-stars Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper. An expert "powder man" is placing the changes and wiring them to the central switchboard which will be placed on a lookout platform high above the setting. In front of him will be a chart of the set showing the location of each charge- and the number of the key to be touched to explode it.

When the scene of the bombing of a town is taken he will watch closely the movements of the soldiers and civilians, being careful to touch off the score of charges when no one is standing over them. The organ has not been used since battle scenes for "Broken Lullaby" were filmed. to the defense of red-headed women, whose dispositions, she declares, have been much maligned. "I admit immediately that the red-head is intensely emotional," the actress declares. "In this, she hot for a matinee idol.

And here are some others whose box office appeal might sag if they used their right monickers: Lillian Bonny who happens to be the girl you've known all these years as Billie Dove; Ernest Brimmer is Richard Dix; Jeanne De La Fonte is Renee Adoree; Ina Fagen. Ina Claire; Walter Goss. Gilbert Roland; Dorothea Heermance, June Colly er; Jack Krantz, Ricardo Cortez; Nancy La Hill, Nancy Carroll; -Marianna Micholska, Gilda Gray; Kathe-leen Morrison, Colleen Moore; Gwen Le Pinski, Gwen Lee; Paula Oster-man, Raquel Torres; Jane Peters, Carole Lombard; Anita Pomares, Anita Page; Ramon Samaneigo, Ramon Novarro; Douglas Ullman, Douglas Fairbanks; Richard Van Mattimore, Richard Arlen; Muni Weisenfreund, Paul Muni. Out in Los Angeles the newspaper reporters have long lists of both the right and the fictitious names of the screen stars. Somebody is always suing the players and the reporter has to know both names while looking through court records.

Incidentally, Samuel Goldwyn is Samuel Goldfish in reality. not in these words, that "there was your champagne, but you drank it not." Mrs. Norman, seizing me by my coat collar and looking me angrily in the eye, exclaims: "Must all events of primary importance in the world of art be met by blindness on scenes of one sustained uninterrupted mood; there was no indication of restiveness on the part of even the few indifferent members of the audience. That was because a theater audience is DISCIPLINED for a continuous stretch of concentration. Even had it been possible (which is absurd to even admit into the argument) for a motion picture producer to make a film of equal beauty and reality; even supposing it had been possible to make a picture of the the part of the so-called professional critics?" She believes it is time for 'those who claim to be interested in undoutbedly stands apart from the blond and the brunet.

However, she is not fickle. She is no more of a varietist that is, she is no more unsatisfied with one-man marital relationships than other women. She is no more liable to be hot-tempered or emotionally unstable. "She is accused of these things, just the same, and the reason for it is that she has a second outstanding trait, along with her romantic emotionalism. She is frank and outspoken; often altogether too fearless.

Emotions, opinions and longings that her sisters conceal through temperamental reticence. creative work" to shoo destructive reviewers from the complacent benches and to take the function of criticism into their own hands. medium complexion and red-heads ordinarily do seek these opposites, according to Miss Carroll. Gangster Talkie Mrs. Norman is in the temper Twenty-Years War of the late Sidney Grundy who, resenting remarks by London critics R.

and MRS. SAM FLINT are as happy a married couDle as vou Boxoffice Smash M1 in disparagement of the master will ever encounter yet they's warred bitterly off and on for the pieces, said: when i see a little boy scribbling rude words on the pedestal suggest such qualities by their ap-! pearance and personality, are her natural selections. She's Studied 'Em "My observations are not based on introspection and personal experience, which are unreliable because one may always be, without knowing it, the exception that proves the rule but on a study of other red-headed women," Nancy explains. for the dual reason that I am both a red-head and an actress, I have studied my type extensively." Blonds, too, prefer men of the type of Grant and Raft, the actress explains, because blonds are observing and calculating and they like she expresses freely and with no reserve. HOLLYWOOD, Oct.

8 "Scar-face," Howard Hughes latest film release, has made new box-office of Colossus, I cannot refrain from boxing his ears." 'Pretty Good Show So it is with timidity that one repeats the impression that "Success Story" is a pretty good show, built last 20 years, calling each other names at times that would break up any ordinary home if even mentioned once. "I've raked him over the coals time after time," asserted Mrs. Flint. "I've walked out of his home times without number. I've burned him up with sarcasm "Yes," Flint interrupted, "and I've cussed her and upbraided, her for infidelity stormed at her extravagance, ordered her out of the house tim-and time again." All these battles, however, were of the grease-paint variety.

As a novel which in every respect SURPASSED the stage play; even so, the screen play would have been a FAILURE, and hastily withdrawn. Why? Because there is no motion picture audience yet developed which would have been physically, mentally or spiritually CAPABLE of being HELD for so long a time, by one mood. There is no such thing and there never will be as an ADULT movie audience. If the motion picture is to continue to be the Great American nay. World) Pastime, (and in that lies its supreme claim upon our respect and support), it must provide for its audiences only what they can absorb at one stretch of concentration.

EVERYBODY goes to the movies. It is the People's Amusement. It has provided Mr. Average Family their great ESCAPE into Illusion! The moment it gets Over The Head of Papa and Mamma and Gracie and Junior and Grandma and Stella, IT IS DOOMED. Those who prate of RAISING the artistic standard of the movies to that agreeable to the intelligentsia, simply do not recognize the.

movies' greatest appeal and greatest Strength. They would remove it to some Special level and thus cheat the American po Jice of its dearest treasure and greatest need! i i Why do you suppose that Mickey Mouse, News Jls, Comedy Shorts, organ recitals, stage shows, AND a "feature" picw' make, up the programs of the major motion houses in the world? Because they are considering their audience, and I say that they're to be commended lor it. You and if we want to see a good movie, and detest the rest, can put ourselves out to find out when the feature starts, and leave when it's over. But just because we're "Specialists," is no reason why we shall work to cheat Mr. and Mrs.

and Miss Movie-goer of their appropriate fare. They're Not Fickle "The fact that red-heads are not fickle and are not generally varie-tists to a marked degree, at any rate is shown by the fact that they prefer one particular type of man. That is the dark-complexioned men. Their favorite type is personified by records throughout the country. According to W.

Marshall, sales manager for the Caddo Company, the box-office returns on the gangster epic have already totaled more than $2,000,000. Net returns character" couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Flint numerous times have been cast a domestic pair who can't agree on anything, and many a stage has George Raft or by Cary Grant, who is now playing opposite me in "Night After Night." I witnessed their brawls. "There is a definite reason why They'll continue their warring in the plays booked for the Edwin.

Vail to United Artists and the Caddo Company, to date, are more than $600,000. These figures are on domestic distribution alone. Returns on foreign engagements, and on bookings in many second and third-run territories in this country, are still to be dark men, and especially the Latin Players at the Pitt Theater. "The stage," said Flint, "is where we do all our fighting. After the performance we are tired of bickering and Mve type, is preferred by the majority of red-headed women," Miss Carroll emotional intensity and Latin appearance by way of contrast to their own Nordic restraint and opposite appearance.

Women of medium complexion, being composites, naturally are the most varied in their taste. fhe outstanding peculiarity of k-haired, dark-eyed women, is tH they often tend to like men of th (r own complexion class, thus violating the rule of the attraction of opposites. Blonds, women of observes. "Being intensely emo tional herself, she demands in men of trustworthy materials from the Drama's lumber-rooms and machine-shops. Solomon Ginsberg is a born virtuoso in the art of getting ahead, a ferocious egoist, something like Mirabeau's Isidore Lechat, in "Les Affaires sont les Affaires," aggressive, non-moral, ruthless, a "natural force, resembling gravity or heat." Ginsberg, a lowly statistician for a flossy firm of N.

Y. advertisers, begins as an insolent radical who wastes his evenings in the mephitic basements of revolt. It is his practice to urge the down-trodden to take up arms against capital's greedy depredations and to overthrow and rearrange the sorry scheme of American civilization. Unlike most of us who go wild at the thought of other people's money, he has a sense of humor and a poetic flair for the voluptuous. But in him is the bandit germ of rapacity, the yen for gold, power and women.

He sasses his boss, much to he "Scarface," released during the a similar intensity. Like seldom takes to like, so she rarely selects a red-headed man. Ti emotional. lowest ebb in general theater patronage, broke attendance records for fiery Latin, or other brunets who all time in many cities, including New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Atlanta, and other Although it cost approximately Dracomtra Group To Offer 'Journey's End This Month nothing but sweet words for each other." Mrs. Flint is listed in the programs as Ella Ethridge.

Neither will accept a part with any company unless the contract includes the other. There's quite a romance behind the marriage of Sam and Ella. Twenty years ago Sam was leading man of an old-fashioned "meller" troupe in Galveston, Tex. Ella was a stage-struck girl. Sam was young and handsome and he carried off the hero's role with such a romantic flourish that Ella succumbed as she gazed starry-eyed upon Sam from a seat in the parquet.

They met, married, and have been together since. IHMlMmM Comedies To Hold Forth At Both Nixon And Pitt $700,000, which included huge sums for making many unnecessary changes ordered by the Hays or? ganization, the picture, on the strength of returns to date, will re LA SALLE DORRANCE BY "The true theater of America," munity. Nearly every Sunday they turn a profit to Producer Hughes. give plays. Each year they sponsor a playwriting contest.

Remember it declares Eva La Gallienne. "must be created by the people themselves. i i I Screen Role Delays alarm of his steadfast sweetheart, a stenographer with reddish inclinations; and is at once promoted to advance the cause of the Glamour brand of lipsticks, lacquers, engu-ents and embrocations. I must admit that Mr. Lawson's hero does Actor's London Trip was the Provincetown Little Theater that encouraged Eugene O'Neil.

And Arthur Goodman's play, "If Booth Had Missed." was written for the second Long Play Tournament of the Little Theater. To insure a genuine interest in HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 8 Herbert Playgoers who like chuckles with; their, footlights entertainment will have two' comedies dished up for Marshall has postponed his return Their demana will create the supply. The theater must be an Integral part of the community." In other words when people want a Little Theater they not talk like this. to London for winter stage appear In the course of a scene or two them for the week beginning tomor dramatic art, membership in the he dethrones his otiose employer, who is addicted to speakeasies and sensuousness, and becomes the mas row "The Pure in Heart," at the Nixon, and "As Husband Go" at the Pitt.

and sets were designed by Woodman Thompson. When the names of Rachel Cro th-ers, author, and John Golden, producer, are associated, the public can reasonably expect a first-class comedy. "As Husbands Go" was written and produced by the famous pair and offered at the Golden Theater last year. It has to do with two American women who bid goodbye to their lovers in Paris and head for home land husbands. The comedy of the ter of the outfit.

Reveling in trick ery and double-crossing, he betrays ances in order to play the. leading role "Evenings for Sale" with Sari Maritza, Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland and George Barbier. He came to Hollywood for "Blonde Venus" with Marlene Dietrich and now is in Ernst Lubitsch's "The Honest Finder." His new arrangements take him to England after "Evenings for Sale." everv one about him with the" ex The New York Theater Guild ception of a siren whose geua charms he has transferred from which last week brought "The Good Earth" to Pittsburgh will offer the the arms of the ex-president of the second of the season's booking of the concern to his own. He now sneers at the oreotten men. group must be earned.

After acting in a play, writing a play or helping with behind-stage work, one can become a provisional member. Active membership requires taking part in several productions or the accomplishment of some work of unusual merit. Three years ago, practically unknown, they entered the Drama League contest for the first time. Their production of "The by Holworthy Hall and Robert Mid-dlemass, took the second 'prize. People began to sit up and take notice.

"The Valiant" is a difficult play to produce and can easily be overdone. This group brought out the pathos of the play with the piece reaches a high point when the husband of the younger woman and will have it. Shoot through the Liberty Tubes and you are in the South Hills Dormont, Mt. Lebanon one of the fastest-growing districts in the United States. Fifteen years ago Mt.

Lebanon was farm land. Growing as fast as the community is the Cruel, relentless, but still dissatisfied, he has gained nuch and lost American Theater Society in "The Pure in Heart," by. John Howard Lawson, best remembered for his more. And no doubt he has been a warning to ambitious groundlings in the advertising business not to ven Processional" and the latest Broad way hit, "Success Story." ture too far on the ice of aspiration. However, it seems to have been Mr.

Heading the cast are such well-. Marx Bros. 'Picture Leads Film Survey "Horse Feathers," the Four Marx Brothers' last comedy, was the most successful picture released In August according to a survey just completed by Motion Picture Herald, film trade publication. Runners-up in order were: "The First Year," "Guilty as Hell," "Bring "Em Back Alive," "American Madness," "Doctor "Speak Easily and The Jewel Robbery." Lawson's first Durcose to manufac nV? 1 known players as June Walker, Os ture a vendible entertainment, and this, in a measure, he has done. He uses manv of the perfunctory ex Dorrance years ago little Theater movement.

Four en- proper restraint. Last year they produced "Confession," by Kenyon Nicholson, and once more took the Ward pedients of the showman including the comic typist who vociferously vieiastiR voting man, or. ti "her Englishman" meet. Shirley Booth, Alden Chase, Sam Flint, Ella Ethridge, Baker Moore, Kathryn MeskyI, Sylvia Manners, Henry Richards, Roy Elkins and Charles Webster are in the cast, directed by Edwin Vail. Sinclair Hired for Films Upton Sinclair has been engag by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to write an original story for the.

screen. The film has been titled tentatively "The Star, Spangled but no cast or director have yet- beea assigned to the new story. Sinclair is the author of many including "The Goose Step," "King Coal "Boston" and "The Wet Parade." email llrfl. xvirau Tr. organized a chews cum.

and he brings his cur good Perkins, Paul Kelly, Helen Flint, Thurston Hall and Robert Fischer. t. Half the action of the play takes place on the bare stage during the rehearsal of a musical comedy. It is described as a "story of backstage life shorn of sentimentality," in which the audience follows the fortunes of a stage-struck girl from her Mt. Lebanon matic eroup in the tain down with the bang deemed On Oct.

27 and 28 the Dracomtra -called them- Baptist Church. They' essential to theatrical amusement. i. v.a nraromtra (drama, com- Players will give R. C.

Sheriff's widely-known war play, "Journey's More scrupulous than Mr. Lawson Now they are Wynne Uses Nickname edy, tragedy) nayers. I susDect. are his players, especially End." as the first production of their outstanding com- the recognizea Wynne Gibson, who appears with fourth subscription season. "Con Mr.

Luther Adler, a thoughtful, resourceful and dynamic mime who home In the tenements to her land George Raft in "Night Alter Night; munity theater in the South HUls They are very much. in earnest, Players. They proved' them ready and capable of doing a war play, so ing a job in a Broadway show. June successfully fuses his own individu was -given her first name by her schoolmates. Her real name Is ality with that of the principa their coming production is promis- themselves Walker plays the role.

The noted Theresa Helburn directed the play l- 1 to estaoiisii 'Alden Chase in "As Husbands Go" at the Pitt. Winifred, character. as the Little Theater of their com- ing, to say the least. i.