The Emperor Jones (United Artists) (1933)

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A KING’S RANSOM at the BOX-OFFICE DIGGES IS MAN OF SENTIMENT Thirty Years in Theatre, Now Playing Cockney Trader “Emperor Jones” {Biographical Feature) Dudley Digges, who plays the role of the cockney trader in “Em¬ peror Jones,” Krimsky and Coch¬ ran’s pictorial version of the fam¬ ous Eugene O’Neill play, released by United Artists and showing.... .at the.Theatre, has spent thirty years in the theatre. Mr. Digges dates back to the Ab¬ bey Theatre, Dublin, and was first seen in this country with the Irish Players at the Pan-American Ex¬ position in St. Louis in 1904. In the cast of these invading players was a young man who has since won acclaim on our lyric stage, John McCormack. New York first saw Mr. Digges in support of Minnie Maddern in the same year, for the Irish Players did not prove a lively attraction at the Fair. In the next eight years he ap¬ peared in numerous stage produc¬ tions in New York. Then for an¬ other seven years he was stage man¬ ager for George Arliss. In 1919 Mr. Digges joined the then budding Theatre Guild, appear¬ ing in their first production, “Bonds of Interest.” There followed many Guild appearances and a contract that endured until 1930. With them he also served as director of various plays. Mr. Digges’ career in pictures dates from 1929, when he played the warden in “Condemned” with Eon- aid Colman and Ann Harding for United Artists. In 1930 he played the Examiner in “Outward Bound” and since then has been a regular figure on the screen, recent pictures being “The King’s Vacation,” “The Mayor of Hell,” “Narrow Corner” and “The Invisible Man.” A sentimental item in Mr. Digges’ professional itinerary is disclosed by the fact that, in 1930, after an absence of 27 years, he returned to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin to play for a single week in “The Hour Glass.” Mr. Digges was brought to New York from Hollywood to play the only white role in “Emperor Jones,” which marks the screen debut of Paul Eobeson, famous Negro actor and singer. This is not the first time Mr. Digges has performed in an O’Neill play. During his service with the Theatre Guild he was in two of Mr. O’Neill’s works—“Dynamo” and “Marco’s Millions.” Assembled Highest Talents to Produce ^^Emperer Jones” {Play Bate Reader) After winning new honors last season as an opera, with Lawrence Tibbett singing the title role, “Em¬ peror Jones,” one of Eugene O’Neill’s most successful and sensational stage dramas is brought to the screen. It will be the attraction at the . Theatre starting today and running through to . . . . , with Paul Eobeson playing the title role and Dudley Digges the white trader, Smithers. Eobeson brought to an abrupt close a very successful en¬ gagement of another O’Neill play, “All God’s Chillun Got Wings,” in London to go to New York to play the role that he has played on the stage in several revivals. And Dud¬ ley Digges traveled east from Hol¬ lywood just to play Smithers. DuBose Heyward, an authority on Negro life and author of “Porgy” and “Mamba’s Daughters,” wrote the screen version which O’Neill himself okayed. Dudley Murphy, who has wanted for ten years to translate “Emperor Jones” into a movie, was entrusted with its di¬ rection. The story of Brutus Jones shows how a Pullman porter raises him¬ self to riches and power and is then defeated by the very superstitions he used to control others. The pic¬ ture follows Jones’ career from the time he leaves his Carolina home to his crazed wanderings in a West Indian jungle. Music, but not the operatic score of Louis Gruenberg, plays an im¬ portant part. Besides various chorus numbers, Eobeson sings “Water Boy,” “Now Let Me Fly” and “I’m Travelin’.” “Emperor Jones” is the initial film production of John Krimsky and Gifford Cochran, two young men both under thirty. United Artists is releasing it. Robeson Holds Audience FaithfulFilmT ranslation Of ^^Emperor Jones” {Review) With a brilliant performance by Paul Eobeson in the title role, the talking screen version of Eugene O’Neill’s powerful drama, “Emperor Jones,” produced by John Krimsky and Gifford Cochran and released by United Artists, opened . at the . Theatre. Eobeson gives one of the out¬ standing portrayals in motion pic¬ ture history in his delineation of the Pullman porter who murders his pal in a dice game and then flees to Haiti where he sets himself up as ruler of a domain of blacks, robbing them through an exorbitant tax system, and leading them to be¬ lieve that he can only be killed by a silver bullet. “Emperor Jones” is the play that first brought world-wide acclaim to O’Neill as a playwright, and the screen version, as prepared by Du¬ Bose Heyward, author of “Porgy,” follows the original faithfully. However, the first part of the pic¬ ture is devoted to a colorful ac¬ count of the early part of Brutus Jones’ life, things that were only referred to in the dialogue of the stage play. Under the excellent direction of Dudley Murphy, “Emperor Jones” moves through a colorful succession of sequences, taking in Jones’ home in South Carolina, then to the flats and night clubs of Harlem and on to Haiti where the most stirring drama of the story is enacted. Banking next to Eobeson in the matter of histrionic honors is Dud¬ ley Digges, former Theatre Guild star, who fills the part of Smithers, Paul Robeson /«"Emperor Jones" 4— One Col. Scene {.Mat .05; Cut .20) Robeson Endowed With Personality^ Culture, Talents {Biographical Feature) Paul Eobeson, who is probably the only person adequately endowed racially, physically, histrionically and temperamentally to play Brutus Jones in Eugene O’Neill’s famous drama, “Emperor Jones,” is the most renowned Negro of this day. Undoubtedly his background and cultural inheritance have combined with his talents and personality to bring him international fame. His father was born in slavery, but es¬ caped to the north when he was fifteen. He worked his way through Lincoln University and, on July 11, 1878, married Maria Louisa Bustill, of the leading Negro family of Philadelphia. They traced their ancestry back to a powerful Indian tribe. Making use of his educa¬ tional background, William Eobe¬ son became minister of a church in Princeton, N. J., where there is a large Negro community. It was in Princeton, on April 9, 1898, that Paul Eobeson, destined to be singer, actor, lawyer, linguist and football player, was born. In 1915 he entered Eutgers Uni¬ versity, the third Negro to attend that place of learning. Here he became a leader in sports and schol¬ arship, graduating in 1919 as a four- star man and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was also selected by Walter Camp as end for his annual All-American football team. It is interesting to note that Paul Eobe¬ son returned to his Alma Mater in June, 1932, to receive the honorary degree of LL. D. After Eutgers came Columbia Law School, from which he gradu¬ ated in 1923. It was during these years that he met Eslanda Goode, marrying her on August 17, 1921. Upon graduation, Eobeson received a position in a prominent law firm, but was forced to withdraw because of prejudice. He then turned to the stage, serving his apprenticeship with the Provincetown Players, where he became acquainted with Eugene O’Neill, George Cram Cook, Susan Glaspell, Eobert Edmond Jones, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Theodore Dreiser and Cleon Throckmorton. His first New York appearance was in 1924 in “All God’s Chillun Got Wings,” and soon after in “The Emperor Jones.” However, the number of Negro roles suitable for Eobeson was very limited, and so there followed a year’s enforced idleness. It was during this year that one of his friends suggested a concert of spirituals. His first con¬ cert was at the Greenwich Village Theatre in New York on April 19, 1925. Paul awoke the next morn¬ ing to find himself acclaimed by critics as one of the leading Ameri¬ can singers. That Summer he went to London to play “The Emperor Jones.” There he found he no longer had to combat the racial prejudice which existed so strongly in Amer¬ ica.. It is for this reason, perhaps, that he now prefers to make his home in England. There he can count as his friend Lord Beaver- brook, H. G. Wells and Lloyd George; there he has been the guest of J, Eamsay MacDonald, and has sung before the King and Queen of England, the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of York. Since then he has divided his time between touring the United States and the Continent in concert and playing in Flo Ziegfeld’s “Show Boat” and various Eugene O’Neill plays, but be has spent the major part of his time in England. Upon the completion of “Emperor Jones” by John Krimsky and Gif¬ ford Cochran, for release by United Artists, Eobeson sailed for England, where he filled concert engagements. He later will collaborate with the Embassy Theatre in London in pro¬ ducing plays about Negroes. “‘Emperor Jones,” which relates the rise of a Pullman porter to self- styled emperor and his fall when his sins find him out, is the attrac¬ tion . at the . Theatre. Dudley Digges plays the only white character in the story. Eugene O’Neill Changes His Sartorial Style Once upon a time Eugene O’Neill’s favorite garb was dungarees and a sou’wester. But Mrs. O’Neill, who was Carlotta Monterey, has changed all that and, though he lives on a wild island off the coast of Georgia, his wardrobe includes forty splendid English suits and four dozen tailor- made shirts. Every garment is built by a London expert to fit his shape like a glove! A screen version of one of Eu¬ gene O’Neill’s most famous dramas, “Emperor Jones,” is the attraction . at the . Theatre, with Paul Eobeson, fam¬ ous Negro actor and baritone, play¬ ing the title role. Dudley Digges is prominently cast. It’s a United Artists release. Radio Artist Arranges ‘‘Emperor Jones” Music Eosamond Johnson, who recently played the part of Uncle Hannibal i'n Eaymond Knight’s Whoatenville Program over the Columbia Broad¬ casting System, made the choral ar¬ rangements for all the Negro spirit¬ uals and folk songs heard in “Em¬ peror Jones.” He also directed the music for this Krimsky-Cochran production of Eugene O’Neill’s fam¬ ous drama, released by United Ar¬ tists, and showing . at the . Theatre with Paul Eobeson and Dudley Digges. Spellbound the Cockney trader, in the Haitian scenes. Digges is perfect in the role, several of his scenes with Eobe¬ son’holding the audience spellbound with their sheer power. The jungle sequences, outstanding on the stage, are also the highlights of the picture. It is here that Eobeson scores an acting triumph that has seldom been equalled. Pur¬ sued by hallucinations and ghosts of his murdered victims, Jones flees through the forest, a terror-ridden creature stripped of his bravado and gaudy trappings of “emperor.” One by one he shoots away his bullets, until he has only the silver one left, one that he had had made to impress the voodoo-haunted blacks. But the real emperor is prepared, he has had a silver bul¬ let cast for the emergency, and when .Tones returns almost to the spot from where he started, having traveled in a circle, he is killed by the silver bullet. Through the jungle scenes is heard the ominous beat of the tom¬ toms just as it was on the stage, and the weird sound adds greatly to the dramatic effect of Eobeson’s skilled playing. The settings, especially the palace and jungle scenes, all devised by Herman Eosse, are authentic and colorful, while the musical score, arranged by Eosa¬ mond Johnson, gives Eobeson an opportunity for the rendition of several numbers in his robust bari¬ tone. Frank Wilson, Fredi Washington and Euby Elzy give good perform¬ ances in supporting roles, Miss Washington and Miss Elzy playing the feminine romantic interest. Un¬ usual camera effects and photo¬ graphic angles have been achieved by Ernest Haller, and the picture has been handsomely mounted in every respect. ^^Emperor Jones^’ Thrilling Music by Rosamond Johnson {Current Story) While we are still tingling from the thrill of the Negro music in “Emperor Jones,” current attraction at the . Theatre, we want to hand a bouquet to Eosa¬ mond Johnson, who harmonized and arranged all the spirituals and folk songs heard in this Krimsky-Coch¬ ran production of Eugene O’Neill’s famous drama. Johnson has been identified with the theatre since 1894. He was a member of the famous colored team of Cole and Johnson, who wrote “Under the Bamboo Tree” and “Lazy Moon” — remember them? He also wrote “Mr. Load of Cole,” which the late Bert Williams made famous. The choral arrangements of “Walk Eight in and Set Down,” “Wade in de Water,” “Oh, I Want Two Win(?s,” “See, Can’t You Jump for Joy,” “Now Let Me Fly,” “I’m Travelin’,” “Same Train” and “Did My Lord Deliver Daniel?”—all of these either Negro folk songs or spirituals—were made by Mr. John¬ son, and are heard in “Emperor Jones.” He also arranged the songs which Paul Eobeson. impersonating Mr. O’Neill’s famous character, sings. Among these are “Water Boy.” SCREEN IMPROVES “EMPEROR JONES” Unsurpassed Performance by Paul Robeson of Famous O’Neill Character {Review) To the ominous throb of the tom¬ toms, Eugene O’Neill’s first great drama, “Emperor Jones,” dealing with Harlem love intrigues and voodoo-infested Haiti, is once again available to theatregoers. This time it is a talking picture, produced by John Krimsky and Gifford Cochran, importers of “Maedchen in Uniform,” and re¬ leased by United Artists, and is the new feature attraction at the . Theatre. Filling the same role he played in the revival of the stage play is Paul Eobeson, famed Negro actor and singer, who fills every require¬ ment of the exacting title part in a magnificent manner. Also in the cast is Dudley Digges, noted stage and screen player, formerly with the Theatre Guild, who makes his character of Smithers, the Cockney trader, second only to the Eobeson performance. Fredi Washington and Frank Wilson, both of whom have many successes to their credit as stage players, also have important roles in “Emperor Jones.” Eobeson’s acting has seldom, if ever, been surpassed in stage or motion picture history. He is a magnificent, bragging, swaggering figure through the South Carolina, Harlem and Haitian scenes, and is at his finest in the difiieult jungle sequences where he is pursued by hallucinations and ghosts of his own imagining, his mind filled with the trail of murder he has left behind during his checkered career. The screen adaptation, written by DuBose Heyward, was approved in its entirety by O’Neill, and adds to the original play in that the first part of the film reveals all those details that were only ex¬ plained in the dialogue of “Emperor Jones” as first presented by the Provincetown Players. In addition, Eobeson is given an opportunity to sing several numbers in his robust baritone. The entire musical ar¬ rangement was handled in splendid style by Eosamond Johnson. Dudley Murphy, the director, has taken advantage of every oppor¬ tunity to make “Emperor Jones” as great a screen play as it was on the stage, and has really achieved a wider sweep than was possible in the limited confines of the stage technique. Many unusual photo¬ graphic effects have been secured by Ernest Haller, chief camera¬ man. Herman Eosse, famous scenic de¬ signer for both stage and screen, created a masterpiece in his jungle setting for “Emperor Jones,” and caught the Harlem atmosphere and pretentious palace color in vivid strokes of his gifted talent. Bride Forsakes Career Fredi Washington, beautiful Ne¬ gro actress playing the role of a faithless siren in “Emperor Jones,” current at the . Theatre. has given up the theatre to be the wdfe of a minister’s son. Miss Washington married Lawrence Brown, trombonist in Duke Elling¬ ton’s orchestra shortly after the production of “Emperor Jones” and her leading role on the stage in “Eun, Little Chillun.” Paul Robeson Dudley Digges //."Emperor Jones' 1— Two Col. Scene {Mat .10; Cut .40)