Judge — July 27, 1929 — page 18: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JUD GE AUDGING te SLY troubles with the theatre to- pointed out in the past. is worth-while, the theatre itself is an unappetizing n establishment as brilliantly lit up as a sailor on shore leave, once patronized by a gay and glamourous crowd, once a figure in the social life of the community, it has in late years fallen upon dark and dull days until presently—with very few excep- tions—it physically possesses all the allure of colored washerwoman, What the theatre needs even more than good plays is that air of radiance and picnic that it used to have and that it has now only on rare oc sions. The movie people have profited by the theatre's more re- cent slovenliness and have cozened trade from it by dolling up their film parlors like so many Irish bid- dies on a Thursday afternoon, Where the theatres presently economize on fancy electric illumination, the movie bordellos go the whole hog and draw in the passersby with fronts that look like an explo- sion in a Mexican diamond mine. Where the drama- tic houses shrink into the side-streets, as if they had been caught stealing jam and were afraid of being ets throw out their chests hfares and dare anyone to ng the dare with long dines r way to the ticket- Flatbush sittin; 2208 Offer interiors room, r saloon, »f people, when they go to a theatre, nd smells like a theatre, not an ex- looks, feels and smells like an ex And that is what such customers for the most part get when they go to the the: One of the reasons for the success of thes the w Amsterdam is surely the circumstance that they are theatres in every sense of the word and not merely brownstone fronts or Italian restaurants converted into theatres by printing the word Asbestos on a cotton drop-cur tain and hiring a frowzy woman to show you to an uncomfortable seat, It is true that the New Amster dam, to name but one of the real theatres, generally houses pretty good shows, but I have a feeling that if these same shows were put on in any one of a dozen less authentic theatres they wouldn't draw half the trade that they draw in the house in question, Every once in a while, one of the pseudo-t playing a dramatic attraction becomes conscious of its absurd pose as a theatre and tries to put itself over on its customers by installing a couple of guitar players in one of the boxes or by redecorating its sid Is to look like n day in Wana- H-paper department. But it fools nobody. The dodges only make its pretense of being a theatre the more obvious and ridiculous. A theatre, after all, must be a theatre from the moment its plans leave the architect's hands and from the moment its doors are first opened, And many of our theatres are theatres only by after-thought. true enough, They have stages, and their chairs are arranged in rows and are numbered, and programs announcing on the covers that they are theatres are handed around, but they are actually and essentially no more theatres than so many hinterland town-halls. Even the two guitar players have to laugh at them. In order to improve the theatrical business, I— being notoriously a constructive critic—propose that (Continued on page 31) Theatre “Hold Everything” (Broadburst)—The tunes are now being played everywhere. Digest “Let Us Be Gay” (Little)—A comedy “Great Oa" (Coumopelitan)—Vineent by La Crothers that is better than the — Youmans’ musical show average. It is also ably acted. - (New Amsterdam) — If | spanked, the sercen 4 along the main thorou pe try to get in, emphasiz of jakes fighting to elbow th window. And where the theatres, once you get inside \ them, offer the aspect of a } only not so clean, the cinema pa } indistinguishable from a marriage of the Ile de r France and the old Silver Dol The majori want a theatre that looks like a theatre and feels | like a theatre age with a couple of hundred chairs in it that f uj i ata? treet Scene” (Iaybouse) — The Hh ise award this year bas some ne LO it. But go around and see the proficient Hae boofing. The Perfect Alibf" (Hopkins) — For { thone who get all worked up waiting for f the actor who did the murder to be ex i pened, this one will serve. ‘““Shidding”* (Bayes)—You can't blame i tue for ita long run. 1 did my best. i “Bird ia Hand” (M orceco)—A genuine- } ly amusing comely that will locees your i nite “The Little Show” (Music Box) — A modest revue with a bot of humor in it. “Grand Street Follies” (Booth) —1 haven't seen it since they revised it, but 1 ope it is better than it was. “A Mi in Venice” (Shubert)—It is enlivened periedically by the antics of Tom Healy and bis brother sanies. “Follow Thru” (40th Street) — Irene Delroy to look at and some gay tunes to whistle. “Journey's End” (Miller) — Even though you may be fed up on the late war, this play will interest you. “Wice Women” (Longacre) — Better than “My Girt Friday”, but that's not saying anything. Eddie Cantor is still alive, this remains a pretty good ehow. “The New Moon” (Iimperial)—Better than the majority of musical comedies that come this way. “Brothers” (48th Street)—Very sour. “Het Chocolates” (Hudson)—The M. Connie. who runs a cataret in Smoke- town, is the impresario. Oh ee RETET RSE + ERT comicbooks.com