Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 December 1936 — Page 36
~~ the point.
Tragedy of Human Lives;
‘Brat’ Likes Part,
Fine Portrayal Is Given By Capable Cast at English's.
BY JAMES THRASHER
In the wake of a young and spasmodic theatrical season of brilliant comedy of one sort and another, comes now to English’s “The Children’s Hour,” as bitter and searching a tragedy of human lives as has been given the American theater in several seasons. Its fame has preceded the
local presentation of this play by Lillian Hellman. Mixed with fame has been a good deal of unnecessary publicity. So it might be said that any accusations of “immorality,” such as are banning it from Chicago at present, are beside . It is adult entertain- * ment, strictly, but it touches. the roots of human nature and human cruelty too deeply to be dismissed by a shrug or a sniff. It is no more distasteful than a course in abnormal psychology. Like a snowball, to use an un- : poetic simile, which gathers size as it rolls on, Miss Hellman's plot starts wtih the angry threat of a spiteful school child, and proceeds until it has stifled four lives in hopeless ruin. Mary Tilford, as thoroughly “hateable” a character .as you will ever see, is a pupil in a girls' school run by two young women, Karen Wright and Martha Dobie. She hates these teachers with the unreasoning venom of her nature, nurtured by a grandmother’s adulation. She rules her schoolmates with a ruthless, sadistic power.
A Child “Gets Even”
One day, irked by a petty discipline, she determined to “get even.” She forces from her {friends the overheard accusation made by Mrs. Mortar, a former actress, a silly,
spiteful and maddening self-cen-tered- woman, and Martha's aunt. Mrs. Mortar chides Martha for bein~ sulky every time that Dr. Cardin, Karen’s fiance, is present. She adds a malicious claim of Martha's affection for Karen. The eavesdropping children overhear this, which is enough for Mary. She runs away from school, returns to her grandmother and whispers her vicious lies, The well-meaning Mrs. Tilford, in shocked and doting blindness, withdraws Mary from ihe school, Other mothers, at her insistence, do (likewise.
Romance Broken Up
From here the play proceeds with the characters’ lives to utter ruin. , An unsuccessful libel suit brought by the accused teachers, the break- - up of Karen's romance, are incidents which, by the time Mary has confessed her lie, engulf the teachers, the doctor and Mrs. Tilford. Miss Hellman definitely is of ‘the Ibsen-O'Neill school. Fate moves these pitiable four in an inexorable path. It is powerful writing. The dark, subterranean rivers of warped thought are revealed, elemental and understandable. The players, untamiliar names to most of us, give a tremendously moving performance. There is behind their reading a psychological understanding which destroys what might be implausable fragments of the play’s texture.. The third act is of a poignant tragic quality which turns one's blood to water.
Portrayals Are Flawless
Individually, it would be unfair to select an outstanding portrayal. Katherine Emery as Karen, Anne Revere as Martha, Florence McGee, already somewhat famous in the role of Mary, Katherine Emmet as Mrs. Tilford, and the Mrs. Mortar of Aline McDermott safely may be called - flawless. Blaine Cordnef as Dr. Cardin and the lesser roles are done with equal artistry. : “The Children’s Hour” contributes, with mastery and without offense, to an understanding of a portion of life which need not be shunned. And pre-eminently, perhaps, it is excellent theater.
NEW PLAYER ARRIVES
Private showing of a European motion picture in Hollywood resulted in the arrival in the film capital of the Continent’s newest film importation, Franzisca Gaal, youthful singing Viennese actress.
SURGEON IS SIGNED
Dr. T. P. McLaughlin, Hollywood surgeon, today was signed to over‘see technical details on the forthcoming production, “Happiness Preferred,” featuring Warren William and Karen Morley. % i ——————————————
LIONEL TO FISH -
~_ Lionel Barrymore plans to com- - bine pleasure and business while at ies to Simo pia Courageous.” He took a complete deep-sea fishing
Young Canadian Actress In Unpopular Role 94 Weeks.
BY RALPH NORMAN
“Don’t look now, but there's that brat from ‘The Children’s' Hour.’ ”
goes, Florence McGee, who created the role of the hateful, detestable Mary Tilford,
explained last night before her first performance at English’s.
lobbies or on the street, Miss McGee said, but her audiences:occasionally are moved by her performance to boo and hiss during the play.
were we talking to Miss McGee after her performance we would be tempt-
no, a thorough beating—but if such ever happened she didn’t reveal it when we talked to her. The young Canadian actress, who off stage is totally unlike the character she has portrayed for 85 weeks in New York and nine weeks in Philadelphia and other cities, likes her role despite the matinee ladies who from the front row grumble, “Just look at her face!” :
A Part That ‘Grows’
It is a part that grows, Miss McGee explained, and because it is unique, she always finds more to do with it. She is emphatic she wants no “sappy” ingenue parts. ~~ Miss McGee is paying Indianapolis her second visit, having played here several years ago in an ‘en-
tirely different type production,
“Papa Juan,” with Otis Skinner. She also was on the New York stage in “Maedchen in Uniform,” “Mahogany Hall,” and “Cloudy With Showers,” and at one time was with the Provincetown (Mass.) players. Unlike many young actresses of the legitimate stage, Miss McGee isn’t aiming at Hollywood. “I'm not. beautiful,” she declared. “I can play only certain character parts, and movies interest me only if- I am wanted for those roles.” Even then, she feels, opportunitie in the movies are limited. l
She'll Visit Art Gallery
If you feel you must see Miss McCiee off stage, we can cite you the one place in Indianapolis she is sure to visit today or tomorrow. At the John Herron Art Institute is a painting by her . husband, Byron Thomas, and she intends to see it. She isn’t sure about the picture, but she.thinks it’s a self-portrait. Because her husband is in New York, Miss McGee thinks during most of her spare moments only of Christmas vacation in the East before the next road trip, which will take “The’ Children’s Hour” to Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, possibly Chicago and on west.
SHIRLEY GIVEN PUPPY
. Shirley Temple has - already received her first Christmas present of the season in the form of a puppy, the gift of a worker on the set of “Stowaway,” her current picture.
WHERE, WHAT, WHEN
APOLLO.
“Can This Be Dixie,” with Jane Withers, Slim Summerville and Helen Wood, at 12, 1:59, 3:58. 5:97, 7:56
CIRCLE
“East Meets West,” with Csorgs Arliss and Lucie Mannheim, at 11, 1:52, 4:44, 7:36 and 10:28. S0, “Without Orders,” with Sally Eilers and Robert Armstrong. at 12:48, 3:40, 6:32 ‘and 9:24. Spanish Civil War film at 12:24, 3:16, 6:08 and 8.
CIVIC THEATER
eaibells presented by Civic Theay and gu yers. Curtain at 5:50. r v
ENGLISH'S
“The Children’s “Hour,” drama by Lillian Hellman. Curtain at 8:15.
~ . KEITH'S
e Me This,” presented Players. Curtain at
LOEW'S
“Born to Dance,” with Eleanor Powell and James Stewart, . 1:10, 3:20, 5:35. 7:50 and 10. Bt
LYRIC
“Polo Joe,” on screen. with Joe E. Brown and Carol Hughes. Also “Bell's Hawaiian Follies,’”” on stage.
“Riddl
b Federal xe
ALAMO
“They. Met in a Taxi.” with ter Morris. Also, “The Man Who ved Again,” with Boris Karloff,
AMBASSADOR
*Libeled Lady.” with Myrna Loy, William Powell, Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. Also, “Springtime.” OHIO “State Fair® with Will Rogers. Also, “Parole.” with. Ann. Preston.
Ches-
She Says :
It’s that way wherever she.
She’s never been booed in theater |
We: readily admitted after -the second |: act .of “The Children’s Hour” that |:
ed to give her a sound spanking— ;
|
Actor
If Starting
lucky.” I was right at his me feel utterly at home.
Somebody is talking to Gable all day long. He is nice to everybody. Old extras—“Irishnien” in whiskers and frock coats—come and introduce themselves. One old fellow stopped him and they talked for 10 minutes, and I heard the old fellow say, “You don’t know how happy. I am to have had this talk with you.” Gable told me later they had been in the same stage play years ago. People are always kidding with him. We stopped to look at a horse being used in “Parnell,” and a property man wisecracked, “I understand its name is Gable.” “Couldn’t be,” said Gable, “his ears aren't big enough.
Everybody Likes Him
Around the studios they. tell you that Gable is genuine, and every-
body likes him. He is a hero even in his own troupe. But he hasn’t any funny ideas about what a great man he is. : He doesn’t relish being an idol. There are some things «he likes about it, of course—the money, and the favors he gets. ‘But he says his private life is almost zero. He told me he doubted very much if he would do it all over ‘again, if he could. start fresh. He can’t leave Hollywood without being mobbed. And next to hunting, he loves to travel. «His trip around South: America almost killed him. Everywhere, everywhere, a crush of people wanting autographs. “If you don’t do it you're a heel,” he says, “and if you do, you're a wreck.” In New York a
{ mob of women was going to upset
his taxicab if he didn’t get out and sign. Everywhere, people stare at him, He says the only place he can have a good time is when he stays in one city long enough to: know some people: and then go to their homes. He doesn’t really seek solitude, For he likes people, and is rarely alone. But he wants to get out of the zoo.
Bothered Less in Hollywood
He is bothered less in. Hollywood than anywhere else. They're used to movie actors here. . But even so he rarely goes out in public. Says ae -hasn’t had on a dinner jacket for eight months, except in pictures. In fact he doesn’t even wear business clothes once a week.” Always goes around in duck pants and a
The studio furnishes his period costumes, but he has fo buy all modern clothing himself. He gives a lot of his clothes away. Gable is extremely. popular in South America and Europe. The studio tells him he gets more fan mail from foreign. countries than from the States. He never reads any of it.
‘ Gable . . , . follower of the sea.
leather jacket when. he isn't work-
OFF SCREN|
"BY ERNIE PYLE Times Special Writer : 3 HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 11. — Clark Gable looks exactly as he does on the screen, and acts the same way. He walks with a big stride, he’s always laughing, his whole manner is the same as on the screen, He swears a lot, and speaks frankly. I was introduced to him as a man who knows nothing about the movies. He said, “Well you're damn
side one whole day, from breakfast on. He made Once in a while I'd wander away, and he'd come and look for me when he left the set. :
The stuff about him in the fan magazines burns him up, but he has to take it. Theyll have a story about “Gable’s One and Only Love,” and he'll stare at it and say, “I never told anybody that. I didn’t even talk to anybody.” Lives in Apartment Gable lives alone in a two-room apartment in a Hollywood hotel. Has some South American trinkets around, and a’ serape, and a few books, and all the rest is hotel stuff. His own furniture and books are in storage. He doesn’t read much anyhow. Two or three mornings a week he gets up early and rides horseback. But duck hunting is what he likes best. He has a baggage trailer that hooks’ onto his roadster, and he tents out over week-ends. He says on these trips he’s really
away from all this stuff. He says |.
he has hunting friends who never have seen him on the.screen. ; Gable
1 have one little story about I almost hate to tell, it sounds so press-agentish. It happened the day we were shooting “some sequences out in the country. There was a little boy in the picture, about 4 years old. He stood up beside his poor “Irish” mother, who had just been “evicted.” ; They shot the scene over and over, in the hot sun, with leng stops for arranging between takes. Gable sat in his camp: chair during the lulls. : Taylor and Gable Friends
Suddenly he called the assistant director and said, “Why don’t you have the kid sit down? He’s worn out.” Not another soul of the 100 there had thought of the kid. Gable has been: tops in movies for four or five years. But now, they tell me, Robert Taylor has leaped into the lead. ; Gable and Taylor are good friends.” Gable says Taylor is a fine fellow. They hunt ducks together. The other day, while they were hunting, Gable says he told Taylor: “Boy, Ill be damned glad to hand over the reins and let you drive a while.” : ;
NEXT: Ernie Studies Makeup.
‘CAROLE LOMBARD HAS LARYNGITIS
E—————
By United Press «= °° 3 HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 11.—Carole
Lombard, film actress, was confined
to -her home today with a severe |:
attack of laryngitis contracted while
working late on a set. Her mother, Mrs. E. C. Peters, is
the same ailment."
. In a setting truly fit for a queen, M-G-M hss launched - Eleanor
seriously ill of |.
cy
Eleanor, Powell in Her ‘New Picture Reaches High Mark.
Powell, “first lady” of our countless
tr Dance,”
to come our way in a long time. The
when Miss Powell taps toe to you have your money's worth
somehow has carried musical com=
| edy technique from stage to screen
and made it plausible. The picture flows from dialogue into song,
sequence -and back to the plot again with no appreciable hitch.
film fan that this doesn’t happen very ofien. “The story has to do, in the main, with two gentlemen in the Navy (James Stewart and Sid Silvers), Una Merkel, who plays Mr. Silvers’ wife, and Miss Powell, who loves and almost loses Mr. Stewart. Vir=
| ginia Bruce is seen as a musical comedy star who likewise falls in
love with Mr. Stewart. The latter
Bruce into walking out on a new show when their plans to wed are
'announced. . This is hardly cricket, |
but it allows Miss Powell, as the star’s understudy, to cop the leading role. ’ There is some grand comedy, .not only by Miss Merkel and Mr, Silvers, but by Buddy Ebsen, whose eccentric dancing stacks up favorably with the Powell steps, and by Raymond Walburn, the highly amusing submarine captain. We also ad you to keep an eye on Reginald Gardiner, whose “bit” per=
spots. He does a burlesque of a symphony orchestra conductor that is an hilarious masterpiece. Mr. Porter’s smart music has a lot to do with the picture's success. Very often he bends over backward to. avoid the popular triteness of “lyrics,” harmony and .32-measure choruses. But this time ‘he has managed to remain both original and singable. Dave Gould’s splendid dance ensembles, the pleasant singing of radio's Frances Langford and Miss Bruce's performance ate other factors which make “Born to Dance” a “natural.” (By J. Q. T.)
STUDIED HARD Margo,” Mexican star of “Winterset,” besides being an accomplished actress and. dancer, has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of music and literature as a result of was struggling for: fame. x
MUSIC" IS- HOBBY
Music is the hobby of Ann Dvor-
site Smith Ballew, also a musician.
BUSTLE FOR MYRNA Of all things, Myrna
new picture, “Parnell.”
24 spine-chilling minules
"Thrill to an never seen
| . ‘POLO JOE SWOOPS DOWN
I AR lr AE A
ring career. The vehicle is “Born | now showing at Loew's. Light-hearted, nimble footed and| lavish, “Born to Dance” is one of the most entertaining musical films} | star is surrounded by an excellent supporting cast, production num-| bers that delight the eye, and some] handsome tunes by Cole Porter.| And, of course, it’s no secret that] right |
there., | Roy Del Ruth’s smooth direction |
thence to a solo or ensemble dance
: It is not necessary to tell the confirmed
Tells Ernie He Doesn't Relish Being Public Idol; Doubtful About Doing it all Over Again : Out Fresh. .
tricks the - temperamental Miss
formance is one of the show’s high |
| retaken, and the original is being | recut. The new title will ‘be “Mys-| tery Man-of Europe.” i,
much study during the days she
ak, feminine lead in the turf drama | “Racing Lady.” She is an accomplished pianist and has written several compositions. She. plays oppo- | talented |
: Loy, possessor of cne of” filmland’s finest figures, will wear a bustle in her
SPANISH WAR FILMS |
LIFE: AND DEATH motion pictures ever TODAY
Swooping down
a
- Of, Zaharoff
Producers in: Race to Make Film of Munitions. King.
By United Press - HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 11.—A stirring | contest is on ‘in screenland today between rival ‘producers attempting to be first in hitting the world’s theaters with stories built upon the life of Sir Basil Zaharoff, late European munitions king. - Carl Laemmile Jr. and David Selznick are racing with Zaharoff stories—the former with “Armament King,” from the book by Robert Newman, and the latter with “Ten Million Ghosts,” a play hy Sidney Kingsley. e . Story difficulties ' beset’ ‘Warner Brothers, but the studio is rushing preproduction: work on the story, “Uncrowned King.” . {iad . Producer Monroe Shaff and Joseph Hoffman. may hit the wire first, however, with a revision of
\
the film, about three Igels being
T. W. A. PILOT SCORES John Trent, handsome young
T. W.. A. pilot recently discovered. B. 'P. Schulberg, today ‘won the leading role in “A Doctor's Diary,” his third production, = °
p— NG LIS
HERMAN SHUMLIN Presents
& . ra acl 4 |
er
of the most exciting REAL filmed!
Arliss you've before!
Mr. Shaff’s “Dealers in Death,” a] documentary film of war and muni-| - tions. A story is being written for}
and signed to an acting contract by |’
Tonight, &=Frice Niaht and: Pop- 1
RIT
| {GARRICK
pi) upon his- snorting mount, Joe E. Brown prepares a scene in “Polo Joe,” which comes to the Lyric screen tomorrow. Standing admiringly by is Richard (Skeets) Gallagher.
CHILD SINGER ASSURED $50,000
" By United Press CHICAGO, Dec. 11.—Betty Jane Schultz, who at 15 retired from the schoolroom to the concert stage, was assured today of $50,000 income during the next year. ref Two contracts approved by Probate Court guaranteed the plump girl singer a weekly salary ranging from $250 to $1300 from the M-G-M motion picture studios ‘and $1000 for each'of a series of appearances in the United States and Canada under direction of an artists’ booking concern. :
Sonata Series IstoBe Given Odeon Hall to Be Used for Faculty Recital.
-A series of sonata recitals, pree sented by Louis E. Zerbe, violinist, and Earle Howe Jones, pianist, members of the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music faculty, is to begin tomorrow night at 8:30 to begin tonight at 8:30 o'clock in
: | Odeon Hall, 106 E. North-st.
The first program is to include works of eighteenth century Italian composers. Succeeding ones will be devoted to the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Grieg, Brahms, Franck, Dvorak and several modern come posers. The re dates are Jan. 15, Feb. 12, March 12. and
April 9. Following is the complete pro-
3: | Sonata—Opera Quinta No. 8
Corellt’ (1853-1 Prelude--Largo (1653-1713) S Ee Allegro Tempo di Gavotta—Allegro G \ Sonate, ra ent 10881750) cantabile
Non troppo presto
egro commedo : arfita, BE Minor ..Bach-Silot! (1685-1750) Prelude Maestoso Adagio ma non tanto Allemande Gigue
MUSIC FOR ROMANCE
For the first time in 10 years Greta Garbo requested that music be played for her between scenes with Robert Taylor in “Camille,” and she chose several Negro spire ituals.
EDDY PLANS HOME
Nelson Eddy is making preparae tions for plans of a new home which he ‘expects to build in Hollywood within the next year.
"
sdric March, Warner Baxter “ROAD TO GLORY”
Chester Mornis, Marion Nixon “EMBARRASSING MOMENTS
GETS
JOE
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BABY JOV arc MOANA UELS and HARRIET HAVES NiLSON
SEY.
FROM THE PARADISE 8 OF THE PACIFIC! FY
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HOTEL .
cane RINE BE 0% AFTER GS
DFFING SISTERS
Tonight's Presentations at Your
NEIGHBORHOOD THEATERS
WEST SIDE ae Posture”
STATE J. Mack Brown WLE
“VALLEY OF THE LA S88”
“LOVE BEGINS AT 20” Belmont Double Feature
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Hiinols and 3ith Zz Double Feature Alice Faye “SING, BABY, SING” KELLY THE
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