Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 September 1937 — Page 25
Dick Powells Parted for Visit’ Here
He's Due at Circle, Joan At Lyric; Warings Also Waited.
While Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rogers are visiting in Indianapolis tomorrow, Mr. and Mrs, Dick Powell will be moving in for a|week’s visit on local screens.
The Powells however, are doomed to separation. Separated by two quadrants of the Circle and a jog around the corner on Illinois St. they will hold forth at the Circle and Lyric.| Dick, at the former, will be starring in “Varsity Show,” while Joan Blondell, who is the “missus,” may be seen in support of Pat O’Brien in “Back in Circulation.” Assisting Dick will be Fred Waring and his entertainers, and that means brother Tom Waring, and Rosemary and Priscilla Lane, and “Poley” McClintock, the frog-voiced drummer, and all the rest of the troupe familiar to radio fans. In addition you will see Walter Catlett, Ted Healy and Sterling Holloway from the Warner Bros. collection of comedians, and Buck and Bubbles from the vaudeville stage.
Cream of Collegians
The combination of Mr. Powell and the brothers Waring offers * Circle patrons the cream of perennial collegians.. Dick's movie roles have taken him to Annapolis, West Point and several of our less warlike institutions of higher learning. The . Warings have been entertaining the * country with collegiate didoes ever " since they banded together to play * their first $10 job at Penn State - College way back in 1919. Three of the four original members, Fred, Tom and “Poley,” still are with the band. Freddie Buck, the fourth, is deceased. Johnnie “Scat” Davis, trumpeter, is Brazil, Ind.’s contribution to the Waring band, and he’s said to be one of the leading comic lights in a picture that goes in heavily for mirth and music. She's of Sterner Stuff
Meanwhile Mrs. Powell, over at Mr. Olsen’s Lyric, will be dealing with sterner stuff. She portrays one of these cinematic sob-sisters who leaves her newspoper post to take the law into her own hands to solve a murder mystery. Mr. O’Brien is the tabloid editor who marries the gal, and Margaret Lindsay is cast in a discreetly menacing role.
‘I Can Roll a Cigaret’
So Says 'Cowboy' and He Wins Movie Job.
Times Special . HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 23.—A man stalked into a Hollywood studio the other day and demanded to act in a cowboy role. He hadn’t any bow legs, couldn't ride and had never chased a cow in his life, “But what I can do,” he shouted, “is make a cigaret with one hand!” He was engaged at once. He's the fellow you'll see in Western pictures wearing a big cowboy hat, leaning against the chuck wagon, and flicking cigarets in his mouth all day long, without missing once. Another, expert in Hollywood is a personable young ex-schoolma’am who _doubles for cowgirl stars in closeups when their hands are to be shown gracefully splicing a fag. She has grace, speed and pretty tapering fingers, and she is loaned out to one studio after another almost as if she were a star herself,
Vernon Gloomy
Bobby Vernon, Paramount's comedy technician and “smoke expert,” is [gloomy about the whole ‘outlook for the art of rolling one’s own. A year or two more, he says, and it will be as obsolete as the trade of wig curling or burnt pokerwerk. Very few cowboys, he says, can twist a pill for themselves. They buy. their smokes ready made. Bobby Vernon isn’t very slick at the art himself, but he knows how it should pe done. He once got a girl from a cigaret shop to double in a rolling scene for a star. She arrived with a workbench, a sheet of foolscap and a long ivory wand to poke fancy tobacco into gold-tipped shells, and got into a huff when told she had to |twist them with fingers only and standing up. So Bobby had the exschoolma’am fetched on the run.
Envied by Smokers
The first instance of a double in cigaret rolling, he says, was when one was € gaged for Ann Sothern in “My American Wife.”. Miss Sothern’s apparent dexterity in this film when she spilled makings on a| strip of paper, flicked it into a perfect roll, pulled the sack tight with her teeth and took a pufl—all in five seconds—just about corroded a million smokers with envy. Vernon can tell you how any actor, present or past, manipulates a cigaret and with what degree of skill. ‘Adolphe Menjou and Jack Holt are among the most skillful of those wha tap cigarets on the case to register sangfroid.
COMMUTING COME EDIAN
nchley is to buy a home in mrs, near Santa Barbara, and commute to and from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
RADIO VETERAN ON LOCAL STAGE
Anyone who remembers radio’s pioneer days remembers Wendell Hall, the “redheaded music maker,” who comes to Keith’s tomorrow to
headline that theater’s vaudeville
bill. The accompanying first-run
picture will be “The Hoosier Schoolboy,” with Mickey Rooney in the
title part.
Rockefeller-Backed Play Opens Broadway Season
NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (U.P.).—There are $175,000 of oil-begotten Rockefeller gains in “Virginia,” a musical romance which gets the theatrical season of 1937-38 off to what may not quite be a flying start but
which has its auspicious moments tailor’s sign in a high zephr.
The production is beautiful to“
look at and the music of Arthur Schwartz falls kindly on the ear, so what if the lines and story are rather a bore. Perhaps this is for the best, because something as good as “Show Boat” or “Music in the Air” for the very first offering of the season would spoil us all into a clabber of criticism boding ill for subsequent pieces which did not measure up to the pace setter.
“Virginia” is to be seen at the Center Theater in Radio City— that large and beautiful house which specializes in giant-scale musicals whose appeal usually is based on music and spectacle rather than on sound, witty librettos. For what it is, the new contender is about on a par with its predecessors at this theater—“The Great Waltz” and “White Horse Inn”—and should snag a lot of theater-goers who are not too exacting in their demands for socalled sophisticated fare. The show marks ‘the advent of the Rockefellers as producers on their own, although they have money in other productions at the Center.
Story of Intrigue
The story of “Virginia” deals with intrigue leading up to the entrance of that colony into the American War for Independence. The ‘locale is Williamsburg, seat of the Royal Governor, which has been restored to its pre-Revolutionary splendor in recent years by the Rockefeller millions. A troupe of actors arrives from London and the military authorities suspect that its manager carries a message from persons in London offering aid to George Washington. The plot consists of passing this message around among the cast for two acts to prevent the authorities from seizing it before it reaches Washington. The temper of the people explodes at the proper moment to prevent anyone from getting in Dutch over the message and the British are on the run as the curtain rings down on an elab-
orate tableau of marching rebels |
and Washington on a horse. Of course, there is a love story mixed up in all this, a couple in fact. The daughter of the Governor
loves the colonel of ‘the Virginia |
Rangers, who in turn falls in love with the leading lady of the theatrical company. All this is nicely portrayed in speech and song by Ronald Graham, a newcomer to operetta and a welcome one} Mona Barrie, the screen actress, and Anne Booth, a London prima donna of pleasing appearance and voice who is making her American debut. The cast includes some illustrious players, many of them not heretofore identified with musical shows, including Nigel Bruce as the
despite a book that creaks like a
\
Governor of Virginia; Dennis Hoey, as Sir Guy Carleton; Gene Lockhart as the genial, rum-loving, henpecked manager of the players; John W, Bubbles and Ford L. Buck, the amusing team of Negro comics and dancers; Avis Andrews, a Negro singer of fine talent; the everwelcome Patricia Bowman, prima ballerina; Gordon Richards, Lansing Hatfield and Valia Valentinoff.
Stallings and Davis Authors Laurence - Stallings, who co-au-thored “What Price Glory?” of fond memory, and Owen Davis, the man of many plays, wrote the book. Lyrics to Schwartz’ music are by Albert Stillman. The scores include such memorable things as “Vir-
ginia,” “An Old Flame Never Dies,”
“You and I Know,” and “If You Were Somecne Else.” The best of the music, however, is in the spirituals for the excellent Negro chorus. Among these are “Goodbye, Jonah,” a really delightful thing; “Se: One Angel Down” and “I'll ittin’ in De Lap o’ De Lord.” The ballet work, under direction of Florence Rogge, is a high spot of the show, as is a pantomime of “Jack and the Beanstalk” on a stage within a stage. The county fajr scene which opens the second act is a delight. The settings by Lee Simonson are an outstanding feature of the production, recreating Williamsburg buildings and streets in startling fashion.
Out-Aping Apes Is His Business
Monkeyshines Pay Well, Simian Imitator Reports.
HOLLYWOOD, Sept. (U. P.).—There’s a comfortable livelihood in monkey business, if it’s kept in its proper place, according to Jack Leonard, stunt man and
animal impersonator.
Mr. Leonard at present is portraying a realistic gorilla on the RKO-Radio lot in “Love in a Basement.” So convincing are his actions that many visitors on the set moved uneasily toward the exits until informed that the gorilla was only Mr, Leonard in costume. A former circus acrobat, Mr. Leonard gravitated to Hollywood some years ago and entered pictures as a stunt man. He was appearing in a “Tarzan” picture at one time when the director became dissatisfied with the antics of one of his real apes in the film.
Volunteers for Role The stunt man volunteered to don a costume and play the role of an ape. Because of his circus training, he was able to swing easily through the tree tops and was hailed as doing a more realistic job than the real apes. From then on he has been “typed” as an animal impersonator and jobs opened up for him at many studios. “It’s a living and the pay is fairly good,” Mr, Leonard puffed as he wiped the perspiration from his brow. “I'll never be anything else in this business, but I can’t icomplain.” After his first engagement ds an ape, Mr. Leonard made a careful study of simians, spending hours at zoos watching monkeys and apes to learn their habits and mannerisms. Swings by Tail Aside from being able to swing by his artificial tail, the actor can imitate almost any move that an ape makes. He has the same ungainly, hunched manner of walking when he is in costume; can swing himself up or down a tree just like an ape and even has learned to chatter like the animals. The costume he wears in his cur. rent film was made by Mr. Leonard and his wife. The face and head are duplicates of a stuffed gorilla in New York's Museum of Natural History. There are small holes in the eye sockets which permit him to use his own eyes to make his portrayal realistic. The body covering is made of real gorilla and yak hair sewed on heavy buckskin. It weighs 43 pounds and keeps Mr. Leonard sweltering.
FILM CHANCE FOR STAR'S DAUGHTER
HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 23 (U. P.).— Frances Brice, youthful daughter of Fannie Brice, is making her film debut in a minor role at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio. The girl was offered the chance to try for a film carcer by William Anthony McGuire, writer and producer, when she brought a friend to the studio in an attempt to get her chum a job.
DUPLICATE NIGHT CLUB
A night club, Hungarian style, is said to be an authentic duplicate of one of Budapest's finest, as shown in “Fight for Your Lady,” starring John Boles and Jack Oakie.
TICKETS
tonight.
TONIGHT
ORCHESTRA IN PERSON
3 bs Cf
oA BS BE CH RADIO
ONE NIGHT ONLY
Indiana he ov. eatre Magaz Shop 80e¢, incl, tax, rm ns After
that $1.
ARRAY OF STARS
SALE
PHIL HARMgNp9 RTS 72x, 7
Thi
Charlie McCarthy J0
EIGH New Dance C
ALWAYS A GOOD SHOW
ON THE SCREEN
Pll take MURDER! I'll take MARRIAGE! Dll take A WALK!
‘PAT
O'BRIEN *N JOAN BLONDELL
wren INDSAY
300.40: AFTER 5
23 |
LOCAL ARTISTS WITH SYMPHONY
Local players in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s- string and wood-wind sections for the coming season will include Francis Fitzgerald. flutist (left above); Harvey McGuire, oboe and English horn (right above), and Norman Phelps, double bass (left). F. Glenn Downey is to be the other Indianapolis musician in the bass section. . He has been with the orchestra since its founding. Mr. Phelps, who joined the orchestra last year, is chairman of the Arthur Jordan Conservatory’s theory department. Arthur Deming, Indianapoiis, also will be a member of the flute section. Other local representatives, besides string players already announced, will be Frank Kessler and Louis Ruth, trumpets; W. Fred Schaub and Harry Michels, horns; Leon Karnes, clarinet; Gilbert Kellberg, bassoon; Alfred Worth Sr., trombone, and Glenn Buchanan, percussion.
Protest Cut In War Film
Sponsors Name Norse: the Detroit Police in Legal Move.
DETROIT, Sept. 23 (U. P.)— Sponsors of the Spanish War film, “Heart of Spain,” sought an injunction today to restrain censorship of portions of the picture which police protested were uncomplimentary to Dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The film is scheduled for a showing tonight at the Detroit Art Institute under the sponsorship of the Michigan Chapter of the Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy. The purpose is to raise fufids for medical aid to Loyalist Spain. The greater portion of the film
portrays the activities of the His-pano-Canadian blood transfusion service behind Loyalist lines, but the early part of the film shows several shots of actual warfare.
Examples of objectionable portions
included: A scene of civilian bodies lying in
a Madrid street after a bombing. The comment was, “This is the kind
of thing Fascist dictators do very|
well.” A picture of a soldier whose arm was shot away above the elbow, with the comment: “This is Italian nonintervention, Italian style.”
SHE'S A REGULAR
When Milli Monti, the Italian songstress and continental screen favorite, arrived in Hollywood, one of her first “new world” entertainments was a trip to the midget auto races. Now she’s a confirmed fan, munching hot dogs and drinking pop with the regulars.
Mechanica) ‘Ear’ New Aid
For Tuning Instruments
Times Special
NEW YORK, Sept. 23. —Turn the dial to any one of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, and, presto! you see the pitch of the desired note! At any rate, that’s what Allen B. DuMont Laboratories claim for their new
electronic device.
No more dependence on the fallible human ear for
that exclusive pitch! own Tesonoscope and you can’t go wrong! :
The resonoscope is a’ portable contrivance, allegedly easy to operate and attachable to the nearést electric socket in your home. A turn of the dial, a flip of the switch and a bullet-shaped microphone emits a pure tone. At the same time a uniform wave form generated by the tone appears on the cathode-ray screen above the main dial. It sounds simple enough. : There’s another step. How to check your pitch by visual means. throw on another switch and the | loudspeaker becomes a true micro- | phone. This picks up the sung or played tone. The cgthode-ray quickly traces the tone on the screen. Now it can be compared with the pure tone of the master tuning fork within the resonoscope. If the tone is sharp, its wave form slips off to the right; if flat, to the left. The rate of movement indicates the degree in each case. If the wave form remains stationary you know’ the pitch tallies with that of the master tuning fork. As for quality or timbre, the smoothness of the wave form is an index of that. Jags and irregularities mean “overtones.” Different instruments register different wave contours. The height of the main
You-
Own your?
wave form measures the volume of the tone. Thus, the resonoscope records pitch, timbre or quality and volume, Its uses ought to be wide and vaeried. Individual instruments can be tuned rapidly and accurately before an orchestra gathers to play. Pitch factors in the manufacture of instruments are simplified, and the
home need not be disrupted by
high-pitched words over the {rue but problematic pitch.
MISS BANCROFT GIVES UP CAREER
HOLLYWOOD, Cal., Sept. 23 (U. P.)—Giving up a movie career, Georgette Bancroft, 20-year-old dgughter of film actor George Bancroft, announced today that she will marry Hial King, 26, Santa Monica business man. She made her first film appearance with her father in the picture, “Elmer and Elsie,” in 1934.
GERSHWIN'S LAST SCORE
The late George Gershwin come posed the tunes of Fred .\staire’s new starring picture, “A Damsel in Distress.” It is the last complete score by the late composer.
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TOMORROW
Sulldscrd Gl THAT FAMOUY |
RADIO
STAR OF GILLETTE PROGRAM WITH MILTON BERLE : "FEATURED ON WRIGLEY - SHELLOIL-FITCH SHAMPOO EVER READY ANDMANY OTHER RADIO PROGRAMS
{ NOW SEE HIM ON THE STAGE WITH
OTHER BIG TIME VAUDEVILLE ACTS 3)
NTE CONTINUOUS 11:30 T0CLOSE NC IaRTT’
"HOLD
You'll see a picture that packs thrills and laughs and tears into every beloved moment!
LAST DAY
BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938
ENJOY GILBERT & SULLIVAN FIRST
TIME ON SCREEN
IN COMEDY HIT
THE GIRL SAID NO
ROBT. ARMSTRONG — IRENE HERVEY
As fich Invivid RR
—mighty as
as its granite. sky- line—tender asi
rough hewn‘heart!,..! [This is life! A- os aiwoman battling for their wight to ilive and love—against the thunder and. conflict-of ithe metropolis! ... Who but Luise Rainer) and Spencer Tracy could capture the drama—the deep human ‘appeal of thistvibrantly' tender story 24Who but M-G.M could produce it inn all its power and relentless’ drama?
LUISE
(“GOOD EARTR)
ASPEN C ER ("CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS")
RRR