Life, 1925-07-16 · page 22 of 40
Life — July 16, 1925 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a theater review of the Folies-Bergère revue in Paris. The critic discusses how Americans romanticize the show through Irving Berlin's song "All Alone," though the actual production is mediocre—comparable to American revues rather than exceptional. The review notes the famous Tiller Girls (a precision dance troupe) are present but no longer exciting. It mocks the show's pretensions: a daring pantomime depicting Satan raiding a church altar, and a "Batouala Boys" chorus of Black performers representing musical notes in a song—presented as France's attempt to gain literary prestige from the novel *Batouala*, winner of the Goncourt Prize. The critic finds the production conventionally risqué but ultimately disappointing. The detailed description of scene-shifting—where stagehands work visibly in lowered light—reveals French theatrical practices the American audience should "expect." The overall tone is witty, slightly condescending toward both French and American entertainment values.
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BRON eat 247 [I \SS es Les Folies (fr.) Paris, 19 Thermidor. idea of makir {ERICANS who have a just to sce the Fol their. money and the trip ht better the front. pa to Paris Bergére m save stay at home in playing graph. For if "over and over again on the phono: it weren't. for Mr. Berlin's song and_ the Tiller Girls there wouldn't be any Folies-Bergére at all, and a lot of people would get more sleep. So much is thought of f y M. Lemarchand he has used it twice in his revue. The first time it 1» Soir en Mer,” and is sung hy what correspond to Grace Moore and John Steel in France, very sentimental, Later in the bill they the tempo a little and call it “L’tmour Sous Le. und a very good me it is for too. A lot of bring in sp e of that end of it, Whatever the iginal cuphonious That scems to be is given the seductive title, “ change Mimosas,” igs of mimosa to take and Amour takes care of itself. French lyric is, we could detect m “waiting for a ring Mind you, we ¢ Not o use, but handsome acknowle “Musique d’Ir itself, somehow good for a 1 IDE from their exquisite coloring, the make pretty dull sit t me y have stolen the mus’ are they probably an untidy sum for its hy the note *olies-Bergere The Tiller Girls are there. to be sure, and take part in everything but the scene-shifting (remind us to speak of the scene-shifting later), but we ceased to thrill at the Tiller Girls, taking them for ves Niagara Falls, and practically the only Tiller chorus to excite us now would be for one of them to get out of step. to happen will get you nowhere. But waiting around for that w S for the rest of the show, with the exception of a strik- ing and rather daring pantomime representing a raid on a church altar by Satan (who, we hasten to add, is eventually confounded, with all his devils), the thing is about on a par with the less eventful American revues and not within several miles of our best. In the matter of shocking sights, travelers attending in high hopes of being revolted hitter disappointment. Earl Carroll has languished in a dungeon in America for the same thing. There is a certain amount of the conventional exposure, Jat, after all,—ho-hum! are in for ——_ & —— HE rewards of literary distinction have reached heights in France which surpass anything that American authors have any right to hope for. “Batouala,” the vivid and tragic book of African native life which won the Gon- court Prize two or three ye recognition in the Folies by having a chorus of Negroes called “The Batouala Boys” in its honor, They put their heads through a sereen to represent the musical notes in a song called “Pign! Pagn! Pouf!” Perhaps next season Mr. Ziegfeld may be prevailed upon to have a chorus of “Arrowsmith in honor of Sinclair Lewis's book. ago, receives its ultimate H, yes, about scene-shifting. Changing the sets in all French revues scems to be done on the principle that the audience deserve to know everything that goes on, so that they will suspect no tricker: When it comes to shift to the next scene, the lights are lowered t a visi time allow lity equal to that at seven o'clock in the evening of a clear summer's day. You sce the stage-hands crashing about, striking the set, and drops are raised and lowered with utter frankness. Then, when everything is ready (in about five minutes after the close of the preceding number), the stage manager, clad in a long duster and a straw hat, walks on and formally inspects the set. When he is satisfied, he shakes hands with the assistant stage manager and the rest of the crew; there are general felicitations on the success of the manceuvre, every one rushes off and the actors rush on (sometimes the actors come on before the thing is finished and stand about offering restions), the lights are raised to their full strength, and the show goes on. One day some one is going to tell them about setting scenes behind the curtain of the act that is i so that there will be no waits, and they will probably go into an hysteria. They are a brave little nation, but they don’t use their heads much. Robert Benchley, progress, comicbooks.com