Spring must he here, don’t let the weather fool you! Some people use their carefully cultivated corns as a barometer, others rely on their rheumatism, while still others are so technical as to examine trees and bushes, or look for robins. I have an infallible method of determining the approach of Spring. I simply wait for the announcement of a Gilbert & Sullivan revival. It never fails. Next week the “Mikado” makes its annual appearance. It will be followed by “The Pirates of Penzance” and other Gilbert & Sullivan operas. As soon as the lilting airs of these compositions sweep over the footlights you can be sure that Winter has gone.
NO GILBERT AND SULLIVAN MOVIES
Ever since the talkies came into existence and companies have been searching for material I wondered why there was no attempt to make pictures of the various Gilbert & Sullivan operas. It seemed obvious to me that here was a chance to do a series of pictures with international appeal. Recently I learned the reason for the lapse. Believe it or not, there have been no G. & S. pictures for the very good reason that the owners of the copyrights refused to sell any of them to a motion picture concern. They are too valuable!
TURNED DOWN MOVIES
Many bids of outrageously large amounts of money have been made for the rights but on every occasion the picture people have been turned down flatly. The heirs of Gilbert & Sullivan realize that by retaining these rights they have a property that will bring a perpetual income. If they are sold to the movies the revival performances are made valueless and the G. & S. heirs are finished.
FOUR SAINTS REVIVED
The Gertrude Stein-Virgil Thomson opera “Four Saints in 3 Acts,” which closed two weeks ago, will be brought back to Broadway for another run, beginning next Monday, at the Empire Theatre. It was originally slated for a two week engagement. The furor caused by this strange concoction of words and beautiful music made Harry Moses keep it on for an extra two weeks. After it closed Mr. Moses found that there were still enough people who hadn’t seen it and who had expressed a desire to view the proceedings. So the opera is on for a further limited engagement. There will be no change in cast, but the cellophane costumes and settings have been refurnished for the occasion.
NO ‘RACES’
Ferdinand Bruckner’s “Races,” another anti-Nazi play, which the Theatre Guild has had out on the road and which was scheduled to open in New York next week, has been temporarily withdrawn. It is hoped to bring the play into New York next Fall. In its place “Jig Saw,” a play by Dawn Powell, who also writes novels, will be presented.
The postponement of “Races” is not surprising, in view of the reception accorded “The Shattered Lamp.” The Guild figured that one good anti-Hitler play at a time was about all that New York could stand.
THEATRE NOTES
The “Ziegfeld Follies,” now at the Winter Garden, has passed the century mark in performances. According to the producers the big show is doing very nicely and breaking box-office records. . . Students, teachers, library workers and nurses will attend four performances of “Yellow Jack” to be held April 9, 10, 11 and 12. The finals in the intermediate dramatic tourney of the Metropolitan League of Jewish Community Associations were held last night in the Y. W. H. A. building.
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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.
