ENTERTAINMENT IN U.S.A. CAPITALS PRODUCE REMARKABLE SHOWS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27631, 12 April 1955, Page 12

ENTERTAINMENT IN U.S.A. CAPITALS PRODUCE REMARKABLE SHOWS

[Specially written for “The Press']

[By

JOHN FOX]

Though New York and Los Angeles are great industrial centres, to the average American, and to many others, they are the twin entertainment capitals of the United States. New York is famous for its theatres, Los Angeles for its films; and both are famous for television. x A brief visit to the United States does not leave time for everything; but it should include Broadway and Hollywood, which for this reporter meant a musical comedy, a play, ana the Radio City Music Hall in New York, and film and television studios, the Moulin Rouge restaurant, and the Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles. As a crawling cross-town taxi ride at theatre time suggests, New York never has fewer than 1,000,000 visitors. So, unless reservations are made a long time in advance, the choice of shows to attend must be left more or less to the ticket agent. “The Boy Friend was a stroke of luck as the musical comedy. Much has been said about the charm and fun young Julie Andrews extracts from the horrid styles and the precious manners of the jazz age when her mother was a girl. She deserves it all. She is more than just attractive and talented —perhaps “ripping” is the word for it. Even more notable than Julie Andrews’s personal success in a fine cast is the way Sandy Wilson, author, composer, and lyric writer of “The Boy Friend,” has caught in words and music the spirit of a period he is surely too young to remember. The whole thing is a gorgeous parody of the days of flappers and the Charleston. It comes off so well that it has captivated all New York, including those younger ones who struggle with th? English humour and the allusions that< delight their parents.

Agatha Christie Play Curiously enough, the play was also English and also a success: Agatha Christie’s “Witness for the Prosecution.” This is a courtroom drama, after the style of “The Trial of Mary Dugan,” but much more convincing. It Is also notable for the triumph of the feminine lead, Patricia Jessell. She already has a reputation for her London successes in Shakespeare, “Lady Precious Stream,” and “The Love of Four Colonels.” She puts everything she has into her part in “Witness for the Prosecution,” and at the curtain call had scarcely the energy left to raise her head, let alone smile. Miss Jessel overshadowed even so fine an actor as Francis Sullivan, who should be well known in New Zealand as Jaggers in both the American and British film versions of “Great Expectations.” An old favourite in the cast is Una O’Connor, a domestic servant in many films, including “Cavalcade.’’ Radio City is known for its shapely and well-drilled dancers, the Rockettes. In a good Christmas variety programme the honours were taken from them by Clauson’s Bears. They wore their abbreviated pink skirts with clumsy delicacy, and performed with solemn dignity. And what would Dr. Johnson, have said about bears walking on their hands? Incidentally, it is said that whenever he can spare the time in New York, the New Zealand Prime Minister (Mr Holland) makes a point of visiting the Radio City Music Hall. Cluttered Sound Stages It is 3000 miles from the legitimate stage of New York to the illusionmakers of Universal City. Here one does not see a work of art in its entirety but a confusing snippet performed in what seems utter confusion among crowds of technicians and many others, including fortunate visitors who help to clutter up the sound stage. Universal City provided another old friend, this time Rex Beach’s “The Spoilers,” being filmed for the fifth time, on this occasion under the direction of Jesse Hibbs. The scene they were doing ih an Alaskan hotel included the stars, Ann Baxter and Rory Calhoun, with Jeff Chandler just out of camera range. On another sound stage nearby, Douglas Sirk was directing a scene from “AU that Heaven Allows,” with Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, and Merry Andrews. i

The chief impression was of the ease and lack of temperament of the actors and actresses. It was quite natural after a piece of “All that Heaven Allow?” had been satisfactorily filmed at the

first try for Jane Wyman to strike un “Happy Birthday.” in honour of her make-up man. Nicki Marcelino, and for everyone to join in.

Outside, Julie Adams was posing f or still photographs to mark her approaching marriage to Tony Curtis She spared a smile, possibly on the assumption that you never kn Ow whether a visitor riding in the studio Cadillac might not be important Her fiance broke his arm in a recent film and had to have it in plaster while taking a part in “The Spoilers.” He wore gloves to cover up the end of the splint. Imitation Cathedral Interest in Universal City was not confined to the actual filming. A drive round includes such sights as the Hollywood version of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, once inhabited by Lo n Chaney as the Hunchback, and used many times since. The castle is complete with moat and portcullis. Scraps of streets, or rather their facades represent almost any city in the world. And country scenes can be contrived, too. Outdoor filming in Los Angeles fe becoming more difficult. Smog is liable to spoil the clear light that first made Hollywood the film centre of the world, and aircraft from a neighbouring factory and the city’s airports are liable to ruin the sound. The sound stages are supposed to be sound-proof, but even in them it is found better to let an aircraft pass before the director says “All right. Let’s go.” The informality of motion picture work is also seen in television. Each studio has its audience seating and long queues wait to get in. The crowd that waited for Bob Crosby’s half-hour had good value. Before the performance Bob Crosby informally explained features of the hall, including the sound-proof glass-fronted box for thg advertising and television executives —“Ulcer Gulch,” he called it.z The obvious tension of all the performers as the last minute before the performance ticked away would not be guessed from the easiness with which they began. The audience was given no opportunity to miss its cues, a cheer leader at the edge of the stage leading them in their applause. Cameras on Wheels The skill of the cameramen, as they wheeled their huge rubber-tyred cameras round to follow the performers, was fascinating. In quick succession, they had to take a chorus on a door-stop, a garden gate, a living room with curtains blowing in the breeze (of an electric fan), and a competition among some members of the audience, to say nothing of several advertising scenes, all grouped round a small L-shaped stage. The first prize for the competition was a year’s supply of steak and a deep freeze to keep it in. For this the man members of the team had to sit on a large balloon (without bursting it) while his woman partner balanced piles of paper cups and saucers on his hands. Relaxing after their concentrated half-hour, the performers gave the audience an impromptu concert. Easily the most popular item was Carol Richards’s singing of “Let Me Go, Lover.” After the first verse she sat on her heels at the edge of the stage and looked wickedly into the eyes of an embarrassed young man sitting in the front row. Then she came down from the stage and took him firmly in her arms while still imploring him to let her go. By this time the young man seemed to be getting round to enjoying it, too. The Moulin Rouge is a restaurant with a stage performance thrown in A lavish performance it was. too, with baby elephants, pink-dyed poodles, flights of doves, and improbably brilliant parrots adding to the colour of the gay frocking. Though the few hundred diners were rather packed for comfortable eating, they were close to the performance, which is more than can be said for the huge Radio City Music Hall, with its thousands of seat* Pasadena is a quiet and opulent cify on the outskirts of Los Angeles. -Its Playhouse is a famous nursery for actors and actresses. No great names appeared in the cast of “My Three Angels,” a sharp French comedy of the Guiana penal settlement, but it would be surprising if some of the players did riot soon make their mark. The Playhouse is well endowed and can afford a constant succession of good productions. ..