Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 February 1940 — Page 10

By JAMES THRASHER

Schubert's "Unfinished' Is Logical First Release in Good Music Drive

DR. GALLUP, so far as I know, has never polled the nation’s musicians to find their choice of a composer who could best introduce music of enduring beauty to thousands of inexperienced, slightly con-

tused but eager listeners.

If such a poll were.taken, however, it is

likely that a majority would select Franz Schubert. Furthermore they might easily choose that composer’s Symphony

‘in B Minor, the “Untinished,” as the ideal work tor that purpose. It seems to me, then, that the

National Committee for ‘Music Appreciation has followed a logical path in selecting this sym- | | known. However, it is well estab-

phony as the first in its series of 10 albums. The recording (and it is an excellent one) is available to the Indiana public, beginning today. There is, of course, no way of proving the result of this mythical poll—at least, not short of taking it. But there are some cogent reasons for commending the Ap-

preciation Committee's canny’

choice. In the first place, Schubert was blessed with a native and boundless well of melodic inspiration unequalled in music's history, except perhaps in the case of Mozait. Further, Schubert expressed himself with a minimum of technical involvement. He wrote at full speed, which was both vice and virtue. His works often would have benefited by revision and condensation, but by the time one . composition was finished another usually was clamoring to be born. 2 2 ” IN THE CASE of the B Minor Symphony and much more of Schubert’s output, notably his greatest songs, this characteristic is greatly to the beginning listener’s advantage. ‘For the composer speaks directly, and at the white heat of inspiration. The music's appeal is sensuous, in the highest sense of the word. It immediately arouses in the hearer a consciousness of beauty. And it is a consciousness which is not necessarily enhanced by a knowledge of harmony, instrumentation or musical form. Perhaps it is a good thing that the B Minor Symphony never. was

completed. Two more movements

to round out the conventional form could scarcely avoid being an anticlimax. As it stands today, the “Unfinished” ranks with the first two movements of the great C Major Quintet, in which Schubert explored his vein of musical thought to its ultimate bounds and highest conclusion. Possibly the story of this symphony’s composition needs one more retelling. It was written in 1822 as a tribute to a musical society in the city of Graz, which

| had elected Schubert to honorary

membership. Why the composer abandoned the work after writing the two movements and nine measures of a Scherzo is not

lished that he never heard the work performed. Nor did the Graz

| musical society nor anyone else in

Schubert's lifetime, The manuscript passed into the hands of Schubert’s friend, Anselm Huettenbrenner, who kept it with a great many other Schubert manuscripts until 1865. o » »

FINALLY THE conductor Johann Herbeck heard of the work, persuaded: Huettenbrenner (on condition of playing one of his own works) to let him have the score, and performed 1t at Vienna in December of that year. It is quite possible that Schubert could have been indifferent to this symphony’s merits. Its abandonment simply illustrates the tragedy of his short life. To a man who went without food as well’ as recognition, a man to whose death starvation was a contributing factor, the fact that this great work went unfinished and could have been scarcely more than a minor tragedy.

The B Minor Symphony was among the first works to receive that doubtfully complimentary treatment known as ‘popularizing the classics.” = But it passed through the phase successtully, gaining little and losing nothing. Today “Blossom Time” is all but forgotten. The “Song of Love” has been returned to its place in the symphony’'s “first movement, -and Schubert himself has been rescued from the operetta’s lacyvalentine plot. As in most cases, the “popularization” has died and the original lives on with an unabated power to move and delight us. & . ‘The “Unfinished” Symphony continues to be the eloguent utterance of a man of 25 whose music-filled spirit had accepted the callous rebuffs of an unfeeling environment without rancor. It is music melancholy without . bitterness, serene, simple and suffused with beauty. To listen to it with sympathy and uninterrupted attention is to be cheered

and spiritually refreshed.

HOLLYWOOD

By PAUL HARRISON

Love Flies Out the Window

As

Screen Stars 'Emote’

HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 8~Behind the screen: Hearing that Ann Sheridan was working in the still gallery at Warners, I dropped in to rest my eyes and found her—in one of those black evening gowns —waiting to do some ‘clinch stuff” with Jeffrey Lynn. You'd think that no man past the age of 3 could be late for

such a chore, but Mr. Lynn was.

and Miss Sheridan walked over to a brightly illuminated couch with a let’s-get-this-over-with briskness and went into a conventional embrace. Two cameras clicked, and the players altered their pose slightly. Mr. Lynn assumed his I'll-love-you-always expression and poised his lips as close to those of Miss Sheridan as the Hays Office will allow, She half closed her eyes and looked sort of swoony. There was a brief delay by the photographers. “Does my right arm look okay?” asked Mr. Lynn, never altering his soulful gaze. “Hurry up, you lugs; I'm due over at wardrobe right now,” said Miss Sheridan through parted, expectant lips. The cameras clicked some more, and the couple relaxed. ” ” ” WHILE THE ACTOR sat on the couch, Miss Sheridan wriggled around so that she reclined in his arms. She registered rapture. His possessive clasp looked like a title illustration for “Heav= en Can Wait.” “You finished with the picture, Jeff?” she asked. “Nah,” he snarled through a tender, half-smile of sheer ecstacy. “Gotta couple retakes tomorrow, and I wanted to go to the races. Say, haven't you guys got enough stuff?” “Just a little longer,” begged the boss photographer. "Annie, how about turning on a little more of the well-kno—" “If you say ‘oomph,” I'll strangle you,” warned Miss Sheridan. “Well, don’t strangle ME!” protested Lynn, who was looking pretty pink. Your correspondent tiptoed out. It was more disillusionment than I could bear. 28 2 I WENT AROUND to Stage 12, where theyre making a picture titled “We Shall Meet Again.” George Brent calls it “Six Characters in Search of a Director.” Edmund Goulding started if, fell “jl. William Keighley substituted for a while. Goulding returned, had a relapse, and now the job is in the hands of Anatole Litvak. All the action takes place on shipboard, and I watched a sequence in Merle Oberon’s state room. The actress was in bed, and looking fine in spite of a heart attack she was supposed to have had. They rehearsed a scene in which Geraldine Fitzgerald sat on the edge of the bed and concluded a few lines of dialog with,

Matinee Sat. 2:30 = MILLER presents PHILIP

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“LADIES wn GENTLEMEN

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When he finally showed up, he

‘of misunderstandings before the eventual happy conclusion. {accused of negligence, philandering and forgery,

“Joan, dear, you mustn't talk like this.” Then she was supposed to rise and go out a door. For a better camera angle. in the close shot, the bed was raised about a foot on wooden blocks. Then they made a take. As Miss Fitzgerald finished speaking, she rose to make her exit, forgot the bed had been elevated, stumbled and nearly fell. Here's how her last line sounded: “Joan, dear, you mustn't talk like this (@&—*?!X&Z!.

FIRST 'LITTLE EVA' LIKES 'GONE WITH—'

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 8 (U. P.).—An actress who won Abraham Lincoln’s applause while playing in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and who has lived to witness the motion picture “Gone With The Wind,” was celebrating her 92d birthday here today. “It was a fine play, though 1t did give Just the southern view of things,” commented Mrs. E. J. MacDonald of Belmont after seeing the movie. As Cordelia Howard, Mrs. MacDonald was the original Little Eva in the stage version of “Uncle Tom's Cabin.” Her performance in that role won ner plaudits as a sort of pre-Civel War Shirley Temple. Mrs. MacDonald, a widow, 1s a

native of Providence, R. I. GENERAL

1 ,900 ADMISSION

SEATS $1.10 On Sale 7:15 Each Night for

SONJA HENIE’S

Hollywood Ice Revue

COLISEUM Tonight—Fri., Sat.

Parquet Boxes $2.75—Tax Included Still Available

Tax Incl.

a Er TR STRAND . [R FREE PARKING es

Lane Sisters—John Garfield

“Four Wives”

Allce Faye—Warner Baxter

Barricade”

Mickey Rooney & His Gang “Judge Hardy & Son”

Alice Faye—Warner Baxter

‘‘Barricade”

AORIENTHL

John Payne, Pat O’Brien, Rg way” GIANT CEPA Nel We ks

‘*Amazing - Mr. Williams’ ‘Henry Goes$ Arizona”

Joan Biondel!, Frank Morgan,

E. Brown, ‘Beware a gr 54 City of Darkness’

Tomorrow

Alamo

“MUTINY IN THE BIG HOUSE”—With Charles Bickford. About a prison chaplain and a young convict who falls in with a “lifer.” It all winds up with the chaplain foiling a prison break.

“TAMING OF THE WEST”—With Bill Elliott, Iris Meredith.

“VIGIL IN |THE NIGHT”—With Carole Lombard, Brian Ahegne. As an English nurse, Miss Lombard endures a discouraging train She is

“MARRIED [AND IN LOVE”—With Alan Marshall, Barbara Read, Patric Knowles, Helen Vinson. Directed by John Farrow. Two college sweethearts, who parted, married and went their separate ways, meet again in New York. . '

Indiana

“LITTLE OLD NEW YORK”—With Alice Faye, Fred MacMuyrtay, Richard Greene, | Brenda Joyce. This is about a young Englishman named Robert Fulton who arrived in New York in the early 19th Century with some crazy invention for making a ship go without sails. THE JONES FAMILY IN “YOUNG AS YOU FEEL”"—With Jed Prouty, Spring Byington, Joan Valerie, Russell Gleason. Briefly, Father Jones sells his drug store, retires, doesn’t like it and goes back t

Loew’s (Holdover)

“GONE WITH THE WIND”—With Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard. Third week and going strong.

DICK POWELL (on stage}—With Shaw and Lee, revue and radio team; Faudley Troupe, acrobats; Al and Bernice Maison, canine act; Sid Marion and company in “Cavalcade of Comedy”; Three Biltmorettes, dancers. “THE RETURN OF DR. X” (on screen)—With Wayne Morris, Rosemary Lane, Humphrey Bogart. Directed by Vincent Sherman. .

Even with Alice Faye to help him, Richard Greene, as Robert Fuiton, seems to be arguing the virtues of the first steamboat with inThey're shown at the left in a scene from “Little

different success.

Old New York,” tomorrow’s Indiana feature. apolis’ own Dick Powell, who returns to the Lyric stage tomorrow for the first trip here since he left local theaters for Hollywood.

ALAMO PRIEST"

‘Charles Bickford, one of the screen’s more accomplished villains, departs from type as the priest in tomorrow’s Alamo feature, “Mutiny in the Big House.”

06 Lane Sisters, J. Garfield, Jeffry had “FOUR WIVES”—J, Blondell, Melvyn Douglas, ‘‘Amazing Mr. Williams’’

WX se,

‘Marx Bros., “AT THE CIRCUS” Richard Arlen—Andy Devine “THE MAN FROM MONTREAL”

~

THE INTIMATE SECRETS OF A PRIVATE NURSE

The first authentic,-*‘in-side’’revelation of thecloistered,. code-bound world of woman’s most intimate profession—probing deeply and dramatically the souls of those bitter women "who know men too well, yet. must somehow find love in the midst of terror, toil and disillusionment.

JuLieNn MITCHELL - Rop'T COOTE - Brenna FORBES PETER CUSHING * Produced & Directed by GEORGE STEVENS

rouonsow-CIRCLE THEATRE »

From the Great New Novel by

A. J. CRONIN

Broadway Musical

Along with the excitement of Helen Hayes’ return to Indianapolis tonight comes word from English’s of one new booking and a Sancellar tion. Latest addition to the theater's calendar is the pre-Broadway showing of a new musical called “Three After Three,” on March 4, 5 and 6. The ing are Simone Simon, Mary Brian and Mitzi Green. And the cancellation is of “The Beaux’ Stratagem,” which Gilbert Miller was to produce with Brian Aherne,

Fontaine who is Mrs. Aherne. Mr. Miller has departed New York for a hunting trip to South Carolina with the word that Mr. Aherne won't be available until fall. The production, incidentally, has been

English's Schedules

“three” in the star bill-|

Cornelia Otis Skinner and Joan!

brewing for two years and still hinges on the time when Hollywood ceases monopolizing the handsome Mr. Aherne’s services, Miss Hayes, undoubtedly Indianapolis’ favorite actress, is appearing in her first modern role in several years. The new play, by her huse band (Mr. MacArthur) and a close family friend (Mr. Hecht), is built upon a series of adventures in a jury box. It enjoyed a healthy Broadway run.

(ZLTITI

IIA

[Hy io \

THIRD

At the right is Indian-

SPENCER TRACY TO PLAY CYRANO

HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 8-—Spencer

Tracy will play Cyrano de Bergerac, the role that brought fame to the French star Coquelin and later to Richard Mansfield and Walter Hampden. The screen rights to the Edmond Rostand classic were purchased by M-G-M from Alexander Korda, who originally intended to film it in England with Charles Laughton.’ The story of the Gascon courtier whose huge nose prevented his romahce with a beautiful girl will follow the current “Edison, the Man” and the subsequent “The Yearling” on Mr. Tracy’s program.

FINAL DAY! _ CIRCLE

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KE .» SIR CEDRIC HARDWIC VINCENT PRICE-NAI GREY

GONE

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NIGHTS 8 P. M. (Reserved) . . . . ... , RL: 10 incl. tax SUN. MAT. 2 P.M. (Reserved) . .... 110 incl. tax

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WEEK

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MATINEE CONTINUOUS YNOT RESERVED!

Come Any Time Up to 2:45P. M.

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See it;in its entirety, exactly the same as at'Atlanta and Broadway premieres. This production will not} be’shown anywhere except at’ads| vanced prices—at least until 1941.

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LOEW'S

BY THE FAMOUS DOCTOR-AUTHOR OF “THE CITADEL"

Dr. Cronin surpasses his most memorable screen success in this triumphant drama of one girl’s heroic sacrifice and another’s amazing redemption — unforgettably gripping in its conflict of love and honor — its powerful drama made trebly vivid and exciting by three brilliant stars.

PANDRO S. BERMAN In Charge of Production * Screen Play by Fred Guiol P.J. Wolfson * ¢ o Rowland Leigh

RKO RADIO PICTURE

ALAN WARSHAL HELE VINSON

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