Oscar Serfin Looks Ahead: To Offer four New Plays
SHIPLEY, JOSEPH T.
Oscar Serfin Looks Ahead: To Offer four New Plays By Joseph T. Shipley This Week on the Stage CHEERS FOR CHINA . "KUKAN." Color Film of China Today. At the World. A truly thrilling picture...
...The sole purpose of physical actions is to conveui to the audience the moods and thoughts of the characters...
...Has the father's faith in humahity, his philosophy of life, sufficient strength to carry her out into the world...
...Serlin "has mapped pot a production schedule for-next season that might make even a beaver blanche * % First of all, of course, there will be "AP:.The Story of News," a production job that would stun a Reinhardt, stagger a Welles...
...The new Roxy stajre press*, tion featuring Major Btri I "Star Parade of 1941" also today...
...In the theatre...
...writes like a f laughing angel...
...What is more important, the action or the mood...
...if your emotional sjystem is on the way to petrification his plays wfll mean little bo you...
...busy dramatizing Anton Rootheart's best-selling novel, "Dutch Vet"—and Mr...
...A writer j who can turn ^ut prize-winning . plays and beSt-selling books, whose short a^pries are in the , collections or ; America's best ' tales, who at his -first fling at ; play producing can entertain I theatergoers td the extent of paying off the (production of'his ¦ current corned % "The Beautiful ; People," in six] weeks needs no j support from j a Sensitive bystander, | One thing is certains-William | Saroyan js a writer' towards whom it is impossible to be indifferent...
...B = Britain...
...Edward G. Robinson assumes an entirely new character when he plays the part of a lover...
...The original screenplay was written by Warner's ace scripting team,' Jerry Wald and Richard Macauly, and was directed" by Raoul Walsh...
...If you can feel, Saroyan will move you...
...and Broadway, 72nd St...
...A truly thrilling picture unrolls along the screen at the World Theatre, as "Kukan" shows - the indomitable will of China today, forging the unity of a firm nation beneath the machine blows of the invading Japanese...
...FraBz Allers conducted...
...to impart to us the thoughts and moods of their characters, but no...
...being an art which deals with the emotional content of a story, it is the mood...
...Even the most malicious of his* harpies will not deny that he can establish moods and express feelings and bring out of every...
...Serlin is searching for a .suitable adaptor for Nina Fedorova's "The Family...
...I M ¦ { .1 __I_:_ I • ¦ ' ' 'I ¦ . 1 If we must be technical, a plot is the connection between the elements of a story...
...Also on the program is a series of dances by Carmen ¦ Amaya, the Flamenco Gypsy I dancer whom S. Hurok has taken I over, and whose screen performance gives good sign of her ; almost savage power...
...No plot...
...Some phuyrwrights must employ physical action in onder...
...Also on tlhe program is Tex McCrary, explaining by fascinating signal charts, the Nazi military "Blitz" strategy...
...The production will require an enormous crew of, technicians, and, as its most novel aspect, the final scene will be changed daily, in order to keep the play completely abreast of the times...
...The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, for two successive nights, brought its cool beauty to the enthusiastic audience, in the always charming "Les Sylphides," the rousing "Scheherazade" and the sweetness of "Le .Beau Danube" to the music of Johann Strauss...
...But then, he does rot pretend to be writing for the walking dead...
...Having played to such crowds in the first four dove, "Blossoms in the Dust...
...This should provide some indication of how gargantuan it is...
...Examine "The Time of Your Life...
...But again William Saroyan has told his story with a wealth of material, so rich and entertaininig that it tends to overshadow the basic tale...
...SEAWSEAWT YORK" OPENS AT THE ASTOR "Sergeant York," khe film story of the Tennessee mfruntainer who became America's greatest World War hero, had its...
...With Eugene Gopsens conducting (he is still at the helm), Mischa Elman captured the great crowd .with Tschaikowsky's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in'D-major, opus 35...
...STADIUM ACTIVITIES The week past at the Stadium again showed a great variety of programs -and performers...
...It may have been caused by a faulty door check or a gust of wind...
...He delivers his emotional impacts without resource to theatrical devices and they ! therefore come forth with full human intensity, undiminished by indirection...
...Under the baton of Alexander Smallens, the 15-year-old Veronica Mimosa gave...
...William Saroyan, the Artful Plotter...
...world premiere at the Astor Theatte on Wednesday evening, July 2,Vith Sergeant Alvin C, York himself heading the list of notables attending...
...Tom, whose sole ambition is to be a carbon" copy of Joe, meets Kitty Duval, an unfortunate who has been driven to walking the streets for a livelihood...
...1 By LEO FREEDMAN No one needs- a champion less : than William Saroyan...
...Whether you like Saroyan's plays depends on your ability to emote...
...C = China...
...The first of the U. S. defense films, "Men i in Ships," completes a splendid program...
...Must it be a -linking of physical actions...
...The screen play is by ;Abem FinkeL Harry Chandlee, Howard Koch and John Huston, based upon the diariy of Sergeant York...
...The cast supporting Cooper in "Sergeant York" includes Walter Brennan, Joan Ljeslie, George Tobias and Stanley Ridges...
...And equally stirring concerts lie ahead...
...You are either "enthuastic- I ally for him or you shout your...
...The theatergoer is being given more than he has asked for, but since when has it been the custom I to complain of having received too much for one's money...
...Serlin will be up-to his ears in work— which is exactly where he likes to be...
...Decidedly not.-jt may be a pattern of moods...
...Next on Mr...
...Miss Casto, who stops the, show nightly with her imitatiorSof a strip tease artist with the Rodgers and Hart number entitled "Zip," embarked on a second career as a night club performer last week...
...It may be that there is too much plot...
...and Radio City, and Broad St., Newark...
...Howard Hawks directed...
...drew 85.062 persons to Radio City Music Hall in the first four days of its run...
...Indeed, Mr...
...The film "Kukan" shows that ' China deserves her place in that list...
...The oldest plot in the world, the standby of every motion picture script—boy meets girl, boy gets girl...
...dislike from the house tops...
...WHen 'a character pulls the cloth off the table sending the china crashing to the floor it is not the breaking of the china that is the drama...
...There is as sound a structure in ."The Beautiful People," the Saroyan comedy current at the Lyceum Theatre...
...This is what Saroyan achieves...
...Saroyan has discovered how to make bricks with a minimum of straw and the blocks he contrives have the added quality of transparency, permitting light to enter the hidden recesses...
...TThe playwright has employed a device to indicate the passion stored in the resisting breast...
...Listen to Jonah's relief and the emotional easement of the audiences at the Lyceum Theatre when they become aware, of the Tightness of his teachings...
...when immediately after the performance at the Barrynnore Theatre they will all go towntown to the Number One Bar on lower Fifth Avenue to do homage to their colleague- Jean Casto, stellar entertainer at that bistro...
...No suspense, no plot...
...To impress the picture firmly in mind, however, why' not step over to the air-cooled Embassy theatre...
...Should all four of those productions reach Broadway next season (and it seems to be a reasonably safe bet that they will), Mr...
...The '^In-Ferson" show is headlined by Cab Calloway, the King of Hi-JDe-Ho, and his sepian revue starring Chu Berry, Cozy Cole, Moke and Poke, Avis Andrews, Otto Eason and Cab Calloway's Boys and Girls...
...BLOSSOMS IN THE DUST" HELD OVER AT MUSIC HALL The cool comfort and big stagescreen program headec^ by Greer Garson in "Blossoms in* the Dust" and Leonidoff's interesting revue, "Symphdny in Color...
...Will the preparation for living, which was so satisfactory within the walls of the house atop Red Rock Hill,, be a sufficient bulwark against the disillusioning realism of a harsh world...
...w Producer of "life With Father" Has Busy Season Ahead The producer of such a successful play as "Life''With Father" might very well he excused if he decided to retire from the theatre after it closed, and then simply live for the rest of his life on the profits...
...He is an idealistic and trusting lineman who falls in love with, glamorous Marlene Dietrich, a' sleek and tawny roadhouse hostess, against the will of his best friend, George Raft, third party in the triangle...
...Oscar Serlin...
...If you can convey the mood without resource to physical action you have advanced toward a simpler handling of play ma. terial...
...In the natural color, these pictures grip the soul...
...Highlight of the program is the speech by Secretary of Navy" Knox, in-which the cabinet official , outspokenly calls for use of our Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic...
...The effect of the ballet is always enhanced by performance in the open, with night space and stars, and a breeze stirring the scenic foliage as though one were truly watching those sylphs aplay in the forest...
...Gary Cooper is starred as York in the picture, produced by Jesse L. Lasky and Hal l B. Wallis at Warner Bros.' studio in Burbank, Gal...
...Seen, too, is the first flight of the Navy's new huge bomber —the largest in the world, many times the size of the present huge transocean clippers^ The wheels of this new bomber, capable of 7,000 miles of sustained flight, is 8 feet high...
...The emphasis is not on war, although scenes of devastation are shown, rising indeed to the tremendous climax of the city of j Chungking ablaze after a bombing...
...The slam of a door is not the important element...
...Or it may be am interlinking of thoughts, so/ involved that they make- for dramatic, suspense...
...how- ¦ ever, the sponsor of this'fabulous comedy which has broken records in six cities, and which is now in its twentieth month at the Empire Theatre here, has no idea whatsoever of retiring...
...Is he less of a playwright or more of a creative artist when he can convey the thought and emotion without crude mechanics...
...Is it true that the Saroyan plays have no story J Only for those whose' sensibilities have been dulled to the point where they must be physically injured before they can feel...
...Knox Speech, Somber Flight On All Embassy Screens A varied but interesting program appears op the screens of the Embassy Newsreel Theatres this week—at Embassy, 46th St...
...Jonah Webster has raised his family to believe in the ¦ goodness and majesty of living...
...his daughter feels so warmly toward all living things that she is unable to bear the thought of harming even the little mice that share an abode with the Webster family...
...ROBINSON DIETRICH...
...But any true picture of China today must' stress the steady building and rebuilding of the nation, as its citizens through cooperative factories, through all the ways of mutual help and growth forced upon them by the ruthlessness of Japan, rise to an understanding , and practice of democracy, in the greatest stir of national union in i all their history...
...a surprisingly sensitive presentation of SaintSaens' second piano concerto...
...It is the emotion of the player, demonstrated by the "bang," which has dramatic significance...
...Max Steiner composed the musical score...
...What the carper really means is that William Saroyan has provided such an overabundance of emotion that the central story is relatively unimportant...
...Kitty's faith in living is likewise reestablished and another marriage—and from all indications a happy one—has been made on earth...
...But, say those whojhelieve that he is, a lost wanderer in the theatrical1 world, his plays have no plot...
...Marlene Dietrich and George Raft, with Alan Hale and Frank McHvyrh, will have its premiere at the New York Strand Theatre today...
...RAFT IN "MANPOWER" AT STRAND THEATRE "Manpower," starring Edward G. Robinson...
...Incidentally], the photdgraphy ' by Rey Scott is excellent, and this j first natural color picture filmed [' in China has a beauty and power i in itself—as well as in the social and political story—to make it j richly worthwhile...
...In the "March of Time" film on China, there is a scene of the children learning to read: A =± j America...
...More ? Well, Edward Chodarov is now...
...The Astor Theatre engagement of the picture will be on a two-aday, reserved seat basis for an extended run...
...Everyone agrees that in the j words of John Mason Brown...
...The young girl falls in love and there is uneasiness in the home...
...1 a plot...
...PAL JOEY" CAST TO HONOR JEAN CASTO Vivienne Segal, Gene Kelly, June Havoe and Jack Durant will be hosts to the entire cast of "Pal Joey" (Mon...
...Is faith rfn living enough ? Falling in love instead of being pure joy engenders pitrc and Agnes will have no pity for, as she says, "pity is no seed to throw among the living...
...Through Joe's influence, and a series" of psychological developments revealed through a,series of moods established by the various contributing actors, Tom admits that he would be "very happy looking after a girl like Kitty...
...which reveals Miss Garson in Technicolor, for the first time on the screen, is being held over as tht Music Hall's Fourth of July attraction...
...AP," which, was written by Olivej- Gram ling, will be dramatized by a host of playwrights, with each doing the scene or two for which they are best equipped...
...His characters do not connive and ! conspire and {commit mayhem,' murder and rape.- Which leads to i the inevitable question, What is...
...No plot...
...Serlin's schedule will be "The King's Maid," a new play by Ferenc Molnar...
...and Broadway, 30th St...
...day people the .'thoughts buried in • their inarticulate interiors...
...Saroyan...
...The Strand's new offering is a comic drama about power linemen and their high-powered women that is said to be poignant in its tense moments and rollicking jn its humorous sequences...
...Reports from the downtown sector say that as is winning as much applause sit her special program of songs w she does uptown in "Pw Jag* HEW FILM AT ROXY %, "Moon Over Miami," |fc< Technicolor production, isj^jscreen feature beginning today a the Roxy Theatre...
...D = Democracy...
Vol. 24 • July 1941 • No. 27
