Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

for October 19 3 1 87 the names of Bobby Connolly, Gene Buck, Mark Hellinger. Dave Stamper, Dr. Hugo Riesenfeld, Albertina Rasch, Joseph Urban, John Daly Murphy, Helen Morgan, Hal Le Roy, Harry Richman, the Colette Sisters, Albert Carroll, Ruth Etting and Oscar Bradley. Sounds like a Professional Evening at Reuben's Pickle Parlor, doesn't it? Mr. Ziegfeld still keeps glorifying Our Girls. And he has some believe-me-boys ! this year all right. The show is long, and everybody gets in something good. There's that sensational kid dancer, the Jackie Coogan of the feet — I mean Hal Le Roy. I told you about him in "The Gang's All Here." Well, he's made. And how ! Helen Morgan goes dream)* and funny by turns. Sings a song that Xoel Coward made for her, "HalfCaste Woman."' and then, with some others, takes a smickity-smack at the talkies. Helen is so beautiful that in her presence my critical faculties go electric refrig. Full of plums and peaches, the 1931 vintage of the Great Glorifier is worth the jack. "The Pirates" and "Iolanthe" The gaiety, the joy abounding and the wild, thumping applause continued through the summer at the Erlanger Theatre, where the Civic Light Opera Company added "The Pirates of Penzance" and "Iolanthe" to its Gilbert & Sullivan revivals. And they were both well done. In "The Pirates'" Herbert Waterous roared his "For I Am a Pirate Chief," Frank Moulan made the very model of a modern Major-General Stanley, and Vivian Hart was a cute and delicious Mabel. She is a singing doll. "Iolanthe" is unique in all the annals of the stage. There has been nothing like it in whimsical fancy, clearcut daintiness and chortling satire since Will Shakespeare did his "Midsummer Night's Dream." The idea of the House of Lords being run by the fairies ! Vera Ross looked marvellous as the Queen of the Fairies — one of the most beautiful women on our stage. Joseph Macauley was a perfect Strephon and Herbert Waterous was a comic Private Willis. What a relief from the sewer shows ! Confessions of 193 1 The Little Picture House on East 50th Street has been responsible for converting what was once known as a high-brow dramatic critic (i. e. and to wit, myself J into a talkie fan of the most fervent kind. I see all the Broadway screen successes in this neighborhood theatre, which I first attended with the "hokum" on my lips ; but my well-known love of the truth finally compelled me to admit that in many of these screen talkies the acting was far better than it was on the legitimate stage, the stories often better told, and the whole entertainment value of the performance more biting, vivid and attention-pulling. I was surprised to find how well the synchronization problem is being solved. To me, the illusion is now almost perfect, and I often get a bigger kick out of the phantoms than I do out of the live human beings ; although, in my opinion, there is nothing that will ever take the place of the living human being, just as the radio or the phonograph will never be a substitute for the living Paderewski, Chaliapin or Toscanini. The drama is safe — and so are the talkies. Extra ! — a doubter has been converted. Carry the news to our Uncle Will Hays ! Our "Music" and "Dancing" I wish these foreign light opera pictures could have (Cont. on p. 115) Howard Marsh, as a lovesick sailor in the "Queen's Navee," pays ardent and melodious court to Ruth Altman in the best Cilbert-and-Sullivan tradition. Vivian Hart, whose whimsical charm and lovely voice make her a natural-born G. &* S. heroine. As a dashing and pleasantvoiced hero Mr. Marsh delights the hearts of the G. &> S. fans.