The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 20

THE BILLINGS GAZETTE Page Four Sunday, March 13, 1927. Will Rogers, 'Funniest Man in World Coming Here All Fools Day mm Klieg Lights Now Are Merely Name Although Klieg lights still brighten the movie vocabulary, the lights themselves are virtually obsolete. They have been replaced by a complexity of lighting systems with names bewildering to the nontechnical. One still hears of 'Klie eyes," and the phrase probably will become a fixture in the language, but it would be more accurate now to say "Cooper-Hewitt eyes," "mercury-light eyes" or "broad eyes," in describing the ailment which sometimes follows studio work. HE'S LECTURER i Beverly Hills Mayorj to Discuss Current Happening's.

Entertaining Musical Number Vaudeville Headliner. IT jr Ay 11 Play Waiting for Theater in Berlin The Jazs Pirates and the Scrveny Twins easily take headline position on the curernt association vaudeville bill at the Babcock theater. This clever pair and the orchestra sent audiences away last night In a happy mood. The Serveny Twins appear twice on the bill. Taking second spot with a duo turn after the fashion of the Duncan sisters, they sing several numbers, one or two of which are heartily applauded.

But when they appear in the closing act with the. jazz orchestra, they do some eccentric struts, a little dancing and singing, through which they reveal likable imp wmshA JAZZ PIRATES AND TWINS These clever young folks are vaudeville headliners. Babcock, now. VilI Rogers, who 'will appear at the Babcock theater on April 1 and make comments on present-day conditions, as Mr. Rogers prefers to call his work on the lecture platform.

It would be difficult to associate the word lecture with Will Rogers. There is nothing in the personality of this American that in any way suggests a lecturer. "The funniest man In the world" he has been called, but like all great comedians, he has his serious side. He is. for instance, very serious about being humorous.

Listening to him makes one believe that all he says js spontaneous, l.is thoughts seem to leap with humor, yet they art- founded on a very thorough knowledge of any subject that he speaks of. Like all successful men lie has his own method of work. Every day he studies the newspapers from all over the country, reading first the front pages and then the editorials. He reads all the editorials written on both sides of the political fence because he has no faith in the interpretive powers of any single publication. Only by reading them all does he feel that he has learned something.

What he finds he calls truth. And it is his way of summing up these truths, telling them in simple words with his own point of view that makes him the most quoted man in the country. The mayor of Reverly Hills has appeared in almost every state in the union and In answer to repeated requests he will give at the conclusion of the performance an exhibition of his marvelous skill with the ropes. "The i'oet Lariat." "THE POET LARIAT" Will Rogers, mayor of Beverly Hills, unofficial ambassador of the United States and humorist extraordinary. Babcock, April 1.

The Jazz Pirates include three young women and three young men and they play popular music of the tuneful variety. as well as the syncopated. Their act is given an artistic stage setting. "Who Is She?" a farce comedy by Willard Mack, is' offered by Joseph K. Bernard and Winifred Axteil.

The playlet obtains Its title from the plot which has to do with a misinterpretation of a letter addressed to her husband. She believes the letter to be from one of her own sex and the difficulty experienced by the husband In proving his innocence produce hilarious entertainment for the audienre. Max Ilnlilen and Mae Graham open the variety program with some "originalities," which Include sketching, sleight-of-hand, shadowgraphs, singing and dancing. Kill Broad, next to closing position, is a blackface comedian with line of more or less timely patter. "The Auctioneer," popularized on the stage by Warfield, Is the picture offering.

PLAY BRINGS SUCCESS TO KIN OF NOVELIST New York, March 12. Although Ken-yon Nicholson, young university professor, had tried the drama before, his first recognition generally as a playwright inability came when his name appenred in connection with "The Barker." Nicholson collaborated with his Wt note(1 "ncle. Meredith 1 Nicholson, writing "Honor nHpht" 1921. lYeparatory to writing "The Barker," Nicholson traveled with a carnival troupe in the mldrilA vreet I I "VVatcr Huston, who I oecome a real "bark-I I I er" as a result, also plays the title role, and has received at least two offers ti KEN YON NIChOLSON got pointers from a tent-show ballyhoo man at Atlantic City. Seventeen-year locusts are due here In the summer of 1927.

On their 1910 visit they did little damage, feeding mainly on the. leaves of trees. Scientists say they underground during the 17-year periods between appearances. I 5 VFV'i himself as an actor any more than ho does of reviving old hits. Yet he enjoys 1 NOTES DELUGE I1EE IDOL ilpliliilll Critics Obstruct Drama, Writer Says One of the principal obstacles in the growth of true American drama, believes Taul Green, playwright and professor of Carolina, is the philosophy at the University of North "connoisseur attitude of leading met-opolitan critics." There is nothing personal in his be-ief.

for New York critics generally ave commended his a play, "In Abraham's Boston." Several have men-ioned it for con- 1kfV ideration in con- ifi- I lection with the I f6! annual Pulitzer mft TimnM. -From the neces- PAUL GREEN sity of writing so reguriy auu so much, the critics are forced to the level of mediocre judgment," Green says. They have no time to lead the way or show the young aspiring dramatist what to do. Too often their only criterion of whether a play is excellent is the size of the box office receipts. Another obstacle is the horde of New York play-fixers with the ghostly Times square mind." Movie Horse Does Leon Erol Stunt Hollywood has a falling horse that is better known within studio gates than most of the animal actors in pictures.

He is Brownie, who stumbles and falls at a signal from his rider. Just now he is earning $50 a tumble in "The Sunset Derby." Russians conducting a right club In New York, and keeping open until 4:30 in the morning, tried to justify their infraction of the curfew ordinance by pleading that the day was the Russian New Year. The Judge decided that the plea lacked judicial support, for the Soviets have adopted the Gregorian calendar. if4 1 4 PLAYS COMEDY LEAD Jay Coggshall, new member of the Boyd B. Trousdale Stock company, who plays the lead In the comedy' ''Mary's Ankle" at the West this week.

The German version of "The Constant Nymph." the English play now running in London and New York, Is awaiting stage room in the German capital, its production having been delayed chiefly by a long run of "The Last Mrs. Cheney." nere Evervhoriv Gon fejij For Ooou All-round Entertainment ECHO SBDQC3 A western of thrills and adventure with a touching love theme, and marvelously intelligent acting by Jack's wonder horse and dog. You'll enjoy every minute of it! added SPORTLIGHT and COMEDY Continuous Show 1 to 6 p. m. 10c 15c.

6 to 11 p. m. 10c 20c 1 MATINEE MAY TULLY Evenings at 8:15 20c, 40c Loges 50c All Seats Reserved Phone 1791 1 1'' I TODAY ml ni 1 V-V i Mrs wmY9 Camera Makes Movie Woman Watch Scales Cruelty, thy name is camera! Now motion picture experts have discovered the average woman photographs 10 pounds heavier than she really is. This explains why the film folk of Hollywood are always talking about diet. Norma Shearer is 5 feet, 2 inches tall and should weigh 120 pounds; she keeps down to 110 in order to photograph 120.

Pauline Starke is 5 feet, she also hugs the 110-pound mark. TT HEAT EDS STARTING mm? 0 Patrick's both. However, he intends to put an end to acting as soon as he can gft into the producing game with his brother, Joe Meilziner, scenic designer for the Tncater Guild in New York. Old Theatrical Family. The two brothers come of a long line of theatrical ancestors.

Charlotte Cush- mas was their fourth cousin, and Dan MoGuinnis. the comedian, was also related to them. On their mothers' side they can trace their family back to the twelfth century in England. Leo Meilziner Jr. that is Kenneth Mac-Kenna's right name was reared In Paris and went to kindergarten there with Ee Le Gallienne.

He had to go to school in England to learn his mother tongue. As a very young man. he dabbled in stocks and bonds until William Brady discovered him and put him in "At Now MacKenna, though grateful for his theatrical experience, wants to give up all the adulation that is coming his way and turn to the production of high-grade comedy, like that of Molnar. Maugham, and Lonsdale, which he considers the highest type. "I'm not married, and I'm trying to keep away from It," the good-looking actor says.

"I believe in the co-operation of the male and the female." When he is asked whether he minds playing the role in the Barrie play, of a man who is inferior to his wife, MacKenna smiles in a captivating mr.ni.tr. and exclaims, "Well, aren't we all?" Movie Actress Finds Ignorance Helpful Ignorance was not only bliss; It was downrigrit useful in he case of Anna Q. Cilsson. S-w i creen star, chosen to play opposite Babe Ruth in a baseball story. Miss Nilsson never saw a baseball game until she came Hollywood, which helps her to play the laundry girl, who I 5.

1 4(1 can't understand why I rV i a baseball player ihould get his uniform dirty. She admits she can't sew; and that helped her to build a costume in hnrmnnv with JnnaQ-TlilsSOr characteristics of the heroine, who can't sew, but nevertheless makes her own clothes. LYRIC Continuous Show 1 to 11 p. m. lOc -25c Joyce Jones at the Organ I With Viola Dana Vera Gordon and Nat Can AND COMEDY Hero Role Distasteful to Young Kenneth MacKenna.

Detroit. March 12. 'Central Tress) Found the matinee idol who is dissatisfied with his job and his profession. LMs-covered the handsome leading man who is deliberately planning to leave all leading ladies helplessly pining while he retreats to the temptationless paths of the producer. He is Kenneth MacKenna, the youthful, comely and successful actor, who, in spite of the adoring girls who besiege him with love notes, has serious ideas on the drama, its past and its future.

He is touring the larger cities with Helen Hayes In a revival of Sir James M. Barrie's "What Every Woman Knows," now playing in Detroit. "Plays are like newspapers," he says. "They arj valuable only for the moment. If they happen to last for a century -r more, it is not their intention nor their fault, but merely the result of chance.

Even William Shakespeare did not write for the future. He wove his romances of love and hatred and poison only for groundlings at the Globe theater. It is merely accidental fame that has kept him ali''e these 300 years. His Philosophy. "I don't believe in revivals as a rule.

It just happens that the role of John Shane in the revival of Barrie's comedy, 'What Every Woman is my present part." MacKenna busily puffed his Scotch briar pipe. "Plays should be written for their own time. Incidentally they may have literary value, but not primarily. Today they reflect the younger generation of 1927 and are of interest to the people of 1927. Just as the newspaper scandal of March will not draw any readers In April; the comedy of 1927 will most possibly be forgotten in 1323.

This is as it should be. "I believe in good theater, but always in commercial theater, for the business of the theater is to entertain. The little theater movement Is not important in itself. Little theaters are merely toys, but since they serve to make the standards of the Broadway theaters higher, they do have value." Kenneth MacKenna does not approve of TODAY A Masterpiece of Drama! An Epic of Laughter! An Unquenchable Joyous Romance of Youthl ADDED: NEWS 1 I0VD I. TROUSDALE STOCK CO.

Offer One of the Best Farce Comedies Ever Written DANC HEM 1ST Trousdales to Appear in May Tully's Farce. This is all-comedy week at the West theater and the vehicle with which the Boyd B. Trousdale stock company brings a riot of humor and constant laughter is entitled "Mary's Ankle," a three-act farce by May Tully. Young Dr. Hampton and his two chums find themselves sorely pressed for money.

The physician has a wealthy uncle, who hard-heartedly refuses an appeal for a loan. Then Miss Smith appears In the guise of a "tag day" girl for the Belgian relief fund and relieves the trio of almost their last penny. One of the three conceives the brilliant idea of sending out invitations to the doctor's wedding to a purely Imaginary young woman. It is falsely believed that his relatives will respond with valuable presents which may be pawned for needed funds. The complications which follow these invitations is one round of mirth which continues throughout the entire play.

Jay Coggshall, the new member of the company, arrived in Billings Tuesday from Itallas. Texas, where he has been playing ir. stock, and will make his initial Low to the Billings public today in the leading role, that of Ir. Hampton. Mr.

Coggshall rame from a long line of actors, his father, the late Fred Coggshall. being a prominent stock actor in the middle western states. Boyd B. Trousdale assumes the role of the uncle, G. I.

Hampton, and Tom Post, as Chubb, is the real comedian of the whole play. Frances Winton, as Mary Anne Smith, the girl brought into the doctor's office with the sprained ankle, brings deeper and still deeper complications when the uncle appears, all of which the author has worked out to the satisfaction of ail concerned through a series of laughable t-vents which have a real punch to them. Kansas City Theater Doesn't Want Angel Kansas City, March 12. W) A theatrical producing company that doesn't want an "angel" has been found. The company is the Kansas City Little Theater, a community organization.

At a recent meeting of officials of the organization the matter of seeking' an "angel" to provide a large sum of money to carry on the Little Theater movement was discussed and voted down because those interested feared that prosperity which came any other way than as a reward for art would cause the theater to lose persons who now act In the productions for the mere love of acting. The consensus was that the Little Theater movement must stay poor while it develops and that art does not appear to flourish on prosperity. Nearly 37,000 persons are employed in the printing industry in New York. 111 UU WRITTEN BY UZ-UUU A March 17 WORTH GOING MILES TO SEE A Good, Clean, Wholesome Comedy Crammed Full of Laughs and Screams THE Matinee at 2:30 Today, Wednesday and Saturday 15c and 30c Seats Not Reserved TAVERN Starting Next Sunday "THE HOME TOWNERS" Geo. M.

Cohan's Latest Play You'll enjoy this bigr feature dance. Hear the Irish orchestra under the leadership of Harris Callanan..