Indianapolis Times, Volume 39, Number 321, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 May 1928 — Page 7

MAY 7, 1928.

NORMA MAKES CUTE FEMALE DRUMMER Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore Stage Many a Warm Dramatic Scene in ‘Sadie Thompson,’ Movie Version of the Play ‘Rain.’ BY WALTER D. HICKMAN SHE sold the latest things from Paris for the ladies, and how she sold 'em! Am trying to tell you how Norma Shearer acts as a traveling saleswoman in “The Latest From Paris.'’ Here is a comfy little light story having the cute services of that cute little person known as Norma Shearer.

“The Latest From Paris" is what I term a corking good date night movie. It has that human quality

which appeals to the younger bloods in the audience. The story is really a love yarn, modern in the way that the love theme is handed out. Norma has only one rival in the selling game, the traveling man character played by Ralph Forbes. I may as well admit now that I like Forbes better in this role than I ever have. He plays

Norma Shearer

the part in a natural sort of a regular he-man going about making love to the girl he likes. Ralph has a tough time finally getting Norma, or rather the character she plays, for his wife, because a Main St, | dame nearly got our Ralph for a ; husband. But true love wins out on the screen, anyway. The Christmas , eve scene, where Norma and Ralph | stage a love scene in a snow storm. . proves interesting. And the funny thing about it is that the couple does not wear hats or heavy coats. They were in love and didn't mind the snow when they couldn't get a quiet little nook in the hotel. “The Latest From Paris” is mighty good light entertainment. The cast for the most part has youth, and youth is always interestingg when in love. The stage show this week has the title of “Araby,” but it is Dick Powell singing “Coquette.” his latest phonogrgaph record release, that will be the talk of the town this week. Powell, with the aid ’of Charlie Davis and his orchestra, stops the show. Rita Owin is a good eccentric dancer. Here is an artist in her line of work, because she knows where to draw the line between eccentric dancing and eccentric mannerisms. The Giersdorf Sisters are mighty good blues harmony singers. I have always considered them among the best. Then there is Jerrie, an accordionist, who is also a wow of a dancer. He sure has wickfd_feet. The Albertine Rasch dancers do some good work. Now at the Indiana. e. n tt

THEY HAVE KEPT THE HEAT IN SADIE THOMPSON “Rain” on the stage was known as a pretty warm show because Sadie Thompson, the chief gal, was no iceberg. Sadie used strong language and she used it often. The subtitles, in the movier version of “Rain, ca.led

• Sadie Thompson, are mild compared to Sadie’s remarks on the stage. Will Hays gets the blame or the credit of not permitting the producing company to call this picture “Rain.” It seems to me that “Rain” should have been used for the movie title. Although Sadies language as expressed in the sub-titles is

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Gloria Swanson

tame compared to Sadie’s tongue on the stage, yet one gets the impression that Gloria as Sadie is actually saying the real words although the subtitles are milder. Sadie is a tough customer and when a missionary tried to reform Sadie, the poor girl thought that the gates of Heaven was opened wide. Then she discovered that Alfred Atkinson, in the stage version he was called the Rev. Davidson, was a human guy who did treat Sadie lust like the guys she played around with. When Atkinson staged this partv with Sadie, he killed himself and 'then Sadie blew cn to another port with “Handsome,” a marine. The director as well as Miss Swanson have been careful not to offend and they may have been a little too cautious. Sadie is a product of life, and if there was ever an opportunity to put realism in character upon the screen it was when Sadie got before the camera. Sadie is an ugly character, but she is life of a certain type. The story in the stage version was not a pleasant one. If you do not compare ‘‘Sadie Thompson” with the stage version under the title of “Rain,” I feel that you will have a better time.

Although the sub-titles are mild, many of the scenes as played by Miss Swanson as Sadie and by Lionel Barrymore as Alfred Atkinson are as hot as the stage version. The scenes showing Sadie getting all wild over Atkinson’s brand of religion clearly demonstrate the real dramatic power within the grasp of Miss Swanson. Here is mighty big emotional acting on the part of Gloria. And she has a mighty close second in Barrymore as the psalm-singing individual. Barrymore has contributed a characetr study in this movie .that will stand out as one of the ten best characterizations of the year. It is an unpleasant characterization but a powerful study of a man who couldn’t live up to his own teachings. The director has wisely retained the rain effects that ran all the way through the stage play. Raoul Walsh, the director, also plays the part of % Sergt. Tim O’Hara and he does a good job of it. The close-up lias been used for dramatic effect an “Sadie Thompson.” Miss Swanson, when she is all dolled up in her cruising garb, looks like the Sadie of Jeane Eagles, who created the part on the stage. They are going to talk about “.Sadie Thompson,” and that is always a good sign. And there are going to be many different verdicts on this one, but we will all agree

| that in the big scenes Miss Swanson j reveals dramatic power and feeling | that none of us through she pos- | sessed. The cast is as follows: j Alfred Atkinson.... Lionel Barrymore ! Mrs. Atkinson Blanche Friderici I Dr. McPhail Charles Lane I Mrs. McPhail Florence Midglev I Joe Horn, the trader ....James A. Marcus ! Ameena Sophia Artega Quartermaster Bates Will Stanon Sergeant Tim O'Hara Raoul Walsh' Sadie Thompson Gloria Swanson The stage show surrounding “Sadie Thompson” is a powerful one. Dusty Roades has a fine chance to show how good he can sing a hit from one of the new Broadway shows. This man Roades is a valuable man and, he should be given more opportunity each week to sing with Emil Seidel and his orchestra. Zelaya, pianist, does the remarkable thing of stopping the show by playing good music. And this man knows how to sell good music because he is a most wise showman. He tells you that 80 per cent*of the people like jazz and he tells you why straight from the shoulder. Here is one of the most unique men in the show business and a good pianist at that, in fact a fine one. He fits in very nicely with the stage presentation idea. Lucille Benstead goes in for high notes and a lot of ’em. I guess that I am way in the minority regarding the ability of this singer because the audience loved her. Joe Roberts is a banjo player and he is a wonder. I had to leave the Palace just as Jimmy Savo appeared. Here is a high, powered stage revue comic and he has always been a good artist. Seidel and Lester Huff, organist, have worked out a good overture idea by doing a Mr, Gallagher and Mr. Shean idea. Now at Loew’s Palace. a u a TIIE APOLLO HAS A REAL FILM NOVELTY “Ham and Eggs at the Front” is a movie novelty because the principal characters appear in blackface. The chief parts are taken by Tom Wilson, Heinie Conkiin and Myma Loy," and they are all in blackfact. This is necessary because the story concerns Negro soldiers in France during the war. This picture uses subtitles and Vitaphone as a musical background. On the stage we have many Negro actors and some of them have ap-

peared in real hits, I such as “Emperor ! Jones” and: “Porgy.” The all- I Negro revue on the j stage is no longer j a novelty, but the | use of a blackface j upon the screen Is new, or is to me, because I have never encountered it as far as I remember in a feature. Os course, Jolson used it in certain scenes in “The

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Myrna Loy

Zazz Singer,” but not as a character, as is done in “Ham and Eggs.” The picture opens with some Negro soldiers playing cards in an army post in this country. This scene is rather lengthy, but it seems necessary to get the idea of how certain players win all the time. The card shark will howl at this scene. The scenes at the front are similar to other war moves and the comedy situations are not new. The balloon st jX is used in anew way, and with good comedy effects. It is announced that this is the first movie using burnt-cork comedians through the entire picture. It is novel fun, something brand new. On Vitaphone this week we have another experiment, using the spoken voice in a dramatic sketch. This is something new. Personally, I am not so impressed because the voice of Irene Rich becomes so theatrical as well as melodramatic. A woman's scream doesn’t seem to register naturally over Vitaphone. And this method of projecting drama on the screen certainly shows up the melodrama tendencies of the actors. I may tfe all wrong on this one. Be your own judge. The other Vitaphone subjects include the Four Aristocrats and Joe Browning in “The Reformer,” the same vehicle that he has used upon the stage. The bill includes Movietone News and Fox News. Now at the Apollo. * n BARTHELMESS HAS ANOTHER BIG SUCCESS It seems that after several pictures have been made by an actor that he drops into a certain type of characterization. This is true with several actors and especially so with Richard

Barthelmess. His biggest successes were of the backwoods type of person he portrayed. In “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come,” he plays the part of Chad, the boy who thought that he had no “pappy.” The story by the same name is well known so I will only sketch through it. Chad, after his mother dies is taken in by the Turners,

Richard Barthelmess

who live in the Valley of Kingdom Come. Chad is taken to the city by the school master, and is adopted by Major Buford, who had a son that looked like Chad. The boy fell in love with Margaret Dean, who dispised him when he joined the Union forces when the Civil War broke out. The war sent him back to the valley of Kingdom Come, where he

finds that he really loves Lissy, the daughter of the Turners. He also finds that he is the rightful and legitimate grandson of Major Buford who forgives him for his joining the Union army. The story has given Barthelmess a chance in the parts which he has done so well within the past. As just Chad he is most charming in his simplicity. He has made himself as backwoodsy as the scenery. As the son of an aristocrat he is ; good, hut does not rise to any great heights. The big scene in the picture is the light that the command of men, under Capt. Chad Buford, has with the mountain men that are spreading terror throughout the countryside. This fight, supposedly at night, takes place in the rain. It shows the men as beasts and nearly inhuman, a great scene. . Molly O'Day has the part of “Lizzy Turner,” the girl in the Valley of Kingdom Come. She is the girl who sticks to the boy even when the rest of his friends turn against him in their bitterness. Miss O’Day rises to the character that the author created and does it justice. The Major is played by Claude Gillingwater. His part is light but he gives strength to the play. Doris Dawson has the part of Margaret. On the stage is the “Springtime Blues” with Eddie Pardo singing “Just Another Day Wasted Away.” Pardo has some clever patter to go with the song. Cully and Clair are two blues singers. Cully plays the banjo and Clair the “uke.” They get some hot tunes out of them. Cully also does a yodel number assisted by his partner. Freddy Martin is an eccentric dancer of the comedy type. He does one number that is supposed to be that of a drunk. This man sure is limber. Another dance is a burlesque of a Spanish dance. The Bennett Brothers, three in number, are tap dancers. They have the usual acrobatic tricks to their dancing and a good comedy dance. In one of the chorus numbers two singers, a piano player, a violin and a cello appear above the orchestra. This is rather high class and quite good. The overture, with Dave Silverman conducting, is called “Versitality.” A medley of popular and classical numbers with several solos including a violin solo by Edward Reisner. At the Circle. (By the Observer.) a tt MONTE BLUE PLAYS SOME BALL Persons that play baseball regularly do it as a business, but here is a stosy of a young man who did it as a pastime and was an inventor when he got the chance. This is a picture of a fellow who invented a gas pump and played baseball when he didn't have anything else to do. . ;v .

And was one of the best pitchers in his part of the country, "kiml&BsSKßL' In “The Bush Leager” Monte Blue * M pitches to win. IS Aa-\ m both the game and . the heart of the owner, who in this case was a girl. tESjMfL. Monte was known as “Thomas White." / but most generally as “Specs.” He was fujjkf w taken from a little town in Idaho. ** where he ran a gas Monte Blue station and invented his pump. It was while pitching a game that he saw “Alice Hobbs,” and got an offer to join the Los Angeles ball dub. He won his games on the strength of the smiles from Alice, after he finally met her. In trying to sell his pump he got mixed up in a deal of Wallace Ramsey's, who didn’t like him, and tried to get him off the team. Ramsey also was in love with Alice. But it all came out right in the end and everything was roses. The story is a light one and does not give Monte Blue the chance to show what he really can do. It is ordinary, but still entertainment, in that Monte is in another role, the bashful country boy. Comedy is given the piece by Clyde Cook, who plays the part of “Skeetcr McKinley,” the catcher and nursemaid of Specs. Leila Hyams plays the part of Alice. She makes a very attractive owner of a bail club and also a rather dumb one, not knowing much what is happening. Richard Tucker has the part of Ramsey and is the usual conception of the high-class villain.

The other picture. “The Sporting Age,” has been reviewed in this department before. Belle Bennett, Holmes Herbert, Carrol Nye and Josephine Borio are heading the cast. A picture that centers around the horse racing game and track. At the Ohio. (By the Observer.) tt u tt NEW THEATER HAS A SPLENDID OPENING The Fountain Square Theater is now open, having achieved, a brilliant opening Saturday night and followed by a most satisfactory day Sunday. In this department previously, I have told you about this beautiful new theater. The feature movie on the opening bill is Charlie Chaplin in “The Circus.” You know what I think about this one—l think it is the most human as well as the best comedy that Chaplin has given the screen. Connie is master of ceremonies and he has the support of his band. Mile. Theo Hewes and her dancers are present. Others taking part on the first bill are Charles E. Howe and the Skinner Twins. The bill changes on Tuesday with Douglas Fairbanks featured in “The Gaucho.” tt o u STUART WALKER TO OPEN SEASON TONIGHT Tonight at 8:30 o'clock the curtain rises on the opening of the

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THE INTiIANAPOLIS TIMES

eleventh summer repertory season of the Stuart Walker Company at Keith's Theater. The Governor, the mayor, Booth Tarkington and Meredith Nicholson, are among the prominent people who will attend. “Why Marry?” the Pulitizer prize comedy, written by Joseph Lynch Williams, is the play chosen by Mr. Walker to inaugurate the summer season. The leads are taken by George Gaul, one of the leading men with the Theatre Guild; Marie Adels, leading lady for Walter Hampden; Larry Fletcher, an Indianapolis youth who won success and fame on the New York stage after starting out with Walker; Regina Stanfiel, Aldrich Bowkcr, who played many, many times with Mrs. Fiske; Juflth Lowry and William Ingersoll. An army of workmen have been kept busy the past ten days cleaning Keith’s Theater, building new sets and generally fixing up the theater for the opening tonight. Walker will attend the opening. George Somnes, who is Walker’s director here, will also be there. Other Indianapolis theaters today offer: “The Barker” at English’s; “Coo-Coo Charley” at the Lyric; “Pitfalls of Passion” at the Colonial and burlesque at the Mutual. Business School Meeting BLOOMINGTON, Ind., May 7. W. A. Rawles, dean of the school of commerce and finance at Indiana University, Pnof. G. W. Starr, director, and Prof. F. V. Chew, assistant director of the bureau of research, attended the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business convention held at Northwestern University, Evanston. 111., over the week end. Thirty-nine schools belong to the association. Dean Rawles has been secretary treasurer of the association for the last four years. May Festival Friday By Times Special COLUMBUS. Ind., May 7.—Miss Etta L. Robertson will be queen of the annual May festival to be held here Friday by the girls’ physical education department of the city's public schools.

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Amateurs Give Good Program The Kirshbaum Symphony Orchestra gave their program at the Kirshbaum Community Center last night with Ellis Levy violinist, as the assisting artist. Mr. Levy, with his wife accompanying him at the piano, gave two groups. The first, a sonata by Eccles, in four parts. The first two parts wer similar. In the last two movements of the number there was more life and the violinist

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played accordingly. Mr. Levy gave an encore, which was unannounced. In his second group he played Bruch’s “Kol Nidre.” Mr. Levy got the breaks and sobbing effects that the singer can get with great brilliancy. The other two numbers of the group were original compositions. The first. “Gariiole” and the second “Ghost Dance.” The second had some parts to it that were strange to me, but it was exceedingly colorful and well played. The audience demanded two encores, the first was unannounced, but the second was another composition of Mr. Levy’s called “The Swung Song.” This had a peculiarly soothing rhythm that gave one the swinging effect that I am sure was intended. The symphony orchestra played a number writtten by Mr. Levy originally as a quartet for four violins

and a piano. The arrangement had been made by the director, Charles Herr. The best number by the orchestra was “Kommenoi Ostrow," by Rubenstein. There was a harp used in this number. In the first group of numbers was Beethoven's “Fifth Symphony,” the first movement.

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and the “Blue Danube Waltz,” by Strauss. The remaining number was the last, the “Overture Semlramide,” by Rossini. A splendid performance by an amateur organization. At the Kirshbauum Community Center last night.—By Charles Garrison.

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