American motion picture firms with offices in Berlin will have to discharge every Jew in their employ if they wish to continue their activities in Germany. All Jews were dismissed from German film companies several weeks ago. The American companies were given notice to obey the order as soon as possible. The Berlin offices are all headed by Jews with the exception of Paramount. It has been said that Warner Bros. will close its offices rather than obey the Nazi ruling.
Rose Franken’s “Another Language” is to be revived, beginning Tuesday. . . . Maurice Schwartz and his troupe are now playing “Yoshe Kalbe” at the Apollo Theatre, Chicago. . . . “Zolz und Pfeffer” (Salt and Pepper) a concert revue by Ossip Dymov with music by Sholem Seconda opens tonight at the Ambassador Theatre. It will consist of sketches in Jewish, Russian, Hebrew and English. The dancing will be staged by Lillian Shapeero who will be remembered for the picturesque arrangements of the folk-dances in “Yoshe Kalb”. . . . There is to be a benefit performance tonight at the 46th St. Theatre to aid the Eddie Cantor Camp for Poor Children. More than seventy-five Broadway stars have consented to appear, among them Cantor himself, Jim Wallington, Rubinoff, Belle Baker, Abe Lyman and Lou Holtz.
The Shakespeare Theatre is planning a festival today on the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Percival Vivian, director, will stage the pageants. Three programs will be given, at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 8 p.m…. “Twentieth Century”, the hilarious comedy adapted by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur from a one-act play by Charles Bruce Milholland, has been bought by Columbia. Eugenie Leontovich who plays the role of the-temperamental actress, is being persuaded to come to Hollywood for the screen version.
Four new plays which have made desperate attempts to reach Broadway, appear this week…. Although “Little Ol’ Boy” is supposed to reach town on Monday night, the theatre in which it is to appear has not yet been announced. . . “Man Bites Dog” opens Tuesday at the Lyceum. . . . Wednesday will see “Hilda Cassidy” installed at the Martin Beck. . . . “Nine Pine Street” is due on Friday, the theatre to be announced later. . . . These plays will serve to introduce new playwrights.
Katherine Cornell will close “Alien Corn” here on May 13 in order to take the play to the Chicago World Fair. . . . This season’s activities of the Theatre Guild will end with the production of “The Mask and the Face”, an adaptation by W. Somerset Maugham from the Italian of Luigi Chiarelli. It will open May 8 at the Guild Theatre with a cast which includes Judith Anderson, Stanley Ridges, Humphrey Bogart, Ernest Cossart, Laura Straub and others. The Theatre Guild announces a $2 top for next season. Casting difficulties are held responsible for the fact that the organization will complete its present season with five plays instead of the customary six. . . . With “The Late Christopher Bean” and “Alien Corn” on Broadway, Sidney Howard returns from Hollywood with “Yellow Jack” and “Woodrow Wilson” which are now being actively considered for production next season. Mr. Howard is seriously contemplating the farm situation in Iowa for a play. . . .
Harold Clurman, director of the Group Theatre, has been appointed leader of a party of Americans who will attend the Theatre Festival in Moscow from June 1 to 10. The Moscow Festival will include presentations of plays, movies, operas and ballets, visits to schools of the theatre and theatre museums. Backstage meetings with directors and actors and lectures by Innacharsky, Stanislavsky, Tairov and Professor Goldenweiser will complete the program. The group will sail for Leningrad on May 10.
“The Return of Nathan Becker” at the Europa is the first Soviet film to be shown in this country in the Jewish language. It tells the story of an immigrant Russian-Jewish bricklayer who returns from America to Russia under the Soviet.
“Humanity”, a Fox film directed by John Francis Dillon, will be at the Seventh Avenue Roxy this week. In the cast are Ralph Morgan, Boots Mallory, Alexander Kirklan and Irene Ware . . . . “A Bedtime Story”, starring Maurice Chevalier supported by Helen Twelvetrees, Edward Everett Horton and Adrienne Ames, is now playing at the Rivoli. . . . “Working Man”, with George Arliss, Bette Davis and J. Farrell MacDonald is now at the R.K.O. Music Hall. . . . “Hell Below”, a story of submarine adventure, will replace “The White Sister” at the Astor Tuesday night. In the cast are Robert Montgomery, Walter Huston and Jimmy Durante.
There is still talk that Mary Pickford is planning a production of “Alice in Wonderland” with the aid of Walt Disney. Miss Pickford would be the only living person in the cast. The rest of the characters would be drawn by Mr. Disney and made a part of the action through an improved animated cartoon process.
Eddie Cantor is back in New York from a tour of personal appearances. He is conferring with George S. Kaufman, Robert Sherwood, Frank Tuttle and others on his next picture which Samuel Goldwyn expects to put in production within a few weeks.
Production is now under way at the Fox studios on the screen version of John Balderston’s “Berkeley Square” with Leslie Howard playing the role he created on the New York stage. The supporting cast includes Heather Angel, Irene Browne, Valerie Taylor and Juliette Compton. It is being directed by Frank Lloyd whose work in “Cavalcade has been widely acclaimed.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
