Variety (Dec 1934)

Tucs^y* Pecember 11, 1984 i: E i: ITIM A t^^^E yariIety 57 L'EPOIR ('Hope') : . - . „ ". . • PdrlB,. Nqv. .87. , * Five' Mt drariia -*y Henry Bernatain, ttaK«d and' proaeirit'edby th0 'Aathor .:at nyninuet Paris. . .. J ' • Oolnart .....i. i.. ■. <.V.. >.. .Victor^ Pmncen Catherine M<?yran ........ Uenee DeYllHets rwStry .....v.i...........Claude. JJauphIn rherwe Qolnart ;aal)Vlelle ;Dorzlnt Intolne Planhory , ,J. Dovy Bernstein has done It aealn. This Is the unQuestloned ..draliikatlc hit of the new ParVs season, and U ' ranks with the; best , plays he has ever written. A bet both for Broad- . w:ay and fllms, First ..night audience . :h0re .went wild. :. ; ^ - It's ^about as Rood an example of a well made Bernstein play as one could, fiope to And and 100% drama. Yet It la better tempered than many w.Wcl* have gone befor6 —there's hb . melodramatic tinge. Tempo Is steady^ slowly mounting to the toinrth and then subsiding In -a calm fifth act whlcb iiends the •pectatora home happy. . Chatacters ate all neatly drawn . and real, and . drama la human—in other words. It's theiatre as It used to be. and Btlll should be. Tet It's -^abt-oldfaahtoniB d: a n u ptindatfi^'ay.en newsy touch la stven . by th« theme, -which Is the uftdylng hope of the young today to Uve and be happy, despite what hanjgs over them. Bernstein Just. presses .on this but- ' ton long enough to give: point to hto play, without letting It get a bit preachy; tallty or topical. Superb acting and staging help It .enormously. Praiicen Is close to the top "In Paris. Renee DevilUers Is both beautiful and accomplished, Claude Dauphin (a newcomer who -left the •Femme Xilbre' bast at the Oeuvre to come here) Is worthy of the MEompany,^ and GSabrlelle .Dorziat does some remarkable; emotional kctlng. While Is put together with Bernstein ■ finesse.. Francen plays, with grand re.-; atralnt, an. old man who never got .very far despite his fortune and upper .middle claaa position.' He has ' .been sauelched by his wife, Theresei who Intriguingly runs the. family. Thierry Is engaged to their daugh- ter, Solange, but has learned that he really loves Catherine; daughter ' of Therese by a previous marriage, ' an* dout of this comes the play. ■■■ Bernstein depicts the family "'e. : ' aiid the characters of these people, quietly and surely. It is this genuine -. creatlvenessi- surpasslng pure -trick. drama, w hlchrmalre B th i s play-rank- his best . " - _ . _rhlecry-_confe«B!» _his__lpye__to ■ CaOierine and breaks his engage- ment. Catherine, a simple, honest, Intelligent girl. Is the antithesis o£ —^ her-mother,-^-who-haites—her^ and lavors the lightheaded, athletic So- lange. and the Jilting of the favorite , for the hated daughter breaks open the whole false emotional fabric of the f(uuiiy In the big scene of the fourth act. In . which Catherine stands firm. Thecese throws herfiUt,, Thierry takes hei' and Qolnart, . through shodc, recovers his. peace ' of mind. jH*i«.« It's real theatre. , Stern. THE^^N ; , , ■ Berlin; Nov. 3Q.' This Is a aP-tlre on the la.te Edgar Wallace and .Is gfettlhg good crowds here at the. t"ieatre in the iSti'ose - mannstrdssc. ; The 'J^pur . EieiCu- tloners', are .playjhg the leads lii .ttie scroaimer. ^ Quartet,of gifted ybunij students, although in the business a short time, have become one of the favorite troupes on the Berlin stage. They started getting atten- tion first when they staged plays nt the Munich, uhlversltyv \ The 'Nerve : Saw' was adapted, staged and played : by the - quartet.-, one member of whom designed the sceneryr which the other three helped build. • To make the presen- tation even more a family affair, one of the studetifs wives presides at.'Jhe^"b.b.-. ■■ . r- Full siatire of the quartet is turned upon Wallace, employing all the blood curdling devices that the au- thor used, and even his long clgarct holder comes . In for, some excellent business, ..V^ It's iuhny enough for ahywherc. 77 Club, Algiers^ Sunset, Greenwich Village, etc. Located in every sec- tion of the town, these clubs play to a staggering total. .These ore the ciubs where there is no mini- mum, no coyer, drinks At two-bits, and where the usual bill-rarely goes over a buck or so per person. Five pieces in the: orchestra and a couple of speclaltjr performers .make up the show. They sprang Into exist- ence In the past six itiontlis, many, of them being converted, speak- easles.'- . -- .-c '.. > V ■ In the third clasBihcatloh comes one street; hbrth Clark street from, the Chicago i^lver bridge to Division street. TlMit is now Chicago's ver- slohvof the Barbary - Coast. Nlte- rles, taverns and hideaways packed side by^^lde for eight blocks. Rough-, neck; knoickrem-down a;nd drag-em- out joints for theVmost part.- It's the slummlh;!- section of the town, .with . .the rawest . entertainment. They feature three fan dancers dancing at one time with one fan, queers and other" rough stuff. But setting a regular play, especially on! Saiturday nights.: Soihe have back- rboms, and. upstairs connections. Only a couple, of them advertise in the dallies. Anid flhaliy there are! the semi-, taverns; Barrodms whic h- are jiist j)rajha Xriiild Socked (Contihued from p^e; 4^ fritnkly as taverns, but several, be- gan to stand but because of a cer- tain dlstlhctlvencsis and flavor.; . They added a. ainger and on acicordlbnlst, then maybe a flVe-plece brchestra^ until what bisid l»en merely - tap- rpbms suddenly blossomed . but > as fiill-lledged nlte clubs. ' 'Four ■.C'«M** • At present the Chicago nlte illc is diylded; ihtb . four distinct, sec- tions.. On - top of the heap are the class gathering places, aimong which arei the French Casino, the Chez Paree,. Palmer House's Eniplre Room,. College inn, Morrison hotel's Terrace Garden/ Stevens, Congress hbtel's Urban Room, Red Ubn Inn, and Blackhawic. These are the ma Jor clubs at, which, the,ordinary per person tap Is from $2-$3. These clubs compete with the be3t~thfeatr6s^ ln town- oh the-basia the embryo of a; nlte' clijrt>. The, ac oordlon player, the single 'warbler and the btcaslbrtal busker. Let the proprietor ', inake a little, more money, get:Just a; little steadier, play and m another few months It will be a nltery,: adding Its flve^^iece .brr chestra; and acrbbatlc tap dancer to Chicago's.: nlte life. ' ...,\Cohtlnueia froih page.53) . ■ Islii^ not to make public aiiy^part of : the trari-saciipna nor pC-*t:he claims .involved; ; ' In the flrst, suit Wednesday, thPie were fleveral hot arguments and soveiai amusing situations; Great- est bombast was: attracted by Marc Conneliy, playwright;: who was called, by the Guild tb give expert testimony. When attorney WiiHam .Haihilbtii C-^boi-r.o,: for thrs .Guild,, swore him in and began asking; him questioiis al>out his background and status, attorney Wildberg, 'for: Ilavf mon, & UllrSan ■ interfered and exr: plained to the cCurt that ■•\?e con- cede that ;Mr. Connelly is an: .able and experi'inced dramatist, director; et cetera. Let's '^ on from there.' Connelly bcgaii, telling .what: lie thought abbut/the situation and how he felt about It, hut; his testimony Was interrupted by. constant objec- tions by attoi-neys wildberg ^nd Wittenberg.. : They Anally wOn their point by convincing the arbitrators that 'expert opiplphs' were ,nbt called for. or hecesBary and: that the artitratlbn conimlttee could judge better from presentation /of factar than listening to 'brother Play- Avrlghts.' : This point wpn, the en- tire Gonpeliy testimony, of nearly an hour, was stricken but ; Same went for the .proposed tiestlmony by A.. E;. Thomas, who also wanted tp glve hiis opinion; - . In the final' decision there was MARY KEAD London, Nov. 22. —Costume-play-in thrfle::;.act8, .by . James Bridle atid Claud Gurney, presented by George QrdsBmlth for U P. J*!*!^ •* MnleatVa theatre. Not. 21. Production by "Tyroiie Guthrie. Mrs. Read. <«.... . lira,' Amber....... .:>. •" Mary Read... Old Mrs. Read.......... Captain Spanner...... Bdward Barlo.,...;...:.. ▲'Recruiting; OfflM'r..'. Captain. Tapplt. . Sergeant Casey.....i.. 'Anabaptist... .\ Bpenlove. -■■ Captain Woodes Rogers. John Trumpet........... 'J>(ok Comer.....;. . Captain Rackham;"..... Ann Bonny ........ Of talent and advertising in the dallies. There is an interchange of [fachl lieTwee'n^he" tlieitreff-^^^^ nlte iclubs. ,. Infact several acts I playlner Balaban .& Katz theatres [Wave beeirffdvfeYtl^edmB^dlrecWrbm the Chez Paree'. Many of these clubs have aii ex- pense sheet which tops: the ordi nary run of theatres. Casino has la nut of 118,000 weekly;: the Chez I pdree costs -over-|11;000^ ;^ operating expenses, and clubs.: such as the College: Inn; Bniplre -Room I are In the near vlclhity In oper- ating expenses. - ; * When It comes to advertising, the clubs of the flrist division far out- strip the theatres for display costs. iFrenjch Casino, Chez Paree and Em- pire Robm ■ all" spend mbrer foir weekly, advertising- than any the Guarding against the digging of tickets for 'The Great Waltz', es pecially the lo^er priced ducats, his. had! the box pfflce of the Center theatre, New Tork, on Its toes since house went legit Attempted raid by some spec last; week was immediately detected. Within a period of several houi;s a flock of requests for BBc and $1,10 tickets fbr New Tear's eye perfbrmancb was received. Nearly all orders were in the same hand- writing, on the same style iiaper and the enclosed postal money orders were found to be serially aiiccesslve. Several writers signed the same last name, with the front monickers different. All letters called for 20 tickets and haid Bronx addresses. In additlbn there was another letter from someone In the button business who sought a similar block of tickets because he wanted to treat the .emplO|yees. Checkup showed the same person-made a similar-reauestL.for .34 tlcjl^eta for_a::performance_on th<e' eve of a. blg .fuulball g< . . tion that the houM is sold but for Deo. SI. —Lower-fiobi^ tlcketa fbr-'Wa.ltz'-6ell^dinecUy..at^the. boX-i^^ getting what is left. There is ho rei:ular allotment: pf diicats to the brokers. again a bit of trouble, ^ Arbltratoni voted 2^1 against tho Guild, Rum- cey appbirited by the Guild to the" cbmrhittee and: a i»lay broker of his own, holding piit.on the vote. When ho found he >vas .outvoted he: ro- fused :tp sign the arbitration d^ sibn.:'. .[■■.■ V : Jerked/Play; Before in ithe second: ciSe, the fpllowlnlf day, things were; taken more slowly and moi-e' detail was brought out. It was at this time learned :that Waltz In Fire' had been jerked but. of rehearsal by the playwrlght and the Guild on a preyipus. pccasipn. It was shown that the play was. Iii rehearsal early In 1933, Lbul^. Is- qulth the then, producer. At that time. It was le: rned, about a weele before rehearsal, the author ob- jected si renu«>usly to the prpduc- tlon ahd^ it was withdrawn. : , Producers testified that tliey had _;pent 114,500 oh preiparlng the pro- duction, that sum including the; sal-; ary guarantees for the cast fpr tw» weeks and showed a flna:hclal state*; ment to; that effectHertz testlflod that all ,, he and the Guild.; ha4: Avanted-a-^poatponemeint,; hot a clo(|- ing Of the show, but producers an-T iwered by. quoting flerures sho^: that a .ppstppnement at that . s of the gariie would have cost .them" a mlnlmuni. of |5,000 \a week, . that, sum' takijng ih "cost salaries,^^ t rental, etc. : Hertz admitted, 'I was frlghtehe* of the way things were :going and, figured I had to do sbraethlnig,' ■ It was.; brought out that on Mon- day (22) . Hertz: was so - delighted with, the production that he called In .William Schorr; stager ,of: tlie show, and voluntarily 'gave him a f>lece of the motion picture Hghts for his work In the staging. SeVr erat days later, the play was.'put oai for a dress, rehearsal before an audt- ehce and didn't . click, it becoming obvious that work was needed to ftit it ■ Hertz ond the star, Miss J6- hann, at that stake',: It was testifled, descended on SchOrr,' the director* claiming his work Incompetent ; : There was so much bickering over the: stajging then, the pro- ducers testified that:they colled a. meeting of the playwright, the stajp and" tire : stager -iand agreed -to4 aak IrlaHoey ...Isabel Thornton ......Flora Robson .. .Beatrice Wilson ....Claude Alllater ....;Robert Donat Cyril Gardiner .... .Evan Thomas ...William O. Pay ..CralghaU'Sherry .....Paul Chalfont John Tumbull Arthur Seaton i . . .Charles Farrell ....Wilfrid Walter ....v..Betty Hardy atre in Chicago; The Chez I'aree has hit the dalllies with full page spreads, something which nO ther a,tre has done on its own cost And taking, all :nlteries together, ' they regularly top the theatre, expendi- tures In week-end papers. On Sat- urdays the Chicago nlterles rate two and three full pages of display advertising. Estimated ..that the ibcal clubs spend |80,P00t JSCOOO in the dailies every week; According to history there was a woman plriate, balled Mairy Read, about the year 1720. Aocbrdlng; to this play she was first palmed oft bn her grandmother aa a boy; enlisted In the army and remained there; . w w ent liilo ' baltle a i id etaycd th e l f o I th e se rovlowo ■ a a . gwc h a p a ce i^ltery Cntiee :So great Is the 'expenditure at Ithls time that the dallies hive added: riBguloT: nitp dub, reviewers I to the amusement section, granting Hans Rastede, co-author of 'Tbrhorrow's ' Harvest', first knpwn as ■Home Again' and which opened at the 49th Street, New Tprk; last week, is a teacher of English at Lawrencevllle (prep school) N, J. Hyman Adier, who collaborated on the. script, was fornierly In vaudeville. tJn derstood Adler Is also Interested in the production presented by Douglas G. Hertz,, a mcmogerial newcomer. Show stbpped after three nlghts.^^ _ 49th Street; one bf : the smillest of the Shubert houses, has beeli dark" for better part of past year or so. It was lighted briefly earlier in the season; when '-^re Tou Decentr moVed over frbm the Ambassaiaor. tease which .the Frankwyn leglt; Interests hold on the Little, New York, turns over to a profit with; Alexander McKaig moving 'Dark Vlctbry^ Into that hbuse arid Brock Pemberton renting the office space in the theatre building. Understood that the Frankwyn interests had It aUrunder-le€ise- for-le8s^thari-|400-weekly; -3etwee McKalg the building :iffili; probably brlhg more than that figure In rental meriey each week. Frank wyn-Bpent-cpHfllde r able r m on^M^ecorattng-thr' theatre fpr the opening of LucIennc Boyer and her .'Cbntlneiital yarleties Some 18 yeai-s ago Cliff Fischer, Paris and Now Tbrk agent and prb ducer, and Lee Shubeft had a fight over the Montmartre cabaret which Is Bltuateil ih the Winter Oardeh theatre building, on Broadway, and which t'lscher operated at that time; Shuberts retained thehr usual 10% In lieu pf rent, wherefrem sprung. the feud. Last week~ Fischer and Shu bert spoke again for the first tlnte and may bp allied once more In i cabaret venture having tp do with the French Casino, New Tprk. . ^ Just ;who Is the dean of the dramatic critics la rather undecided,: In New York Burns Mantle (;>Iews) and Percy Hammond (Herald Tribune) are the■ contenderia..■ . Seems thait Hammbnd htus beeh covering shows'- fbr 39 years, While Mantle hoa bberi on the Job a bit longer. However, some say Hammond has been a first stringer longer thah: Mantle. The late H. G. Parker, pf Bostbn, was also a candidiate for without her sex being discbvered •r under suspicion; retiimed and - donned wbmah's clothes, and then reverted to the .masculine .disguise; becoming a pirate. : . : There la aii ihtermlhable. lot of talk and bickering that. If ruthlessly -blue-^pehcilled jK0uld.:.mak!el for ,aji Interesting play. It was written by James Bridle, with Claud Gurney . .called In to inject ad^itibnal drama. There. Is; a. very, .cbmmendable; cast, headed by Flora, Robson in the title lole; for which she received Btrpng praise In the press.: Leading man la Robert bonat, who ran » 'elose second. Company of ever 10 vleaves little to ■ be desired. An- thentlc costumea of the i>erlod and Ihe;acen6ry la most effective. This is the secbnd of * serlea of stage productions announoed hy liondoh Film Prbductlona aa a P«*r lade to plcturlzlng et acrlpts. ^ •Mary Read* haa the makinga ec a apectaotilar film pio d— Won; . . given pictures, and much mbre than given legit Clubs have stepped into the field , of exploltisitlon: and have largely taken the play away from the - theatres, which : have: always had tie-up explbitatlpn stuff to themselves. But _the arrival ef a nlte elUb .celebrity gets" m milch tiraln depot' jpdotUres and atoriea as any theatre celeb; cooking -achopls have the Ethel Shuttaa. arid Sophie Tuckers for exploitation; nlte club- Itbs find;. themMlvps. .n;>eakihg to clvle clubs and laying cornerstone? That takes In the first division I of Chicago nite life.; In the second rank tir* the hundred odd nelghbor.- hood dubfl which have a Uirge local foUpwing arid which also advertise itb a great; cstent i,n the dallies. I That takea In auoh duba aa the. HI Hek Keily** Btahlea, th« Bouthway. Olll* Btaamboit Cb* Mdeli One of the siurcharges Abo Cohn and Eddie Scanlon. making their legit debut a» producers with (So Many Paths' iat the Rite, New Ybrk, didn't anticipate was that $26 weekly rbyfiUy tb G; RlcOrdl & Co. for example. The Milan and New York music publishers bf all pf Puccini's; works .Insisted .oh that. stipend for the extract from thb; first act aria: to Ia Bbheme;' which Norma, Terrlss sing."? In the courfle of the action and .whlch I s a vital adjunct to the dra n iattirgy;.^^^^^ ^^: ; -^ When 'An Aboard,' European reVue at the Tingle Tangel;theatre, Lbs Angeled, clpsed laat week players had received ah average of |16 each for their three, weeks' work. Previous to the opening Frederick Hollander, producer, had rehearsed the cost for 16 weeks. On closing night :playerH and stagehands made rib effort to conceal their bitterness. ■■;■; ::-V, '■.; ■ ,..; Tlhgei Tangel theatre In Los Angeles is dark; now that the $4,000 pro moted from a rich Philadelphia realtor to further the stage aspirations of hlB niece, Barbara Ferns, has been used up. r-Figured that the girl, who did a apeclalty, wonld get both enough experience and publicity from the venture to safely launch her ph a. .career... .. .. .: - i - ; Met aettled that 'Jayhawker' will be prpdOc'ea In Chicago. Charles .K. to McfW Tcck tai aee play but no deal closed. the stager to keep away from the theatre for several days. . Oh Sun- _ day (28) Hertfc agreed to be home' , working on. rewriting of the first act Instead, hpwever. It was testl- fiedrhe-appcored- at the -Dramaiti-gtrf- Guild the following mprnlng asking that steps be taken to stop the show< . Ordered Show 6tF Producers said that they were surprised ; Monda y morning to get two lettersi-one from the playwright- - and one from the Guild,. ordering the show stopped. ..Much was inado of these twp letters,. Guild and Hertz claiming they each acted on their own, but attbrneys ■ for the ' producers attempting to prove thait ; they were dictated or written by the same person. Both were worded / very-much alike.—r - ." -: Producers testified that Guild : . . jent-t b take p ff-the- show immediately and call off the dress rehearsals. ; Producers, how- evor, obtained permission for one more dress rehearsal Monday (29>^ to which they invited newspaper^ men and other experts for opinions oh the productions; ■'• Several of the cast members tes- tified, Morgan Farley in person and Tom Powers and Eduard CionelU via written and sworn statements; It was argued by the producers in defense of the stager that, not only did.the playwright have confidence, in him up to a few days prior to;the blowup, but that they personally had so much confidence in him they had rehired him for another show. Birthday,' w h ich in now lit t-e- hearsol for them.' It was made pretty obvious that the stager and his reputation were vindicated. . The three arbitrators in this cose were unanimous in their findings. - Considerable interest was attested as: .to, lio.w,; JP.hiUp Wittenberg„ got; into the case. He is the attprney for the legit code authority, but acted solely. on his own as an at- torney in this matter, C.A. being in- terested Only as outsiders • looking on. His appearance as: trial attor- ney was explained by the fact that: Wildberg, regular Harmon & UUman attorney,. wanted to testify in the case and therefore could not try thb case personally. James LIndey of the Wtorrls L. Ernst legal office, was attorney for Hertz. It was Hertz's first play; although he has worked on the Coast for Paramount.