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Show 1 1 1 Mild i r. Hi During Mr. If'inchell's absence, on vacation, hi column will be conducted by guest columnists. By LIONEL BARKYMORE (Who needs no introduction.) Every actor knows what the critics crit-ics think of him. These industrious gentlemen who distribute plaudits or brickbats, according to their views of plays and performances, have the benefits of their newspaper news-paper circulation to broadcast their views. Now, having been offered the space of my friend Walter Winchell, with whom I often agree and just as often do not, I have the opportunity not often vouchsafed the actor to talk about the fellows who talk about him, in print. Of the great stage critics there were some who honestly wrote what they believed, in spite of hell, high water and the newspaper's business office. No actor ever resented being criticized by one of these men. In fact, we respected their knowledge and views, and often benefited by constructive criticism. The same applied to playwrights, when these critics analyzed a play. FIRED ACTOR TURNS CRITIC AND ROASTS SHOW Sometimes critics are evolved in strange ways. Years ago my brother broth-er John and I were in a traveling repertory company. We had a friend, Fred Butler, a newspaper man, whom we persuaded to come along and try being an actor. This wasn't in any spirit of discovery. We were great cronies and liked to be together. Also Butler had a gold tooth which could always be pawned when we were broke. The company got as far as Minneapolis Minne-apolis when the director decided that Butler was no actor, and, much to the dismay of John and myself, "fired" him. Butler went out and landed a job on a newspaper. Then he talked the editor into letting him review our shows. Gleefully, he "roasted" them, and John and I used to laugh over his "roasts" at dinner each night. But they drove the manager wild. I remember one gem in which he deplored that a good play "could be utterly ruined by an insignificant young actor named Lionel Barry-more." Barry-more." George Bernard Shaw was a great critic, in the days when he reviewed plays for London publications. True, he sometimes wrote terrible things about them. But any criticism of his was tempered with justice. Mark Twain once tried his hand at dramatic dra-matic criticism on the old Alta California Cali-fornia in San Francisco, but never became really interested in it. The motion picture brought about a new technique in criticism. The early "tintypes" were ignored. Then, as pictures grew in stature, critics were forced to write about them. At first, many had a feeling of hostility, but this gradually disappeared, dis-appeared, and today a fine picture like "Mrs. Miniver" is reviewed by the keenest dramatic minds among the writers of the press. NEW KIND OF CRITICISM EVOLVED BY MOVIES Motion pictures have evolved a new form of criticism which the public never sees. Pete Harrison started it, with confidential reports on pictures to exhibitors. He told them what to expect from the picture, pic-ture, from a showman's point of view, to equip them with advance information on the handling and exploitation ex-ploitation of a film. An adverse report meant that too much expenditure for advertising, for instance, was inadvisable. On the other hand, when he praised a picture, this meant that the exhibitor exhibi-tor was safe in "going the whole hog" in exploitation. Today there are numerous trade magazines, which review pictures in the same manner and for the same reason. They tell the exhibitor what to expect. Sometimes audiences fool them, however. Audiences may flock to a picture the trade critics had no faith in. And vice versa. For, after all, the only reliable critic is the public itself. A few days ago a group of studio writers and directors were discussing discuss-ing a certain picture. They picked holes in the story. They thought players were miscast "When the critics get hold of it, you'll see," they chorused. One veteran director spoke up. "Well, maybe you're right," he remarked. re-marked. "It looks like nobody's going go-ing to like it except audiences." He was right The picture grossed a million. Buy War Bonds Babe Ruth didn't give much thought as to whether "The Pride of the Yankees" film was a white-tie white-tie or black-tie premiere . . . The Babe showed up with his throat bared, very informal, m'dear . . . You get a pretty good line on the Nazi honor code in the behavior of the eight saboteurs. They shortchanged short-changed the Coast Guardsman who pretended to accept their bribe . . . Even in bargaining for their lives they can't stop cheating . . . Orders were handed Washington hotels to fire their enemy alien waiters. |