Chorine-Picking Described by Harvard Musical Comedy Writer--Vinton Freedley '14 Is Author of "Here's Howe"

"Today the theatre is a place of youth. Practically all the work of the stage is being done by young men today." Vinton Freedley '14, one of the young men of the threatre at the present time, and author of "Lady, Be Good," "Tip Toes," "Oh Kay," "Funny Face," and "Here's Howe" now playing at the Shubert, is the authority for this statement.

"The type of play they are producing nowadays is primarily the musical comedy," said Freedley. Being particularly interested in musical comedy, the author of "Here's Howe" proceeded to review for the CRIMSON reporter the building up of a girl-and-music show.

"First, of course, there is the theatre to fill," he said. "With that in mind we go about to secure the artists we want. We then commission certain authors to submit scenarios for the theatre. The next step is to get a dance director, then a person to lay out the dialogue.

"After that we put out a chorus call From 300 to 400 girls answer that: most of them entirely unqualified. They come from offices, restaurants, everywhere. From this group we select about 100 and put them into practice clothes. When they are in practice costume, we see knock-knees, bowlegs, and what not. About 50 of them are finally retained.

"Ten days before the opening the play is whipped into shape. Then the cursing beings. What seemed funny beforehand doesn't seem at all funny now. Finally comes the Sunday night before the Monday opening, when the final dress rehearsal occurs. It starts at 7 o'clock in the evening and continues until about 7 or 8 o'clock the following morning. Then the weeks spent on the road before going into New York are full of trials. One audience never sees exactly the same performance that another sees."

Freedley, when at Harvard, played on the University football squad in 1913, the year Yale was beaten 15-5 and Princeton was also defeated 30. He was a member of the University Glee Club, the Hasty Pudding Club, writing the music for one of the Hasty Pudding shows, the Delphic Club, and the Cercle Francais. From Harvard he went to the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied law.