Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 January 1941 — Page 11

THURSDAY, JAN. 2, oy

= 10: 30, My Daughter, Is Late Stage Music

STAGE

Mrs. Flanagan, In a Patiently Done EBook, Tells Why Federal Theater Expired Here

dr———

By JAMES THRASHER

THE WPA theater withdrew from Keith's summer 8f 1937 there were, I imagine, The Indianapolis company presented an unflattering picture

parture.

in the early few tears shed at its de-

of the Federal Theater Project, due to circumstances larzely beyond

Joes! control.

But its record of bad plays, bad direction &2d bad per-

rmances left a rather sour memory of what had promised to be a

fresh artistic stimulus as well as © an emergency measure, Now comes a book to open the door to a whole train of extenuating circumstances. It is “Arena” by Hallie Flanagan . (Duell, Sloan and Pearce). Subtitled “An Adventure in the American Theater,” it is the story of a Guggenheim Fellow who left her experimental theater at Vassar College to direct the Federal Theater Project through four years of enthusiasm and disappointment, four years in which an incredibly complex job was supposed to be done in a hurry in the face of what must have been, at times, maddening frustration. Mrs. Flanagan's book is long and carefully documented. Parts of it are pretty gray and statistical.

But for the most part it is a bril-

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liant, witty and welliwritten accourit of an importan! chapter in the Anierican theater ” ” &

THERE IS NO sniveling or spe= cial pleading in the ‘wuthor’s ac=courit. She points ou} a series of incidents which finilly spelled the project’s doom. I3ut she also points out mistakes ‘which were made in the running of FIP itself. Co-operating with (Harry Hopkins, and assisted by Elmer Rice

and | other informed and iniportant persons of the profess. ional theater, Mrs. Flanagan in 1935 launched a difficult and imposing project. It was to pit thousands of unemployed theater people back to work, and tc. Se their work enjoyable to millions of Americans who ofherwise- were denied the theater. 17 was to take employables from relief olls and put [them to work ia their own skills and trades. ceed without dictation from Wash= ington as to materia, but it was to produce nothing urjcer Govern= ment sponsorship which might be construed as cheap ol vulgar. Myfs. Flanagan's plans were grandiose but commendable. She envisioned five great regional theaters. They would be housed in buildings built by WPA labor. They would tour the smaller communities, working with local thealtrical groups to (levelop playwrights who would “build up a body of dramatic literature each for his own Teglon” . THIS DIDS com: to pass, although FTP did achieve no table success in some districts, particularly North Carolina and - Louisi=ana. Paul Green's “The Lost Colony,” first done under WPA sponsorship, has now become an annual folk - drama avent, with thousands journeying to sce it each summer on Roanoke Is land, N. C. The great trouble seemed to be that! FTP.didn’t control its own purse strings. Finacial support depended on what was sometimes a stupid bureaucracy, Regional directors who cared or comprehendced nothing about Mrs. Flana=gan’; invariably ar ‘istic aspirapo blocked her repeatedly. One stipulated as his ideal district theater one that should never attract attention or encourage newsaper comment! Dror obvious factor which Mrs. Flanagan lays l2ss stregs upon was the inability of finding the playwrights to zontribute to a national dramatic literature. ” ” a OF THE Indianapolis Federal Thegter, Mrs. Flanagan writes: “Dr. Norvelle (Dr. Lee Norvelle, head “of the Indiana Univ srsity drama department, who took a year’s leave to direct the Indiana FTP) decided to run weekly stock, although this’ was at variance with Federal Theater policy which recommended &@ longer reheasal period. After the first six weeks I wrote him: «<q am wondering whether it is necessary to change the bill every week? I noticed tliat one comment said, ‘rather ambiguously, “The performance was up to level which: we may expect as their standard, now thit we have sampled their work for a month.” It is difficult for ine to believe that any standard, after ‘only a rehearsal, car he high, oi I am wondering whether a show every two weeks woilld not insure better production?’ “However, Dr. Norvelle faced local conditions which made him wish to continue! the weekly policy; and we wanted him to have as free a hand as possible because pportunity to develop a state theater.” 8 8 ” ONZ EXAMPLE from Mrs, Flanzgan’s description of the Dies Corarittee’s investization of the Federal Theater should suffice. In the course of her examina-

tion the was asked if Christopher

Marlowe was a Communist, “ell us who Marlowe is, so we can get proper referances, because that is all we want to do.” : Mrs. Flanagan sidly reminded her cuestioner, amicist the spectators’ laughter, that Marlowe was

It was to pro-

_ THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

VETERAN = GREETS LON One of the first persons to wel-

cone Lon Chaney Jr. when the lat- | ter appeared before a cemera in “Billy the Kid,” was King Baggot, veteran star and one of his father’s oldest friends. Although young Chaney has appeared in many pic-. tures, this is his debut appearance at the studio where his father made most of his outstanding successes. et eps ran, ENGLISH ,.%.57%

OLSEN. & JOHNSON Present the SCREAMLINED: REVUE

WHEN DOES IT START?

CIRCLE

“Vietory,” with Fredric Mare Batty Hr bi Ce Ne. Herdwicke. a lie Win Henry 3 A Joie Toone Leila Ernst. ‘Edd 12:25, 3:15. 6:05 and

INDIANA

. Class Opens

Charles Hedley to Use Opeis ctscing a ia Teaching Method Astaire. Paulette Goddard. Burgess

edith, 12:42. 3:49, 6:56 and A class in acting for the musicai|| pl topes se” stage, taught by Charles Hedley, || 328 will. be organized at the Jordan Conservatory a week from tonight. The meeting will be held at 7:45 p. m. in the Student Hall, 1204 N.

Delaware St. Mr. Hedley, who heads the Jordan || puririeyiit Parade” witht Johnny

voice department, jo ined ihe school 1 udson's Say ET “Pau Muni, last year after eight years’ experi- # ene Tierney. a 4, 4:53. ence as leading tenor of the Amer-

[ican Opera- Company and several |seasons in light opera and musical OWNS DESERT CLUB Chester Morris is co-owner with

comedy. ‘He has appeared with Mary Gar-| Ralph Bellamy of the Racquet Club den and Gladys Swarthout in “Car-| in Palm Springs, Cal. men.” And his operatic roles, in addition to Don Jose in the Bizet opera, include Pinkerton in “Madame Butterfly,” the.name part in “Faust,” Lionel in “Martha” and Canio in “Pagliacci.” He was featured in the 60-week run of “Three Little Girls” in New York and Chicago and toured the country in the title role of “The Student. Prince.” This season Mr. Hadley made hi first theatrical appearance in. Indianapolis at the Civic Theater, where he created a favorable impression as Wintergreen in “Of Thee I Sing.” Mr. Hedley’s teaching will be based on the methods of Rouben Mamoulian, the Russian director whom George Eastman brought to the United States as the American Opera's dramatic director, and of Vladimir Rosing, who was the American Opera’s musical director. It is Mr. Hadley’s contention that the production of plays, pageants and similar activities are an ncreasing part of the teacher’s function. The new course will continue for 18 weeks.

HURRY! LAST DAY! ——

ile Bracken.

JUDY LIS,

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Real Nickles Turn Up in Property Slot Machines

HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 23 (U. P.).—|about all the maintenance and adActors may drop slugs in slot ma-{justment work that comes along chines used in motion pictures, but|in the studios on the coin slot so strong is the human desire devices. gamble that real-nickels, dimeS and| The biggest thing that has come quarters are found in the machines his way recently is the battery of when they are stripped of their|several hundred slot machines and slugs. other gambling devices used in the The slugs are used during actual [filming of “Las Vegas Nights,” filming scenes to avoid violating the | which concerns itself with the federal law against photographing sporting aspects of the vest pocket real ceinsand currency. But Clif-{Nevada frontier metropolis hard by ford Roth, Paramount prop shop{Boulder Dam. employe who “bleeds’’ the machines,| When Director Ralph Murphy says.that other perscns on the sets| wants one of the machines to pay use real money to play for the|out a jackpot to Phil Regan, Bert prospect of a handful of worthless| Wheeler or Constance Moore, for slugs. instance, Mr. Roth “bleeds” it. Mr. Roth’s odd oc¢upation arises| Then, when the player pulls the from his’ experience in a slot ma-|handle, the machine pays off with chine . factory. Since the inner |90 per cent dependability. workings of the machines are no| That's the best Mr. mystery to him, Mr. Roth gets -just | guarantee.

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