Evening star. [volume], July 21, 1940, Image 61

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
p4 CTION
Theaters—Radio—Music ■■■*■* \«n I TlTlP Junior Star—Art—Books
Stamps uiuuuj pua: Dogs
TEN PAGES.__WASHINGTON, D. C., JULY 21, 1940.
After ’Mein Kampf’ He Deserts Comedy
Robert Sherwood Believed Hitler a Decade Ago and Turned
To Apprehension for the Future Democratic Standards
By Mark Barron,
Associated Press Stan Writer.
NEW YORK.
Comedy, for long his delightful
forte, was quietly exiled upon the
shelves along with many other nor
mal facets of civilized life when
Robert Emmet Sherwood read Hit
ler’s "Mein Kampf" 10 years ago.
He was convinced then that the
erstwhile World War corporal meant
to attempt to carry out his plan
to dominate all Europe and perhaps
all the world.
That was a decision that turned
Sherwood's pen away from a path
of treating history with tongue in
cheek and persuaded him to look
with some apprehension upon the
future for democratic standards. It
also induced him to write a pair
of Pulitzer prize-winning dramas,
one denouncing aggression and the
other upholding democracy—“Idiot’s
Delight” in 1936 and “Abe Lincoln
in Illinois" in 1939.
Since Eugene O’Neill retreated
Into an extended period of silence
In 1934 Sherwood's works unques
tionably have made him the Ameri
can theater’s No. 1 playwright. In
addition he is one of the leaders
of the Dramatists’ Guild and
founder and co-producer of the
Playwrights' Producing Co.
“I read ‘Mein Kampf’ just after
I had written the comedy about
Viennese life in the days of nobility,
•Reunion in Vienna,’ and I decided
that Hitler was determined to do
what he said he would do,” Sher
Wood said as he lounged his lanky
6 feet 7 inches half-way across his
office in Rockefeller Center.
No Capacity to Believe.
‘ And that was the end for me
of all romantic comedies, at least
until this constant threat of death
to all freedom and democracy in
the world is no longer hanging
over us. I'm one who took Hitler
seriously from the very beginning.
‘‘The Allied leaders knew what
Hitler was planning, but they just
didn’t have the capacity to believe
it. They believed just what they
wanted to believe and dismissed the
rest ... so that’s why I’m not
writing a new play now. Instead,
I’m writing advertisements.”
Sherwood was referring to the
advertisements he is writing for the
Committee to Defend America by
Aiding the Allies, of which William
Allen White is national chairman.
In these he is, ironically, borrow
ing liberally of Hitler’s own quotes
to make his points. Such a one
is Hitler’s boast: “It will be a
simple matter for me to produce
unrest and revolts in the United
States so that these gentry will
have their hands full with their
own affairs ... we shall soon
have storm troopers in America.”
In Sherwood’s current drama.
“There Shall Be No Night,” he tells
the story of the overrunning of
peaceful Finland by an aggressive
force. Now one of Broadway’s
top hits, it is grossing rich royalties
for Sherwood and he is donating
them all to the Red Cross and a
dozen other agencies that are as
ROBERT SHERWOOD.
P. Photo.
A 4
sisting in the relief of war sufferers.
"There Shall Be No night,” Sher
wood believes, is the most uncon
ventional drama he has ever written,
although he almost always keeps
to orthodox forms and never re
sorts to such experimental dramatic
devices as O’Neill used with his
aside speeches in "Strange Inter
lude” or his masks in “The Great
God Brown.”
Writes in Longhand.
“I envy the ability of some play
wrights to make such experiments.”
Sherwood said, “but I just haven’t
the ability along that line. I have
a matter-of-fact, routine mind and
so I stick to the furrow I know. I
sometimes get those ideas, but I Just
don’t bother with them because I
don't believe that I could carry them
through to a satisfactory finish.
“At that, the only things really
unconventional about ‘There Shall
Be No Night’ is that there are two
star parts, instead of one, and in
the whole act these two star char
acters never meet.”
Sherwood, who does most of his
work in his studio on Long Island
(See BARRON, Page PVLr
Today's Film
Schedules
CAPITOL—“Our Town.” film
version of the Thornton
Wilder play: 2, 4:30. 7,15 and
9:55 pm. Stage shows: 3:45,
6:30 and 9:05 p.m.
COLUMBIA — “New Moon,”
with Jeanette MacDonald
and Nelson Eddy: 2:20, 4:50,
7:15 and 9:40 pm.
EARLE—"All This, and Heaven.
Too!” with Bette Davis and
Charles Boyer: 2:55, 6 and
9:10 pm. Stage shows: 2:30,
5:35 and 8:45 p.m.
KEITH'S—“Private Affairs." ro
mance in the light-hearted
manner: 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 p.m.
LITTLE—“The Biscuit Eater.”
the classic of a boy and his
dog: 2:25, 4:15, 6, 7:50 and
9:40 pm.
METROPOLITAN—“Bill of Di
vorcement,” now with Mau
reen O’Hara: 2, 3:55, 5:55,
7:55 and 9:55 pm.
PALACE—“Andy Hardy Meets
a Debutante,” being a further
adventure in young amour:
2:50, 5:05, 7:25 and 9:40 pm.
TRANS - LUX — News and
shorts: continuous from 2
o'clock.
Visit to 'Sleepless Hollow’
Is Not Soon Forgotten
Now for Sale, Joe Cook’s Amazing
Country Place Has Startled
Many a Broadwayite
By Ira Wolfert.
NEW YORK.
In the big days of the big-time musicai there was a big four—A1
Jolson. Ed Wynn. Eddie Cantor. Joe Cook. They could be counted on for
nearly all the fun there was. The news about Eddie Cantor is somewhat
Indefinite or, as they say, plenty iffey. But A1 Jolson and Ed Wynn are
all set, with what seem to be long leases, for Broadway in the fall, and
Joe Cook is moving in that direction.
Joe Cook is the Evansville boy who grew up and became four
Hawahans. Even Saki had words*
for him: "He was a good Cook as
Cooks go, and as Cooks go he went.”
Where he went was to a coun
try place out alongside a lake in
New Jersey to rear his children, and
he installed so many gadgets there
in that, in self-defense he had to
name his retreat "Sleepless Hollow.”
Now the children are grown up, and
Joe wants to sleep where he can
hear Broadway. "Sleepless Hollow”
is for sale, and while the business
men are handling that Joe is con
centrating on cooking up a musical
for himself.
An Erratic Chauffeur.
After a week end at "Sleepless
Hollow,” I have always had a tender
spot in my heart for Joe Cook and
tender spots all over my body, too.
Practically everybody on Broadway
has, at one time or other, week
ended at “Sleepless Hollow,” glad for
the chance to see what is called
"the country.” Broadway is some
what vague about "the country," but
always refers to it gallantly as “a
nice spot.”
Joe sent his car to Forty-fourth
street for his guests. It is an elegant
limousine with a chauffeur in whip
cord. As soon a* the car got out on
the highway, the chauffeur began
talking to himself, His routine was
to have a fight with some one in
the air in front of him. When the
car got up to 70 miles an hour, the
chauffeur started throwing punches.
If you remonstrated with him, he
turned around and glared at you
and you could see he was cock
eyed. If . you didn’t remonstrate, he
just kept on throwing punches in
the direction of the wlndshiled, tak
ing his hands off the steering wheel
for benefit of same and steering
with his knees.
Russel Crouse is the only one I
ever heard of who got the chauffeur
to stop and let him out so he could
continue the rest of the way in a
taxicab. All the rest of us, not being
as quick-witted as the author of
“Life With Father," just had to sit
and enjoy it.
The Babe Never Tumbled.
"Sleepless Hollow” itself is an ex
traordinarily beautfiful place, so
imposing that it generally awe’s
Joe’s guests into silence.. It’s the
kind of house where nobody can go
up the front steps without fingering
his tie to make sure it is on'straight.
The door is opened by a butler with
sideburns who takes your wraps
gravely and gravely throws them
(See WOLFERT, Page *F-3.)
ANYTHING FOR A LAUGH—Practically anything, at any rate,
would Jack Benny, Groucho Marx, Bob Hope, Joe E. Brown, Hugh
Herbert or any other film funnyman give to find a good comedy
writer, who, if he exists, is far, far away.
♦ ■ ---
It Is to Laugh These Days,
But at What is the Catch
Hollywood Comics Find No Humor
In a Life That Leaves Them
Bereft of Gag Writers
By Harold Heffernan.
HOLLYWOOD.
WANTED: Fifty comedy writers and gag men. Professional
experience not essential. Must be able to concoct dialogue and
action guaranteed to make dejected film fans chuckle. Salary—
Write your own ticket, up to >5,000 a week.
Groucho Marx, who has been trying, and not without considerable
success, to make people laugh for the past 25 years, wrote that sample
ad himself.
"Hollywood might profitably run it in the classified sections of every
newspaper in the land,” he said. "There must be a few scattered funny
men around this country whose lights are being hidden under home
town bushels. And now, if any, is the time to dig them out and bring
them to Hollywood.”
Groucho's plaintive cry for help in the arduous business of making
American movie fans forget world woes by throwing a preponderance of
funny pictures on the screens is echoed in every studio in town. With
the public begging for a chance to<)
laugh, Hollywood faces the toughest
job in its history. All studios are
revising • schedules with the idea of
making comedies stand out by a
ratio of nine to one—but where, they
all ask, is the material to come from?
Comedy', any producer or writer
will tell you, is the scarcest com
modity in the entertainment world
today. You can prove this to your
self easily by glancing over the cur
rent output of novels and stage
plays. The vast majority are dra
matic or adventurous, romantic or
even tragic.
Drops Flippant Mood.
Hit-comedy novels are almost nil.
Outside of musicals, with comedy
interjected, full-evening stage shows
built for laugh purposes only are
at a minimum. Most of the best
stage comedies are of the revue
type, like “Hellzapoppin,” but mov
ies have long since discovered that
revues don't go over. The comedy
must be held together by a story
thread of some sort, and extending
a prolonged laugh fest over 80 or
90 minutes of running time is a job
no one in Hollywood likes to tackle.
Groucho Marx is listed among the
laugh experts of the Nation, but
after all his years of clowning he
frankly and sincerely says he knows
little about comedy. In a few days,
Groucho, with his two brother
partners in rollicking funfests, will
start work on "Out West," the
twelfth feature picture the Marxes
have made since coming to Holly
wood in 1931. For the first time in
our recollection, Groucho dropped
his flippant mood and really bore
down in discussing the serious need
for comedy today.
"It does seem pretty silly that any
one should be puzzling over whether
an actress ought to be hit on the
bean or on the bustle at a time
when whole nations are being gob
bled up.” he said. "But it does
happen to be important to comedi
ans who are trying to answer the
unanimous call for fun on the
screen.”
Groucho points out that practi
cally all serious dramas of the mo
ment. excepting "Gone With the
Wind" and "Rebecca,” are finding
the box office going tempestuous,
while pictures liberally punctuated
with laughs are cleaning up. He
calls attention to the fact that hu
man situations in "Edison, the
Man,” got roars never hoped for;
that Edward G. Robinson's "Broth
er Orchid” was full of laughs
and that Bob Hope successfully
crammed his mystery-chiller “The
Ghost Breakers” full of fun.
Tryout Surprises.
“There can be theories about why
this is and that is in all other types
of pictures,” continued the come
dian. “but theories don’t mean a
thing in the straight comedy film.
It's laughs that count, not the back
ground or the situations leading up
to the gag. The best you can do
is figure that something should get
a laugh and hope for the best. After
that you have to depend on th*
audience response. You can't hold
; up a card in the movie theater read
ing ‘laughter’ as radio programs
do to their audiences with ‘ap
plause’ cards.”
Prior to putting their comedies
before the cameras, the Marxes
several years ago boiled the script
down to a one-hour show and took
it out on the road. They played
the stage version of “Go West,” at
103 performances in Midwest cities
during May and June. They re
ceived some shocking surprises, as
they always do on such tours.
“I thought the opening number
was a cinch to go through without
any changes,” said Groucho. “Brief
ly, it showed me as a bunco artist
fleecing Harpo and Chico by selling
them a beaver cap. bear trap, gold
digging shovel, ice to keep warm
and dozens of other things as they
left New York to go gold hunting
in the West. I took them for more
than $100. It looked swell in re
hearsals and I thought it crazy
enough to go over big.
"It didn’t. Audiences sat on their
hands. After the first few shows
we changed the idea around com
pletely. Then it became the hit of
the show. In-the revised version I
need $10, so I will have $70 for a
ticket West. I try to fleece the
other two boys, selling them articles
at $1 each. For each sale, I am
handed a $10 bill and asked for $9
change. Every transaction lands the
$10 bill and the $9 change back in
Harpo's pocket. Every time I make
a sale I lose $9 and wind up by
being the goat. Silly stuff, but audi
ences ate it up. It will go into the
movie.”
It’s Not Universal.
Not that he's kicking, but Groucho
reminds the world that comedians
never win academy awards, although
they actually work much harder for
characterizations than do dramatic
actors.
"A dramatic actor can make four
or even six good pictures a year,
where a comedian is safest at one
and never tries going beyond two,”
he declares. “That’s because dra
matic stories are plentiful and the
story itself gives the actor variety.”
What makes comedy so scarce and
difficult to provide in job lots?
Groucho has a logical explanation.
“Comedy isn't a universal experi
ence,” he says. “Not every one has
lived through one-hundredths of the
things happening in a comedy film.
Exaggerated comedy rarely happens
to Mr. Fan. Tragedy and drama
do. We re all touched by the vil
lain foreclosing a mortgage because
all of us worry about meeting our
bills before the credit company takes
back the auto or the ice box. That's
universal, as are disappointments,
failures, successes and love affairs.
But how many persons have sud
denly found a rabbit climbing out
of their coat sleeve? Sure, it could
happen, but it doesn’t.
“If people had frequent comedy
adventures, the newspapers would
be full of them, and writing a hit
film would take no more, trouble
than clipping items out of the paper
and enacting them on the screen."
Now, you see what Hollywood is
up against. Maybe the producers
should chip in and run Groucho's
ad after all.
(Released by the North America Newspaper
Alliance. Ine.l
Hear the Options Drop!
All Major Studios Are Lopping
Well*Knowns From Their Lists
By Sheilah Graham.
HOLLYWOOD.
When school reassembles in each of the Hollywood film studios many
familiar faces will be missing. Several of the brightest pupils have
flunked—some of their own volition—the majority because they couldn’t
quite make the new standard, made stringent by the shrinkage of the
movie market.
Among the more distinguished boys who will not be there ,for*the
hew semester is Pat O’Brien. But Pat’s erasure from the Warner contract
list is voluntary. He has been trying to leave this establishment for the
past three years. The current story of Pat’s departure from the studio
after a seven-year 'attendance is that Warners asked him to take a cut
in his $5,000 a week salary. But here’s what O’Brien says:
“It wasn’t a question of cutting my*
salary. l a have agreed to that if
they’d have cut down also on ray
pictures. I had to do six a year.
I was working all the time—with no
play I never got to see my kids.
It got so that they’d say on Sunday.
‘Mama, who's that strange man?’ If
I do any more pictures for Warners
it will be strictly on a single picture
deal. D’ye know something?" con
cludes Pat, "in all the seven years
I’ve been at Warners I’ve only done
four good pictures—‘Celling Zero,’
‘Fighting 69th,’ ‘Submarine D-l’ and
‘Knute Rockne.’ ”
The Horror Boys, Too.
Jack Holt’s departure from the
Larry Darmour film school Is also
more in the nature of a mutual
agreement to disagree than a flunk
out. Jack has been in pictures a?
years, and a star for every one,
although in later yeans the pictures
have been B’s. But his salary has
stayed right up there at the head of
his class. In 193S it was $108,000 for
six pictures. Each of them took 14
days to “can,” whicn is nice pay
ment—$8j&00 a week. Prom now on
Jack is strictly on his own and will
make pictures when, where and if
the fancy strike* him /
Horror boys Boris Karloff and Bela
Lugosi will not be there to ans#er
their names when school reassembfes
at Universal. Boris and Bela have
been making faces at the studio
teachers for about 10 years, and both
sides have had enough. The lads
would like to major in another sub
ject, and if this can be arrafcfed
(See GRAHAM^ Page P-2.)
The Build-Up Lets Down
Many a Budding Genius -
At Least Successors to the Old Stars
Fail to Materialize as Rapidly as
They Should Under the System
By Jay Carmody.
Among the moet engaging antics which figure in behavior in Hol
ly wg»f''ff,-ftlat which is known as the “build-up.” It is indulged when
ever the studio big shots look with jaded eyes upon the familiar stock
of stars and decide to add a new one. Or, with characteristic abandon,
a dozen new ones.
Subordinates who recognize this mood as the greatest menace to
the tranquillity with which they sleep and the regularity with which
they eat, immediately drag out the build-up. The one in the talent
department, for instance, at once summons the sleekest blond or brunette
in the book. The casting director proffers her to the nearest producer
or director. The latter rushes her over to make-up for suitable altera
tions in the facade, then turns her over to wardrobe with instructions
that she is the sarong or hoopskirt type and that she is to be outfitted
accordingly.
All this is preliminary. The real bulld-up begins when the publicity
department takes over. Members of this department are individuals
skilled in the art of self-electrification, the fireflies of the human species.
Instantly they become electrified over the new subject, take the mutss
off their typewriters, and begin a campaign designed to convince the
85,000.000 regular movie patrons that here is the artist they have been
waiting, lo these 85 morning glories.
To judge by the degree and intensity of its use. the bulld-up should
produce new stars at the rate, roughly, of 25 every year. That it does
not, that there must be some weakness in it, is indicated by a glance
at almost any movie marquee. Names listed there are usually those
of Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Ginger
Rogers. Clark Gable. Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Ronald Colman,
Fredric March, etc. Either these people don’t read that they are about
to be succeeded by so-and-so. or they are very stubborn about going
back to their old jobs on the ferry boat.
New Stars Remain Invisible
Despite the Fervid Build-up. *
For all the fervid literature created in their behalf, new stars have
been remarkably invisible recently. Outside of Vivien Leigh. Laurence
Olivier, and Maureen O’Hara, all of them imported in full glow from
Europe, no one has risen to challenge the well-traveled orbits of the
established galaxy.
Nearest thing to success is the attainment of Ann Sheridan, the
Warner oomph girl. The subject of the most successful promotion cam
paign in years. Miss Sheridan has managed to get but one truly good
vehicle, “Torrid Zone,” and in that one she made a dimmer light on
marquees than James Cagney and Pat O'Brien.
Next to Miss Sheridan in the energy of her exploitation was highly
talented, though not so photogenic, Nancy Kelly. When Twentieth Century
Fox got its lease on Miss Kelly after her Broadway success in "Susan
and God,” the publicity department worked itself practically bald say
ing to the public that it would like to introduce Miss Kelly. Tho
studio co-operated to the extent of putting Miss Kelly in three expensive,
though not too good, pictures. In each of them, she did a very credit
able Job, a much better one than many of the veteran glow worms
with which she was associated.
Where is Miss Kelly now in spite of all that promotion and her
demonstrable talent? She’s off the pay roll at Twentieth Century, work
ing as a free lance in such minor efforts as “Private Affairs,” currently a
guest In Washington.
When It Was Brenda Joyce
Who Got the Energetic Build-Up.
The same studio last year became virtually delirious over the per
sonality, the loveliness and the acting skill (still unproved) of Brenda
Joyce. Miss Joyce, indeed, inherited all of the adjectives which so re
cently had belonged,Jo Miss Kelly. She also got good roles, and with
one of them, that in “The Rains Came,” did quite well enough.
Today, she still is, pretty far from stardom, and is receding as a
theme for the energetic publicists.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, whose star shelves are most heavily stocked
(Continued on Page F-3, Column 2.)
Coming Attractions
KEITH'S—1“The Ramparts We Watch," March of Time’s much dis
cussed first feature, film, relating today with the day of World
War I as it hit the United States, has its world premiere Tuesday
night. The regular run will start Wednesday morning. .
PALACE—"Maryland.” Darryl Zanuck’s technicolor account of life
in the horse country of that 8tate, opens Friday, complete with
hunt cups, steeplechase, etcetera.
CAPITOL—"Gold Rush Masie,” latest of Ann So them’s advenf\i'es
as that show girl, this time out West, where men are men, opens
Friday. On stage will be the third edition of the “Crasy Show.”
METROPOLITAN—‘Tom Brown’s School Days,” film version of that
famed tale of boarding school life, is now scheduled to follow
"BiH of Divorcement.” Freddie Bartholomew and Sir Cedric
Hardwicke are important in the cast.
EARLE—"My Love Came Back,” light-hearted tale of straying'hus
bands and true love, with Olivia De Havilland. Charles Win
ninger and others, follows “All This and Heaven, Too,” now in its
second week. There will be a new stage show, headlining Red
Shelton;