Variety (October 1925)

84 VARIETY LEGITIMATE Wednesday, October 28, 1925 PUYS ON BROADWAY Easy Come, Easy Go A new farco In thrro arts by Owen Davis. Pro<luc»<l by Lewlit mid Oordon In HaiorUtlon with Sam M, Uaniti at the Cohan, Opt.'211. Ottn Kriitf.r «ti,l Victor Moore f<atur<il. StaKe<l by l':i««lly Mor- rlaon and Bettings dp.---lgnrJ by NMihoUs Yillentl. -Mortimer Quale Edward Arnold Horace Wmnel.l Nell OMalley Pullman rortor Juli-s Hf-nnett IMck Tain t«to Kruner Jim Bailey Victor Moore Tom Nash E>iwln Walter Mr«. MaHters Harrlelte Marlotte .\lm.i Hordfn Bi'tty <5ar<)e Harvey Ikirden.: John Illnicham Walcott Mustcra Krank \V. Taylor Ada Ray V'auKhn Del.rf'ath Dr. r.X)t.t , Jrfi.rson allHll ilarbara Quale Mary Halliday Dr. Jasper Kdwiti Maxwell Molly Nan Sunderland :$hadow Martin John Irwin (Jazz Singer), while for Owen Davie It marks iin auspicious opening for a season which still holds several more works from his prolific and fifrtain i>fii. It is In the Cohan at $3.30 anil worth every penny of it. Clean as a whistle and sharp as a knife. It will satisfy almost any theatregoer whose mind Isn't set on soeiiig a flock of biire legs and hear- ing some barroom Jokes. As an example of farce writing, it should make a few of those man- agers who go abi-oad each summer to buy their farces sit up. For Davis has shown by the "Nervous Wreck" and this one that he can spot the funny looking ginks across the water four French farces. Sijik. When "Easy Come, Easy Go" opened In Wilkes-Barre. P.a., some few Saturday nights ago, quite a few mishaps occurred. First a few pounds of plaster fell from the ceil- ing to the heads of the cash cus- tomers—not destined to put them in good humor. Backstage a few water pipes burst and moistened the dressing rooms considerably—which could hardly be calculated to bring smiles to the company, Bul the show went over big that night an3 then moved on to PhlUy, where it was also well received. From Phllly it went to Atlantic City and picked up over < 10,000 on the week. Not bad. From A. C. to N. Y. Nobody knew so very much about It except that the show's agent had sent out notices that It was the one hundredth show to be authored by Davis. When the first act finished everybody was certain it was pretty neat farce; at the conclusion of '^e second they rushed out almost sure it wafi in the hit class, and when it was all over there wasn't a doubt- er in the house. Like "The Nervous Wreck"—this one was over. Of course, Davis and his son were walking the sidewalk most of the time, waiting to hear and asking how It looked, but doggone Mr. Davis, down In his heart he must have known it was a hit. And he must have known when he equipped Otto Kruger and Victor Moore wl4l> their stage roles he gave them a pair of very lovable crook parts. In other words, Owen Davis wrote a real show, a riotous farce comedy that holds water in every seam and a laugh In almost every line. Kruger and Moore as Dick Tain and Jim Bailey, after pulling a bank robbery In a town near Detroit, hop . a Pullman, penniless and nervous but with half a million in a bag. No sooner in the car than th(ur rifle a few suit cases and get them- selves some clothes. The minute rich Mr. Mortimer Quale enters, they take him for his bankroll and a packet of cigars—for what they needed plenty of was money and smokes, Hearing Quale talking about dropping off at a health farm for a cure, they keep their ears open and when a loud mouthed de- tective announces that he knows the bankrobbers are on the train and that every station gate in De- troit will be watched, they figure that their "out" is the health farm. They drop off too, and enter the place where fat men come to re- duce, nervous women to get braced up, and where stem doctors march rich patients around the clock under veritable whip lashes. The kick is when Tain tells Quale that he has always been a failure and always will be, but Quale tells him that bluff is the only thing that counts and that if he (Quale) would introduce Tain as a millionaire, he would have the mob at his feet. So (he stunt is tried and it works. Pretty soon, however, T«in gets sore because Quale is going to marry his daughter off to a fellow with no backbone. He primes the gal to rebel against papa, and to make a little dough for himself, begins sell- ing Florida real estate. Somebody quibbles about the boom down there being over. "Ah, no," is the quick comeback, "look at Wall Street. Think of it —land down there is worth millions an acre and you can't even grow an orange, while here we are offer- ing " The boy feels badly about the crooked busines.s, however, and even the girl finds out thnt he isn't mtich good. Quale himself has been so embarrassed by the success of his advice to Tain that he la willing to do almost anything to rid him- self of him. He promises to re- turn the bank swag and no ques- tions asked if the boy will go. As he turns to leave, Quale's daughter •rteclnrcs that she'll take pot luck . with him. Whereupon a telegram is shown him that there is a $."),nOO reward for the stolen goods. Farci- cal rea«!oning shows that ns Tain returned the swag, he and the part- ner got the reward and split. Which gives the loving couple a start In life. Krugor and Moore are an unal- loyed ddji^ht. The younger actor re[ir.n(fil his trhimph of "The Nerv THE CITY CHAP C. B. DIlIlnBham presents a musical ver- Blon of Wlnchell Smith'* "The Fortune Hunter," book by Jamen Montgumery, lyrica by Anne Caldwell, staged by K. H. Burn- side, dances directe<l by Dave Bennett, music by Jerome Kern. At the Liberty Oct. 2«. Geortte Spelvin George Raft Robbina Fred Lennox Urace , Irene Dunn Steve KetloKK .....John Rutherford Nat Duncan Skeet OallaKher Pete Robert OToiinor Watty Kddle Qlrard Ilotty Graham Phyllis Cleveland Tracey • FYancle X. DonoKan Anf^te Mary Jane Illinkiy , Frank Uoane Koland Harnett Hansfonl WUaon Sam Graham Charles Abbe Josle Lockwood Ina Wllliama MJss Sperry Helen Eby Rock Pearl Pearl Baton Betty Betty Compton Specialties: Moss and Fontana, Olson's Band. Georse Raft. Hound City Blue Blower.* scored as a Charlestonlngr soubret. Hansford Wilson as a boob got by best with his dancing. Helen Kby Ilock was staccato and delightful. "Th« City Chap" will get by natu- rally. The story is and always was surefire. The Dillingham presenta- tion is so metropolitan and classy and clean that it will draw many who pass up most musical offerings these days. The array of names is a galaxy which advertising must bring home as a bargain to the read- er, in town or out of town. And the brokers will buy for two or three months, or they are crazy. But "The City Chap" will still not rank with the biggest and the best unless some tall rewriting can be done to shift the ballast so that more than two slender Gallagher shoulders are called on to tote it through the plot. Lait. ARABESQUE First production of Norman Bel Geddes and Richard Hemdon; a spectacular Ori- ental scenic costume play by Cloyd Head and Kunloe Tietjena, directed and dealnned by Norman-Bel Geddes. Incidental mus'c by Ruth White Warfleld, dances slaved by MUha Itow; at the National theatre, Oct. 20. Cafe Proprietor Ben Welden Walter ...:.... Chief White Hawk Young Chess Player Victor Hnmniond Old Chess Player Conrad Can'j?*"" Maroc Kay McKay A Kief Smoker Samuel Hosen The Old Beggar* I»gan Paul The Rug Merchant Mohammed Ben All I'erfumer Hardwlck Nevin Cloth Merchant Mohammed Basher Jeweler Hermap O. Roberta The Dancing Glrl.u Anno Duiican The Arab Woman Louise .Vlainland Porter l>Wward Ray Rich Jev> Earle Craddock Rich Jews Son Lary Jaaon Rich Jew's Wife Ruth Daniels Rich Jew's Daugliters.. Arab Children. Read the array of names (and they are "names," as that word goes in show business) in the first paragraph above—Dillingham, Wlnchell Smith, Montgomery, Anne Caldwell, Burn- side, Dave Bennett, Kern. And try to pick half a dozen in their respect- ive specialties that can surpass them. Between them all one would look for the greatest musical show under the big blue dome. And "The City Chap" isn't quite that. On the same block with "Sunny," it Isn't on the same street with it. And it is hard to put the critical or clinical Qnger on Just any one spot and say '-*that's where It ails." Not that the sickness is fatal. It is still a dandy show. But it isn't the solid knockout it might have been. Dillingham has given it a surpris- ingly novel and mpstly production. The old ones who remember "The Fortune Hunter" rubbed their eyes, for it came back with many scenes, na end of duds, diamond-set spe- cialty artists, a score, and probably 80 people in the finales. Some of the interpretive staging ideas were Immense, as, for instance, an effect In a local train coach and again in a private car and the ragged old Graham drug store, and again its metamorphosis under the magic band of the go-getter who is in love with the failure's daughter. All the sets are worth seeing; so are the clothes and so is the chorus, which comprises ponies, showgirls, medi- ums and boys, a full deck rarely seen any more. The tunes are adequate, the en-' sembles are O. K., the specialties all clicked. The Montgomery book is rich in whimsies and nifties, and the Caldwell lyrics are low-and-high classics. And yet— •- The first act drags. As is often the case in reconstructed comedies, there is, perhaps, too much story. Then, again, there is too much Gal- lagher. Skeet is a nimble youth; he docs everything nicely, he looks fine, yet too much hangs on him. John Bar- rymore played the part when there wasn't much more to it and no danc- ing or singing interludes; Tommy Ross hit his high spot in it. Galla- gher is neither a Barrymore nor a Ross. He Is a light juvenile comic, worthy of leads. But this is more than that; it is essentially a star role. This plot must rise or fall with the way that role is sold. Skeet shouldn't be asked to carry it alone. The book should have been revised to relieve him of some of the respon- sibility. And it wasn't. While there is plenty of support in the way of applause-winning num- bers and Interpolated artists, and whereas the others hold up their shares In the story-telling, too, still CJallagher has the weight of it on his boyish shoulders Just the same, and now he h.is a $2.5,000-a-week burden, whereas his predecessors made it a phrnomonal hit.at half that. George Kaft of the night clubs, notably Texas Oiiinan's, with a hot "Charleston" coming Just when it was most needed, tied the show in knots as devious as lee ties up his Iiici'edlhle legs. Moss and Fontana and the Ol.s-on Rand, doubling from ".Sunny," did all that could be asked. The Mound City Rltie Blowers, In several co':ttim»*s, weren't spotted for individual outstanding results, hut wadi.'d through and made an Imprcs- Nancy Pelbbridge Marie Ofteiman Geraldlne Ballard Robert Hollaway George Offerman Merlin Ballard A Pilgrim Hamad Attab Berber Women... V lOladys Green (Irene Joseph The Tailor Clayton Braur. Bearded Jew Charles Berkley The Water Carrier George Thornton Arab WonMn and Her Fat (Alls Kados Porter (AH Halal Grocer Bus Daniels Cobbler Roland Twombly Chief Bedouin ..Jacob Kingsbury L«ila ,,,...Hortense Alden Tall Bedouin Boyd Davis Old Bedouin Philip Spector Ahmed Ben Tahar Curtis Cooksey Abdullah Sarat Lahlrl Shfik of Hammam Beta Lugoal Short Orderly M. Garboat The Pearl Sara Sothern The Mother of the Pearl Olive West Ooppersmitb Raphael Kado Herd.sman Hamad Uishe,- The Harher Belne Lehaiwen Wood peddler Ismut Hansen Sheik's Mother Julia Ralph Sheik's Sister Naoe Kondo Sheik's Aunt Tetta Malamude fMustapha Hantoot Dancing Boys at the I Mactar Lehadder Wedding \ Mohammed Houssaln I. Hamad B. Omar IB. A. Frlpp Arab Ouesta \ Lackaye Grant (.Claude Dougal Matchmaker, Halima Helen Judaon Innocent Bedouin John Brewster Public letter Writer Prince SlnRh Negro Servant Woman Elsie Wioslow Grain Vendor James Gaylor The Suhcald William Sk.ivla.i The Ckid Etienne GIrardot (Florence Brinton Bridesmaids.... J Elabeth Herbert Helen Kim Bona Fray Muezzin Yujl Itow has three strata, and at times some- thing Is going on at the three levels, and the one has nothing to do witli the others. The scene Is a massive and crea- tive brilliant triple-trick, serving aa an outdoor and an Indoor, a roof, a street, an interior; the tent la pitched before it and hung on It, though the locale is not the same as that of any of the other scenes, etc. The costuming is ilazzingly and amazingly varl-colored and magnif- icent: BO are the props, which were beautifully designed and carried out with no restraint on cost or trouble. One glittering exposition follows another. It is easy to see how the temperamental Geddes ran riot with it and found therein food for the furthermost of his ambitions in staging and executing vivid, extrav- agant effects. The book, however, neyer keeps pace with either the direction or the mounting. It is a stupid torrent (no, that is too swift—a vapid river) of words. No ideas, no sense of pro- gression, no tension—Just words, and none of them of any consequence What they wrote it for la a mys- tery. Had It been produced on an ordinary scale. It would have been yawned at and walked out on—It was, anyway, to some extent. In Its present stage it Is a Geddes and Herndon play, dragging the authors' verbiage endlessly along. The acting is in parts excellent and nowhere bad. Sara Sothern, as a virginal and naive Julie; of the desert, has fire and fine dramatic expression as well as physical glori- fication; Hortense Alden is the pas- sionate Bedouine, and it must be recorded to her everlasting credit that she does what she was assigned to do as few who live could do It— her role makes the vaunted Tonde- layo of "White Cargo" a shrinking prude. Curtis C6oksey, afar from many of his past endeavors as a young and romantic Arab lover. Is powerful and satisfying. The sheik (pronounced "sheck" here) is overplayed and underdone by Bela Lugosi, but he gets the idea across. Etienne GIrardot makes a mellow comedy role of a King Dod- Ish olflcial. What merit or appeal "Arabesque" can exercise is up to the apprecia- tion of the presentation In all its glamorous manifestations, plus that ultra moment of post-Parisian sex effusion. Just such a combination has never before come to serve as a criterion, so guessing here must be Just guessing. This reporter's guesai is that Arabesque" costs too much In operation to very long sustain Its demands, handicapped as it is by so much talk that clutters it and so little romance or story to hold up the tension—after all a producer and a stager cannot be everything to all, all the time. So the run looms as limited. j^n. o\is did hln^sc!f so proud he'll prohahly not liave fo change his act for many nionths to come. Both have linos Whl''h f.nlily r-'ek With laughs. For L'wis and Cordon, it looks , sion. Fe'cT<7'^\vTVITe sfr. M^c^^ 1n thrr castr hnr Wttttnnts ns the - • '•• •-..- low comlc-glrl, repeated her "Kee)i Kool" knockout, and Is on her way fo taUe the place of some woman who thinks she is n star and m.aybe Of tremendous interest from a trade standpoint, being the first product of two notable personalities —Norman-Bel Geddes and Rich- ard Herndon—and an unusually sumptuous, prodigal and lavish cos- tume spectacle, "Arabesque" fla.shed forth in a bewildering arr.ay of color, novelty, daring and much that is truly art. Whether- it will as profoundly appeal to the seat-btiyers Is, unfor- tunately, not as definite. The cast Is huge and Its upkeep tremendous. It must call for a for- tune-a-week to maintain "Arab- esque." That will perhaps be its cross. One thing is certain—if jaded New- York will react to the most pointed and far-reaching sex scene evei shown to a mixed audience, then this presentation may yet become a vogue. For in It there is a bit which transcends and out-extremes anything this greying stage-reporter has ever witnessed elsewhere. It is not describable in these col- umns.- It is a vamping bit in whicn a Bedouin girl, dressed down to the utmost finesse of nakedness (sha would be far less conspicuous were she utterly naked) straddlee a sheik, who lies full-length on a cloak on the floor of a savage tent at mid- night, alone with her. Only the bliickout saves what might have gone further, and not much further if it never blacked out. To further stamp the incident, the girl. In a prayer in the next act, begs of Allah such things as make the ears tingle, sending home the fad that the blackout was not a finale. Of course, all this Is done in high- ly artistic circumstances and sur- roundings. In the stilted talk of th" Orient (the stage Orient, at least), and not In the colloquial gutturals of a night-club or a Long Island auto ride. Still, the play is "mod- ern," as of today in a village in Tunis. For that scene, which is evidently not Indigenous to the script, but is a touch of stagecraft, nothing dis- tracting was tolerated. But through- out other portions of the progress two and sometimes three scenes are transpiring simultaiieoualy. Just liow this is done must be seen to be THE ENEMY I ^'""S '" '""■■ "'■'» by Ch.TnnIng Pol- ■^K Pyduced at the Times Square, Oct. n.'r.iX.^ K "'o^l*'**-., ^^ Balnter sUrred. Directed by Robert Milton. „*""..^"'at J^y Balnter "™Sf..*^'"<l°""V Uronel Watts .August Behrend Charles Dalton /*"•;••••• Harold Vermllye Mizzle Wlnckelman jane Seymour Donald HuRhes Kurt. Frits Wlnckelman .' John Wray ... „ ..., , dfi(>sirt know what opposition Is I understood. There is no explanation like their second hit of tlie year t'ro\\ Ing up .'ig.ilnst her. Mary Jane or apology. The single main setting Channing Pollock, whose "The Fool" scored sensationally, has .selected so difficult a theme as war for his latest dramatic effort. It is really a text rather than theme, for the new play is a pre.ichment against all war. However, the adroit author has tooled a fine ^lay prod- uct. Pollock is a master in the creation of drama and "The Enemy" Is a work of the highest water. The characters arc principally Teu- tortlc. There is no equivocation about that. But Pollock was smart enough not to make them German. The people in "The Enemy" are Austrians and the locale is within the Vienna home of a pacifist col- lego professor. The play covers a period starting with the murder of the Austri.in archduke in Serbia, extends through the world war and ends in 1919. Its characters think and talk as though they were Germans. Be- lief in victory is maintained until the end and when the awful brutnl- ities of the struggle leave this fam- ily scArod, the futility of the war machine is bitterly recognized for what it is. The last act develops Into a rather talky discussion about w.ar, but there is so much pure drama in what precedes that the author is condoned. Into the comfortable home of Dr. Arndt, the professor, stalks war. Paull, the daughter, has just become a bride. Her husband, Carl, has been called to the colors. So has the man down the hall, a reporter and father of a seven-year-old boy. It Is this man and his wife who tyi* ify the average citizens of the one- time Central Empires, arrogant, vengeful, hitter towards anything and anybody not one of them. That eomef* wb«>n It is kn^wn England will enter the combat. The man attempts to harm Bruce Gordon, an Englishman who is a true friend of the Arndts. Paul! expresses the author's con- the real «nemy of mankind la ha». and she says that biforc the ». actually conpes Carl is sent for anJ doesn't want to go, but there !■ «« way out. He pitifully confesses tl Paull he la afraid, that ho Tell * Isn't a soldier but an author. Thell is a baby born, and it is 23 mon?^ later that newa comes of Car^ death-he was to have come homS on a furlough that day. The bJS* dies, an Innocent victim of the wa^ The infant required eg^s an^' oranges. The Arndts hud not se^ the latter for years and the e»« are purchased for a young fortune but too late. So Paull 1h twlc- stricken, losing both man and babe The sound of drums and martial' music is frequently heard, and tha marching of troops. The plaint of '^ the wives staring and waiting for their men to come bactc—"Where do they all come from; troops, mors troops, always marching away and never heard from; from the schools to the ranks." It is through the professor that Pollock delivers his commentaries against war. Because of his paci- Asm, the profe.ssor is discharged from the university at the outbreak of hostilities. One by one his art treasures are sold so those who re- main behind can exist. There is mention of a roast duck with "k great round, brown belly." Recalled years later when he dines on sub- stitute bread and a morsel of some sort of stew—"We talked about re- ducing armaments and art before the war and now we only talk ot food." Says the doctor at the start ot the war: "England's greatest war- rior was Shakespeare, not Nelson," and a bit later he explains: "It you are a patriot, you arc bound to believe In outrages." Storming against conditions among the peo« pie in the homes, he wants to know: "Is It any worse to kill people than to starve them?" Pollock implies the propaganda of Germany and Austria witliin their own countries by the tone of the newspapers —"Victories, that Is all we hear about but still the men do not corns home." Pollock shows In "The Enemy^ the horrible wasteage of lives (18,4 000,000 men were lost), the suffer* ing of those in the war, both la combat and at home, the profiteer- ing and the cruel imprint of ttM - mailed fist. Fay Balnter, starred as Paull, offers another demonstration of her iiistrionic versatility. Last season she was In operetta, before that in light comedy and now she comes forth in drama. As the brave bride she Is a splendid picture. Hsr heroics are of the quiet kind. Russ Whytal has the most lm« portant role as the professor of his career. Walter Abel makes the despairing young husband a faith- ful portrayal. He Is Teutonic, eager and sure of success In his chosen calliijg. The playing of Charles Dalton, aa a pompous proflteen stands out as one of the most pos- itive characters in current dramA. John Wray, as the reporter, cams through with a rush at the close. He is an example of the unfor- tunates who, unwounded physically, have been mentally maltreated as the result of shell shock. Fired from his job, he is a jabbering protestant, an almost useless person. "The Enemy" has a purpose In showing that those who lost the war are human beings and that their sufferings were even more severe. Coming with the signing of peace pacts at Lacarno, "The Enemy" is Indeed in tune with the times. Robert Milton thought so much ot "The Enemy" that he found time away from his own office to do an excellent directional Job. Milton assuredly knows pace. The setting of an Interior is one of the best in seasons. "The Enemy" deserves a success- ful engagement. There Is no doubt it will evoke a difference of opinion but it is such good drama tliat jt can hardly fall to attract wide at-* tention and profitable attend.nnre. Ihee. _ dance halls h.-vve been Crete summing up of warfare^that hearsing the large cast. Morris Gest's New Russian Troupe at Jolson Dec. 14 Morris Gest's most recent impor- tation, the Moscow Art Musical theatre, opens a seven weeks' sea- son in New York at tlie Jolson, Dec. 14. The initial production will be a new version of Prosper Morrimee's "Carmen," this time to be called "Carmencita." , The press agent lino calls this troupe "the synthetic theatre." "MIRACLE'S" COLLEGE SUPERS Bo.ston, Oct. 27. Scores and scores of college stu- dents from this city have been en- gaged as supers for "The Miracle" which is to open tomorrow night at the Ru.ston Qpc ra House for a live weeks' run. . The Tent, a big ballroi'ni. tne Arena, the Chateau, and <illi< i ''""go u.vif-.l ill re- X