Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 222, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 November 1935 — Page 6

PAGE 6

FAUN' HAS ELEMENTS OF GREAT, IF NOT POPULAR, PLAY

Some Polish Needed for Perfection Highly Intellectual Work Is Given Premiere at Civic Theater. BY JOHN \V. THOMPSON From a cloud of skepticism, doubt, hope and prayer. "Faun.” the new play by Charles Bruce Milholland, has arisen a beautiful uncut jewel, rough and unpolished, yet giving glimpses here and there of what lies within. The play is being performed for the first time this w r eck at the Civic. "Faun” is a highly intellectual play. It gives one thinking material that will last. It has been expertly designed, splendidly executed, and lacks only the final “something” to make it a great play. 'Note: we didn't say popular play.) The story of "Faun” tells of Vadim Valsky, famous Russian dancer, whose poetic soul demanded the expression of his body as much as the souls of Keats Browning and Shakespeare demanded literary expression. Signs Contract With Sergayeff The plot is this: Valsky signs a contract with Boris Sergayeff which sets forth that he never shall marry, never dance for anyone else. Valsky meets Rozika. whose intense love for him finally wins him over and they are married. Sergayeff, jealous, breaks off with Valsky, forces him to dance in vaudeville for a living, finally takes him back, gets him a iob in America. There, because of the rift between manager and wife, Valsky is injured, forced to retire in Switzerland where he is thought to have lost his mind. Trying to explain that he hasn’t, he actually does go insane when Sergayeff and constables force him into a straitjacket. The play, before it is over, completes an intricate cycle of human life, beginning with the insanity of the dancer’s father. Ladislov, and ending with the insanity of the dancer himself. It is as lovely an example of genius beating its wings in futility against the doors of fate as we have ever seen. Not a Dull Plav Yet, fear not. because of these poetic allusions, that "Faun” is dull. It has everything any play needs; plot, action, color, romance and melodrama. Mr. Milholland has left no stone unturned in the attempt to make this very difficult story interesting even to those who never heard of a male dancer like Vadim Valsky. There could be no more exacting test, of the playwright than that of making a 10-scene play about a male dancer so interesting as to hold an Indianapolis audience in their seats for two hours and a half, without a whimper of restlessness. Mr. Milholland has passed this test successfully. Furthermore he did it Saturday night with the limited mechanical facilities of the Civic, which wasn’t built with the idea of ever producing such a play as “Faun.” We could not help but forecast the beauty of “Faun” if it were to be produced with a revolving stage whereby those short, vibrant scenes could be presented with the rapidity which the tempo of the script seems to require. Needs Rewriting in Spots Or, going further yet, to image what might be done with “Faun” as a movie scenario, which could capture the atmosphere only suggested in its first presentation, an atmosphere akin to that in “Peter Ibbetson.” and “Outward Bound,” and “Crime Without Passion.” We do not believe that “Faun” is a finished product. It needs rewriting in places. It needs the crescendos and diminuendos that it only hints at now. There are several scenes which move too slowly and some that, could be retarded. But the fact remains that the soul of a great play has sprung from Mr. Milholland’s pen. With no discredit to Mr. Milholland. “Faun” needs someone besides Its author to play its leading role. He has suggested in his overdone characterization a role which would be hard to fill. Yet Vadim Valsky should be portrayed as the author intends he should be portrayed. That Mr. Milholland is not a great getor is to be expected. He is an author. It was right that he shold play the role in the play’s first showing. No one could have transmitted to

A Rare Treat for Times Readers THANKSGIVING DAY Thursday’s Times will be filled with striking features, among them: • FAMOUS BABIES COLOR SUPPLEMENT Featuring a full page of those darling DIONNES IN NATURAL COLOR. Also latest poses of Shirley Temple. Baby Leßov, Joan Hannah Dempsey, His Highness Akihito Tsugunomiya of Japan and other famed youngsters. • “AS HY NOT TRY GOD?” Mary Pickfords very human and appealing story of her triumphant search for spiritual serenity begins in The Times Thursday. . . . and Many Other Great Features Don’t Miss Thursday’s Times

San Carlo Opera Company to Appear at English's Friday and Saturday

the audience the mind, soul and heart of the great dancer more earnestly. But it wasn’t by great j acting that Mr. Milholland achieved | this. It was by the much more dis- ! ficult medium of feeling his role so j deeply as to figuratively breathe it ! into his watchers without need for! perfect expression. Too many orchids can not be tossed to Frederick Burleigh and his splendid Civic Theater crew, which produced “Faun” in a highly professional manner. The ballets, under the hand of Anna Ludmila, j have taken on polish which could ! be achieved in few cities outside of j New York. Director Burleigh has i handled the sets for “Faun” with as much simplicity as he dared.” The ship deck set for Scenes 2. 3 and 4 of Act 1 is an exceptionally well done piece of stage craft. The backstage set for Scene 1, Act 3. is also very good. But it is the final scene set. Valsky’s Switzerland re- j treat which reaches the acme of the “Faun’s” stage art. Green Does Ilis Best Work Norman Green’s delineation of the character of Sergayeff. Valsky’s manager who loved him furiously with the love of a friend who knows his worth to the world of art. is the j outstanding role in the Civic’s cast. I It is the best work Mr. Green has done in his many years with the local theater. His speeches in Scene 2. Act 2. backstage at the London Variety Hall where Valsky has been forced to dance for a living, are the climax of the play. Likewise has C’Mari de Schipper reached the peak of her Civic work ii) vole of Rozika, the woman who loved Valsky with all the passion a woman is capable of, who gave up her career to bear him a child, but who failed, just as Sergayeff failed, to save him from the abyss fate had carved for him. A Play for Posterity Os the “lessers” Jane Weil, as Comtesse de Castlemont, the society “bud” whose superficial craving for a part in the ballet grew into a strong appreciation of what Valskv was trying to do. stands out. Edward Green. Katherine Fulton. Jane Dygert and Garret Olds are also st*nen members of the cast. One is not able to predict howsuch a play as “Faun” would be received on Broadway. It is a.play for ! posterity, just as Valsky was a ! genius for posterity, in an art which is only now coming into its own. However, if “Faun” never goes beyond the narrow confines of its initial production here, the world assuredly will be better off because it has been written. Since we are so sure of that, we are led to believe that there is a producer somewhere i who will not let it stay hidden, will not allow it to be tossed into the 1 theatrical waste basket. Tumbles Several Ways Ethel Merman had to ride in a “moon.” slide down a bannister, ail off a bicycle and tumble from a ship’s rail for various scenes in Bing Crosby's “Anything Goes.” Stand-in Resembles Star In her last five pictures. Claudette Colbert has had the same stand-in, Pluma Nosion. who looks enough like the star to be her sister. They are good friends in private life.

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Stars of the San Carlo Opera Cos., appearing at English’s Friday and Saturday on the Martens concert series, are shown here with their manager. Above, left to right, are Goeta Ljungberg. guest artist from the Metropolitan, whtffis to sing Elsa in Saturday night’s performance of “Lohengrin,” Eianca Saroya as Aida and Mostyn Thomas as Amonasro in “Aida,” Friday. Below are Fortune Gallo manager of the company, and Hizi Kovke, the diminutive Japanese soprano who will sing the title role in Puccini's “Madame Butterfly” at the Saturday Matinee.

Religious Art Show Fixed for Dec. 1, 2

The assembly room of Norih Methodist Episcopal Church is to be converted into a museum of religious art when Dr. H. Augustine Smith of Boston exhibits his col-

out, 4 Lost Days! I I FOUND Estf.LLA PARISH , with her greatest cost J TER • PAUL LUKAS • SYBIL JASON J A firii National Pitturt

MARTENS CONCERT, Inc. ENGLISH THEATRE Fortune Gallo Presents 150—Ballet and Symphony Orchestra Fri. Night —Nov. 29—‘’Aida, '* 8:20 P. M. Sat. Mat. Nov. 30 —‘ Madame Butterfly,” 2:20 P. M. Sat. Night—Nov. 30—" Lohengrin,” 8:00 P. M. Prompt Good Scats Now on Sale Martens Ticket Office 33 Monument Circle

| ~Baits Strand-—?onight

TOOAV—7 .MORROW KATHARINE HEPBURN in "ALICE ADAMS” George Raft in "Every Night at Eight”

PATRICIA PAIGE 8008 BLAKE And New Company ♦o—Real Burlrsk Stars—itt

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

lection of 1000 copies of masterpieces, Dec. 1 and 2. Dr. Smith is to relate the stories of the pictures and is to present some

II 10-RING CIRCUS P\T^ mO If i pj < v ”"' Paf%- | Ilf <v •* SiTl JUilh • 25c • COLOR “OLD MEXICO” WLmmmAJkAJKJk to 6 cartoon in color:

in human characters on the stage. I Exhibit of these copies, many of j which are in oil, is to be open to the I public.

WHERE, WHAT, WHEN APOLLO "Thanks a Million.’’ with Dick Powell. Fred Allen and Ann Dvorak, at 11:32. 1:32, 3:32. 5:32. 7:32 and 9:32. CIRCLE “The Three Musketeers.” with Walter Abel and Paul Lukas at 11:30. 1:35. 3:40. 5:50, 7:55 and 10. CIVIC’ THEATER "Faun." anew play by Charles Bruce Milholland. at 8:30 tonight. INDIANA "So Red the Rose,” starring Margaret Sullavan, with Walter Connolly and Randolph Scott, at 11:45. 1:50. 3:50, 5:55. 7:55 and 10. LOEWS "It’s in the Air." with Jack Benny. Ted Healy and Una Merkel, at 11. 1:52, 4:44, 7:36 and 10:23. Also "A Feather in Her Hat.” featuring Pauline Lord and Basil Rathbone, at 12:29. 3:21 6:13 and 9:05. LYRIC "I Found Stella Pari||i.” with Kay Francis on the screen ”t 11:40, 2:24 5:08. 7:52 and 10:26. Also ’The Blue Venus Revue,” with Frank Libuse, on stage at 1:19. 4:03. 6:47 and 9:31. OHIO "Every Night at Eight." at 10:30 1:54, 5:18 and 8:42. Also Katharine Hepburn in "Alice Adams,” at 11:50, 3:23. 6:47 and 10:01.

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Rich and Flexible Voice Is Displayed by Martini at English's Concert One of Season's Largest and Most Enthusiastic Crowds Greets Famous Singer and Repeatedly Recalls Him for Encores. BY JAMES THRASHER The lyric loveliness that is Italian singing at its best was exemplified in the concert by Nino Martini at English's yesterday afternoon. A distinguished representative of the land of song. Martini displayed a voice of rich timbre, great range and flexibility, for which technical problems seem scarcely to exist.

All the resources of fine vocal production—smooth flowing phrases, dynamic contrast, a thrilling forte and whispering pianissimo—are at his command. Yet Martini is not a bombastic, or even a dramatic singer. The excess of emotion so often found in Italian operatic tenors is happily absent, and his interpretations are of extremely good taste. This good taste, however, seemed to have deserted Mr. Martini in the matter of program building The radio and motion pictures give us an abundance, if not a surfeit, of songs of the “ballad” type, and it was disappointing to find that as well-equipped qn artist as Martini had chosen a program, two-thirds of which must be dismissed with the comment that it was tuneful and beautifully sung. It was a musical banquet with a startling preponderance of dessert. Miguel Sandoval was admirable, both as accompanist and soloist. His background to Mr. Martini’s songs were songful in themselves, yet very rhythmically alive. Two groups of solos, though of slight musical importance. were artistically played, and gave evidence of Mr. Sandoval's Wears Special Ring The seven-karat sapphire ring worn by Claudette Colbert in “The Bride Comes Home” had to be made to order as an ordinary ring would not photograph with the effect desired. Eric Linden Once Clerk Eric Linden was bookkeeper, bank runner, travel bureau employe and shipping clerk before he landed his first acting job in the New York Theater Guild.

HURRY! LAST3 DAYS

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STARTS THANKSGIVING MY * ROGERS IN OLD KENTUCKY OOROTHY WILSON iJIL RUSSELL HAROIE Hggrf CHARLES SELLON *B \ LOUISE HE NR V Wt \V ALAN O'NEHART * 1 BILL ROBINSON

FIFTH CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST INDIANAPOLIS, INDIA X A announces a FKKK LKCTTUK OX CHRISTIAN SCIENCE ROBERT STANLEY ROSS, C. S. B. OK NEW YORK CITY Member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts IN CADLE TABERNACLE OHIO AND NEW JERSEY STREETS MONDAY, NOV. 25th, 1935, AT 8 P. M. The Public Is Cordially Invited to Attend

’ > —ITT” * ~r~. — nr-. — me. TONIGHT? ir PESMSSENTATIONS 1 NEIGHBORHOOD THEATERS^!

WEST SIDE ST * m n 2<02 W. 10th St. I I r. Double Feature Greta Garbo “ANNA KARENINA" “SHE GETS HER MAN” BELMONT " DouWe r Fea B tu , ” 0, “ Kav Francis “THE GOOSE AND THE GANDER” •HERE COMES THE BAND" Da jrs \T 2510 W. Mich. St. Alai o? üb,r F n a ‘ ur * Marion Davies “PAGE MISS GLORY” “HOT TIP” NORTH SIDE RI T 7 Illinois at 34tb 1 1 Li Double Feature Ted Lewis ‘HERE COMES THE BAND” “SL'PERSPEED” UPTOWN Double Feature Claudette Colbert ‘ SHE MARRIED HER BOSS” “HOT TIP” n i/>r 30th and Illinois IIARRILh Double Feature UIIIVIVIV.IIV Spencer Tracy "MURDER MAN" • WE RE IN THE MONEY” nm /"NT A |TS St. Clair Sc Ft. Wayne Si IjLAIK Double Feature kJA. VJIaJVUV Clark Gable “CALL OF THE WILD” "BONNIE SCOTLAND" ___ n r 30th at Northwestern Kh X Double Feature Joe E. Brown “SIX DAY BIKE RIDER” “ANNA KARENINA” TALBOTT “CALL OF THE WILD" “BONNIE SCOTLAND" p, ' e , 19th A College Stratford “WHEREWOLF OF LONDON” "DEVIL DOGS OF THE AIR" Mp /y /y a Noble Sc Mass. K li Ij A Double Feature Lc KJ VJ a James Cagney "G-MEN” "KEEPER OF THE BEES DREAM WSTMVirginia Bruce "LET EM HAVE IT" EAST SIDE R> it ii Dearborn at 10th I V (Ml Double Feature * T v *■' * Marion Davies “PAGE MISS GLORY” “HERE COMES COOKIE”

NOV. 25, 193d

thorough command of the resources of his instrument. One of the season’s largest and most enthusiastic crowds greeted the singer, and recalled him. with tumultuous applause, for encores at the end of each group. For those who are performers or students of singing, and for the listeners who arc content with exquisite vocal sound. Nino Martini’s concert was a feast, indeed.

AMMII OAK&IY She once shot o cigarette from the mouth of Kaiser Wilhelm! Had her aim wavered the World War might never have been fought! See Her Tlf I E-LIFE Story Storting Thursday at the CIRCLE

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EAST SIDE TACOMA , S£.'SAS-~ , _ John Boles REDHEADS ON PARADE” "THUNDER MOUNTAIN” TUXEDO Double * Feature Edward Arnold DIAMOND JIM” "REDHEADS ON PARADE” ID V I V r 5507 r Wash. St. 1 Tv V 1 iv VT Double Feature Fredric March “THE DARK ANGEL” “FIGHTING YOUTH” _ EMERSON Linger Roser* “TOP HAT ’ HAMILTON Elinor Powell “BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936” PARKER “CHINA SEAS” “OLD MAN RHYTHM” STRAND “W Ginger Rogers “TOP HAT” Chas. Chase Comedy—Cartoon ROXY Richard Arlcn "LLT ’EM HAVE IT” “CHEERS OF THE CROWD” Paramount t::T~ “ESCAPADE" “FIGHTING YOUTH” SOUTH SIDE FOUNTAIN SQUARE - Jack Benny. Robt. Taylor. F.leanor Powell “Broadwav Melodv of 1936” SANDERS r' • THE GLASS KEY" "HOORAY FOR LOVE” Air . s at Prospect-Churchman \AL 0 N • ALICE ADAMSSILENT CODEORIENTAL Jean Harlow CHINV SEAS” "GOING HIGHBROW” GARFIELD Joe E. Brown "BRIGHT LIGHTS” “WELCOME HOME”