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——' .. ." .— ■■..■■■■i ■ mmrnmrmmm—mmmmmmmMm—mmimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. n n C~8_WASHINGTON, D. C., .SEPTEMBER 6, 1942. Orson Welles vs. Saroyan George M. Cohan’s Impress Stage Battle of Geniuses First Made Here in 1891 Modesty Retires to Rear Milestones of His Career As Arrive Bandwagons Captured by Hollywood With Claims of Rivals In ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ Ira Wolfert. By By ANDREW R. KELLEY. NEW YORK. Once upon a time this collector of star autographs and footlight Orson Welles is the original boy genius of the local scene, dating all trivia sent a photograph to George M. Cohan to be duly signatured. He the back to five and six way years ago. sent it back with an original verse and chorus dedicated to “Kelley." This to us notion has not occurred by coincidence or even accident. Though it never made the Hit Parade, is still among unpublished compo- It has been called to our attention. Mr. Welles has driven his own sitions. it is a Cohaniana souvenir to be cherished. back into town and is it bandwagon trundling from joint to joint looking Not many know that George M. Cohan wrote many of his success- for William It is said that he Saroyan. is trundling his bandwagon ful plays in a quiet retreat at Washington’s Hotel Willard. There, be- around from to m the ...... joint joint tween midnight and 6 a m., in the solitude that descends on this Potomac of William over. duly to have been included, but this hope running area after the witching hour, he worked out many a second and third one has been omitted William is, compared with Orson, and, we are aets. and perhaps the first. an in the boy business unimpeachably informed, the kid upstart genius n™ nisi mis genial screen di-i and. what is more, both his start is very sensitive on the got subject. ography has been carefully captured and his in the business while Well, the fact that William is a O’Neills “Ah. Wilderness,” which up and confined In Holy wood’s tin cans Orson was not Orson has writer has been would be In 1934. Then the looking. gnawing steadily as “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” fond friendly, been out of town somewhere the last on that Achilles heel, it, yea of the jabbing recollections spring up wherever affectionate, lampoon few and has allowed the giving it the old pepper, crossing it New "I'd Rather Be years up- show business and the Cohan legend Deal, Right,” him back here to with a it and water- roar about go to right, trampling has penetrated. These set down with George M. solving the Na- seed somewhat. ing it tenderly to make corns grow tion's troubles as F. D. R. in Central here are authenticated in George But, after a week or so of effort on it. But Orson has never so much Park. M.’s own handwriting, given day “Madam. Will You Walk?” Orson, the town is once more as given a single tell-tale wince. short-lived, and "Return of the by and date as appreciation for appear- to concede that it remembers And only the few writers who have willing ing with him in a radio interview. Vagabond” bring us up to date. him. This has to do with the band- worked for Orson and no outsiders "I never,” he said "had stage fright If George M. Cohan had a peeve drives on. at all so much as (1) That wagon Orson around It suspect: but I get scared to death when I look on Hollywood before the bright is a Welles can't write at all; (2) that he’s ponderously rollicking, gargan- at one of those things." He was chapters of his career promised sensitive about it. tuan, personally driven wagon by referring to the “mike,” which he lush days for Warner Bros., it dates and We came in on the middle of this Orson, personally powered pro- later was to conquer for some profit, back to the time when he appeared him. as well as battle for acclaim and will have to pelled by manned and and which long since has spread on the Paramount lot to make "The him and after dispense with When manipulated by being preliminaries. his songs and fame to far corners phantom President.” Some bright in the same with it for 10 we followed our chin into Orson's fur- joint of the earth. mind in the front office sent a pro- minutes, the least you are willing to lined cottage in Holywood a while duction Violin. executive to his dressing ago, both boys had taken their Really Played concede is that William is, if not room to gather professional details. stance and were letting the heavy Picture on the immediate left quite an imposter, at least an "Have you ever.” he queried, “done stuff go. Said Orson: “What kind shows him with a violin tucked un- arriviste. anything in the theater?” The of a fellow is Said me: der his arm. Master Cohan Orson Has Iron Nerves. Saroyan?” actually writer FROM EARLY SPRING TO AUTUMN—When M. Cohan shows and producer of 85 plays and The competition between Orson "I don’t know.” This was true. I George President Roosevelt presenting the decoration. The mile- played that fiddle. In 1886. when he 10 composer of more than 500 pub- and William for only know w'hat he pretends to be was years old he could play the piano standing on his head, stones in the Cohan career have been was only 8 years old he toured as outstanding boy interesting captured by lished songs, hasn't recovered from in the business has been and what he thinks he is. Said and did, in the vaudeville act of the Four Cohans. Even then in “Yankee Doodle in which second violinist in "Daniel Boone genius Hollywood Dandy," James Cagney that one yet. Orson: “It’s very embarrassing to he had tunes in his and in- on the Trail.” spirited. William has the advantage system the germ of his first play was plays the nimble-footed Picture His first this Broadway jack-of-all-trades. published song was “Why in years. Also there is a bit of first- me. Wherever Saroyan goes in World War be- Reverting to the local angle, cubating. Twenty years after I, Congress gave will have its Washington premiere at the Earle Theater Sep- Did Nellie Leave Her Home?” a title class creation in his work which is country, they ask him what he lated to the Washington first saw George M. Co- recognition playwright-composer for his stirring tember 11. which suggests something lachry- in Orson's. Orson has been thinks of me. ‘Wonderful,’ he says, han in 1891 when the 13-year-old lacking march songs, “Over There" and "It's a Grand Old Flag." Photo mose. This was turned out, words working under the handicap of hav- 'marvelous, a genius.’ Wherever I prodigy created the mischief in and music, in 1893 when he was 15 no first-class creative at go. they ask me what I think of him. "Peck’s Bad Boy.” They still call ing ability years old. Though “Over There” all. his talents being of the second- Since he told the truth about me, him that at the Lambs Club, says him brought him a congressional medal class kind required by interpreters I have to tell the truth about Broken Ankle George M. A Which and became the marching song of and actors of the creations of others. and it’s very embarrassing because School Bells Are Play He came back in 1894 with Gus Ringing World War he calls stinks.” I, "Venus, My However, this never embarrassed I think his stuff Williams in a piece called "April for Round Two. Proved Benefit Shining Star,” written in his nor Priming Kids the AWCS Fool.” “We didn’t fool any one 1894, Orson publicly did William's : favorite modest allotment of creative As far as we were concerned, that with that one,” he avers, an indica- ability For Children His Favorite was the first round. The battle has Hollywood’s was a Song. embarrass him. Neither boy seems To This Skater tion he bit of a critic. So ever since. Visits National A to want to be a genius, concentrating been ding-dong During he continues: fabulous fellow, this George M. it a kind of cli- on to be ac- this week reached By Wide World. Roddy McDowell Is “In 1895 I was back with Hyde’s Cohan. Some day a book will be exclusively desiring Among Frank from the max. William has just flopped Mandel, fugitive the female written about him that claimed as one. What with Sonja Henie produc- Comedians. Helen Mora, will em- on his face out in Those Broadway stage these past eight In the clutch, Orson has proved grotesquely right ice shows in Rockefeller Center, Attending Regularly i baritone was the star. Baritones phasize more than song and dance. of his ing years, will bring "Vickie.” a new a man nerves. public with two plays having were as a hit in those days as He Just can’t resist an from himself to be of iron Dorothy Lewis prancing across the farce i big appeal been one and all. Orson Classrooms of the Studios by S. M. Herzig, to the Na- Contrary to popular impression, he panned by frozen surface of several New York ! the Barrymores of today. any one in the theater who has hasn’t done too well either, hts tional for a week's engagement on fallen has an Achilles heel. This is the pic- clubs and Donna Atwood “I played Washington again in upon sadder days. His per- night Monday night. Mr. Mandel serves | ture "The Magnificent Ambersons” By Harold Heffernan. 1897 with the Weber and Fields- sonal benefactions are fact that, in an irritating moment headlining a new ice revue in Mad- large and se- been in an "Vickie” not only as producer, but j of absent-mindness, his creator neg- having patted impolite ison it that Vesta Tilley show. An All-Ameri- cret, although he got public Square Garden, appears HOLLYWOOD. with Jose Ferrer as director of the recog- lected to endow him with the place. can company headed by an English nition for his $100,000 contribution ability most of the new Broadway revues School bells are ringing these days for millions of children throughout play. So the battlers were pretty even to the Actors’ Fund. to write. All other abilities seem are seeking a frigid atmosphere and the land, but for a very special assortment of folks in girl. Much of the when of their comers. young Hollywood "Vickie" I coming out spoofs the women who “I played here in 1898 with Harry endearing charm of man background. and Los Angeles County, those bells will peal out a very glamorous tone. the has William led off with a question to have donned uniforms to serve on Williams Own Williams been "The Ice of 1943" is a Some fun. to a Company. fabricated into the picture, Capades eh—going school on movie lot? Imagine passing the home Variety, the theatrical trade paper: front, spoofs them and at didn’t own the company. He said so but, as Edmund Musical Corn new circus of brilliant skaters who Betty Grable, Mickey Rooney or Bette Davis on your w’ay to classes. Or Plohn, who was "When are you guys going to break | the same time applauds them for himself. his combine their skill as athletes with sitting right next to Hedy Lamarr or Spencer Tracy during your noon-hour I long general manager, says, down?” he asked, “and admit that their effort, their zeal, their integ- "In 1899 I came here with the M. is the graceful beauties of a ballet lunch period. That * exactly the*: --1 “George of, by and for the Carries on I’m the greatest living playwright?” rity and patriotism. The play con- Four Own The dance. They skim across the multi- some 50 Cohans Company. theater. He wanted to be the great- experience facing cerns the Variety reported the question with- Holly-1! At 20th activities of the AWCS Four Cohans didn’t own the com- colored ice on the wide floor of the wood kids come September 10, when Century-Fox young Roddy est little guy on Broadway and, from out answering it. McDowell will his second year (American Women’s Camp Service), Tom Behman did.” all Willard garden in a speedy series of dances a new semester on the most begin pany. accounts, he has succeeded.” begins 1 Atop Leading off with a question, even of education while and so more particularly of Vickie and acrobatic routines that make it glittering campus in the world. working, Roberts, Critics Ran Away. It is heart warming that such a rhetorical one, is a of weak- will his sister who makes her home the sign seem like a mu- Virginia, who this headquar- “In 1901 I here In “The a great and versatile talent is The gay olio numbers of the cur- regular Broadway The alma mater of thesfr children played being ness. Orson never asked nobody ! year goes into the 10th Their ters of an organization variously rent melodrama, ‘‘From to sical show that has been speeded grade. Governor’s Son.’ I wrote the book recognized while he can still enjoy Rags his band- will be the particular studio at dedicated to nothing. He just trundled 100 cent. classmates will be Elena Verdugo, airplane spotting, spy- and and the music. the fragrance of the tributes. Riches,” in the music hall atop the up per are actors lyrics composed Vivid, wagon around from joint to joint which they highly paid Ann Todd and June Haver. hunting. first aid, sandwich Hotel Willard will be carried over to The two stars of the show are making The production looked like I had in recollection, is the first time in the Broadway district. When and actresses and their campus will and godmother services to soldiers this coming week, along with the Donna Atwood, a graceful miss from At Warner Bros., Joan Leslie, painted the scenery. “Over There” was publicly per- on his in a be the handsomely decorated set of on leave. Thus her home Orson sits bandwagon and Adele a Dolores Moran. Hale and becomes “In 1903 I was back in formed by a band. It wa3 play itself, opening on Tuesday Newton, Kans., Inge, the movie on Patty ‘Running military the twitches like it’s which they happen to a veritable tower of a joint, joint got Babel, noisy The are at Fort the night, September 8, with an 8:45 pretty 18-year-old girl from St. be their teacher will take the same old for Office.’ critics still run- Myer, by light of auto He is 6 feet 4 and has working. bazaar where the militant ladies re- curtain. The entire bill there is neuralgia. Louis who skated with Sonja Henie school seats they filled last year. At ning. Next season, 1904,1 was back headlights, since the regulation il- long black hair which flies through Required Studies. hearse their tactics to the great lumination proving the biggest seller of the and who is the only professional Paramount, Diana Lynn, Susanna in ‘Little Johnny Jones,’ with my had failed. Everybody the air like the smoke of flak and discomfort of husband George Rob- entire summer season under the skater who can do the forward and The Hollywood version of the lit- Foster, Gail Russell and Ann Roo- picture on the program, ‘n every- seemed to appreciate that a great that starts from his toes erts, who is in of a has a laugh backward somersault without tle ney have enrolled. Universal’s deep blueprints song had been born. Cohan wrote direction of Richard Midgley. using red schoolhouse doesn't other- Just machine thing. and rumbles his frame like a which will embarrass the it a Helen Ault, up her hands. wise much from the lovely Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan and “In 1906 I played Washington in in few hours, his inspiration popular Washington differ original enemy. landslide going and Miss George has yet another the notes of the singing comedienne, has come back backyard Although Atwood was bom model, especially so far as curric- Sabu have already started study- ‘George Washington, Jr.’ The first stirring bugle call. bursts into the air with an uproar complaint. He feels that so great into her own solo hits. in Kansas, she had to move to the ulum is concerned. out ing in preparation for school open- and only time I ever waved the flag Knowing him for years, as friend bill, offering However, is Vickie’s devotion to her “Take Back Your past conceiving. sunny climate of California before ing and at RKO, Joan Carroll and militant on the and critic, this department feels if Including Gold,” | here on the West Coast, with its chores that stage. jvext Kouna coming. she she is remiss in her con- there is formula for as well as her vastly diverting “Rid- learned how to skate on ice. ever-present danger of sneak visi- Nancy Gates will be two lone oc- "I played here in 1908 with 'Fifty any his suc- j Whenever a little silence settles With jugal obligations. cess it is that he has ing on a Street Car,” which she j her fiery red head skimming tations from the sky by the little cupants of the school. Miles From Boston.’ This is the always been on a Orson "Who is Before the final close to the heart of sings with Isham Keith. Yucona joint, laughs. across the ice, she won the Pacific brown men, air-raid drills and first- MGM will have the largest en- curtain falls play that ran three years on the the people. that guy?” we heard one man ask. Coast In there are many comic climaxes in- road and three His cardiac beats, and his creative Cameron, in her "Falling in Love junior championship. an aid work are to be required studies. (See HEFFERNAN, Page C-10.) only nights in New With Someone” and “In Old New "Orson Welles,” came the reply. exhibition at Tulsa, Okla., however, volving amorous soldiers, jealous York. efforts, have that human quality “Who is Orson Welles?” the man a York.” in which she is nightly she broke her ankle and thought AWCSS, refugee opera singer em- “In 1909 I came here in *The which comes from this mutual un- “He’s that as a joined by the audience, and Rose persisted stubbornly. that her skating days were over. ployed maid, irritable husbands, Yankee Prince’ and made curtain derstanding. man and a Kessner in her “show-stopping” genius, you know.” “Oh," the "But I was pleasantly surprised Washington tycoon trapped speeches like Mansfield. ’Broadway said and stared with interest. Orson in song and dance, "That’s How Rag- to learn,’* she said, “that my ankle philandering. Jones’ brought me back in 1913, my fluffed hair. He must be a Mr. Mandel time Got Its Name," are other solo his lip- healed apparently stronger than it has assembled a cast first play without music. The critics Father and Son Are of 25 bits of the olio. reader. Anyway, he laughed again. was in the beginning. I know that Broadway players to animate hollered for my dancing shoes. the Isham Keith offers two of his best Anyway, some mean-spirited fact- in doing a 2-foot spin or a camel uproar, among them Jose Ferrer “Then came 13 years when I must Working on Picture finder strode up to the gargan- or a and Dta as the songs. “The Curse of An Aching right twin back camel whirl now I Hagen, Roberts; have been busy elsewhere. Hie By Wide WorkL and “She’s a Bird in a tuan bandwagon and asked Orson can much more on the ankle Margaret Matzenauer, town seemed to all Heart” Only rely foimerly get along right HOLLYWOOD. Gilded Cage,” and Dick Midgley with what he thought of “The Magnifi- that was broken than I can on the prlma donna of the ^Metropolitan- without me. For the first time in film history a Ellen Love are heard in a duet or cent Ambersons.” If you expected ankle that was not broken. Taylor Holmes. Charles Halton, "I returned to Washington In Frank father is a producer and a son a two, including “Call Me Pet Names” any discomfiture to appear, you “California, I think, is really the Conlan, Collette Lyons, Red ‘American Born’ in 1926. Mrs. writer on the same motion picture. and “It’s to be Married.” would have been disappointed: most enthusiastic skating center in Buttons, Edward Glover, Mildred Cool Id ge came to the Saturday mat- Delightful The producer is B. P. Schulberg. It still remains for the Willard “I haven’t even seen it,” rumbled the country. I did several skating Dunnock, Wynne Boze and Lynne inee. The President didn’t. Some Carter. The writer Is Budd Schulberg, who Roof's own version of the famous the bandwagon. “I don’t expect to. movies out there, although my most mean guy tipped him off I was a Vickie” wrote a best seller, "What Makes sextette from “Floradora" to lead They cut it without me. What can difficult job was teaching Mickey will be shown here prior Democrat. to its Sammy Run.” two years ago. the field in this Gay Nineties show. you expect?” Rooney how to skate. It was fun, opening at the Plymouth New Irritating Hollywood. The movie ts "City Without Man." Due to the demand the of William is now pondering this de- though. There’s never a dull mo- Theater, York, on September policy And so through “Gambling” In Screen work is no for from a on the face and novelty young the management now makes re- fense flop ment with Master Rooney, and es- which was 1929, soon seized by Schulberg. He grew up in the served seats at tables available in no doubt will give a better account pecially when you're trying to escort Hollywood. In 1930, return en- studio atmosphere, for It was his advance at the Willard Hotel. of himself in the next round. him around a rink of very treacher- gagement of “Tavern.” Then, in father who helped Zukor ous ice.” War’s Adolph Anniversary 1932, “Pigeons and People," of which launch Famous Players Co. in “One thing I have kept up seri- 1912, he says, “The pigeons were crazy two years before Budd was born. ously with my skating,” she said, Has Grim Meaning about the play.” The Schulbergs are at Columbia "and that is that I continue my Then for the Theater Guild in Pictures now. ballet dancing daily. Not only does For Judith Evelyn it give my skating routines more _ new but the also counter- 4U YORK. grace, dancing ■» th« Ajaocittod Press. acts any overdevelopment of leg muscles which the more athletic Ilroad way’s star newcomer, Judith skating is likely to cause.” Evelyn, thought the curtain had dropped forever on her career three years ago last Thursday. Alexis Craves She can hardly believe she has the coveted Drama League Award for the season’s best performance. In Studio Furlough fact, she thought she would never hear applause again. For Romance Three years ago today Judy was aboard the Athenia—the big British Bt Wide World. passenger liner which was sunk in HOLLYWOOD. the North Atlantic with a loss of Alexis Smith has quite 112 Statuesque lives, the war’s first big sinking. since she became engaged a problem “There were 80-odd people jammed Stevens, her actor- to Pvt. Craig into our lifeboat,” she said, “but sweetheart. She wants a furlough, we were desperately short of men. too. Somehow we had lost two oars on Stevens, before actual induction, one side. I rowed one oar, or time off to his affairs got wind-up rather, I tried to row. The oar was Alexis told him to visit her every and so heavy I could hardly lift it and on the set at Warner Brothers. day then I never knew whether it would The first he came he found day come down in the watei or an air Alexis Fredric March, who trruierK kissing HOLLYWOOD SCHOLAR—Little 5-year-old Margaret O’Brien -—a—• the role of Mark Twain in the plays will start going to school in Hollywood this week. She will at- “There was a little baby lying at about the author. feet picture tend the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer classrooms. Moppet has just my whose mother was too in- "Never mind, it's just a scene," finished her first big screen role in "Journey for Margaret.” jured to take care of it. I wanted Alexis advised, and a dinner date to shelter the baby in my lap, but I was It was a I--1 arranged. perfect night couldn’t do that and row, too. I for a drive to the beach—but Alexis can still feel that baby’s little hands demurred. clutch Attractions my ankles every once in a “I’d love to. but I'd better go home. Coming while.” dies and you My baby tomorrow, Stage. Judy was one of seven to survive how those emotional NATIONAL—"Vickie,” a new farce S. M. tomorrow know tough by Herzig; opening when the lifeboat was hacked to are. I must have a night. scenes just good splinters by the propeller of the Screen. night's sleep.” first rescue ship. Stevens came around two days CAPITOL—"Invisible with Ilona Jon Hall and Peter Agent,” Massey, In two weeks Judy was on her and there was his fiancee in Lorre; Gen Krupa's band on the stage. later, Starting Thursday. way to Canada again. Although as March’s arms again. March, COLUMBIA—“Friendly Enemies,” with James Craig and Charles born in Seneca. S. Dak., she had was to Miss Smith. Twain, proposing Winninger. grown up in Canada and begun a As so often happens in shooting a EARLE—“Yankee Doodle with James as the stage and radio career which had the two had been married Dandy," Cagney great picture, M.; * been continued in Britain. to her. George starting Friday. before he had proposed She resumed radio work and made who KEITH’S—“Pardon My Sarong,” with Abbott and Costello; Late that week it was Alexis starting films for the Red Cross. Then she Thursday. sang out: went to Hollywood and the Pasa- "Craig, I don't have to report until LITTLE—“We Were Five,” French film with Jean Gabin. dena Playhouse. tomorrow. I can out late noon stay METROPOLITAN—"Big Shot,” with Humphrey Bogart, returning for Her debut as a Broadway star with her husband, Jose tonight. Let’s go some place a second downtown week. came last December 5 in the role opfniNG NEW SEASON—Uta Hagen, "I can't. I PRODUCER-ACTOR—Eddie will come Theater Stevens replied, report of the harried wife in "Angel Dowling to Washington the new season at the National PALACE—"Holiday Inn,’1 the Irving Berlin musicale with Fred next week in a Ferrer, will inaugurate back for duty in the Army tomor- Street.” The show, which almost dual capacity. He is Gilbert new Rita and producer of K. as the players in the Sig Herzig row.” Astaire, Hayworth Bing Crosby. Chesterton’s tomorrow night, featured closed two days after its opening, one-act play “Magic,” to be followed by William under the banner of Producer Frank Miss Smith has about decided to PIX—'Tour Feathers,” with C. Aubrey Smith and John Clemens; tomedv "Vickie,” presented has run more than 350 performances Saroyan’s cameo playlet in one act, “Hellon, Out There.” Mr. Matzenauer, former diva of the Metro- writ# her congressman—or better starting Wednesday. and Judy has signed to stay with it Dowling will the Mandel. Mme. Margaret play lead role, supported in each miniature by will have a featured role. ■ttU. th* Warner Brothers. until June, 1843. Julie politan Opera House, Haydon. Opening is set for September 14. < ! h i > 1. k -> /