Evening star. [volume], April 20, 1947, Page C-6, Image 47

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

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C. U.’s Star Ascends
VT 11 f « ■*% « * • « « •
nonywooa ana nroaaway join acnooi in
Year-Around Play Festival
By Joy Cormody
Hollywood and Broadway which have watched Catholic Univers
ity’s theater with the closest of attention for the past 10 years, hence
forth will participate in the latter's program. Making available their
resources of talent and experience, they will become active participants
in a 12-month drama festival of original plays which the University
theater will inaugurate in June.
As channels of this support for the C. U. program, Hollywood
will be represented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, and Broadway by the American National Theater and Acad
emy.
This formal co-operation in a university theater project, the
first on the part of both branches of the entertainment industry, puts
them on a par with other major industrial elements, many of which
have followed similar programs for years.
Accent on Playwrights.
The accent In the joint effort which will provide the local univers
ity drama group with the services of stars, directors, playwrights and
screen writers, will be upon writing. Its end result is envisaged as
bringing writing students of the university and their work together
with the great production elements of entertainment. And, converse
ly, making available to the latter sorely needed fresh writing talents
which have been proved in the crucible of actual theater of high
standards.
Basic element of the collaboration is Walter Kerr’s playwritiag
course. Mr. Kerr, who is best known, apart from his teaching, as
author of “Sing Out, Sweet Land,” which was produced by the The
ater Guild, is regarded by both Hollywood and Broadway as the out
standing figure in the university theater field. With Father Gilbert V.
Hartke, director of the Department of Speech and Drama, his work
has been under the close and constant scrutiny of both major enter
tainment elements since 1937,
m mat perioa, me university me&ier na.s staged »o productions
of which 36 have been originals, an amazing record. Of these offer
ings, Kerr's own “Star Dust" and “Count Me In," an original musical
written with Leo Brady, also have been sold to New York producers.
“Lute Song," presented experimentally in the university theater went
on to Broadway the following season and Goldoni's “The Liar,” pre
sented at C. 'U. for the first time, is booked for production in the
autumn.
This achievement, unparalleled in the history of college theater,
has kept the local campus thespians in the national limeliglit through
out most of their first decade. Their work has been constantly scouted
by representatives of the motion picture studios and New York pro
ducers and has been covered by the country’s foremost critics. This
hard-won prestige this week brings the dividend of genuine collabora
tion by Hollywood and the legitimate theater in the C. U. program.
Seven Plays Scheduled.
The year-long play festival, for which Hollywood will provide
guest stars, players and directors as requested by the university group,
will include seven plays.
All of these will be originals, the work of Mr. Kerr's student play
wrights. The Speech and Drama Department faculty will remain in
complete charge of the festival program. It will select the plays to be
presented and its requests to< either the motion picture studios or New
York producers for talent, or directoral aid, will be based upon estab
lished standards of the university theater. No consideration of the
mere availability of talent, regardless of the dimensions of the player,
or players, will prevail. *
The program embraces a young playwrights’ festival, nothing more.
Its aim, as expressed by the departmental faculty headed by
Father Hartke is:
We nope especially to give new wniers a cnance see uieir wont
on the stage, before an audience, as a major step in their development.
We do not anticipate that every script will be taken up professionally,
although that is always possible, on the basis of past experience. We
do not expect every young writer to go into the festival with the
burden of responsibility on his shoulders. That is to say, we will not
consider his work a failure if it is not immediately optioned to New
York or Hollywood. Rather, the larger results of this policy will be
seen in several years' time, when the maturing process, perhaps begun
with this festival, will finally complete itself. The long-range view is
the real object, not the short-range necessity.”
VaJlety Assured in Program.
In choosing "best" plays of student authors, those in charge of
the festival anticipate no undue emphasis upon any one type of drama.
Mr. Kerr's students, a large proportion of them ex-service men, have
exhibited a tendency to think for themselves, a quality which the
school encourages. Their range and treatment of subject will give
the festival program an assured variety, inclusive of the annual musical
which invariably has been a production within the focus of national
Interest.
First of the festival play's will be offered in June and the entire
series will be included in the regular subscription sale of tickets, which
will be maintained.
The program, the first of its kind, is expected to prove a model for
closer relations between Broadway, Hollywood and other universities.
Miss Main’s Second Ascent
By Harold Heffernan
HOLLYWOOD.
It happens along about the third
peel of “The Egg and I.” Marjorie
Main comes on the screen and
scratches herself. Audiences every
where explode with laughter at this
entrance—and they continue to
chuckle at her all the way through
the film.
As the lovable, blowzy, slattern
Ms Kettle, earthy matriarch of
Betty MacDonald's best seller, Mar
jorie Main hits the jackpot for the
second time in her film career.
Marjorie's scratch, applied casually
due south of the last rib on the
right, is destined to stick in screen
fans’ memories like the grapefruit
shoved iijto Mae Clarke’s face by
Jimmy Cagney and the coin-tossing
debut of George Raft in “Scarface.”
Miss Main's second ascent to the
Hollywood stratosphere is by comedy.
Her first was by tragedy as the
embittered mother of a gangster in
"Dead End,” which brought her to
pictures from the New York stage.
A New Experience.
Although it's billed as a Claudette
Colbert-Fred MacMurray starring
film, “The Egg and I" is a per
sonal triumph for the gravel-voiced,
placable Miss Main. A journeyman
who learned her trade the hard way,
she spent 25 years in vaudeville,
stock. Chautauqua and the Broad
way theater before Holywood even
gave her a tumble.
Interviewing Marjorie Main is an
<^_£2f*rienre totally unlike that of
sitting down to a conversation with
the average Hollywood actor or
actress. Marjorie blushes, stammers
■ little and then, in that grit
packed voice, wants to know why
anybody should be inquisitive about
her past.
Before long she has warmed up
and, the first thing her interrogator
knows, has taken over the inter
viewing. She has a keen interest in
people and. in a warm, sincere
manner. *tries to find out all about
them. Five minutes after being
introduced to ^larjorie, she's apt to
know where you're from, how you
got started in your profession, a
lot of things about your family life,
and maybe your likes in food and
politics. And she never gives you
the slightest idea she's prying.
Steadily in Demand.
Her legal name is Mary Tomlinson
Krebs. She was born in Acton. Ind..
the daughter of the Rev. S. J. and
Mary Tomlinson. Active in dra
matics at Hamilton College, Ky.,
vnere she completed her schooling.
L TEXAS CITY L
FIRE DISASTER
niACHI&’gUi*.
[ i k>w*ca«t
tAST SHOW STARTS 10:45
<■ 1
! she took her first professional step
by joining a Shakespearean outfit,
jit. played the Chautauqua tent cir
cuit, where she met and married a
lecturer. Dr, Stanley L. Krebs, now
dead. He gave her the name Mar
jorie Main, suggested as they were
reading Sinclair Lewis’ “Main
Street.’’
After playing the Orpheum vaude
ville time, she associated with a
Fargo <N. Dak.) stock company for
23 weeks, then went to Broadway
to team with W. C. Fields in “The
Family Ford.”
She appeared with John Barry
more in “Cheating Cheaters,” suc
ceeded Adrienne Morris, mother of
the Bennett sisters, in "Yes and No,”
and had a succession of hits, cli
maxed by the gangster's mother in
"Dead End." the role she repeated
for the screen in 1937.
Since her memorable part in
"Dead End” she has been steadily
in demand. Under contract to
MGM, she has been paired in so
many pictures with Wallace Beery
that many fans think their romance
is a real one.
"Ma Kettle was a once-in-a-life
t.ime role," said Marjorie. “I hope
it makes a lot of people happy, and
I prav that I'll get another just as
good before I retire.”
< Released b* North American Newspaper
Alliance. Inc.i
.
Coming Attractions
NATIONAL—"The Two Mrs.
Carrolls," with Elizabeth
Bergner. starting April 28.
AMBASSADOR — "The Sea
Hawk.” with Errol Flynn.
CAPITOL — “Ramrod,” with i
Joel MeCrea, starting Thurs
day.
COLUMBIA—"The Red House.”
with Edward G. Robinson.
* starting Thursday.
EARLE—"The Sea Hawk,” with
Errol Flynn.
KEITH'S—"The Farmer’s
D a u g h t e r.” with Loretta
Young and Joseph Cotten.
METROPOLITA N—“The
Locket." with Laraine Day, !
starting Thursday.
PALACE — “California.” with
Barbara Stanwyck and Ray
Milland.
PIX—“The Bridge of San Luis
Rev.” with Lynn Bari, start
ing Tuesday.
I
V
*
THE SECOND MRS. CARROLL—Elisabeth Bergner, the Continental star of the theater, is re
turning to town in “The Tioo Mrs. Carrolls,” the melodrama in which she finds herself mar
ried to a man who turns out to be something less than the ideal- husband. The play, written
by Martin Vale and produced by Miss Bergner’s husband, Paul Czinner, starts a two-week
engagement at the National March 28.
All of Us Are Freaks Anyway
So Says Esther Williams, ‘Relaxed’ Star of
Wartime Successes
By Sheilah Graham
nULU I W K7VJIJ.
Esther Williams and Audrey Tot
ter were discussing their movie
careers. "I'll never be satisfied,”
said Audrey, “until I win an Acad
emy Award.” Esther smiled and
said nothing, but later she told me
plenty.
"If some one asked me what I'd
hate to lose most,” says Esther, "I’d
say independence of my career. I
don't have to have it to be happy.
Sure I like being a movie star, but
it’s secondary to what I call hap
piness. I’ll be ready to give it up
the day Metro tells me that my pic
tures no longer make money at the
box office.
"All of us who found success in
Hollywood during the war are
freaks anyway,” philosophizes Miss;
Williams. "We were taken up be
cause the others weren't here.” By
"others” Esther means the Gables.
Taylors, Ty Powers, etc. To make
up for them, and because of the
war, studios plunged into girlie, es
capist movies.
No Tenseness Here.
Esther is what I call a "relaxed”
star. Maybe it's because of her
years as a swimming champ, but
there's nothing tense about her.
"That’s the best way to work and
be successful.” She opines, "Stop
fighting, be relaxed, and then if you
are successful you get more fun out
of it. Why do we want success
anyway? Because we think it will
make up happy.”
To find out if it does, read on.
"Take three girls who are dis
covered for pictures.” says Esther.
"One is found in a drug store or a
drive-in, and in her off hours she
works in a little theater. The
second girl wants to be a star
strictly for the money. And the
third girl wants it because she
thinks it’s an easy way to meet men
and have a good time.”
Esther is a unique character who
fought like mad not to be a movie
star. It's really true. After her
swimming success with Billy Rose's
Aquacade in San Francisco—where
she was supposed to begin with a
weekly salary of $50 until she in
sisted on $100 plus—Esther was
hired as a head model at a store in
Los Angeles. She was very happy
there, because she had the prospect
of one day getting a job as a buyer.
"I was passionately fond of my
work.” is the way Esther puts it.
But some one at Metro had seen
the beautiful swimmer in the San
Francisco Aquacade—as had other
studio executives—and she received 1
many offers of a movie contract, j
"Yet I had nothing to offer them
besides swimming.” says Esther, and
she did not want to be a one swim
picture star.
But Louis B. Mayer, head of
Metro. Is a boy who always gets,
what he goes after. He asked
Esther, therefore, to come and see
him to explain why she didn't want |
to work in pictures. This seemed
harmless enough to the pretty!
swimmer.
Mr. Mayer listened patiently'
whHe Esther told him her lack of
qualifications for stardom. "I agree 1
with you,” he said in that very
effective fatherly way he has.
"But," he added, "we wouldn’t want
you, the way you are now. Before
T8UGKSTT0WN M FRONTH KANSAS!
It TRRIi STREET |
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I
i
we put you in a piciure, we 11 mane
sure that you are an actress as
well fes a swimmer.
“You mean that?” said Esther
weakening. “Of course, I mean it,"
said Mayer, reaching for the pre
pared contract in his desk drawer!
“He kept his promise,” says
Esther. “Every' day. and all day
long I had lessons in movie tech
nique. I didn't want to be a movie
star. But I believe that if you’re
going to do it. you should do it well.
“I want to tell you, however, about
the three girls we were talking about.
The first girl from the drive-in is
a great success in pictures. She has
always dreamed of having a beau
tiful car and, above all, the adula
tion of the fans. I%s the dream of
Lizzie Glutz come true.
They're Off Balance.
“She says,‘Now I’ve accomplished
this, I’ve reached the top—I'll never
slave again in a drive-in.’ She thinks
that her life in the drive-in was
real hardship. Never sure of her
self. She'll never again be a nor
mal person. She’ll die—metaphoric
ally speaking—if her career ever
fades.
me second girl suddenly nnos
herself making a big salary. Then
she gets terribly afraid of losing it.
She’s haunted by the thought of be
ing poor again, and doesn't get any
real fun out of her money because
she’s always worrying about losing
it. She, too, becomes a very un
normal person.
"The third girl does, of course,
meet a lot of men, and she usually
goes haywire and marries most of
them. (I can think of one big star
who is never happy unless she has
at least twro men in her life she
w'ants to marry—if she could, she’d
elope once a week!) This girl, too,
wonders why she is unhappy, and
why movie fame failed to come up
to expectations.
"As my mother would say—and
my mother's a wonderful psycholo
gist—it’s because the three girls (and
they are the three most common
types in Hollywood) are off-bal
ance."
No one will ever say that about
Esther. She has the clearest view
of hersplf of any one I know in
Hollywood. If movie life ever in
terfered with her happiness or her
home life with Husband Ben Gage.
Hollywood will say goodbye to Esther
Williams.
(Released by North American Newspaper
Alliance.)
Broadway:
Bankhead Play
Closes After
29 Times
• By Jack O'Brian
"Craig's Wife,” although it re
ceived excellent notices, closed after
69 performances, somewhat less
than the 100 which is the accepted
mark of Broadway success. . . . “Ice
time” closed at the Center Theater
after 405 performances, definitely
successful. . . . The next edition of
the glacial gold mine annually pro
duced by Sonja Henie and A. M.
Wirtz will be arriving shortly.
Despite Tallulah Bankhead's
drawing ability. "The Eagle Hasj
Two Heads* couldn’t offset the badj
reviews and folded after 29 times
. .. "Lady Windermere’s Fan” closes
April 26 after 28 wreeks and will tour.
. . . Ann Blyth has been signed for
the star role in the film to be made
of Lillian Heilman's “Another Part
of the Forest.”
The Theater Guild is opening Hol
lywood offices with Queenie Smith
as its West Coast representative,
marking an ambitious expansion
and deeper interest in screen activ
ities. . . . The guild is presenting
“Henry V” throughout this coun
try’ and is associated in the screen
ing of Eugene O'Neill’s "Mourning
Becomes Electra,” at RKO.
Theater Arts Monthly honors
seven theatrical workers for their j
stage achievements this season:!
Paul Crabtree of “The Iceman Com- j
eth,” Sam Wanamaker of “Joan of j
Lorraine,” Bambi Linn of “Alice in
Wonderland,” David Wayne of “Fin
lan’s Rainbow.” Virginia Bosler of
“Brigadoon.” Margaret Phillips of
“Another Part of the Forest” and
Arthur Miller for his play, “All My
Sons.”
James Barton, famed song and
dance man and latterly one of
Broadway’s more dependable char
acter actors, will have the role of
Kit Carson in “The Time of Your
Life” when it is screened by Jim
my Cagney. . . . Arthur Hunnicutt
played the role in the Broadway
original. . . . Frank Satenstein and
Ed#ie Dowling will produce “The.
Righteous Are Bold.” first presented
by the Abbey players in Dublin. . . .
Dowling will direct and probably
will play in the drama by Frank
Carney, scheduled for early fall ar
rival.
Helen Hayes received a ham and
an acre of land from Gov. Wil
liam Tuck of Virginia on behalf of
the State's Barter Theater “for the
outstanding performance by an
American actress on the current
New York stage.”
Constitution Hill, Friday Ew., April 25,1:30 } j
Featured in "Hunter- I
£ eadue." “Rhapsody Ml ■
m Blue" and radio » “ll
W formation Pleas*. "
IN PERSON y
evanl\
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$ 1.20. St .AO. $2.40, $3. $3.60. Inel. ta
Mr*. Dorsey 1.1106 G St. (Campbell *) NA.7I5
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DONAT
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“The GHOST i
Goes WEST"
Directed, bv Rene Clair
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OPEN 1:45 |«BK«WM(A|
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... holds the answer I
WATCH FOR THIS RKO HIN
Next Attraction at_
WARNER
BROS.
_
4 l
Mr. Cagney Would Make Some Changes
It’s His Desire Now to Become Known as a Great Portrayer of
Irish Character
By Ralph Dighton
Jimmy Cagney, Judo expert, horse
fancier and guitar strummer, is
about to become an actor.
Of course, he’s made dozens of
movies, but that wasn’t acting to
Jimmy. That was business.
His businesslike enactment of
movie tough guys has made him a
million dollars, more or less. His
portrayal of George M. Cohan won
him an Academy Award, but it
failed to change his casting. To
movie-goers, he's still a tough guy.
Jimmy’s going to change' that, he
says.
He got a taste of real acting in
“Midsummer Nights Dream” and
hasn't been satisfied since. It may
take a year or two to realize his new
ambition, but from here on Cag
ney’s going in for art, with a capi
tal A.
L<ttglicv um&ru mic
consciousness as Hollywood’s version
of “Public Enemy No. 1.” Now
imagine, if you can, the scrappy lit
tle Irishman as the Russet Man, a
30,000-year-old Irish magician and
inhabitant of four planets in Thorne
Smith’s “The Stray Lamb."
His Toughest Assignment.
That may be hard to picture, but
that's the job Jimmy’s up against.
He knows it’s his “toughest as
signment yet," but Jimmy wants to
graduate from the working-actor
class. Money isn’t so important
any more. At 43, he could retire
tomorrow. What Jimmy wants now
is to become known as a truly great
portrayer of Irish character.
After “The Stray Lamb,” Cagney
plans a picture on the life of a
group of Irish gypsies who roam the
Southern States.
“They meet once a year at a sort
of national headquarters on Peach
tree street in Atlanta,” says Jimmy,
“and hold all the weddings and
funerals that have accumulated
luring the year. They conduct their
tribal business, then set out for an
other year of trading horses, mules,
second-hand cars and anything else
that comes to hand.
“They've adhered to the old Irish
traditions, and around their camp
fires they still sing the songs that
are as old and beautiful as Ireland
itself."
Heavier Fare.
Both Burl Ives and Dennis Day
are “very interested." says Jimmy,
and his writers are already busy on ,
the story.
Neither the Russet Man nor the
Irish gypsy project is on Cagney's
immediate agenda. Coming up first,
are “The Time of Your Life” and
'A Lion Is in the Streets.” Both are
heavier fare than the usual Cagney
picture, however, and are indicative
of the new Cagney trend.
Jimmy gets what he goes after.
He wanted money and fame, and he
got it. He loves horses, and now
has one of the finest stables (nine
horses) in the movie colony. He
needed a trained kangaroo for "The
Stray Lamb,” found that just any
body can’t export one from Austra
lia, but wound up with one as a gift
of the Australian government.
Cagney’s interest in judo is an
other case in point. He needed in
struction in the Japanese sport for
"Blood on the Sun.” He hired Jack
Sergei, former Los Angeles police
man, to teach him. Serge], im
pressed with Jimmy’s muscular co
ordination. recommended he con
tinue the study.
Jimmy then hired Kenneth Kunl
r———————-—i
Today s Schedules
AMBASSADOR—"Dead Reck
oning." 1:20, 3:20, 5:20, 7:20
and 9:30 p.m.
CAPITOL—"Carnival in Costa
Rica,” 1:55, 4:35, 7:15 and 9:55
p.m. Stage shows, 1:10, 3:55,
6:35 and 9:15 p.m.
COLUMBIA—"It Happened in
Brooklyn,” 1, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30
and 9:40 p.m.
EARLE—"Dead Reckoning,” 1,
3:10. 5:20, 7:30 and 9:45 pm.
HIPPODROME — "The Ghost
Goes West,” 2:25, 4:20, 6:10, 8
and 9:50 p.m.
KEITH'S—“The Best Years of
Our Lives,” 12:20, 3:25, 6:30
and 9:35 p.m.
LITTLE—"Henry the Fifth,”
2:30 and 8:30 p.m.
METROPOLITA N—“Trail
Street.” 1:40, 3:40, 5:40, 7:45
and 9:45 p.m.
PALACE—"The Yearling," 1:15,
4. 6.45 and 9:30 pm.
PIX—“My Name is Julia Ross,”
1:20, 3:55, 6:30 and 9:05 pm.
TRANS-LUX—News and shorts.
Continuous from 1 p.m.
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TOUGH GUY AT HOME—After a busy day with his horses and
practice session at judo, the Japanese sport at which he has
become an expert, Jimmy Cagney relaxes in an easy chair.
—Wide World Photo.
voki, a Nisei who had recently re
turned from a relocation center, as
his butler and every Thursday—
Kenneth's day.off—they spend the
afternoon flinging each other about.
Sometimes they are joined by the
gardener,' Saichi Murakami, a
fourth-degree "Black Belt” judo ex
pert, and Murakami’s two husky
sons.
Kuniyoki. who taught Sergei, Is
a fifth-degree "Black Belt.” Jimmy
himself recently was promoted from
third-degree "Brown Belt” to sec
gnd-degree "Black Belt” and says
he has been informed that is tops
1 for any non-Japanese In America.
There is one thing at which Jim
my is an admitted failure. Twenty
years ago he set out to master the
guitar. He keeps three or four
handy in various rooms of his big
Coldwater Canyon ranch home, and
whangs away in spare moments.
"After 20 years," says Jimmy,
whose ear for music wouldn’t qual
ify him to sing second tenor in a
hillbilly quartet, "I feel I'm about
ready to start to learn to play.”
I
The, Most Winner
honored of 9
Picture m Academy
History! Awards '
Increased Prices ter
(his Engagement Only
Semuel Goldwyn's
‘THE BEST
, YEARS OF *
\om lives/
Performances Are Continuous
No Reeerred Seals
6“ WEEK
DOORS OPEN »0:43 A.M. Monday to Friday.
SATURDAY 8:45 A M SUNDAY 1J None.
I Mtdnifht Show Ktery Saturday Ntyht
HATIOHflL » LUST 8 TIMES!
Tickets sold by this Theater are not transferable, and are sold snbieet to
compliance with the known policy of the Theater as to persons entitled to
admission. If presented by any person not eonformlns to that policy '
admission will be refused and no refnnd made.
MWi Km* Dm ImfrH 3t Yun!”-WU.TU MNCHELL
wm
** by NORMAN KRASNA
Original Production and
A Brilliant Cast of Broadway Artists
POPULAR PRICES $040
EVENINGS *|» $1*0121? ENTIRE ORCHESTMfcf«*l
BARGAIN MATS. WED. 6 SAT.,.„..«0HI8 t|jf
2 - WEEKS - 2 BEG. MONDAY, APRIL 28TH
FAREWELL RETURN ENGAGEMENT!
Tfct iRfonwtioMfly 0
Fimoiis St«r \
‘
h
MARTIN VAL“
fMMl
VW1WI
May
“THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS’*
.in JOEL ASHLEY
REDUCED PRICES/jaw
EVENINGS HIS ENEIEEGUNEEIUWVml
HP. MATS. *r BALC It i!* Ill IALC. MIS'ENTIRE OUCH. AMt
—Seat Sale Tomorrow—