1938 - Theater, Film

Theater, Film

Theater: The Restless Heart (La Sauvage) by Jean Anouilh 1/10 at the Théâtre de Mathurius, Paris; One Third of a Nation by Federal Theatre Project playwright Arthur Arent 1/17 at New York's Adelphi Theater in a Living Newspaper production, 237 perfs.; Bachelor Born by British novelist-playwright Ian Hay (Gen. John Hay Beith), now 61, 1/25 at New York's Morosco Theater, with Peggy Simpson, Helen Trenholme, 400 perfs.; Shadow and Substance by Irish playwright Paul Vincent Carroll, 38, 1/26 at New York's Golden Theater, with Cedric Hardwicke, Irish-born character actress Sara Allgood, 54, Julie Haydon, 274 perfs.; On Borrowed Time by Evansville, Ind.-born playwright Paul Osborn, 36, 2/3 at New York's Longacre Theater, with Dudley Digges, Dorothy Stickney, Jean Adair, Dickie Van Patten, 321 perfs.; Our Town by Thornton Wilder 2/4 at New York's Henry Miller Theater, with Missouri-born actress Martha Scott, 23, Frank Craven, Concord, Mass.-born actor Philip Coolidge, 29, Jay Fassett, 336 perfs.; What a Life by Arizona-born playwright Clifford Goldsmith, 39, 4/13 at New York's Biltmore Theater, with New Bedford, Mass.-born actor Ezra Stone (originally Ezra Chaim Feinstone), 20, as Henry Aldrich, New York-born comedian Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken, 23, Betty Field, Butterfly McQueen, directed by George Abbott, 538 perfs.; The Gardener of Toulouse (Der Gärtner von Toulouse) by Georg Kaiser is published but not produced (the Nazis ban further performances of Kaiser's works because of their anti-war sentiments; see 1945); Purgatory by William Butler Yeats, now 73, 8/10 at Dublin's Abbey Theatre; Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith 9/14 at the Queen's Theatre, London, with veteran English actress Dame Marie Tempest, now 74, John Gielgud, Leon Quartermaine 376 perfs.; Thieves' Carnival (Le bal des valeurs) by Jean Anouilh 9/17 at the Théâtre des Arts, Paris; The Corn Is Green by Emlyn Williams 9/20 at London's Duchess Theatre, with Williams, Sybil Thorndike, 394 perfs.; Kiss the Boys Goodbye by Clare Boothe 9/28 at Henry Miller's Theater, New York, with Millard Mitchell, Helen Claire, Benay Venuta, Sheldon Leonard, 286 perfs.; The Fabulous Invalid by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 10/8 at New York's Broadhurst Theater, with Jack Norwood, Doris Dalton (as Ethel Barrymore) Stephen Courtleigh, Ernest Lawford, Richard Gordon, and more than 70 other actors playing nearly 250 roles, 165 perfs. (the "invalid" is the still healthy legitimate theater); Abe Lincoln in Illinois by Robert Sherwood 10/15 at New York's Plymouth Theater, with Raymond Massey in the title role, Howard Da Silva, 472 perfs.; Rocket to the Moon by Clifford Odets 11/24 at New York's Belasco Theater, with Morris Carnovsky, Sanford Meisner, 131 perfs.; Here Come the Clowns by Philip Barry 12/7 at New York's Booth Theater, with Eddie Dowling, Madge Evans, Russell Collins, 88 perfs.; Quiet Wedding by English playwright Esther Helen McCracken (née Armstrong), 36, 12/12 at Wyndham's Theatre, London, with Glynis Johns, Frank Lawton, Clive Morton, George Thorpe, 291 perfs.

Theater and Its Double (Théâtre et son Double) by playwright-poet-actor Antonin Artaud is published at Paris in February and will be widely influential. Now 42, Artaud returned last year from travels in Mexico, Belgium, and Ireland; was taken in a strait-jacket to a mental asylum; and will remain confined there until 1946.

Actor-director Konstantin Stanislavski dies at his native Moscow August 7 at age 75, having developed an acting system or method that bears his name (he suffered a heart attack on stage in late October 1928, gave up acting, and has spent the rest of his life directing and teaching other actors and directors); actor-director Johannes Poulsen dies at his native Copenhagen October 14 at age 56; playwright Karel Capek of influenza at Prague December 25 at age 48, having popularized the term robot; Zona Gale dies of pneumonia at Chicago December 28 at age 64.

Radio: Young Widder Brown 7/26 over NBC stations. Created by Frank and Anne Hummert, the soap opera will continue daily until June 1956; Pot O'Gold on NBC stations with bandleader Horace Heidt, now 37, and his 14-piece orchestra (it includes Providence, R.I.-born pianist Frankie Carle [originally Francis Nunzio Carlone], 35, and Oakland-born steel guitarist Alvin McBurney, 27, who will change his name next year to Alvino Rey and form his own band). The show features a spinning telephone dial: whoever answers the phone call receives $1,000.

Films: Sergei Eisenstein's Aleksandr Nevsky with Nikolai Konstantinovich Cherkasov, 35; Howard Hawks's Bringing Up Baby with Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn; Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes with Michael Redgrave, Karachi-born actress Margaret Lockwood (originally Margaret Day), 21, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty; Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard's Pygmalion with Howard, Wendy Hiller, 26; Michael Curtiz's The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. Also: Michael Curtiz's Angels with Dirty Faces with James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Texas-born actress Ann (originally Clara Lou) Sheridan, 23; Marcel Pagnol's The Baker's Wife with Raimu, Ginette Leclerc; Edmund Goulding's The Dawn Patrol with Errol Flynn, South African-born actor Basil Rathbone, 45, David Niven; George Cukor's Holiday with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant; Henry King's In Old Chicago with Tyrone Power, Alice Faye; William Wyler's Jezebel with Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent; Monte Banks's Keep Smiling with Gracie Fields, Roger Livesey; G. W. Pabst's Shanghai Drama with Louis Jouvet; Lloyd Bacon's A Slight Case of Murder with Edward G. Robinson; Frank Borzage's Three Comrades with Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone; Norman Taurog's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with Tommy Kelly, Jackie Moran; Frank Capra's You Can't Take It with You with Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Texas-born tap dancer Ann Miller (Lucille Ann Collier), 15; Richard Wallace's The Young in Heart with Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Queens, N.Y.-born actress Paulette Goddard (originally Marion Levy), 27 (a former Ziegfeld Follies girl), Roland Young.

Warner Brothers suspends Bette Davis April 1 for refusing to rehearse her role in the new picture called for in her contract, saying the script is "atrocious."

Pearl White of 1914 Perils of Pauline fame dies at Paris August 4 at age 49, having retired to France with $2 million in 1923; silent film star Florence Lawrence dies at Beverly Hills, Calif., December 28 at age 48.