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Drama News and Reviews 'Sunset Boulevard' Glitters At Last on Warner Screen By Joy Carmody Any effort you make to see “Sunset Boulevard,” which opened today at the Warner and Ambassador Theaters, will be richly rewarded. In making this enthralling saga of a faded feminine film star played by Gloria Swanson, Paramount would appear to have swept virtually all of the merit awards for 1950. Moreover, it has written a fascinating obituary of the mov-* ies’ golden age when success was so cheap that cheapness became the hottest ambition of the in dustry. "Sunset Boulevard” owes its ! surface fire to the inspired cast headed by Miss Swanson, but its igniting force lies in the produc tive and writing genius of Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. Theirs is the basic work of sum ming up Hollywood's whole gaudy past, its bizarre palaces and the strange mad passions enacted within their mirrored walls. A dozen earlier and memorable pic tures have caught excerpts of this eerie tale. "Sunset Boulevard” is the unabridged work which wraps up the theme and leaves the industry free to look ahead l^79f.J +1 1010 F ST. N.W. *r| < Opposite J | Woodward A Lothrop) * 721 14th ST. N.W. (Between G A N. Y. Ave.) 705 15th ST. N.W. (Between G A N. Y. Ave. on 15th St.) EVENING PARKING 40' 7mp.mto CAPITAL GARAGE 1320 N. Y. Avc. N.W. Between IStb and 14th Tong O' Sbonnejlj Seafood — JU CHILL - 1207 E St. N.W. 1221 E St. N.W. CRAB IMPERIAL Friday Special Clam broth, Scallop, Sara toga potatoes, Chef’s salad, rum ban, bread and C C e batter, coffee or tea O w r Baseball time is... I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I •HAMBURGERS only tOt Jumbo Homburgers, 25c I For a Tasty Bite... I Day or Nite... Stop at a I I I I I IJ “SUNSET BOULEVARD.” a Paramount release, produced by Charles Brackett, di rected by Billy Wilder, screenplay by Brackett. Wilder and D. M. Marshman. jr. At the Warner. The Cast. Joe Gillis William Holden Norma Desmond Gloria Swanson Max Von Mayerling Erich von Stronheim Betty Schaefer ___ Nancy Olson Sheldrake _. Fred Clark Morino _ Lloyd Gough Artie Green Jack Webb Undretaker Franklin Farnum First Finance Man _ Larry Blake Second Finance Man Charles Dayton )'Cecil B. DeMille Hedda Hopper Buster Keaton Anna Q. Nilsson H. B. Warner Ray Evans Jay Livingston instead of taking another look backward. * * * * Miss Swanson gives the per formance of her career in this ruthless satire on the era in which she was an early cinema queen. The role she plays is that of Norma Desmond, another queen, living in the mouldy rufn of the temple she reared to her fan tastic boxoffice success, and dreaming her demented dream of doing it all over again. The sor did detail of her story might have been culled from those decades of sensational headlines which Hol lywood wishes never had been written, but which now are turned into one of its really great melo dramas. “Sunset Boulevard's” heroine is a woman of insane appetites whose story is ironically funny as well as tragic. These have consumed many a victim in their day and in Norma's twilight they center upon a hand some, weak-willed young writer played by William Holden. Here is a character made to order for Norma from the day he whirls into her Sunset boulevard driveway to elude the men come to re-possess his car. She sees him at once as heaven sent, the male who will feed her the youth she lost and who will wrrite w'ith her the script of “Salome,” in which she will make a comeback that will shatter a na tion's complacence toward her. In this soulless, mindless woman and a writer anxious to sell his soul and mind to the nearest bid der, “Sunset Boulevard” has an irresistible combination of central characters. * * + * The reach of their relationship covers the whole of the movie colony. Norma's friends are few, a handful of gray ghosts who come to her huge haunted house for evenings of bridge. Her writ ing paramour occasionally breaks away from the great tottering love-nest, to visit the scene of his healthy failure and to seek out the girl (Nancy Olson) who might have saved him. The nervous prying of “Sunset Boulevard’s” cameras misses none | RISING STAR—Nancy Olson, \ young Paramount film player, is one of the important mem bers of Gloria Swanson's sup porting cast in “Sunset Boule vard,” now at the Warner. \ of the Insane detail of the large slice of life the script examines. These go with Norma and her last new boy to the best tailors, fol low them through the round of parties, observe the amour be tween the two in its most intimate aspects. Before it ends up with Normas’ shot that drops the es caping young man dead into her swimming pool, the film has even gone to Paramount. On this scene, in one of the film's most poignant, yet funny, I sequences, Norma undertakes to; sell C. B. De Mille, no less, that1 she is ready for her comeback as "Salome.” * * * * Miss Swanson, who never had a substantial role in her long reign as a movie queen, makes a mas terpiece of the one that satirizes her era in "Sunset Boulevard.”! Her Norma is a woman gone mad with vanity, an empty human! catapulted into fame, unceremon- j iously dumped into oblivion, and now trying to grope and claw her way back. It is a brilliant and endlessly engrossing portrait she etches for this redeeming screenplay. It dominates but does not obscure the numerous others such as Hol den's degenerating writer; Erich von Stroheim's ferociously loyal chauffeur who once was Norma's husband and greatest director; and Miss Olson’s wide-eyed young ster who tried to save the writer from Norma and himself. These are the standout perform ers in a huge cast adorned with the presence of many of the actual ghosts of an earlier Hollywood day. Not in many a year has so large a cast and such extravagant pro duction been utilized to tell a story of such dazzling drama that one forgets its few minor flaws. ADVERTISEMENT. GRAY HAIR Itak h Atrtj - At B«t - Leek 10 Tan Yeager It's easy! Now, with Brownatone. you can quickly tint streaks of gray to luttrous youthful shades that actually defy detection. Snip a tray lock and prove it. See how. in one rinring, Brownatone imparts any desired shade from lightest blonde to black. Thousands thrilled by natural-looking results. Soft, rich, glamorous. Guaranteed harmless. Economical, lasting! won’t . rub off. wash out or affect permanent. First use must give «air hair youthful enter or money hack Get Brownatone now. lit, All druggists. If there's a HOME in the back of your mind Then make a visit to Onantai Building Association and nave our method of monthly repayable home loan* ex plained to you. After you hear how the Oriental Direct Reduction Loan may be paid back in monthly payments —)uet like rent—your ieai* of buying a home will vanish. (Some !n and talk your financing problems over with our officers. Oriental Building Association Washington's Oldest Savings and Loan Association 600 F St. N.W. ESTABLISHED 1861 NA. 7300 i AMUSEMENTS. AMUSEMENTS. rtSSc vwSSrT^KfJ \“’^»:fL \€xcimsioNSW^/oy \ Gro*„u. „cVre«- \14> INDIAN HEAD. MD. \TA*F*eE / \ f‘°»"4tr «\ioW* .. \ AND RETURN \-X \ »•£. \ LtAVWS 2. 7>.M. mt HiaWW LMHpHHpiiiHPPPPMI K Joo p'u50 cen» T^^TTHwljJJ ■ ^ r.; Marshall Hall Park Open Saturdays and Sundays In September. Trips 2 P.M. Saturdays, f. , . ^ m 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. Sundays. Special Cruise To * Sunday September 24th. Boat leaves Baltimore 9 AM' M>kt reservation. no*. _DANCING._ DANCING. HAS YOUR CHILD . , DANCING TALENT i PONT NEGLECT IT1 j ■ Special Introductory Offer ■ This Ad Is Good for TWO WEEK? Tuition FREE at the | ■ Weldon Barr Dance Studios • 1735 Conn. Ave. N.W. ■ Take advantage of Weldon Barr’s 15 I years in show business and 5 years ENROLL NOW: ■ successful teaching experience. Let ____ ■ him give your child that PROFES- Call AD. 0003 I ■ SIONAL touch! ■ _ Information Booklet Upon Bequett. j Keith's Comedy Lets Grandma Have Her Fling "LOUISA,” a Universal release, pro ducer! by Robert Arthur, directed by Alexander Hall, screenplay by Stanley Roberts. At Keith’s. The Cast. Hal Norton _Ronald Reagan Mr. Burnside _Charles Coburn Meg Norton _ Rutn Hussey Mr. Hammond_Edmund Gwenn Louisa Norton_Spring Byington Cathv Norton_ Piper Laurie Jimmy Blake _ Scotty Beckett Chris Norton _ Jimmy Hunt Gladys _ Connie Gilchrist Dick Stewart _Willard Waterman Lil Stewart _Marjorie Crosland Bob Stewart _ Martin Milner Starv Walker _ Terry mat Joe Collins _ Dave Willock The adage that all the world loves a lover is being submitted to a piquant test in “Louisa,” which opened yesterday at Keith’s. This is the screen story of a grandmother who kicks up her heels, falls in love with a philo sophic grocer, and steals the | romantic play in a family that is driven berserk by her antics. Universal-International which, made “Louisa” has been so agree able about its every detail that it may well work out that love does not have to be young to oe : attractive. Certainly when Spring | Byington, Edmund Gwenn, Charles Cobuvn and the others in this fable finish their work, they have jleft the impression that love still; is a funny thing. Also, there is more novely in the subject of grandma-meets grocer than the movies have been leaving recently In the theme of boy-meets-girl. Author of this switch is Stanley Roberts, who has not driven him i self crazy trying to escape the formula for domestic comedy. His characters are all pleasant humans w’ho live a glossy life in a glossy suburb. The most en gaging of them is Miss Byington as the grandmother who dis covers one day that she and the S grocer who quarrels with her are merely victims of loneliness. To the consternation of her son (Ronald Reagan! and daughter-in-law (Ruth Hussey! Miss Byington and Grocer Gwenn start capering like a pair of ado lescents. They see movies from | the love seats In the balcony, keep late hours, coo the old I simple-minded language of love, and finally stage a fiery spat over the attentions of Charles Coburn who tries to break into the game. The incident of the film con tains absolutely nothing that will surprise you but it is all acted with such amiability that it could annoy no one. Yesterday's first audience mostly feminine, seemed to find it very funny indeed. Maybe “Louisa” is a woman’s picture. J. C. LAST 4 PERFORMANCES! Tonight at 8)30 "SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER" m i«i« «n . .— Exee. Except Sun.: *:S0 $1.90 (inc. tax) Mats. Wed. it Sat.: t:30*1.50 (Ine. tax) Mail A Phone Orders Accepted Air Conditioned Phone Dl. 8692 i ... r ■ ! ★ BEST SEATS NOW! * EVENING SERIES: r0,»i Phn. Orch.. Beecham. Conductor, Warren, Heifetz. Helen TraubeL Bhaw Chorale. Horowitz. Lily Pons. Series Prices: *7.50, *9 00. *11.00, *14.00, *17.50 (Ine. tax). PIANO SERIES: s • r k 1 n, Curion. | Vronsky A Babin. Rublnataln, Casadesui. Serin Prices: 13.00. $4.50 46.00 41.50. 49.50. 412.00 (Inc. tax). SELECTIVE SERIES: Menuhin. I Vienna Choir. N. Y. Phil. Oreh. Mitropouloe, eond., Jeanette MacDonald. Ana Maria Spanish Ballet, Margaret Truman. Don Cossacks. Templeton. Series Prices: (5 eoncerts) *4.50, *6.00. *7.50, *9.50, 812 (Inc. tax) All concerts in Constitution Hall. Telephone and Mail Orders Accepted HAYES CONCERT BUREAU 110* G N.W. (In Campbell Music Ce.) | NA. 7151 Steinway Plane | Where and When Current Theater Attractions and Time of Showing Ambassador — “Sunset Boule vard’’; 1:10, 3:15, 5:20, 7:25 and 9:35 p.m. Capitol—“Summer Stock”; 11 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7:15 and 10 p.m. Stage show; 12:55, 3:40, 6:25 and 9:10 p.m. Columbia—“Shakedown”; 11:25 a.m., 1:30, 3:35, 5:40, 7:45 and 9:50 p.m. Dupont — “The Third Man”; 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:35 and9:45p.m. Keith’s—“Louisa”; 11:15 a.m., 1:25, 3:30, 5:40, 7:50 and 10 p.m. Little—“Dumbo”; 12, 1:55, 3:55, 5:55, 7:55 and 9:55 p.m. Metropolitan—“Tea for Two”; 11:15 a.m., 1:20, 3:25, 5:30, 7:35 and 9:45 p.m. National—“Mississippi”; 12:50, 3:40, 6:05 and 8:40 p.m. Palace — "The Black Rose”; 11:30 a.m., 2:05, 4:35, 7:10 and 9:45 p.m. Playhouse — “Panic in the Streets”; 11:20 a.m., 1:15, 3:20, 5:25, 7:35 and 9:45 p.m. Plaza—“Pagliacci”; 11:45 a.m.. 1:20, 3, 4:40, 6:25, 8:05, 9:45 and 11 p.m. Trans-Lux — “Destination Moon”; 11:05 a.m., 12:50, 2:40, 4:25, 6:15, 8:05 and 9:55 p.m. Warner — “Sunset Boulevard”; 11:15 a.m„ 1:15, 3:15, 5:20, 7:20 and 9:40 p.m. AMUSEMENTS. “FAITH OF OUR FATHERS” Paul Groan's Symphonic Promo with cost of 150 SISQUICENTENNIAL Amphitheatre 16th St. * Colorado Avo. N.W. 8:30 Nightly, exc. Mon. 4,000 SEATS Prices: .90 — 1.80 — 2.40 Boa Office: TAylor 1I7S Guild Deadline The deadline for renewal of subscriptions to the Theater Guild American Theater Society Wash ington series, this season to be seen at the Gayety, has been post poned to Saturday night. The subscription office in Room 120 of the Raleigh Hotel will be open to day and Saturday from noon until 5 p.m. to receive last minute renewals. Casting Call The Westmoreland Players will open their first full season with Emlyn William’s melodrama, “A Murder Has Been Arranged,’’ and will have final tryouts tomorrow night at 8 at the Westmoreland Congregational Church, 1 West moreland Circle. Rehearsals will start September 13 and the play is to be presented on November 10, 11, 17 and 18. Amateur Night The first of a series of talent contests will be held tomorrow night at 8 at the Viers Mill The ater. Ernie Tannen, WGAY radio announcer, will be the master of ceremonies. Amateurs who wish to take part in the contests should get in touch with David Gins burg, Sidney Lust Theaters, 711 Fourteenth street N.W. AMUSEMENTS. LAST 6 DAYS "PAGLIACCr "Tht tinging in PAOUACCI it tngt." WtAitgltt Pnt# DOORS OMN 11 A M. IAT1 SHOWS. Starts TODAY A love story...drama, real and ruthless...tender and terrifying. The story of young Joe Gillis, a Hollywood writer...Norma Desmond, a glamorous movie star, ...and Schaefer, a young girt who loved Joe with all her heart! I A Paramount Picture starring WILLIAM HOLDEN GLORIA SWANSON > ERICH von STROHEIM with NANCY OISONFBEO CLAKK llOYD GOUGH JACK WIBB end Cecil B DeM.lle • Heddo Hopper Sinter Keaton * Anno O. Million • H. B. Womer Fronlrlyn Fornum • Produced by Citadel Brackett Directed by BILLY WILDER • Written by Cbprlet Stocked, Silly Wilder ond D M. Morihman, Jr, i A • THf UST nMl you SAW a mCTURf UKt TMS ir IRAOffTT AMO WIIDIR, it won rout ACAomy awards. IT WAS "THf tOST WKKfND." • Warner Bros. COOL WARIER Opens 11 A.M. AMBASSADOR Opens 1 PM. , AMUSEMENTS. { ALL-TIME HITS; W. C. FIELDS MAE WEST BIND CROSBY “BELLE OF 'MISSISSIPPI1 THE SO’s” jNtiu jwm jWiWnz. -THE CoMSDY I VaTOF \9SO. - ctaits COlilRN - mi HUSSEY I iMtian toiimii I AMUSEMENTS. 3rd RECORD WEEK DESTINATION COMFORTABLY COOL DUFFDONLEVYDOW Storts TODAY Open 10:45 TODAY COMFORTABLY COOL • All} CONDITIONED Optn 10:45 ARTIE DANN “TcJSST THE BEACHCOMBERS Musical Tunefuls JAMES A BEVERLY PAYSEE Yr£°" NORA TOOMEY A CO.