Judge — June 7, 1930 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

land,” shown under the title, “The Vikings,” with Blanche Yurka starred and with Thomas Wilfred’s color organ, the Clavilux, illumi- ing the stage like a pousse-café, hardly served to inspirit the dying season. Confected by the august Henrik in his nonage, the drama i best politely forgotten by his admir- ers, An imitative and pretentious bore, of which the author himself in his later years confided to a B | ee “The Warriors at Hel na a is bruder in the Luitpold at Munich: Youth will, alas, do such things!", it sined nothing from the performance bequeathed to it at the New Yorker. Nor did its first night presentation gain more from a highly dressy audi- ence which had in considerable part evidently come to the theatre under the bland impression that the exhibit was an opera and which here and there muttered its disappointment when the advertised color « con- fined itself to its polychromatic pur- pose and failed to give out Put an actor in a tig place a brass helmet on his head and, whatever his talents, he is usually pretty certain to turn ham instanter. The troupe assembled on this oceasion lived magnificently up to tradition. In addition to a rare assortment of elocutionary monkeyshines, it went in for all the vast chest i fist- clenchings and belly-growlings deemed appropriate to this general species of drama. As for the ladies of the com- pany, Miss Yurka, delivering herself of such locutions So you are sur- prised to see me still alive yet,” crossed her Janecowlisms with some of the worst idiosyncrasies of Thomas Shea, while Margaret Mower, in the role of Dagny, often appeared in doubt as to whether she was playing Lydia Languish or doubling for some movie cutie. The color organ was at its best in the sea pictures. Here a remarkably realistic and beautiful effect was achieved. But in its attempt to sug- gest the great flickering fireplace in the second act it was less happy, the JUDGE © TALE GEORGE J O stage taking on the aspect less of a an of the big conflagration scene in “The Still Alarm.” Mr. Wilfred’s inven- tion, however, might be employed to striking advantage in such a show as the “Follies”; its possibilities in that direction are endless. Where it is dis- tracting on the dramatic stage it would be thoroughly in key with the revue, room bathed in a fireplace’s glow t * 28 «# A can of trash called “Gold Braid” threw another handful of dirt on the season's coffin. Its outstanding feature was a character named Julio Cortez who, described by the other characters as “a dazzling Don Juan,” showed up in a pair of Moe Levy white pants, a shirt three sizes too small for him and a hot red tie and made his exits romantically picking his nose and scratching his bottom. A wealthy Spaniard educated at Ox- ford, Julio employed such speech as “You are a cool proposition” and, due to the misfortunes of casting, found himself compelled to speak of “the white-and-gold beauty” of a decided brunette. This warm male piece, it appeared during the time my seat housed me, had a passionate yen for a Major's wife who coyly repulsed him until he put a knife into the evil Abdul who stole up behind her one night and tried to sardou her. His great love at this juncture impressed her and, as I sneaked up the aisle and glanced over my shoulder, she was in his arms, with her prosaic husband spying upon her from behind the garden wall. I may be wrong about this, however, as my vision was somewhat obscured by the Messrs. Atkinson, Hammond, Gabriel, et al., who were desperately trying to edge up the aisle ahead of me. What happened to Julio, the dazzling Don Juan, and the Major's wife after that, I fear you shall never know so far as this department goe$. While Julio and the Major's wife were off-stage, the action of the play, as I made it out, seemed to centre upon a saucy baby named Sabena, 16 ACRES NATHAN whose face was smex juice red with walnut red to be making passes at an assortment of gentlemen including the aforementioned Abdul, a Chinaman named Quong and pickled private in the army. ‘The ac- tress’ technique in the depiction of a woman in the act of making passes consisted chiefly in bringing forward the right hip and aiming it at the quarry’s umbilicus. At such times as hena was taking a rest, the plat- form was held by the Major and the Colonel who unintelligibly discussed various plans for subduing the more rascally Filipinos, the more raseally Filipinos meanwhile hinting at an up- rising by beating on pans in the wings. nd who appe * *# « Gronee M. Conan’s return to the Fulton is about the only thing that has relieved the funereal tone of these theatrical dog-days. Unfortu- nately, however, I have already writ- ten so much in praise of the M. Cohan’s gifts that there's nothing more left for me to say about him, That he isan uncommonly skilful actor, everyone knows, and to take money for repeating the fact is beneath my honor and dignity. The Tavern,” in which he is making his reappearance, has also been lectured on by me suffi- ciently in the past, and to take more money for repeating the lecture is even further beneath the honor and dignity mentioned in the preceding sentence, “The Song and Man,” in which he will show himself after “The Tavern,” has similarly re- ceived an amount of comment from me in other years that does not warrant a re-covering of old ground. To go over the ground again and re-tell the excellent performance that Cohan gave in it and doubtless will give again would also, when the time comes, mean the taking of money that I wouldn't rightly earn, So, having said that much, let me conclude this paragraph and, having shrewdly bam- boozled the editor, take the money anyway. (Nathan recommends on page 29) Dance comicbooks.com