Lahr considers Crimson Students Equal to Average Broadway Audience

"Contrary to popular belief, Harvard suffices are neither better nor worse than the average New York audience," opined Bert Lahr, star of Cole Perrier's new show "DuBarry Was a Lady," in his dressing room at the Shubert Theatre last night. "All shows these days are written for patrons of the Great White Way, and Harvard boys have their pseudo-sophistication."

The well-known comedian originated his inimitable bathroom humor in 1928 in a show called "Hold Everything," and with the exception of a straight part in the motion picture "Zaza" he has stuck to it ever since.

Enjoys Movie Work

Lahr, in contrast to most comedians, finds that the movies handicap him in no way. To replace the absence of personal contact with an audience, each scene is shot several times. Each take requires a different interpretation by the comedian, and the best of these is selected for release by the cutter. Although the hours are long and the work hard, Lahr has enjoyed his work in motion pictures--especially the part of the cowardly lion in the "Wizard of Oz."

"Advice for theatrical aspirants is pretty cheap," mused Lahr, "but there is no 'open sesame' which will produce success. A college education is by no means necessary for this success. Talent is a thing which you either have or you haven't, and that's what they pay off on. If you have it, your only problem is to find out what you can do best.

Persistanos of Untalented

"The tragedy is that many hams who think they can play Hamlet as well as Gielgud refuse to accept their ineptitude, although they might be doing something else more successfully of course, good looks alone may get you by in the movies, but never on the stage, where the talent's the thing."

In Lahr's opinion the things that keep a long run musical from bogging down are changes of interpretation and ad libbing. Already he has ad libbed several lines which have been incorporated into the script. For instance, in that classic scene in the men's room of a small night club, where he is coaching his successor as washroom attendant and telling him the chance of promotion, he ad libbed, "Why, if you click in this joint, you may work up to some four-sinker like the 'Mayfair'."