Evening star. [volume], March 20, 1937, Page B-3, Image 17

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
POST OFFICE MURAL PLACED
Tom Lea, Artist, Finds Subject in Dust-Blown Region, With
Striking Scene Presented—Water Colors and Other
Art Exhibits—Prize Awards.
By Leila Mechlin.
ANOTHER mural painting has
been completed and given per
manent placement in the new
Post Office Department Build
ing. It is by Tom Le„ and occupies a
large vertical panel on the west wall
of the west lobby of the Benjamin
Franklin branch post office. The sub
ject depicted Is a farm in that sec
tion of the Midwest where duststorms
have in recent years become common
and where the soil has little appear
ance of fertility. There is not a blade
«f grass or a green growing thing in
right. It is a dreary prospect. But
In the foreground are two interesting
figures—a farmer running a furrow
with a plow and thereby raising a
cbud of dust, and his daughter, pre
sumably. standing with pail in hand,
looking on, her back toward the ob
server. To the right, at a short dis
tanve, is an artesian well with its
wlnSmill and still beyond, on a curv
ing road leading toward the horizon, is
a rrrdest cabin, the only human habi
tatitn as far as the eye can reach.
Above the distant straight horizon is a
flat, cloudless sky, deep blue above,
dust colored below, which gives the
lllustm characteristic in this part of
the rountry of open space between
land and sky and that the two do
not neet. About half way between
foreg-ound and background, on the
same man-made road which leads to
the louse, may be discerned, upon
carefvl inspection, a letter box on a
post, significant of rural free de
livery This is the hook-up with the
Post Office Department—small but
Vital.
Ton Lea, the painter, was born and
grew ip in El Paso, Tex., which is in
fact itill his home; he knows the
farms of the Panhandle and of West
ern Oklahoma and Kansas, and in
his p«t office panel he has given a
vivid ind true interpretation.
He nad no intention, he avows, of
pictorally urging measures to cure
and irevent soil erosion; he merely
paintci what he had seen and knew
and eideavored to make it decorative.
And le has succeeded admirably. In
the sinplest possible manner and with
extrene economy of means he has set
forth his theme effectively and with
dramftic feeling.
The painting is done on canvas,
and he color is held in broad, flat
massa. To avoid overpainting, the
artisthas employed a novel technique,
his bush strokes following the con
tours of form as do the lines of one
■who tigraves on steel. This, Mr. Lea
claims eliminates the necessity of
tnodelng with shadow, and it is a
notabe fact that no strong accents
occur in his painting. But, despite
the latness of his treatment, one
can valk into his panel, which, owing
to tb long vista from which it may
be sen, is precisely what he wants
us todo.
Bui to return to the figures. They
• re bth Western types and rugged,
but here is something quite splendid
■ boutthe girl in her upstanding Juno
esque quality, fine physique and un
concern This girl, with her braided
yellot hair and strong, well set-up
body, is S feet tall in the painting
• nd lominates the composition. In
comprison with her, the man looks,
If no small, at least smaller than
perhps he should, allowing for the
deptt of ditch in which he stands—
• nd here is an inclination for both
figure to come out of the picture.
But lone will suggest that they do
not felong in their environment, and
this perhaps should be sufficient.
Also perhaps the human element
•houl dominate. Certainly there is
no lak of unity in the treatment of
the 'hole nor in the color scheme,
■whic) is particularly In harmony with
the irchitectural surroundings and
charring in itself. Essentially modern
in mthod and effect, this painting has
eutstnding and convincing merit.
Th. artist, Tom Lea, was one of
those who entered the first compe
tition held by the Procurement Divi
sion t the Treasury Department, Sec
tion if Painting and Sculpture, for
murae for the post office, and though
the Ketch he submitted was not ac
cepts, on the recommendation of
the jtry he was asked to redesign and
eventially was given the present as
■ignnent.
Hit work from the first showed in
dividiality and talent. He is one of
the iw heretofore comparatively un
knowi to emerge with evident promise.
The turn of his preparation consists
of tvo or three years’ study at the
Art tstitute of Chicago and a trip to
Italy Last Summer he did special
work for the Texas Centennial Ex
posiitn at Dallas. The panel in the
Post Office Department Building was
begui early in December after sev
eral nonths of study and is but just
competed. Mr. Lea came here to
*ee il properly set and has now re
turndi to El Paso.
Strikng Water Colors
By Carolyn G. Bradley
On Mew at the Arts Club.
VV T THE Arts Club, 2017 I street
lorthwest, two very delightful
exhiEtions opened last Sunday to
eonthue to April 2. These are of
watef colors by Carolyn G. Bradley
end etchings by R. W. Woiceske. The
forrrtr are in the gallery, the latter
in tie reception room and hall. Miss
Bradey. who is an Indiana painter,
is esentially of the new school, be
lieve* evidently, in the elimination of
detai, uses a full brush and strong
color and is direct in her manner of
handing. But she does go to nature
for hr Inspiration, and her paintings
havelhe ring of veracity. Her subjects
bavebeen found in Spain and France,
In Nexico and elsewhere, and ap
parejtly have been chosen for virility
as wai as picturesque qualities. Sev
eral have as dominant theme a tree
Which because of twisted trunk and
branih or unusual foliage and flower,
seemid to call for distinction and re
mark Such is “The Rosal Tree” num
ber me in the catalogue. A number
of Mss Bradley’s paintings also are
*f motntain tope—the "High Pyrenees”
—gaint peaks above the clouds and
agalnt the sky—very handsome.
Othe: subjects have been found in the
foot lills and on the sea front—pas
torals and gay beach scenes. There
le gret variety—but the manner is
anvaned to a rather remarkable degree.
In sane instances she introduces
flgur* in her compositions as In
"Mexican Market,” “ A Rainy Day at
Hasp*ren” and “Pastoral Scene in
Franc”—all three of which are pleas
ing tompositions and out of the
ordiniry.
Lea successful is she, however, in
her figure paintings which, while
stronj in effect, are weak in drawing
and licking in personality. On the
other hand, much may be said in
praise of her treatment of such dif
ficult subjects as “Bay of Biscay”
and court- yard at "Ciboure.” AU in
all, this is an engaging shower and
one which evidences distinct advance
in the use of water color as a medium
of artistic expression. How great is
the gap between these works and the
dainty and rather effeminate "water
color drawings” of earlier days!
Wciceske’s Etchings Found
to Have Universal Charm.
]yjR. WOICESKE'S etchings cannot
fall universally to charm and
cheer—they are artistically so skillful
and inherently so pleasing. The
fashion today of presenting the ugly
and the vulgar is so prevalent that to
find so much sheer beauty in the work
of a contemporary artist as is here
descernsble is something of a shock.
And strangely enough, Mr. Woiceske
comes from Woodstock, N. Y., where
originated and still thrives the “school”
which cradled and propagated the
cult of the ugly and deformed. In the
24 etchings by Mr. Woiceske now on
view in the Arts Club, the etcher shows
us 24 beautiful aspects of nature, and
without loss of strength or exaggera
tion. There is a tendency today to
discount the value of beauty. Some
go so far as to insist that its de
termination is merely a personal
equation. That it is difficult of defi
nition all will agree but that it is
actual none can doubt.
In the first issue of ~ new art maga
zine. "Art and Artists of Today,”
which, by the way, is dedicated to
Alfred Stieglitz, Albert C. Barnes,
Duncan Phillips and Forbes Watson,
the sculptor Maillol, arch-modernist,
is quoted as saying of “this thing called
beauty" the following: “Beauty is
something about which everybody
disagrees theoretically, but about which
we all agree in fact. Philosophically
beauty is an abstraction, but in reality
it is quite concrete. It is a thing
that we do not seem to be able to
analyze, but that we can perfectly
feel. I look for beauty, and I know
when and where I find it: and when I
do, I am sure that others will see it
in the same measure.”
The beauty which Mr. Woiceske
manifests in his etchings is that of
open, rolling country, seen under dif
ferent lights and climatic conditions—
in sunlight and moonlight—in the
fullness of Summer and under the
magic spell of Winter’s blanket of
snow. Especially well does he draw
and etch trees—bare trees, with their
limbs and twigs exquisitely traced
against the sky. And how very suc
cessful he is in combining the broad
distant view with the nearby, domi
nant interest, welding the two into a
unified composition! What joy he
himself must find in Nature to be
able so to pass on his enthusiasm!
Obviously, no artist is always at his
best—Mr. Woiceske is fallible and
occasionally slips—but the average
of his work is exceptionally high. As
a draftsman he is exceptionally skill
ful—as an etcher he has a fine, sen
sitive line. That his work should en
joy popularity is by no means re
markable; that it also stands high in
the estimate of his colleagues is
equally understandable. Among the
: finest of his plates in this exhibition
are "Milky Way,” a study of the
starry heavens subtlely rendered, and
“Winter Moon,” in which a broad
landscape is seen literally bathed in
the pale light of the heavenly body.
There are others, however, no less
charming.
Associated, Telephone
Camera Clubs Make Fine
Showing in the National Museum.
'T'HE same discernment of beauty
1 and power of interpretation
through another medium L found in
the work of members of the Associ
ated Telephone Camera Club, now on
exhibition in the Arts and Industries
Building of the National Museum.
This showing has become an annual
affair, and because of the merit of
the work, one to be pleasurably an
ticipated. The current exhibition up
holds the reputation of these photo
pictoriallsts, who are, incidentally, all
employes of the American Telegraph
& Telephone Co.—amateurs in the
true sense of the word following this
branch of art as avocation.
Outstanding for artistic quality as
well as technical excellence are the
prints of Edward Alenius, who hap
pens, it seems, to be a fellow of the
Royal Photographic Society of Great
Britain. His "Winter in Central
Park” is a charming subject, tall
buildings with lighted windows mak
ing a delightful background for the
snow-covered foreground; and ad
mirably handled. Equally good is his
picture of the “Long Island Coast”
very sensitively interpreted. G. T.
Lewis shows a very engaging land
scape, incident to which is a man
reaping—an excellent composition,
well rendered as to tone and effect.
K. A. Webster has contributed a beau
tiful print of a branch of cherry blos
soms as seen against a clouded sky,
and from Harry B. Rose has come a
decorative panel of a pine twig. The
Japanese printmakers and the ancient
painters of China rendered, with de
light, flowers and foliage in much
this manner. The portraits and fig
ure studies are fewer in number and
less conspicuous for merit, but a man
smoking, by C. Zmcher, and a nurse
in uniform, by Kjeldsera, are both
memorable for skillful treatment—
the one strongly modeled, the other
delicately delineated. But of all these
works most amazing is a genre by
R. H. Ross which pictures a little
child and an elderly woman, prob
ably the grandmother, before an open
fire, their faces and figures illumined
by its flickering light—a beautiful
composition flawlessly rendered—a
monumental achievement through the
medium of photography. This exhi
bition continues throughout the
month.
Works by Herbert Hicks on
Exhibition in Women’s City Club.
pAINTINGS in oil and block prints
by Herbert Hicks of this ci'.y con
stitute the March exhibition at the
Women’s City Club, Jackson place. In
the reception room are hung three
landscapes, one “Snow in Virginia,"
another of the “Chester Spring
School” of the Pennsylvania Academy
of Pine Arts, situated in gently rolling
country not far from Philadelphia,
and the third a picture of “Hilton’s
Home Place” in the Spring of the year,
the grass very green and the fruit trees
in blossom. Other oils, somewhat
smaller in dimension, hang in the
lounge and dining room adjacent, all
of which are of landscape and ren
dered with a degree of subtlety and
evident sensitive feeling. The spirit of
these paintings is that which must
have animated the painters of the
school of Tryon, Murphy, Crane and
others, who derived both from their
Barbizon confreres and from the im
pressionists beaded by Manet.
The desire of all these painters was
to make known to all that beauty
which they themselves had discovered
—and it was nature in her gentler
moods which especially appealed to
them. In interesting contrast to his
paintings are Mr. Hick’s block prints,
which are sufficiently direct and strong
and simple to satisfy the most up-to
date and modern. But there is no
conflict between the works in these
different media—to the contrary, they
complement one another. Of the 10
or 11 block prints set forth, most note
worthy perhaps, because of composi
tion and skillful handling of light and
shade, are "Second-Hand Store, Phila
delphia,” "George Washington’s Head
quarters, Georgetown,” and "The
House of the Seven Gables, Salem."
But "Skyscrapers,” "Pish Market” and
"Loading for the Orient"—themes
found in Philadelphia—are close sec
onds and genuinely pleasing.
These monthly exhibitions at the
Women’s City Club are invariably well
shown and should go far toward creat
ing appreciation of the work of our
well equipped local artists. They are
arranged by Miss Clara R. Saunders,
chairman of the club’s Exhibition
Committee, who is herself an accom
plished painter.
Former Washingtonian
Wins Award in National
Academy Exhibition.
QNE of the prize winners in the Na
tional Academy of Design's
112th annual exhibition, which opened
in the Fine Arts Galleries, New York,
last week, was an erstwhile Washing
tonian, Everett Warner, now of Pitts
burgh. The award was the Altman
$300 prize for the best landscape in
the exhibition, but the painting was
of a city street on a stormy night and
was entitled "Rain." In his picture,
so honored, the painter shows a group
of buildings on the corner of a down
town street, behind which rise the
modem skyscrapers and the smoke
stacks of a factory. The converging
streets are awash with rain and the
street lights appear like fuzzy balloons
through the moisture-laden atmos
phere. A horse-drawn wagon makes
an interesting spot in the foreground,
and from nearby windows and door
ways streams light, reflected brightly
by the wet surface i f the streets.
Mr. Warner painted pictures some
what of this sort a good many years
ago in New York in the vicinity of
the bridges to Brooklyn, and he has
until now done nothing better. But
the present work shows distinct ad
vance—greater breadth and freedom
in handling, a larger conception of the
work as a whole.
Mr. Warner was bom in Iowa, but
spent his boyhood and early youth in
Washington, his father being employed
in one of the scientific departments
of the Government. He studied at the
old Art Students' League, 808 Seven
teenth street, and was for a time art
writer for The Star. From here he
went to Paris, where he studied in
the Julian Academy, and on his return
to this country settled in New York.
For the last few years he has been in
structor in art. College of Fine Arts,
Carnegie Institute of Techonology,
Pittsburgh. He is represented in the
Corcoran Gallery of Art by a painting
entitled, "Broadway on a Rainy Eve
ning,” and a one-man exhibition of
his work was held at the Arts Club
here a few seasons ago. He has made
a reputation for himself, not only as
a painter, but as an etcher, and for
works in both media has received
numerous awards. He retains his mem
bership in the Washington Water
Color Club.
Other Prize-Winners
Well Known in Washington.
y^NOTHER N. A. D. award will be of
interest at this time to Washing
tonians. It was the Ellen P. Speyer
Memorial Prize of $300 to Ralph
Humes for a work in sculpture. “The
Walking Bear Cub.” To this same art
ist, it will be recalled, the Society of
Washington Artists’ special prize for
the most outstanding work in its an
nual exhibition went this year for his
bronze of a “Whippet.” Rockwell Kent,
Eugene Higgins, Louis Betts and Jer
ome Myers, all well known here through
permanent representation in our Wash
ington art museums and galleries,
were also among the prize winners in
the current academy show, which
opened on the 13th of March and will
continue until the same date in April,
Striking Personnel of the Jury
of Award for Corcoran Biennial.
'J'HE jury of admission and awards
for the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s
Fifteenth Biennial Exhibition, which
opens with a private view a week from
today, has been meeting here this
week, and various entertainments, be
ginning with a dinner at the Arts Club
on Tuesday evening, have been given
in honor of its members. To judge the
comparative merit of several hundred
paintings—to say nothing of the thou
sand or more usually submitted—is no
light task, even when there is com
plete understanding and agreement
among the jurors—for there are so
many kinds of merit, as well as de
merit, and few works are either wholly
good or wholly bad.
The Corcoran jury this year com
prises five outstanding painters, three
of whom may be regarded as "progres
sives” and two as "conservatives,” but
even so, the probability is that in the
matter of fundamentals there will be
unity in decision. Four of the jurors
come from out of town. These are
John Steuart Curry, William J. Glack
ens, Daniel Garber and William M.
Paxton. The first, John Steuart Curry,
has made a great name for himself
painting, and very realistically, dra
matic scenes of Western life, such as
"The Tornado” and "Baptism in Kan
sas.” He is without question rather
academic in his style, but progressive,
as that word is commonly used now,
in his point of view, and his choice
of painfully homely themes for
presentation. Mr. Curry is one of the
group of progressive painters just
elected to associate membership in the
National Academy of Design. Mr.
Glackens, who is chairman, has long
been associated with the forward move
ment, has a style quite his own and
uses a palette peculiarly individual,
in which there is a dominance of hot
color. Both his style and color have
been much copied and his work has
undoubtedly strongly influenced the
younger American school. Daniel
Garber, the third of this quartet, has
been a national academician since
1913 and is a conservative. He paints
landscape and figures and with equal
facility, going to Nature for his in
spiration and rendering in his works,
with strong feeling and evident en
thusiasm, things seen. He is a seeker
for truth and his paintings invariably
manifest beauty. But he is in his judg
ment a liberal. William M. Paxton,
"Birches,” an etching by R. H. Woiceske, on exhibition at tht.
Arts Club.
“The High Pyrenees,” a watercolor by Carolyn G. Bradley, on exhibition at the Arts Club.
the fourth, Is, on the other hand,
ultra-conservative. It is to this painter,
from Boston, that the popular prise
given at each biennial exhibition by
the Corcoran Gallery of Art, on vote of
the visitors, has gone, not merely onoe,
but three times.
Mr. Paxton carries his realism al
most to the extent of imitation, vis
ual deception. He is a master crafts
man, a most accomplished painter
and one of Boston’s foremost teachers.
The fifth member of this jury is Rich
ard Lahey, principal of the Corcoran
School of Art, who in his work is pro
gressive, but in his convictions, as
publicly expressed from time to time,
traditional, and between the two main
tains a nice balance—a wise but by no
means easy thing to do. In the couple
of years that Mr. Lahey has been in
Washington he has inspired new life
in the Corcoran School and won the
esteem of all with whom he has come
direction. For both of these lectures a
limited number of cards of Invitation
have been issued. They are not open
to the public. But the presence of
such distinguished authorities in our
city evidences growth of interest in
this field.
Exhibition by
Mrs. Ruckman.
A" EXHIBITION of paintings by
Mrs. Grace Merrill Ruckman,
one-time chairman of the Art Com
mittee of the District of Columbia
General Federation of Women's Clubs,
opens with a tea tomorrow afternoon
in the studio of the District of Co
lumbia League of American Pen
Women in the Grafton Hotel.
Brenda Putnam.
Receives Award.
HEAD in marble of Amelia Ear
hart, the intrepid flyer, who is
“Firelight,” a photograph by R. H. Ross, included in the
exhibition of Associated Telephone Camera Clubs at the United
States National Museum, Arts and Industries Building.
in contact. At no time in the past has
a jury for the Corcoran biennial been
more diversified, for which reason ex
ceptional interest attaches to its find
ings. The prizes which this jury will
award are among the largest—if not
the largest—given by any institution
in this country.
Distinguished Authorities on
Ancient Art to Lecture Here.
'J'WO distinguished scholars in the
field of art will lecture ^n Wash
ington during the coming week. Dr.
Eustache de Lorey, former director of
the French Institute of Arts and
Archeology. Damascus, Syria, will give
an illustrated lecture on "The Orient
and Modern Painting” at the Phillips
Memorial Gallery on Wednesday eve
ning, and on Saturday afternoon, at
Dumbarton Oaks, the residence of the
Hon. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss.
Mr. Thomas Whittemore, director of
the Byzantine Institute, will lecture,
with illustrative slides and colored
films, on "The Newly Discovered Mo
saics of Santa Sofia, Istanbul,” which
have been uncovered under his expert
now on a record-malting round-the
world flight, by Brenda Putnam,
daughter of the librarian of Congress,
and distinguished as a sculptor in her
own right, is being shown in an aero
nautical exhibition in Los Angeles, and
has been awarded the trophy given
by Miss U. O. McQueen. Miss Ear
hart must, with her pronounced fea
tures and vivid personality, have made
an excellent model, and certainly she
could not have found a more skillful
or sympathetic interpreter than Miss
Putnam.
Rear Admiral Train
Exhibits Paintings of
the Sea and Landscapes.
COLLECTION of painting* by
Rear Admiral Charles Ruwell
Train, U. S. N., is now on exhibi
tion in the little gallery of the
Intimate Bookshop, 3204 O street,
Georgetown. The majority of these
are of the sea, but some are land
Bulletin of Exhibitions
CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collection, American
paintings and sculpture, Barye bronzes. Clark collection—European
paintings, rugs, tapestries, laces, etc. Drawings by Sargent.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART. United States National Museum—Per
manent collections—Evans, Gellatly, Ralph Cross Johnson, Harriet
Lane Johnson and Herbert Ward African sculptures. Stained glass
windows by John La Farge and William Willet. Paintings and etch
ings by Thomas Moran.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, DIVISION OF GRAPHIC ARTS—Ex
hibition of etchings by Charles B. Keeler.
NATIONAL MUSEUM, ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING—Exhibi
tion of photographs by members of the Associated Telephone Camera
Clubs. Japanese textile prints—Loaned by Mrs. Charles D. Walcott.
FREER GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collection, paintings, drawings
and etchings by Whistler. The peacock room, Oriental paintings,
bronzes, pottery, miniatures, etc.
PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY—Permanent collection, paintings by
old and modem masters; also works in sculpture. Recent acquisition,
“St. Peter,” by Goya. Special exhibition, print rooms—Drawings and
water colors by L. M. Ellshemius.
STUDIO HOUSE—Exhibition of oils, water colors, drawings and etchings
of the Virgin Islands by nine Washington artists.
TEXTILE MUSEUM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Permanent
collection, rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East.
Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 5 p.m. Admission by
card, obtainable at office George Hewitt Myers, 730 Fifteenth street.
ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON—Exhibition of water colors by Carolyn
G. Bradley and etchings by R. W. Woiceske.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DIVISION OF FINE ARTS—Exhibition of
etchings and other prints by contemporary printmakers; Pennell litho
graphs; drawings by American illustrators.
PUBLIC LIBRARY,* MAIN BUILDING—Exhibition of prints and draw
ings by Richard Lahey. Northeast Branch—Oil paintings by Washing
ton artists lately shown in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Takoma Park
Branch—Paintings by members of the Landscape Club. Mount
Pleasant Branch—Water»colors by Suzanne Mullett and Paul Arlt.
WOMEN'S CITY CLUB—Paintings by Herbert Hicks
DUMBARTON HOUSE—Historical art exhibit, furniture, articles of
utility and pictures.
ART GALLERY, HOWARD UNIVERSITY—Exhibition oil paintings by
Anthony J. Sisti.
INTIMATE BOOKSHOP, LITTLE GALLERY—Exhibition of oil paint
ings by Rear Admiral Charles Russell Train.
STUDIO, LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PEN WOMEN, THE GRAFTON—
Exhibition of paintings by Grace Merrill Ruckman.
■capes. They art all undoubtedly sou
venirs of travel and record the pleas
ure discoverable in new and lovely
scenes. The one large canvas in this
exhibition is a marine—a very dark
blue sea under a lighter blue sky. The
wave motion has here been well ex
pressed and the effect is very deco
rative. The other canvases are small
and their themes are widely varied.
Four have been sold.
In former day* it was more usual
than today for naval officers to draw
and paint when oft duty, and some
of the best illustrations we have of
naval conflict* and adventure* are the
product of sketches made by officers
on the spot. The sketch book was as
much the accompaniment of travel
at one time as is the camera today.
It is a custom which might well be
revived.
An Inadvertent
Omission.
'J'HROUGH accident or inadvertence
the credit notice which should
have accompanied the reproduction
of the Fra Angelica •‘Madonna," in
the Mellon collection, on this page
last week, acknowledging the courtesy
therefor of the Mellon Educational
and Charitable Trust, was omitted,
much to our regret, as the privilege
of reproduction was much appreciated.
High-Powered Diplomacy
Is Poor Dramatic Fare
By Robert B. Phillips, Jr.
TO A YOUNG man who had
never been in the American
theater or read Variety’s box
office reports, it would seem
appealingly obvious that the easiest
subject matter for his debut as a
dramatist would be either the diplo
mats, the international bankers or
big politicians who had brushed the
hayseed from their hair and become
potent fellows in shaping international
policy. Diplomats axe supposed to be
suave and clever, international bank
ers such powerful citizens that their
characters would automatically be
come exciting on the stage, and poli
ticians. practical men whose earthy
visions would make earnest theater.
The mere fact that he happened to
know little or nothing about the work
ings of the minds of these Individuals
would not in any way deter our young
chap. It never yet has stopped a play
wright from speaking his piece on
any elass or creed that popped into his
head, and a neophyte would be less
intimidated than a veteran. The pay
off would come when the writer dis
covered that the customary audience
reaction to charades concerning diplo
macy, war loans, treaties and oratory
is a vast, concerted yawn.
None of the stub holders will deny
that our enmassed fates are largely
dominated by ambassadors, big-shot
money lenders and our foremost politi
cal leaders, but for some reason that
fact does not seem to enable them to
thrill us when they are imitated on
the stage. A hundred years afterward,
yes. Today, decidedly no. In mod
em dress the only moguls able to stir
our lethargies are the munitions mak
ers, who are always good sneering ma
terial. The rest of the international
boys leave us cold, unless they are
wisely presented in a rip-roaring melo
drama, complete with two beautiful
spies (one of them a villainess), sev
eral tall, black-haired gentlemen (50
per cent of them cads) and a sage old
baron, who has been through the mill
and sits around hurling bon mots into
the teeth of his enemies.
gOMEWHAT belatedly I might ex
plain that the above reflections
were prompted by recent presence of
Mr. Leslie Reade's “His Excellency’’
at the Belasco Theater, and. the fuss,
furor and argument it aroused among
critics. In general the consensus was
that Mr. Reade had nothing very im
portant to say and only occasionally
said it in bright words. A few people
also noted that the presence of a great
many over-dressed ladies or gentlemen
or both on a stage does not necessarily
convert the theater into a glamour
mart.
This leads us to another observation
—i. a., only a few classifications of
human beings get regular workouts
in the dramas that lean heavily on
the glamour stuff, and the funny
part about it is that the types se
lected for fancy glorification are
usually in real life anything from
commonplace to dull. In the current
theater and cinema, for example, the
favorite objects of the brightest of
script gags are actors and actresses,
newspaper people and crooks. Some
times—as in "The Royal Family,”
“Once in a Lifetime” and “Boy Meets
Girl”—the theater folk are taken for
a big ride, and again, as in “Reflected
Glory” and “Stage Door,” they are
given more or less legitimate treat
ment. In either event, the plays
built around them somehow manage
to be amusing, although it is a well
known fact that the average thespian
takes himself seriously to the point
of obsession, and possesses a "glam
orous personality” that is one-tenth
absorbed from good directors and
good plays, the other nine-tenths in
vented by a publicity agent.
VLTITHOUT intending any insult to
the practitioners of my own
racket, I ask them fairly how many
in their ranks resemble the play
boys of “The Front Page" or "Libeled
Lady” or “Clear All Wires.” It would
also be interesting to discover just
how many newspaper men in the past
10 years have been relieved from
worry about the swindle sheet by
heiresses who came galloping after
them, swooning with passion. This
is the inevitable fate prescribed for
scribes represented in Hollywood
dramas (and even on the stage). For
some reason the public seems to be
willing to acoept it ad infinitum,
whereas a story that had an heiress
chasing and marrying a diplomat be
tween treaty conferences would be
greeted with a firm "So what?” by
every audience in the land. Since
99 diplomats marry wealthy young
ladles in every year that a scribbler
leads 1 to the altar, you will have
to work out for yourself the psychology
of the crowds who prefer to believe
otherwise. Maybe the story is too
realistic for them when told about
the diplomatic boys.
Now we get to the crooks, who enjoy
an endless popularity in the theater.
They vary from brilliant to brutal,
witty to wise, and in any guise the
public is willing to come to terms
with them so long as their activity
involves a splash of humor, some
heavy love stuff and enough homicide.
It so happens that real crooks are
inclined to be fiercely unimaginative
and, like actors, not especially gifted
with a sense of humor. One reason
intelligent policemen really learn to
hate them is that they are so stupid
to deal with.
Well, the diplomats are trained to
talk about everything from old china
to the Grand National, and do it
in numerous languages, but they
have yet to talk themselves into
a good play (Sardou’s melodramatic
“Diplomacy” excepted). Which leaves
you with the problem right where we
picked it up, and if you get the
answer, please drop us a line.
-m —.
Cameramen
(Continued from Page B-l)
heard to whistle shrilly. The revenue
men fingered gun triggers. Crouch
ing, the chief agent whispered to the
photographers, "Get here beside me.”
Mueller and Perkins shrank into the
dartnes*. Their feelings were not
improved by the sound of the agent
cocking his revolver.
Two cars drove up. The agents
swarmed out. The moonshiners sur
rendered complacently. But the pho
tographers had still another scare.
When the still was dynamited sticks,
stones and sharp bits of copper flew
through the air like angry bees.
Mueller ducked like a doughboy cross
ing No Man's Land during a barrage.
Perkins also counts the still raid as
the most frightening of his experi
ences, but close second comes his
brush with a crowd of anti-publicity
minded Chinese.
Here, as well as in other American
cities having a noticeable Chinese
population, there is a custom which
requires that at fixed intervals the
Chinese dead be disinterred and their
remains shipped back to the land of
their honorable ancestors. The dis
interment ceremony is most sacred,
and the Chinese at the Washington
rite were resentful of an attempt by
Perkins to photograph the goings-on.
'J'HE car in which the photographer
was riding with a reporter and a
driver was stoned by the Chinese,
howling mad and shouting threats
and Imprecations. Among the stones
waa a mixture of bricks, sticks and
whatnot, which rained on the car
like giant hailstones, but with more
force and in considerably greater vol
ume. Driving out of this storm, the
newspaper “expeditionary force”
sought to dash through the cemetery,
to discover they had selected a "dead
end” street. They were surrounded
by fierce-visaged, flerce-talking Chi
nese with all the bristle but none of
the politeness exhibited by Chinese
train raiders in Hollywood concep
tions of Oriental rail travel.
Risking a smashed pate, the re
porter who accompanied Perkins got
out of the automobile and by sheer
boldness—or bluff. If you like—dis
suaded the angry Chinese from com
mitting triple mayhem. It was im
possible, however, to get the desired
picture.
Pridgeon tell* a couple of stories in
a lighter vein.
Assigned last month to photograph
the Zoo groundhog, “Pridge” was un
able to persuade that infamous weath
er prophet of the animal kingdom to
make an appearance. Try as he
might, the groundhog Just wouldn’t
be accommodating.
Well, the city editor had said there
must be a picture of the groundhog
in the paper that day, and Pridgeon
had been in the business long enough
to know full well the fate of the
photographer who returns without his
picture. So he went to the National
Museum, confided his woes to a cura
tor and pretty soon he was back in
the office with a perfect picture of a
groundhog, complete with shadow.
He had borrowed a stuffed ground
hog, taken it outdoors and arranged
it in a natural setting. Clever place
ment of a mirror provided the shadow.
Pridgeon’s secret didn’t out for
several days. When it did, the picture
was re-published with a caption ex
plaining it was all a ruse, although
April 1 was two months distant.
■yjyfEIRDEST of the Pridgeon ex
periences was when he developed
negatives of pictures he had taken of
a prominent Washington woman to
find that in three of 10 prints there
was a man standing behind the wo
man, hand clenching a knife and
poised for a stab. The woman was
somewhat alarmed when shown the
prints, but soon recovered her com
posure. "Pridge” said he is without
explanation other than the possibility
that the film was supplied by a factory
which did a business with spiritualistic
mediums, and that he had accidentally
been sent film already exposed for
the purpose of mystifying the clients
of fraudulent clairvoyants.
"Funniest” among Perkins’ experi
ences as a newspaper photographer
derived from an assignment to cover
the finals of an oratorical contest
conducted by his employer newspaper.
The competition was to be held in
Leesburg, Va„ and "Cy” was told to
see that an automobile was provided
to transport the judges thither. The
conveyance, it was suggested, should
be of a size and appearance suitable
to the dignity of the distinguished
judges—something in tune, so to speak,
with the importance of the contest.
The offer of a contest official to
supply such a vehicle was accepted
before it was known that her auto
mobile was singularly lacking in the
desired traits. An old flivver, it looked
like a museum piece. Nevertheless,
Perkins and the judges set forth there
in. Eleven miles from Leesburg the
ancient contraption broke down and
commenced to burn.
Time was growing short. Perkins
signaled the first vehicle going along
the highway toward his destination—
a laundry truck. The judges, whose
senses of humor surpassed their dig
nity, piled in the back and were
! driven to the contest auditorium, en
j throned on heaps of dirty clothes.
^MONG assignments which Perkins
found impossible were those to
“photograph darkness” in a coat
closet at a public school and to get
a particular individual in a red devil’s
costume during an annual Halloween
celebration. The first obviously was
Impossible because you can't take any
picture without some light and if you
use a light you don't have darkness.
The second was impossible because
Holloween crowds annually include
at least 1.999 "red devils," each virtu
ally indistinguishable from the others.
Photographers occasionally get
“beat up” by persons they try to photo
graph. Camera casualties are high.
Pridgeon was attacked by no less
a personage than Joseph Leiter, the
wheat king, and on Letter’s wedding
day. When Leiter and his bride
arrived at the restaurant where they
were to have their wedding breakfast
after the ceremony, the multi-million
aire, a powerful, towering fellow, saw
Pridgeon in the crowd on the side
walk. Stepping out of his car, he
strode up to him. smashed the camera
to bits and plunged a boulder-sized
fist into the photographer’s stomach.
Pridgeon “went out.” Although not
seriously injured, he could not return
to work for two weeks. The Letters
subsequently paid for the camera and
made a oash settlement on the photog
rapher.
ERKINS was assaulted by a Wash
ington policeman, a prohibition
enforcement officer, who had been
accused of bootlegging. His attacker
broke the camera, but the picture had
been obtained. The next day Perkins
was ordered to photograph the man
again. As the two drew toward each
other, the defendant called out, "You
know what happened yesterday!”
“I can’t help it," Cy called back,
“I’ve been told to get your picture.
If you’ll let me take it. I’ll not bother
you any more.”
The ex-policeman finally listened
to reason and agreed to pose.
“Gus” Chinn of The Star stall was
whacked on the hand by a rifle butt
wielded by a Montgomery County
policeman and his camera was de
stroyed, but this experience, Gus says,
was mild compared with the time he
was locked in a Zoo cage with an
orang-utan. In playful mood, the ape
cornered “Gus” and dropped on him
from above, twining its strong and
hairy legs about the photographer’s
neck. Gus had no way of knowing
that the animal was not trying to
slay him. He escaped unharmed, but
his knees rattled like castanets for
days to come, and when he received
an offer to repeat the performance
for the movies, he delivered an em
phatic “No!”
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