Critical Moments

At this writing there remains on Broadway and its environs but twenty-two legitimate and musical attractions. After this week there will be fewer still. Last week “I Myself,” “Bitter Sweet” and “Pinafore” quietly passed away and before next Sabbath rolls around “The Ziegfeld Follies” and “Mikado” will have gone from the lists, to say nothing of the five or six shows that are on the verge.

Among those which remain and appear as though they might last through what promises to be a cool summer are “Men in White,” “Ah, Wilderness,” “Sailors Beware,” “No More Ladies, “As Thousands Cheer,” “She Loves Me Not,” “Dodsworth” and “Tobacco Road.” If you haven’t been around to these attractions I might suggest that if your purse is limited you can safely omit “Sailors Beware” and “No More Ladies.” The others, even if you don’t crave to see them, must be included or you will find yourself denied participation in most after-dinner conversations on the subject of plays of the season.

LOOKING BACKWARD

In looking backward and not so far at that, I find myself in disagreement with the theatre-going critics who wrote about “The Milky Way” with, what seemed to me, a surprising lack of restraint for an indifferently conceived very light comedy. I understand that since the opening night the producers have given the play a thorough overhauling and tightening, and have cut the last fifteen minuts of the show down to five. This should improve the play. Another disagreement of the week concerned “I Myself.” Here I found Mr. Robert Garland of the World-Telegram tooting in tune but, alas, as I mentioned above, the show is no more.

ABOUT THE CINEMA

It is only fair to warn you that as the business of producing new shows subsides for the summer this column will be more and more concerned with news about moving pictures. If you are the type that abhors this kind of entertainment I am afraid you’ll just have to suffer.

The attraction at the Music Hall this week is “Stingaree,” a romantic super-film in which Irene Dunne and Richard Dix supply the big moments. In addition the Music Hall will present for the second week its bowdlerized edition of Puccini’s grand opera, “Madame Butterfly.” I expect to write more about “Stingaree” but, for the time being, I can say that this story based on the career of Australia’s Robin Hood of 1870’s is above average.

At the Strand “He Has Her Man” is the picture, of course with James Cagney. After all it has been nearly a month since Cagney’s face has been flashed on the Strand screen. Joan Blondell plays the female lead.

“The House of Rothschild” at the Astor continues unabated and word from United Artists comes that the picture has been breaking records all over the country. It will have its London premiere very soon. When the announcement arrives that it will open in Berlin we will know that Hitler has passed on to his dark-skinned “Aryan” forefathers.

There have been so many remarks passed about the size of Jimmy Durante’s nose that one of these days one of the literati is going to sell an article about this profitable appendage to a “class” magazine.

Shirey Temple, a four-year-old actress with a poise that belies her age, is being starred in “Little Miss Marker,” the current attraction at the Paramount. This is the same kid who stole “Stand Up and Cheer!” away from an allstar cast. She is by far the most winsome and talented youngster that has come from Hollywood during the Talkie Era.