Indianapolis Times, Volume 34, Number 164, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 November 1921 — Page 7

MOVIES GIVE 3 BRIGHT STARS , TO BROADWAY Tearle, Burke and Barriscale Desert Screen for Spoken Parts on Stage. HINES’ GOTHAM LETTER By DIXIE HINES. NEW YORK, Nov. 19. —The movies axe giving up their brightest stars to the stage, and last week New York saw three of them—Bessie Barriscale in “The Skirt,” Billie Burke in “The Intimate Strangers,” and Conway Tearle in “The Alad Dog.” Miss Barriscale has not been “among those present” in Broadway ousts for more than seven years, and her return was hailed as an event fraught with pleasurable possibilities, tnd if there was universal regret that her play was not possessed of material that justified her personal appearance, we were at least delighted with her freshness, cleverness and undiminished charm. In "The Skirt” she masquerades as a most likable young cowpuncher, a masquerade practiced for the dual purpose of learning from her sweetheart—whose ranch she visits—his rea’ sentiments regarding her, and to win a wager made by a group of her collegf •hums who took the other end of th> wager that she could do this stunt and get away with it. The -hies fun was derived from the fact that “Bob” as “she” prefers to he called, fooled no one but herself. The ccwpunchcrs put her through her pacer. bat she comes through [ “manfully” until she mistakes a real highwayman for ore of her own gang seeking to play a joke upon her. ' When the truth dt-.wns upon her she promptly faints, her not unbecoming wig falls to the ground exposing her crowning glory of imprisoned sunshine. There after she goes back to skirts as being safer, and we leave them serene with pos slbillties of a happy future. Miss Bar rlseale was altogether charming In the guise of the boy, and more bewitching as a girl. The scenic production was atmosphere of the Arizona ranch, and Howard Hick man. the author, devised some farcin’ situations and wrote some very bright lines. Mr. himself lent muel interest to the proceedings, and Pan’ Harvey a manly chap, gave a commanding performance o.* the sweetheart and ranc! owner. The co vboy characters were pic tnresque. R11.1.1E BURKE IS FOUND TO BE CHARMING. Billie Burke was quite delightful in the play chosen for her happy return from the films. “The Intimate Srangers” Is by Bo'-th Tarklngton, who can still write charming dialog and create In teresting situations. Mr. Tarkington writes about the maiden of age who mocks and tests and punishes a worried man who has fallen In love with her by elaborately pretending that she Is much older than she really is. She has encountered him in a railway station, where both are marooned by one of those storms they are forever having up State. It is a station so lonely that there Is nothing for miles about except mud and the station master’s brother-in-law and they—the two chance travelers —are maroned there for the night in such nnchaperoned solitude that the conduct of Isabel as her niece says afterward. Is open to Interpretation Thereafter, because she can’t help reading in her new swain's eyes the wonder in? question as to how old she is. the perverse Isabel Insists on affecting a little rhenmatlsm. on throwing Ice-wool clouds around her shoulder, on reminiscing of Tiiden and Hayes and even on knitting a lace cap for her golden hair. It cannot he said that the play bears any particular value as a piece of dramatic writing, bnt Miss Burke is delightful, never more fascinating or ingratiating. and with a cast in her support which meets all requirements. It Is a new contribution which will be enjoyed If not remembered. -I- -I- -I- • A “BABY” OF Id TAKES PART IN NEW PEAT. “We Girls,” by the Hattons —Frederick and Fanny—is a play with a complex. Their central figure is Mrs. Carter Durand. a “baby” of 46. Mrs. Durant conceals her daughter In a convent and divides her time Impartially between beauty specialists and a little knot of male callers. She Is even enamored of a dancing youth of 22, whom she, in her pretty, playful way calls her “baby lover.” She prattles a good deal of baby talk herself, calling herself “poor foolish little me” and talking about her “pltty ltty wist watch.” The theory, by the way, that men hover fascinated around this species of Imbecile Is confined exclusively to writers of plays and novels. They are hovering thick and fast, however, around Mrs. Durand when daughter Is expelled from the convent and is therefore free to devote herself to the task of exposing her gaudy mother as the potential grandmother she really ls. There are lines that sparkle and a i few situations that are genuinely funny, but In the main the theme Is worked until It leaves nothing to the imagination and little to the expectancy. Except that Mary Young Is so delightful as the adolescent matron, and John Macfarlane gives a clever characterization of a six-foot-alx Irish policeman with amorous tendencies, there is not much to distinguish It. But there are enough laughs to Justify the experience of witnessing the new play, and the fun at times reaches a high point. Marc Klaw is the producer and he has staged it becomingly. CONCERNING “THE MAD DOG.” ■ The Mad Dog,” by George Scarborough, brought Conway Tearle back to the stage and gave another chance to a very clever young actress in Helen Menken. The rtory transpires in the old San Pablo Mission, near the Mexican border, where little Maria, the padres ward, left alone In the mission for a few hours, is visited by “The Mad Dog,” an escaped convict, wounded and anxious to evade the sheriff. The girl gives him food. He steals the padre’s sacramental wine from the altar, and, lnflame-l by lt, he submits the girl to the same terrible experience that overtook the he- nine of 1 The Great Divide.” Then he escapes. The frustrated sheriff, who arrives the next morning to find his victim safe in Mexico, has no sooner left than “the mad dog," in a frenzy, returns. He asks the girl to kill him. She refuses, and he scares her into shooting him by pretending that he Is about to submit her again to her previous ordeal. Then she sits and watches him writhing In fever and begging for water. Changed into a revengeful creature, she shows him the water and drinks it herself. In' his raving he tells the story of the faithless woman he murdered. It is a theatrical scene, but is so well acted that Its obvious manufactured quality is forgotten. The act culminates in the dramatic moment when the revengeful woman Is softened, and prays over the man who wronged her. Os

8S R I A l x~o ALL VAUDEVILLE iflTn This forpon, with one paid admission lililS 1,1,4 war tax, admits two ladies to any nn .. ln ... ... T nr tiur flu IQ matinee this week, noon to 4p. m., ex- GOING ON hli THE liufiE cept Saturday and Sunday.

EDNA TALKS

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MISS EDNA BATES WITH “THE RIGHT GIRL.” Theatergoers, take heed! Little do you know what a great responsibility rests on your shoulders when you attend the theater—you who think you go merely to be entertained. But ifter listening to what Edna Bates, who has one of the principal parts In “The lticht Girl,” has to say on the subject there will be no excuse for you not “to be on the Job.” "Do you know what has struck me most strongly since I have been on the stage?” she asked, and when told that a mere Interviewer never knows anything, , she smilingly replied: "That part the audience plays in a performance—lt is really amazing hew much the success of a performance rests with them. If the j audience Is cold and sits back with a ! show me’ air. it immediately scuds that i atmosphere across the footlights, and be- ! fore they know it. the performers have , a feeling that no matter how hard they j work, their efforts will neither be appreciated nor liked. Applause means more to an actor than any one realizes. ; It Isn’t personal vanity which makes us crave it—lt is because that is the only way we know that we have gotten across I the footlights Into the heart of our an-'j dience. If we go through an act without any appreciable applause, we know j something .misses fire, and as we work | harder and harder to get something over, | the audience knows wo an- working, and we fail miserably for that performance, , at least. "Then evening audiences are very diff- ! erent from those at a matinee. Women predominate at matinees, and their sense ' 1 of humor is entirely different from men’s, j Men grasp subtler bits of comedy than women, and are more liable to laugh ! ! audibly—women seem to fe.ir to do that, i Then, too, men are easier to please than | women “Please don’t think I am discrediting my sex." plead Miss P.atos. "I’m not. ! Women love to see pretty clothes on the j stage and appreciate romance more than men. "Personally I love musical comedy because it cheers people and makes them forget their troubles. ’The Right Girl,’ my role in this wonderful play of this same name, I adore. She is a real girl - living a real life and perhaps making the people enjoy the show a little because she is there. That’s not usking too much —it 1s? No matter how tired or blue I may be whpn I come to the theater, the minute I am on the stage and hear the music and sec the lights and flic people | out front. I forget myself, ami when they > applaud anything I do, I am blissfully happy—so you see if an actress gives any happiness to the public, they can always j reciprocate by entering into the spirit of the pluv. and giving her something in return. That’s what makes life worth living, I believe.” she claims. “The Right Girl” opens a three-day I engagement at English's on Monday I night, Nov. 2?. course there Is n “happy ending.” It la a theatrical play, decidedly theatrical, and for those who like their plays served np In the raw state this Is a good example of it. Forrest Roldnson and William Harcourt added to the success by their very excellent acting. It Is a Fbubert production. The play. “The Great Way,” from the novel of Horace Fish, adapted to the stage by the nuthor and Helen Freeman, is a play that engages an extensive cast, most of whom spend the evening In conversation. It is an elaborate and colorful Spanish story in four acts and seven scenes. It all revolves around one character. It frequently impresses by Its size, bnt the attention Is always focused on this figure at Its center. The character Is that of a temperamental, alternately tame and tempestuous woman, who begins as the unfaithful love of a worshipping artisan and becomes the worshipful lover of a man beyond her reach. She rises, too, from the streets of Barcelona to the heights of the operatic stage, but her great way Is as full of torment as of triumph. It Is not an especially creditable piece of work, and the acting leaves much to be desired. Helen Freeman acted the leading role and being | a co-author, It may be understood that j she lost no opportunities for herself in | the adaption. Martha Messenger, Char- j lotte Granville, Maronl Olßen, and a ! score of others were engaged. One would I be Inclined to wish Miss Freeman well, and at the same time to wish her a bet- ] ter vehicle when next she makes her ap- j pearance. Bramblett Spends $125 in Recent Campaign Ira Bramlett, the last man to get on the Republican city ticket, is the first man to file his campaign expense account- | with the city clerk. The statement of Mr. Bramlett shows expenditures of a total of $12.1, SIOO of which was a contribution to the Republican city central committee and $25 for printing. His campaign probably cost him less than that of any other Republican nominee since be was placed on the ticket only four days before the election by Republican City tTinirman Irvin? W. Lemaux, to replnce Henry E. Harris who resigned ns the nominee for councilman of the Firs? district.

KEITH NEWS

E. F. Albee, directing genius of the Keith interests, left New York this week to visit Cleveland, where the newest B. F. Keith theater will open Thanksgiving day. Mr. Albee will remain in Cleveland until the premiere performance, giving all details his personal attention. While in Ohio Mr. Albee will also visit Cincinnati to consult with the builders of the new B. F. Keith theater in that city. Babe Ruth made his .debut in New York as a vaudeville entertainer last week, and it took the police reserves to handle the crowd that tried to get nto the Palace Theater to hear him. Ruth’s Keith vaudeville engagement is going to be a great success. Although he was suffering from a very bad cold, with his characteristic gnraeness, he refused to disappoint the audience by omitting his song from the act. He sang every line

to our Bargain Matinees,

The Distinguished American Actress. AMELIA BINGHAM And Sterling Company of Players In CATHERINE, EMPRESS OF RUSSIA „irn and Betty Morgan I Van Cleve and “Pete” Their Own Songs and Dances Whoa Mule The Big Laugh Feature LLOYD and CHRISTIE Two Gentlemen From Virginia Bobby—Folsom and Brown—Al Cook and Oatman Original Song Delineators Lively Nonsense Tames and Eta Mitchell Aesop’s Fables Fun in the Air Pathe News—Digest Topics The Marvel of All Attraction* WILLIAM BRACK And His Seven Eccentric and Astonishing Artists Night Prices, 30c, 55c, 85c, sl.lO. Matinees Are Half Pri e

Organized to Promote Vocal Art and Fine Choral Singing in Indianapolis Fourth Annual Fall Concert of the MENDELSSOHN CHOIR Caltb Mills Hall, Monday Eve., Nov . 28, at 8:15

PERCEY GRAINGER PERCEVAL OWEN Pianist Conductor. Admission $1.50 and $2.00. A few seats at SI.OO. War tax extra. Seats to the Public on Sale Monday, Nov. 21, at Fuller-Ryde Music Cos., 27 East Ohio Street. OFFICERS: J. Irving Holcomb, President; James M. Pearson, Vice President; Dwight A. Murphy, Treasurer; Fred P. J e-fry. Secretary: Perceval Owe", Conductor. ADVISORY BOARD: J. Irving liolroinb, James M. Penriion, Frank Stalnaker, Eugene Darraeh, Is C. llneenianft, Artlior Baxter, Elmer Stout, ChM. E. Coffin, William J. Mooney, Andrew Smith, Elmer A. Steffen, Humbert P. Pagan!. H. E. CuUand, Henry Eltt-I, L. P. Shoup, Warren D. Oakes, Chas. W. Mayer.

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INDIANA DAILY TIMES, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1921.

that was supposed to be sung, and then the audience stood up and howled itself hoarse. If he had knocked a home run with the bases full he couldn’t have received a bigger reception or have made a bigger “hit.” -I- -I- -IGertrude Hoffman’s success in Chicago has given an added impetus to the Keith “third of a century” movement to encourage the American ballet, which was inaugurated by Miss Hoffman In Washington, which was approved by the three living Presidents. -I- -ISimultaneously with the Keith third of a century celebration, the “Four Mortons,” who are now playing at the Flatbush, are celebrating their fourth decade In vaudeville. For years they have been one of the headline acts of tjie Keith circuit. Extracts from ileorge 1 M. Cohan interviews printed in the London press since he has been in Europe have contained numerous references to the third of a

AMUSEMENTS.

140 TRAINED VOICES Under the Direction of PERCEVAL OWEN and a recital of classic selections and own compositions*- iiy PERCEY GRAINGER American Pianist-Composer

ALL NEXT WEEK Another Lewis Talbot Production Baby BEARS with HARRY S. LE VAN-GENE SCHULER and A BABY BEAR CHORUS This coupon and 10 cents, with 3 cents war tax, entitles lady to reserved seat any matinee during week except Sunday.

century anniversary of Keith vaudeville. Cohan made his first professional appearance in vaudeville as a member of the famous “Four Cohans." The “Four Cohans” made their last appearance together at the old Union Square Theater, when it was under Mr. Albee’s and Mr. Keith's control. ‘ -I- -I- -IValeska Suratt has signed KeithOrpheum contracts and opened Monday at the Majestic In Chicago, In “The White Way,” anew act by Jack Lait. William Roselle will be her principal support. There are four characters In the act, the scene of which Is laid In a boudoir. A feature of the act is a song by Miss Suratt. -I- -!- -IThat very good looking young film hero, William Desmond. Is in New York with his young wife, having deserted the screen for the time being to sign up with the B. F. Keith circuit for a vaudeville tour.

For 33 Years B. F. Keith Has Given America the World’s Best Artists, Entertainers and Headliners. KEITH’S is known as a national institution.

L.. . f ffc • V % 0: ppp

TWO SHOWS DAILY 2:15 and 8:15

| "Exit-TheVamp” The story of a wife more vamped against than vamping—Till she learned a few tricks from the ‘'other woman” and started something hubby 'Theodore Roberts, T. Roy Barnes, Larry Semon in “THE BELL HOP ” il j JLg—. Fox News Weekly Literary Digest

SNUB POLLARD and the stellar COMED/Atfl HAROLD. LLOYD *>

MOTION PICTURES.

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