Variety (January 1923)

Friday, January 19, 1923 • LEGITIMATE ii) POLLY PREFERRED (Continued on page 19) •poa for Its thoroughness. William Harrigan as Bob Cooley, the young promoter, "makes" the role stand up because he is Bob Cooley and aot a matinee idol, a fellow who is a hus- tler and not a stage lover. Mr. Har- rigan gets that over, and in this particular part he has it's not the easiest portion to do. Right to the finish Mr. Harrigan plays it. nr.d along with him is Thomas W. Rons, one of the "chasing" gang, with Mr. Ross the Wall Street man trying to walk out on his wife and also trying to make every pretty girl he sees. How Polly crossed him is one of the high lights. Beatrice Nichols as a film actress •who formerly was a waitress, the other chasers (Charles Laite. Will- iam N. Bailey and Richard Mal- chicn) and Marjorie Eggleston as Mrs. Joseph Rutherford, the spurned wife, were equally true to their roles. And John Wray. who p' lys a sane reporter ax a reporter should be played, also the same for Brings French as a lawyer, while even Will- J iam Betts as a doorman turned off a brogue with his few brief and short lines that got a giggle with each one. The P. Dodd Ackerman settings Just titted. especially the office let I that looked like a gold brick sane- | turn, while the Rutherford bungalow with the inside looking out was a thing of beauty to livers in fiats. But perhaps it was Mr. Bolton, after all. with his story, builded upon what is better known along Broadway possibly than anywhere else—the power of the skirt. That "skirt stuff'' starts this play and carries it alone - . It takes the chasers with it, and Bob Cooley takes the chasers because they are chasing. If "Merton of the Movies" was adapted from a story, as it was. thru "Polly Preferred" should be written into a story, as it is, for It would be just as delightful reading as It Is playing. Polly, with one line In the chorus, is fired, and airs her woes in an automat, where oomes Boh Cooley. another fired person. They meet and talk. Cooley knows something, and It seems to be women and Johns. He has only one thing more than Polly—an idea—and tells it to her. He will "sell" her to moneyed men as a picture star. It's salesmanship he says. She dubiously agrees. He borrows clothes for her. takes unto himself the "Fashion Row" at the Biltmi>re. with the chasing young and old men hanging around, sends Polly through her paces alone: the corridor and gathers in the Johns one by one as they want to meet her. The Polly Pictures Is Incorporated, with the six men receiving one share each In the girl, who hinds herself to the corporation for five years at $200 a week for the first and $500 weekly for the next four years. But this happens only after Rutherford uncovered the plot. But with the persuasive power of Cooley and the assistance of Van-Sloan as the di- rector who wanted to know why there shouldn't be as much talent around the Oowanus Canal In Brooklyn as in Charleston. South Carolina, the deal was resurrected after it seemed cold. Within the lapse of a year between the first and second acts Polly went to Hollywood, and the company turned out "Jane of Arkansas," that Bob claimed "did $66,000 in two weeks at the Rialto, New York." Also to the roast went the chasers, and the waitress, office boy and others are now engaged in the pic- ture business behind Polly. Endeavoring.to.trim Cooley of his one share and the love awakening between Polly and Bob, with Polly framing to give Mrs. Rutherford an edge on her walking hubby, also to save Bob his interest, Polly escapes all of the chasers, led by .Rutherford, who is discomfited in the entertain- ing bungalow bit. closing the play with a picture fadeout and a snapper tag line. For sheer laughs Mr. Van-Sloan has no superior on Broadway 1hii season. He made his effeminate di- recting role stand up and also made his Broadway hit against his incli- nation, flssaying the part In the Cleveland stock just to fill in the try- out, he balked at coming to Xew York in such a role, but the Com- stock management induced him against his will, telling him it would make him, and it has. even though Mr. Van-Sloan, who never previ- ously played a similar role and still doesn't like it, remains disgusted with his Crawford Boswell director, as fine a piece of character work as lie does it as mav he done with that type. Mr. Waldridge also deftly handles the office boy, although his portion has heen cut down somewhat from the original as in Cleveland, when he virtually l» ""ted a" of the tauirhft. it is in this balancing and in other wave that the revision, whether hy Mr. Bolton or Mr. Smith. Is to the fore, and the reason for Polly Preferred" being among th ■ season's hits of New York. Thi re's a hit of bnsine«s and a line thai must be told for the show people, luit with "e hope, Of course. that no one cons it. It is in the of- fice of Pollv Pictures. The star la fighting Hgainst a scene the director Insist* upon. They decide to allow • lie executive of the concern to JMW po play it In ihe office with- out i !••• '• >•.••• • i i,nt In panto, t's of •he "!''•■ • •" : mi? in .,.) the husband i I .-•!fnriy with the director giving the instructions. When he says to the wife, 'Show her y- r wedding ring," meaning to show "t to the affinity, Miss Nichols, who Is playing the wife in this scene, s she moves her hand under the eyes of Miss Tobln. speaks out: "You see, I haven't my wedding ring. I had to loan it to a friend who wanted to rent a bungalow." Bime. NAUGHTY DIANA Mimical farce in two seta by Martin Brown, adapted from the German of Miller and Urban. Score by Will Orimann: lyrics by Cyrua D. Wood. MusU-al numbers staged by John J. Hushes. A. II. Woods producer Charles Ruggles Is featured of the cast In the lobby posters but not on program. At the Majestic. Brooklyn, N. Y.. last sveek. Opened in Philadelphia this week. Mrs. Mantle Marion Ballou Andrews Joseph Allen Arabella Smith Betty Pi-rce Billiard Smith Charles Hugxie.s Musette Katharine l>uttln M>rtle Mildred Ke-r Violet • Florence Moor^ Rose Beryl Hal ley Dr. Harry (Jordon Jack Squlr:* Diana. llan Marv.ngj IVggy O'Dare Patricia O'Connor '/.ero (liarli'K Irwin Wr'.s— Alvlna /.oila. Prances Brown. Mildred Kent. Marion Ross Lenere Dares', Claire de (.and. Dawn<i Woo.Is. Beryl Ha Ley Florence lieore, Benals Da.ton, Kthe l^mery. Ann Roe*. % Charles Ruggles, that bedroom farce veteran, fairly scintillates in this newest Al II. Woods opus bed- room, which, for all of its lock of an actual boudoir or Turkish bath set- ting, is spicier and klckler by far than the "Demi-Virgin" or anything else Ruggles has since appeared In. Adapted from Miller and Crban's libretto (probably German). Martin Brown has Anglicized the lines tell- ingly to such good purpose the re- viewer for the nonce had his hopes raised in believing that here finally was a candid translation of not a German but a French farce into English. The sole distinction be- tween French and American farce comedy is that the latter proceeds in its action toward adultery and the French recedes from that. In the action here the first act climax finds the hero's wife and her husband's personator ascending the stairs to their boudoir, enter and close the door behind, further padlocked by a meddling mother-in-law. who locks the twain in for the night and thus hopes to realize her yearning for a grandchild. In the second act the audience is on edge when the personator (who has previously explained that when- ever he yodels it is a sure sign he is feeling good) is reported having been heard yodeling intermittently in the course of that period from the witching hour to dawn. That about establishes the tone of the farce. The action transpires throughout both acts in one set—the home of Richard Smith (Mr. Ruggles). a brilliant attorney with a neurotic ob- session for adopting young girls of the highly eligible "chicken" age for daughters and insisting they call him "papa," Dick Smith seemingly is a successful daddy, judging from his dozen children (chorus) which, his mother-in-law fears, presents the danger of her becoming a great- grandmother. Smith has announced the adoption of a thirteenth "child," wherefore the title "Diana Comes to Town," since changed to "Naughty Diana." The title role is ably- handled by Use Marvenga, a pleas- ant little prima with a delightful little foreign accent. Smith in a sense is a .Tekyll and Hyde. Up to 8 o'clock he Is all busi- ness, arrogant to his stenog, and brusque in general demeanor! Comes the stroke of 8 and Smith doffs his owlish goggles, spruces up with a gardenia and becomes more solici- tous as to the welfare of his amanu- ensis and more gentle In his corre- spondence address. This neurotic strain accounts for the residential presence of his physician, Dr. Harry Gordon. The young but learned medico cannot solve the "strange bachelor compulsion" which over- comes his friend and patient after 8 o'clock, and, with the assistance of Diana, they decide to cure him through psychoanalytic applications. The plot is embellished by the en- trance of Zero (Charles Irwin), a vaudeville personator, who, strange- ly, Is laying off this week, but booked for "the Palace" the next. Zero requests permission to imper- sonate Dick Smith as the leading local personage in the limelight, made so because of the barrister's telling and successful plea in court earlier that day in behalf of a mur- der defendant. Zero makes up on the stage and looks Smith's twin. The rest is obvious. One of Smith's bachelor "compulsions" has him dated for the Palais Royal that night, and Smith now sees a way to elude his eagle-eyed mother-in-law. lie commissions Zero to personate him for the evening, promising a $2.">0 bonus in addition, with the in- ducement he may retain him perma- nently if tonight proves a success. F.xit the real Smith, and Zero-Smith has an inning for garnering affair flock of laughs. This is topped off with the obviously unexpected re- turn of the attorney's wife from an iextended trip in the mountains. Such interludes b.v Mrs. Smith as "you ought to see thai n.-w negjigee I bought on my trip" and others pitch the action for a wow of a tlrst set climax. The real Smith returns the morn- ing after the night before with the picture ac t res s who hots ail but "made - ' him. After consulting him professionally that she has ■ bus-' band who stays away from her'most every night but that she cannot de- pend on him to stay away every night, they repair to the Palais Royal. She Is really the wife of Zero, the -vaudeville Impersonator. The curse is taken off it all for the finish with Mrs. Smith's explanation that she knew Zero was not really her husband and that they were perfectly proper, but conspired to give the real Smith a scare and a cure, which is finally accomplished. The entrance of both Smiths in similar dressing gowns in the sec- ond act is played up for some whoop- ing laughs, with the butler as the comedy puppet. The butler (Joseph Allen) has acquired somewhat of a "load" of his own despite the early morning* hour, and his ludicrous be- fuddled mugging went for all it was worth. With the break-In period really beginning, the play is surprisingly smooth and needs but little whipping into shape. Johnny Hughes has done well by the musical number staging. As regards the Ortmann music it is a surprisingly light and lilting score with 'My Heart Is Paging Yours" (Diana and Harry) and "I Have Found Love at Last" (same) as the outstanding compositions. Ruggles has a comedy song in each act which he handles well. With a doctor role well in the fore a Coue song is natural, this being the usual "Every Day in Fvery Way I'm Get- ting Better and Better" lyric frame- up. (That makes the 'steenth such- titled song now on the market.) A window washer's number, led by Miss Marvenga (Diana), took a half- do/.cn encores, thanks to that plump end pony who stood tmt despite the ensemble and principal in her "tough" characterization and the Bowery walk that accompanied It. If lat.ighs mean anything Its en- tertainment should enjoy popular vogue for some months. This Woods play was first known as "Who's Who." later changed to "Lonesome Wives." and played in Brooklyn under the title of "Diana Comes to Town." opening at the Adelphia, Philadelphia, as "Naughty Diana." Abel MOSCOW ART THEATRE (Second Program) Mikhail (.Jiorgi Burdzhnloflt VlLMiilM Falna Khevrlisnko Nxtaeha Varvsra Bulgakova Mill vied leir V ladiinlr Ur.bunln Va.'ka Pepel Peter BukshelefT Anrtn 1 Alexel BandlerlefT Anna Maria L'spenskaia Nastya Olga Knipper-Tchckhova \v.i nIi nya Maria Nikolaiva iurnnfr Vaslly Luzhsky rne Baron Vaslly Katchaloff Bat In* Constantin Stanislavsky The Actor Nikolai Alexandre!? I .uka I van Mosk vin A i> oshka Ivan Bulgakov Tartar Alexander Vishnevsky Krivoy Zob Alexander Grizunoff Morris Cest's Imported theatrical caviare (liberally decked with spin- ach) opened its second course to an audience quite different from that which greeted its gala premiere last week. In place of the social flower of the town, this audience looked like a solid front of the prosperous Rus- sians, together with the complete catalog of curiosity seekers, novelty hunters and the intelligentia. There were not so many dress clothes this time, but there were fully as many paid admissions. After all a millionaire's $5 isn't any heavier than a school teacher's. And Monday night the populace was massed to eight and ten rows deep standing behind the last row at the Jolson, which is a quarter of a mile from the stage. Every seat was filled. • Profiting by the experience of last week (or the publicity growing out of It), the mob was on hand prompt- ly this time. The curtain was billed to rise at 8. At 7.55 there was a jam in the lobby like the main gate at the Dempsey-Carpentier debate. The curtain was held this time. It may be feasible to start a performance and keep some hundreds of people out in the cold, but having three times as n:any within and running the ushers panic-stricken all at once is another problem. This bill Is Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths," a four-act under- world melodrama of Russian city life. Beside it "Oliver Twist" is a drawing-room comedy. Gorky, never a cheerful bird, certainly made good his title in this charcoal sketch of low existence among the riffraff of Russia. Pickpockets, hobos, prosti- tutes, consumptives, murderers— every grade and type of human scum —foregather in the "flop" which is the scene of the action. Rags, lice, death, intrigue, philoso- phy, larceny, brutality, grief, sex, religion, treachery, insanity, mis- placed virtue, miscast salntliness, miscarried love—all play their parts in this pesthouse of savage sordid- ness amid the besotted dregs of the miserable tatterdemalions of a vile dive. The passions are of the lowest and most abysmal, though the char- acters are diversified even In that circumscribed sphere and portrary various phases of the personal equa- tion still surviving under the dirt and the poverty and the moral lep- rosy of degraded degeneration. The Russians can act —in their way. Ivan Muskvin. who plays the outstanding role in this drama—an aged Polly anna with whiskers, who is almost Christly in hi* forbearance and psycho-therapeutics, dcspiTe the stifling atmosphere—is a star whose words need not bs understood to convey a complete comprehension of his art and his personality. His hands and features \are Incredibly eloquent. Without a recognizable flaw, the company Is excellent. Of course, the technique of the Russians is broad, elocutionary, violent and vivid; but that is their school, not their fault. America would scarcely stand for the same methods in an English-speaking book. But ac- cording to their standards these are powerful players; so much ao that they can get their emotions across to audiences of which probably not 10 per cent, understand a word they are uttering. They are palpable pan- tomimists. All Russians gesticulate with their hands, eyes, heads, shoul- ders and whatever other curve or wrinkle of the human contour can be employed to emphasize or trans- mit thought; and these, being picked and trained Russians, professionals at it, can tell you funny stories or break your-heart as long as there are lights. As entertainment this reviewer frankly regards it in tho light of the bunk. The same plays by native companies would get the razz, and if done in the same vociferous and calisthenic way would get the small time. As foreigners they have a certain educational and research— if not Inquisitorial—interest, and should be seen once by a student of the theatre. So should everything else on the stage. Russians, who are born to enjoy- ing explosive actors in scarlet and drab tragedies, may eat this up. Hearing their native tongue spoken and seeing pictures of their native surroundings and conditions staged should give thern a thrilling reac- tion. Rut In these United States there Isn't much inherent interest in Russia or anything Russian, and the Russian attack is so far from our own that it can get a ripple only as a "novelty." And Morris Gest is a master at selling Russian commonplaces for American novelties. He has prob- ably the most pronounced sense of showmanship, the most outrageous courage and the most unbelievable energy In the whole directory of the- atrical sportsmen. He invests his foreign offerings with importance, atmosphere, and almost aura If this company played on the East Side at 50 cents It would draw the Russian-speaking- pabulum for a week or two and go barnstorming on its way. leaving behind a smack such as Corse Payton might In Sweden. Rut uptown, at $5 top, made impressive and difficult, pur- posely set in a theatre off the noisy track of popular amusement—voila! It Is an event. An d it is entirely an event of Gnat's making, which is probably more worth discussing than if the impoverished elite of theatredom In any European country managed otherwise to beg or borrow steerage fare and get over here to glean a few dimes. This troupe came over first class, was met at the docks and photographed and interviewed like plenipotentiaries, advertised most stunningly ahead, waited for! The more one sees of (Jest's shows the more one takes off the hat to Morris, (he greatest press agent and salesman in the business — who can make Russian onions taste like Olympian pomegranates and peddle like Coney Island hot dogs at the price of Palm Peach champagne. Luit THE HUMMING BIRD Tolnetts Mamie FuMon Henrietta P*Uh Hlidn. Spong Lisa I.ath.m Mona, Kings'ey Mme. Barque Flav'a Arc-ani Ulllle Newman Vlo>t Dale A Gueet Valerie Vataitv Phillip Caiwy Robert Ober Brutus J. Finn Andrew Mack Henry Smith Bdgar Nelson (Jen. Jules I.eferrier. .Frederic de Belleville Chariot Walter Wills The Ritz presented a new attrac- tion Monday (Jan. 15) in "The Hum- ming Bird," starred in by Maude Fulton and written by her. It was of coast genesis, produced in Oak- land, Cal., in May, 1920, so that it has been two and a half years In making Broadway. At the Little theatre, Los Angeles, Miss Fulton's play ran 21 weeks, and It was shown In other western stands. Oliver Mo- rosco was interested in It for a time, but later turned it over to Frank Fgan, who is presenting the piece In New York. It is understood Moros- co considered 'The Humming Bird" needed fixing before coming east, and there has been considerable re- writing, according to those who saw the original. Miss Fulton's story is away from routine and It has mor. 1 interest as a story than weight as a plav. The players in 'The Humming Bird.'' from a professional angle, are also Interesting. Miss Fulton, for- merly the dancing partner of the late William Hock, made a name for her- self with the best in vaudeville and also in musical productions on the coast. Several seasons ago she re- tired to write, then reappeared with "The Humming Bird." That a bit of dancing Should be worked Into the play is but natural, but it is made somewhat plausible. The surprise appearance in the cast was Andrew Mack, one time a star in musical comedy and for n number of seasons pist a name vaudcvillian. Mis role in Miss Ful- ton's comedy is of ralr size, nut ins characterisation of Brutus J. Finn. ex-waiter at the Uilz. was one of tie- best things of the evening, Whether from association or a bankroll, I i n essays to he llltxy, affecting an I lish accent excFpi when "bti ; i ' . it of it. Once thai was done bj Mini Burque herself/an Irish gal, affce a French aoceni for the ;■"■ d of Iv > modlst t shop, Finn i >}. -■ i then admits he paid "a grand" f »r the diamond wedding ring, the dough coming for winning on a JiJ- to-1 shot "right on the rinse." \ third player from vaudeville play.- i Mme. Burqus, it being Flavia Arcaro who was effusive. Miss Pulton probably took a bit of Parisian history anent the war as ( background for her play. It was the daring fighting of a body of upach*-- w ho enlisted^ They were men of a class that stopped at nothing, but though most had prison records thev fought gloriously i\nd were credited with having sealed S breach in the French line at a precarious moment. The apaches wen- inspired into forming a company by 'The Hum- ming Bird." a wily little girl sneak- thief. Uricf over the failure of her friends to eome back had actuated the "Bird"— raised as the weeds in the street"—to turn straight, and *he fled to Xew York. Here as Tolnette she earned her Hying in the shop of Mme. Burque. has as friends a cub reporter ami an artist, and is happy. The re- porter, seeking to make a scoop, learns a French officer is in the country seeking "The Humming Bird," with whom he has fallen in love—his Tolnette. The officer meets the girl and, convinced she has for- saken her old life, leaves with the message the highest military honors await her in her own country. Frederic de Belleville as the French officer is impressive, but somehow the role Is incongruous in the surroundings. Robert Ober, who in private life is Miss Fulton's hus- band, plays the reporter. It's not particularly advantageous. Violet Bule has been given some of the most recently added lines. Among them was one In answer to the query as to where ehe got her liquor, he saying: "Day by day, In every way. its getting wetter and wetter." Hilda Kpong played the rich aunt of the reporter. Mona Kingsley as her niece is pretty, but a bit with Mien Fulton near the close, when thev speculate on the children they might have been, seemed out of the picture. Miss Fulton by far outshone the field. Her ready smile and chic made her size up as a bright and amusing comedienne. Her speech was crisp and given charm bv an excellent dialect. Whether "The Humming Bird" is to land or not Miss Fulton has achieved a lot in displaying again her lively stage personality. The Rltz was obtained under a guarantee arrangement calling for a minimum of five weeks. . Ibce. " <* • GOD OF VENGEANCE The Players' Co.. Inc., the current season's producing organization oc- cupying the Provineetown theatre in Greenwich Village, presents Ru- dolph Schildkrattt in "The Cod of Vengeance," by Sholom Ash. The piece Is an adaptation, having l n produced by Max 'inhardt at the Deutsches theatre, Berlin, in 1900. and since that time In 10 different languages. Its Initial presentation locally was In Yiddish at the Jewish Art theatre, where It served for a full season for that company in 1111. The version presented at tin- PrOVlncetOWn marks the Initial ap- pearance of Schlldkraut on the Knglieh speaking stage, he having also appeared in the Yiddish piece. The Ash play is a drama in thre- ads with a theme of a delicate nature, far removed from the American stage. The Provineetown theatre is patronized by subscriber*. and that may suffice for it. as tin- "story" presentn no educational or entertaining value for the general run of Americans. Ash brings to the fore In his tale the Continental prostitute and the men who gain their livelihood by the earnings of these women. The scenes are laid In a house of II- fame, the lower floor of which Is given over to the money-gaining devices of tho proprietor while the upper floor serves as a home fm- his virtuous daughter. When hire falls Into the life of shame 1 e fosei faith in the Ood he thought he had bought for her with his tainted money. In casting Schlldkraut. who also staged the piece, selected players of merit. His eupport adds mi terially to the effectiveness of the star. The piece is comprised en- tirely of Jewish characters, the re- ligion of that race being the found.tl inn upon which the play is based. Schlldkraut as the father gives a character of exceptions t value, with ESsther Stockton as the wife furnishing strong support. Lou Sorin handles his mle with finesse, with Other member* equally effective. The two sets are the work of ("Icon Throckmorton. Both ar artistically done and extremely ade- quate, considering the small dimen- sions of the fcfa»;i'. "The Cod of Vengeance" h.. s been playing at fie Provineetown Since Dec. 1'0, Including Sunday night performances. It lias caused COn- id< ralile comment and drawn many ■urlnstTy— s e ek e rs. —It- will sat;*i\ lie desires of tin- mo; t curious ami those who crave something more suggestive than anything yet at- lenip l.i dramatic production on Kroadway, The small downtown hoi -• ' i een playing to capacity iml '■ < i -low' '.dly do so for som>* me to come, ss the mouth-to* publicil y , v ill take th^m //«rr«. i ]