Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 235, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 February 1930 — Page 16
PAGE 16
DAYS OF MINSTRELS WERE HAPPY ONES 'Happy Days’ Brings to the Talking Screen Many a Stage Star Who Got His Start in Blackface. BY WALTER D. HIC KMAN THOSE of us who go back as far as the day when the appearances of A1 G. Fields. Honey Boy Evans, Law Dockstader and their minstrels were great events in town, will feel the same thrill in seeing “Minstrel Days.” The minstrel show as far as the road is concerned in the legitimate theater is a thing of the past because most of the old boys whose names headed the shows are no longer with us. And yet when I saw the long lines of people trying to buy tickets for “Happy Days" at the Apollo, I felt sure that the old timers among theater goers have not forgotten the good old minstrel days and that the younger generation desires to get wise to what the good days are all about.
“Happy Days’’ is a glorified minstrel Bhow done in modem tempo. The blackface circle is there with the end-men and all the other necessary characters. But modern photography makes it possible for the black makeup to vanish in a
second and the actor appears just as he does in real life. Any picture having the services of Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Edmund Lowe, El Brendel, Victor McLaglen, Will Rogers, Sharon Lynn, James Corbett, Walter Catlett, Ann Pennington, Tom Patricola, Warner Baxter and a gang of many others, is
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Sharon Lynn
bound to be interesting. To me, I was more interested in the time devoted to the benefit minstrel performance because many of the old time performers as w r ell as the newer ones are put through their paces. As this is really a minstrel review, there isn’t much of a story, but whatever story there is it falls to Marjorie White to put across. “Happy Days” is full of many songs and there is lot of hot hoofing, done by Tom Patricola, Ann Pennington and many others. There are several unique specialty dance numbers, all done in most elaborate style from a scenic standpoint. - The cast alone is sufficient to guarantee an entertaining time in the theater. "Happy Days” will be the talk of the town this week at the Apollo. ana THEN MARIE AND I’OLLY BECOME SOUSED Even in these alleged prohibition davs, you will remember when you see "Chasing Rainbows” the very excellent “bun’’ that Marie Dressier and Polly Moran develop in their dressing room. This aouse of Marie and Polly is just about the funniest exhibit of
this sort of thing that I have ever seen on any screen, silent or alive. Dressier is rapidly becoming the most beloved funny woman on the screen today since the talkers arrived. It does not require a souse scene to make her famous, because she delivers in every’ scene in this picture. This wom-
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an knows her theater. She is happy in her work. She has a song number about her socalled personality which is a burlesque wow. Polly takes the count in this souse scene and poor Marie tries to bring her around by opening another bottle of ginger ale. Os course she had no opener and before she finished the battle, she had ruined the plumbing in her dressing room. Gosh, this is gorgeous fun. Call it common, call it by its right name but it is still gorgeous human fun put over by two women who know how to deliver comedy. “Chasing Rainbows” Is another
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one of these back stage stories about the guy with ability, who is dumb to love but wild over the dame who has flash, dash and a secret lover. Charles King does the boob stuff before he wakes up to the fine worth of the character played by Bessie Love. And let me tell you right now that Miss Love is just as fine in song, dance or the spoken word as sihe has ever been. Jack Benny gets away from that terrible master of ceremony disease and plays a part, that of the company manager of the tank town company. “Chasing Rainbows” makes the world a happier place to live. And thank everybody that we have Marie Dressier, who knows how to make people laugh. To me she is more important to the world than a savings account. She makes the laughs multiply interest in life. See this one. Now at the Palace. a a a THE HERO WINS. HE ALWAYS DOES. The race is on. The odds are against our hero. Can he win the race? But why worry? The hero always wins. This is just what Richard Arlen does, as our hero in the talkie,
Mary Brian
had been planned, Richard is not supposed to win this race. A large bet of twenty-five thousand is made, depending on him to come in last. Most every picture has some love interest. And when Richard meets Mary Brian, it is love at first sight. Mary happens to have a father, and it is with him the big bet is made. Richard is unaware of this bet, until the day befox-e the race, when Mary’s father tells him he must win for him. Immediately going to his manager, he asks that the race be called off. But no luck. Whether he races or not, the bet still holds good. So Richard goes in the race to win, instead of to lose, and, as I have told you, the hero always wins. “Burning Up” is Richard Arlen’s first starring picture, and reminds one of the fast racing pictures, in which our former Wallace Reid used to star. The supporting cast is good, leading with Mary Brian and Tully Marshall, and including Charles Sellon, Sam Hardy and Francis McDonald. The race has been well photographed, and is good for several thrills. Just nice, light entertainment. The stage presentation this week is called “Novelties.” Novelties are furnished by the Gamby Hale girls in the way of dance routine. Their tap dance, performed on the toes, is splendid. Schicktl’s Marionettes furnish something quite unusual in the way of a puppet show. An ugly animal changes into a beautiful woman, and a man into an airplane. The Two Black Dots step off some fast tap dancing and Anna Chang, the little Japanese singer, apparently seems to be a favorite here, (having appeared on the Indiana stage before) from the amount of anplause she receives. The cast also
IVlar.e Dressier
14 95
“Burning Up,” now showing at the Indiana. Thrown from the track through the fence, by the treachery of his opponent, it seems that he has lost his heart for the race. But as Tully Marshall, his manager, says he must have had a spare heart along with him. But this makes things bad for Tully and his friends. For, as
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Air Interview On Tuesday, from 1 to 1:30 p. m., when Walter D. Hickman broadcasts his weekly theatrical review over WKBF, Miss Frances Kennedy, musical comedy star and now in vaudeville, will be interviewed. She has been associated with many of the great names of the stage in the last twenty years, and she will be asked regarding those experiences. She is one of the few stars whc owns a radio station. Her station is at Gary, Ind. Miss Kennedy is appearing at the Lyric this week, her first visit here in three years.
includes a female impersonator and a comedian. Along w'ith the stage show appear five girls picked for the Indianapolis Times-Indiana theater Sunshine girl contest. The contest is judged from the amount of applause each girl gets at each performance. An overture, including selections from “Rio Rita,” conducted by Ed Resener and an organ solo by Dessa Byrd conclude the bill. This week at the Indiana until Friday. (By Cornell Turpen). n a a JUST TOO BAD IS THIS ONE Somebody has gone hog wild in producing “Behind the Makeup.” In the first place the director was on a mental holiday or asleep at his post. The director, the cutter or what ever it is, lost the story of “Be-
hind the Makeup.” We have endless conversation to develop a scene that should have been delivered in one second. Never have I seen a film and heard sound for no reason whatsoever. Here is one or just another of those back stage stories. If vaudeville life was reflected honestly in this story, there might have
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Kay Francis
been a chance for this movie. You are concerned with an alleged artist, played by William Powell, who develops temperament and a dialect. Just too bad. He is false to his partner on the stage, played by Hal Skelly, who discloses a technique that an ice man would be disgusted with, and he is false to his very good wife. The result is that Powell kills himself. And he didn’t, meaning the character, any too soon. Even Kay Francis can’t save the picture. Just why they produce this rot, I do not know. Be your own judge. I have my own very decided idea. Now at the Circle. HUM Ethel Barrymore opens tonight at English’s in ‘ The Kingdom of God." Other theaters today offer: Frances Kennedy at the Lyric, “Daring Damsels’’ at the Rialto, “Puss Puss” at the Mutual, “Steppin* High” at the Colonial, “‘Show’ of Shows” at the Ohio, and movies at the Granada. Cats are tree-climbing animals, and birds, not mice, are their only enemies.
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COOPER SEEKS CONGRESS POST State Senator Is Auditor for Gas Department. Bruce E. Cooper of Stewartsville, state senator and traveling auditor of the state gasoline department, today announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for congress from the first district. He will oppose Representative Harry E. Rowbottom of Evansville for renomination, and anew aspirant, Russell Dyer of Spurgeon. Cooper, one of the political opportunists, who arose in the Stephenson era, is First district Republican chairman, succeeding the aid of the now discredited Herbert Males faction of Vanderburgh county, in wresting the chairmanship from Stuart Fisher of Princeton, in 1928. Prior to this he was Posey county chairman. Cooper, who has a farm in posey county, was elected state representative in 1924 and state senator in 1926. He served in the navy. INJURIES ABE FATAL Michigan Man Dies After Auto-Train Crash. Injuries incurred when his automobile was demolished by a Pennsylvania train at Six Points crossing on the National road Saturday night, were fatal to Daniel Hawkins, 58, Mason, Mich., in St. Vincent’s hospital early Sunday. His car skidded into the path of the train as he attempted to stop, Mrs. Hawkins told Coroner C. H. Keever. She was following with some friends, close behind Hawkins’ machine. A boy riding with Hawkins was injured only slightly. The body was sent to Mason today. They were driving from Evansville to their home when the ac- | cident occurred,
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FASTS 27 DAYS IN JAIL Ohioan Seeks to “Punish” Judge for for “Unjust” Penalty. By United Press WARREN, 0., Feb. 10.—Richard Stewart, 47, rug merchant, today entered his twenty-seventh day of fasting “to punish Probate Judge Sidney Jones” for sentencing him to county jail. John Risher, sheriff, said he would take steps to feed the prisoner forcibly or have a sanity hearing. Stewart is serving out a $203 fine, imposed after he was found gxiilty of molesting a woman in his ru" store here. Stewart declares he was unjustly imprisoned because the customer encouraged his attentions.
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TAFT IMPROVES VASTLY; NOW ABLETOSIT UP Appetite Increasing; Doctors Are Encouraged by Good Signs. WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.—Continued improvement was noted today in the condition of William Howard Taft, who has been gravely ill at his home here. Although the former chief justice is not regarded as out of danger, physicians appeared encouraged regarding his condition. He is able to sit in a chair for a few minutes each day and his appetite seems to be increasing. Only one official bulletin was issued Sunday by Drs. Thomas A. Claytor and Francis Hagner, his physicians. That, at noon, said he was resting quietly. His home was dark throughout the night and this was accepted as an indication that he enjoyed another comfortable night of rest. Taft’s condition has changed but little during the last few hours, it was understood, but he has improved vastly since he returned, Tuesday, from Asheville, N. C, “Bloody Ninth” Veteran Dies * VALPARAISO, Ind., Feb. 10— Louis Ladaner, 84, member of the “Bloody Ninth” Indiana regiment during the Civil war, died of pneumonia.
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_FtB. 10, 1930