Stage Magazine

Articles from Stage Magazine

Warner Brothers Opens Fire on Nazi Germany (Stage Magazine, 1939)

STAGE MAGAZINE correspondent Katherine Best was not shy about giving credit where credit was due, as you will read in this article that stands as one big pat on the back for the producers at Warner Brother’s for possessing the testicular fortitude needed to launch the first anti-Nazi movie in Hollywood: Confessions of a Nazi Spystyle=border:none (1939).


In October of 1940, Charlie Chaplin released his anti-fascist masterpiece: The Great Dictator. Click here to read about that.

Warner Brothers Opens Fire on Nazi Germany (Stage Magazine, 1939) Read More »

The Marx Brothers & the Joke Development Process (Stage Magazine, 1937)

A late Thirties article by Teet Carle (the old publicist for MGM) on how the brothers Marx figured out which gag created the biggest laughs; a few words about how the movies were tested in various cities prior to each release and how assorted jokes were recited to all manner of passersby for their effect.

Click here to read a 1951 article that Harpo Marx wrote about Groucho.

The Marx Brothers & the Joke Development Process (Stage Magazine, 1937) Read More »

‘The Plainsman” by Cecil B. DeMille (Stage Magazine, 1937)

Why should a director risk it all with some anonymous film critic when a he is given the chance to review his own movie? With this thought in mind, Cecil B. DeMille (1883 – 1959) typed up his own thoughts concerning all his hard work on the 1937 film, The Plainsman, which starred Gary Cooper:

I think ‘The Plainsman’ differs from any Western we have ever seen for many reasons


– it is at this point in the article that DeMille rattles-off an extended laundry list
of reasons that illustrate the unique qualities of his Western. One of the unique aspects of the film mentioned only by publicists concerned the leading man Garry Cooper, who, being a skilled horseman from his Montana youth, chose to do most of his own riding stunts in the film, including the shot where he rode hanging between two horses.


Click here to read a 1927 review of Cecil B. De Mille’s silent film, King of Kings.

‘The Plainsman” by Cecil B. DeMille (Stage Magazine, 1937) Read More »

Summer Fashions (Stage Magazine, 1934)

Illustrated with three nifty black and white fashion illustrations, this critic lays it all on the line as to what the most exciting part of ladies fashions will be for the summer of 1934 – there is much talk of the Paris offerings from Marcelle Dormoy, hats by Tappe and smocks by Muriel King. However, no other fashionable bauble attracts her attention more than the concept of the net dress:

The thing that everyone is going for now is net and, when you see that new net dresses, it is pretty hard to understand why this frivolous fabric was forgotten so long. It is being made into dresses and jacket dresses which are called cafe clothes; street-length skirts and crisp, starchy necklines and usually, short sleeves, each with its individual brand of ingenuity.

Click here to read an article about the nature of adultery.

Summer Fashions (Stage Magazine, 1934) Read More »

The Advance on the Rhineland and Other Forebodings (Stage Magazine, 1936)

One of the very few literati who recognized what a German military presence in the Rhineland meant was a one legged American veteran of the last war named Laurence Stallings (1894 – 1968). This article appeared to be about the great benefit afforded to us all by hard working photo-journalists who supplied us daily with compelling images of various far-flung events, but it was in all actuality a warning to our grand parents that the world was becoming a more dangerous place.

I think the unforgettable picture of the month will come from shots stolen near a French farmhouse by Strasbourg, when the French were countering Hitler’s move into the Rhineland…Routine were the crustacean stares of the Italian children in gas masks last week, where they practiced first aid against chlorine and mustard barrages…

The Advance on the Rhineland and Other Forebodings (Stage Magazine, 1936) Read More »

High Society Ladies’ Rooms (Stage Magazine, 1937)

The New York café society of the Thirties was well documented by such swells as Cole Porter and Peter Arno – not so well-known, however, were the goings-on in the ladies’ bathrooms at such swank watering holes as El Morocco, Twenty-One, Kit Kat, Crystal Garden and the famed Stork Club. That is why these columns are so vital to the march of history – written by a noble scribe who braved the icy waters of Lake Taboo to report on the conversations and the general appearance of each of these dressing rooms.

The Rainbow Room, Waldorf, and Crystal Garden are modern and show a decorators hand, but the only really plush dressing room we know is at Twenty-One.

Strangely enough, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the ladies’ room of El Morocco, Roseland, or a tea room; the same things are said in all of them. First hair, then men, then clothes; those are the three favorite topics of conversation in the order of their importance.

High Society Ladies’ Rooms (Stage Magazine, 1937) Read More »

Sweet Words for Maestro Toscanini (Stage Magazine, 1938)

Arturo Toscaninistyle=border:none
(1867 – 1957) is believed to have been the greatest conductor of the Twentieth Century. He was bestowed with a ‘Palm Award’ by the well-meaning swells at the now defunct Stage Magazine during the summer of 1938. This article appeared during a time when a Palm Award, granted by such a crew was a reliable form of social currency and would actually serve the highly favored recipients in such a grand manner as to allow them brief respites at dining tables found at such watering holes as New York’s Stork Club. Nowadays, one Palm Award and one dollar and fifty cents will afford you a ride on the Los Angeles City subway system (one way).
The attached article explains why Maestro Toscanini had met all requirements for this award.

Sweet Words for Maestro Toscanini (Stage Magazine, 1938) Read More »