Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 August 1938 — Page 15

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FRIDAY, AUG. 19, 1038 - Berlin Film

Among Best Of Musicals

‘Alexander's Ra gtime Band' Opens at Circle Theater,

The chief ingredient of a good musical film’ is superior music. The cond is someone who can express that music effectively. Because “Alexander’s Ragtime Band, ” at the Circle, has 28 of Irving Berlin's most popular tunes and the deep-throated Alice Faye to sing them, it is among the best musical pictures Hollywood has produced. :

It is not a biographical film of Mr. Berlin, but a record of his songs of the past 27 years. Like many musicals, it has the traditionally weak plot, but even this cannot detract from its two hours of crack entertainment. Into a Barbary Coast night spot in 1911 walks Tyrone Power with his band. At the same time so does Alice Faye—a singer. Both of them seek the Job their predecessors have just’ lost via the bouncer’s toe. A necessary coincidence is that Jack Haley has misplaced the band’s music and that Alice carries a tune still in manuscript—*“Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”

Together They're a Hit

-In combination they are a hit and Tyrone is renamed—by the proprietor—“Alexander.” The band and Alice are hired, but not before she and Tyrone begin a quarrel that lasts during most of the picture. Peacemaker throughout is pianistcomposer Don Ameche, who, like Tyrone, loves Alice, The band succeeds playing “Ragtime violin,” “Everybody's Din’ It,” “When the Midnight ChooChoo Leaves for Alabam’,” “When I Lost You,” “In My Harem” and “The Infernational Rag.” Remember? They progress from tiny Barbary Coast hangouts to expensive clubs like the CIlif House where Don writes “Now It Can Be Told” for Alice. One night, eager with excitement, they play and Alice” sings for the late producer, Charles Dillingham.

. He wants Alice, without the band,

for his Broadway show. Heartbroken after another quarrel with Tyrone she leaves for New York and even Don cannot unite them.

Band Breaks Up

The band breaks up with Don following Alice eastward. Soon after, war is declared and Tyrone, with Jack Haley, enlists. Berlin's army tunes, “For Your Country and My Country,” “In the Y. M. C. A.” and “Oh, How 1 Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” are the music for a service show staged by Tyrone. .Climax to that revue is when the cast in full field equipment marches off the stage and into waiting lorries singing “We're on Our Way to France.” Alice watches from the audience. Returning, Tyrone finds Alice and Don married. He organizes another band, gets a new singer (Ethel Merman) and with modern tempos has a_prosperous tour abroad. “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody,” “Say It With Music,” “What’ll I Do,” and “fverybody Step” are the songs of America then,

She Deserts Broadway

Instead of as an unknown doughboy he returns as “Alexander,” leadef. of the famous continental band. He finds that Don, sensing Alice’s unhappiness, has given her up. Don doesn’t know where she has gone. Wanting love—not fame —she has deserted Broadway. “As the night for his Carnegie Hall swing concert approaches he very nelly finds her several times, but even as he mounts the podium she slips away. Although costing $2,000,000, the picture has none of that overelaborate stickiness of French pastry. Instead it is as American .as homemade apple pie. An added savor is that most of the tunes will conjure up many pleasant memories for those who lived through the early Berlin period. Because of their smart arrangements and modern tempo they will also refresh the younger generation. = 2 5 =

“Also showing is the latest issue of The March of Time. The first part, “Man at the Wheel,” is a dramatiza-

- tibn of the grave U. S. traffic acci-

dent problen: and the threefold program of education, enforcement and. engineering to combat that problem. Scientific studies of safety have developed a new method of police training and enforcement which emphasizes, not the fast driver, but the dangerous one. It shows the adoption of progressive states and cities where the accident rate has

F BERGEN WASN'T AROUND—

If Edgar Bergen would just go away maybe Charlie McCarthy could get a word in with Rita Johnson. Theyre all in “Letter of Introductions” the picture which stars Charlie and introduces the

new Bergen dummy, the bucolic Mortimer Snerd. The film has been showing at the Circle and today moves to the Apollo for a second week. The associate feature stars Victor McLaglen in “The Devil's Party.”

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

2 TO REPRESENT cy.

PAGE 15

Betty Jane Mitchell and Gilmore Johnson have been selected to represent Indianapolis next week at the Dancing Masters of America

convention at Chicago. Sunday they are to dem

te a dance created

by Robert Rivers, their teacher, of the Stockman Studios.

7 Plays Hold Forth in N.Y. Despite Usual Shutdown

‘By JAMES THRASHER Times Staff Writer

NEW YORK, Aug. 19.—Air conditioning seems to have altered the

seasonal boundaries of New York’s

theatrical season.

According to traditional practice, the Broadway stage emerged from hibernation on Labor Day and refired in Juhe. This year, however, few plays of permanence came along until 1938 was under way. At present

seven productions are holding forth,®

a sizable summer representation, and by next summer everything should be going full blast for World's Fair Visitors. Of the seven, five are of the 193738 vintage. The newest is the Rodgers and Hart musical, “I Married an Angel,” which stars Dennis King and Vera Zorina. It has a stable mate in “On Borrowed Time,” the Paul Osborne comedy starring Dudley Digges. Both are under the banner of Dwight Deere Wiman, the young farm implement tycoon. Then there are Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize winner, “Cur Town,” under the Jed Harris aegis; Eddie Dowling’s production of ‘Shadow and Substance,” and the Ian Hay comedy, “Bachelor Born,” produced by Milton Shubert, of the secondgeneration Shuberts.

Two Are Holdovers

Two holdovers are “You Can't Take It With You,” twice seen in Indianapolis, and ‘‘Tobacco Road,” that long lane with apparently no turning, now heading toward its sixth year. All seven make an attractive ‘array, especially when time limitations necessitate the choice of only one. We finally pleked “Shadow and Substance.” For one thing, there was the strong predilection for its star and featured players, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Julie Haydon and Sara Allgood. Likewise, there was a contributing curiosity to become acquainted with the playwriting of Paul Vincent Carroll, the Irish schoolmaster from Glasgow. It turned out, as in the cdse of Helen Hayes’ and Maurice Evans’

appearances at English’s last season, that extravagant critical praise was justified. Playwright Carroll has written one of the most discerning, revealing and . compelling studies of simple faith versus austere theology that the stage has seen in recent years. Mr. Carroll's subject is not a new one, of course. Among other treatments.of the theme, “The Fool” and “First Legion” come readily to mind. But “Shadow and Substance” is decidedly superior. It is

Been reduced by from 25 to 50 per cent. The film also shows .the educational drive which has made saf~tv a part of the school curriculum. The third part of the program—eng:neering—is demonstrated by the scientific elimination of road hazards, erection of signal systems and road warnings and by traffic rerouting. “Threat to Gibraltar,” second part of the film, is the story of the International Zone of Tangier and the complex political situation existing there. It shows the significance of Tangier to Britain and the attempts of the Fascist nations to

convert the natives to fascism.

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hlessed with Irish wit and expert drawings of the varied and colorful Irish character. Sentimentality somehow is avoided; a rare feat when you consider that one of the play’s chief characters is a simple servant girl who communes daily with Saint Brigid.

She Loves Them Both Her name is Brigid, too. Born

‘on the Saint's day, she is the one

friend of Canon Skerritt, her learned, misanthropic employer. She loves him as she loves his bitter enemy, the young schoolmaster. Her simplicity looks through and ignores the intellectual attainments and differences of both men and see them for what they are—two utterly lonely creatures. Mr. Carroll leaves you free to consider Brigid as you will; as the sickly daughter of a mentally unbalanced mother, as a pious child blessed with the gift of visions, or as the embodiment of abstract simplicity of Christian faith. Miss Haydon’s portrayal likewise maintains this delicate balance of conception. She conveys admirably Brigid's fragility and the saintly ingenuousness of her character. In fact, it is difficult to imagine any actress of more physical or artistic suitability. Sir Cedric’s performance as the Canon, however, dominates the play, as much through his ability as through Mr. Carroll’s intention. He is the austere church official. son of the not unusual union .of an Irish father and a Spanish mother. Years in Italy and. Spain have bred in him a contempt for his native land. His mind, steeped in learning and father to an acid eloquence, recoils from the easy confraternity of Irish priest and Irish communicant. Christian charity is unknown to him. His soul is fed upon Spanish food and wine, Spanish thinking and an undeniable power over his underlings.

Yet, He Is Fascinating

.Yet he is a fascinating being. Most of us, I presume, secretly envy the Canon the rich delight of flailing out unmercifully at the things that bore us, even when we recognize it as a dangerous and despicable custom. Mr. Carroll himself seems to have felt the fascination. For the play’s schoolmaster comes off second in his skirmishes with the Canon, even though, through the teacher's lips, the author has

suave acerbity to perfection.

his say about things educational in Ireland. Sir Cedric conveys the Canon's polished and compelling actor, one sits fascinated through his series of regal displeasures. It is in all respects a brilliant. performance and one which, if the fates are kind, we may - see in Indianapolis before another year rolls ‘round. Despite the principals’ contribution, the Abbey-trained Miss Allgood’s delightful virtuosity as the busybody spinster; and a half-dozen other splendid performances, Mr. Carroll emerges the hero. It cerfainly is a special blessing of the Irish that they often come out with a first play that bears the stamp of assurance, and that mirrors the kaleidoscopic qualities of an amazing race. Mr. Carroll, praise be, does not speak his own words through all his characters. Each one is an individual, and clearly etched. Not as much fun, but enlightening to the Middle Westerner, was the Cape Playhouse production of “The Lady Has a Heart,” done at Dennis, Mass., with Elissa Landi as the star.

Much Like Others

It wasn’t a bad play, particularly. It had a run of about a dozen weeks on Broadway early last season. But it is much like numberless plays that come and go through the vears, are seen and forgotten. We who do all jour play-going west of the Hudson are likely to forget that our theatrical appetities cre fed, for the most part, on hits. You ray believe, with this writer, that playgoing is more rewarding than a trip to the movies. But it shouldn't be forgotten that Broadway each year sees its quota of plays comparable to the clam-bake musical of the Class B melodrama of ‘the screen. “The Lady Has a Heart” (a title as meaningless as most movie tags) came to the screen as “The Baroness and the Butler.” Miss Landi, who created the role of Katinka in New York, disclosed herself as an actress who knows her way about the stage. Despite her best efforts, however, the play was only mildly amusing. It suffered sadly from padding. There was material enough for a good two-act comedy. But the theater audience demands three acts, just as the movie-goer clings to his double features. Some day a pioneering producer will come along with the courage to offer us one and two-act plays. once open, the dramatic standard conceivably might go up a few points.

FILMS STORED IN FEDERAL VAULTS

Times Specie... HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 19—“Our Own United States,” a series of patriotic Vitaphone short subjects, has been placed in the United States Government National Archives at Washington, D. C., according to notification received by J. L. Warner, vice president in charge of production at Warner Bros, producers of the shorts.

CT» TRLTITTI » LL SeniER

With the market

Mcintyre and

Heath

Yogeiner Again—in Death

By HARRY FERGUSON United Press Staff Correspondent

- SETAUKET, N.Y, Aug.

19.—MclIntyre and Heath are together sgain

today in the happy land where every joke is a riot, where every song is a hig and where the audiences applaud forever and a day. Thomas K. Heath died last night, one year to the day and almost to the hour from the time that James McIntyre, weary from 20,000 per-

formances, somewhere beyond the rim of space and time, Mr. McIntyre can explain to Mr. Heath why he failed to send him a birthday card last Thursday. Mr. Heath was never told that Mr. McIntyre died a year ago, and that hurt the tired old man whose heart gave up last night.

What Burns and Allen are to us, McIntyre and Heath were to the generation of the horse cars and the kerosene lamps. They were responsible largely for the t cork school of American humor, because back in 1905 they blackened their faces and put on a show called “The Ham Tree.” Played Hard Stands . Mr. Heath was 85 and had been ill for more than a year. The marvel was that he and his partner lived as long as they did, for they spent their strength recklessly on hard one-night stands, on quick jumps from town to town along the stagecoach routes, on endless trips on the river packets. An accident brought them together in San Antonio, Tex, on May 12, 1874. They were dong sep-

arate black face acts, and the man

who then was Mr. Heath's partner became ill. McIntyre and Heath formed a partnership, promptly flopped and were stranded in Louis-

WHAT, WHEN, WHERE

APOLLO “Letter duction,” Xith

ou Ade Si ann McCarthy and Ger urphy, at 13:34, 3:41, 6:48

il’s Party,” with Victor Beatrice Roberts and Frank Jenks, at 11:29, 2:36, 5:43 and 8:30.

CIRCLE i

Alexander's Ra ime Band,” with Tyrone ower, el Merman, Jack daisy. Jean Hersholt and Helen Westley. a 11. 1:10, 8:25. 5:35, 7:50 and 10:05. “The March gs ‘Time. cluding “Man at the Wheel” and “The Threat to Gibraltar, * at 12:55, 3:05, 5:30. 7:345 and 9:45.

LOEW'S Poor Girl w

ung, Lew Lana Turner. Virginia Grey and Gu Eibbee. at 1:10, 1:55, 4:35, 7795 and

“The Chaser,” with Dennis O'Keefe, Ann Morriss, Lewis Stone, Nat iendleton, Hen O'Neil and Fak Mulhall, at 12:30, 3:15, 6 and 8

LYRIC

“Keep Smiling,” with Jane With- . ers, Gloria Stuart, Henry Wilcoxin," Helen Westley and Jed Prouty, at 11:36, 2:10, 5705. 8 and 10:34. Vaudeville with Oswald, Ernie Stanbus Jeavits ng asPra!

on, n o, at 1:07,

with Robh Hussey,

on, and today,&—

ville. It took them years of slow, careful work to where they were one of the brightest attractions on the bright street called Broadway. Every musical comedy actor in the country is deep in their debt because McIntyre and Heath were doing acts that are surefire today. Before there ever was such a word as jitterbug and before Benny Goodman was born, McIntyre and Heath had gone in for swing music and were going to town with a number called “The Cars Are on the Track.” Their final appearance together was in 1934 in a show called “America Sings” and their humor, dressed up with references to such modern things as radios and airplanes, still was surefire.

Shunned Talk of Career

Death came to Mr. Heath in a large, comfortable house here on a four-acre estate. His wife died in 1929 and he had been living lately with a niece, Mrs. Katherine Brown. She said today that the old man hardly ever talked of the days of his glory, but that there was a strong bond between her uncle and Mr. McIntyre. Physicians were afraid to tell Mr. Heath of Mr. MclIntyre's death a year ago, and the merciful fiction was maintained that Mr. Mc-

Intyre was hale and well but too far

away to see his old partner. Whenever they told him that Mr. McIntyre was well, Mr. Heath always chuckled and said: “Of course, of course—he will live forever.” So will both of them — in the hearts of anybody who ever heard them sing a song, ever saw them shuffle into a dance, ever doubled-up-over at a joke that crackled between the two men in burnt cork. Funeral services will be held at the home tomororw, with burial in Brooklyn.

RED DICKERSON

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_ INew Porter

Film Makes Debut Soon

{Movie Will Be Based on

Novel of Famous Hoosier.

Seventy-five years ago this week there was born one of Indiana's most popular authors—Ciene Strat. ton Porter. Four of Mrs. Porter's novels— “Freckles,” “Girl of the Limberlost,” and “Laddie”— have had a combined sale of almost 7,000,000 copies. : Not only were her books read throughout the world (they were printed in seven languages), but many persons have seen them in motion picture: form. The latest film, “Romance of the Limberlost,”

| | based on “The Girl of the Limber-

lost,” and starring Jean Parker, is to be released sooh. Mrs. Porter's early life was spent on a farm near Wabash. After the death of her mother she was left in the care of her sisters and her father, a Methodist minister. On her 23d birthday she was married to Charles Porter, a Geneva druggist. In addition to her writing she painted in water colors and was an outstanding amateur photographer. All her nature information was gained by first-hand observation as she wandered the swampland tract known as the Limberlost. Her first successful novel was “Freckles,” which sold more than two million copies. On Dec. 8, 1924, she was killed in an automobile crash. The following year her “Keeper of the Bees” was published. Later her daughter Jeanette wrote a sequel to “Freckles” in “Freckles Comes Home.”

GARBO TO RETURN TO SCREEN WORK

HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 1 (U. P)— Hollywood was not surprised today at the announcement that Greta Garbo would return in a few months to resume her film work and that several stories were being prepared for her. The screen colony never gave

that she was retiring from the screen to a life of ease in Sweden. Although her pictures have not been drawing crowds in smaller

pean receipts make up for that.

Loa

serious consideration to the rumor |

towns in the United States, Euro-|

REMINDER IN REVERSE Instead of tying a string around her finger, Marie Wilson reminds herself to remember things by weare ing her hat backward.

AIR-COOLED FEET John Litel's shoes contain tiny

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‘Ebb Tide’ E ay CES TRIER" ‘Call of the Yukon’

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