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42 VARIETY 1. Ei;iTIM ATE Tuesdaf, March 14, 1933 Plays on Broadway BOTH YOUR HOUSES Comedy drama In three nets presented at the Royale Mnrch 0 by tlie Theatre Guild; written by Maxwell AndeKoa: staeed by Worthlngton Miner. Marjoile Oruy Aleta Freel nuH Mary Plillli)3 EJdIe Winter llobert Shayne Solumon Fllzmaurlco Waller C. Kelly Mark Oscar Polk Simeon Gray Robert Stranffe I-overlng Morris tiirnovsky Merton John Butler Dell William Foran Sneden Jerome Cowan Miss MrMurtry Jane Seymour WlnRblatt J. Edward Bromberft Peebles Russell Collins Farnum John F. Morrlsaey Alan McCloan Sliepiierd Strudwlck Ebner Joseph Sweeney There Is some fun In this play which has to do with Washlneton, but It is Just as often deadly seri- ous, in fact, too sternly talkative to take its place among Broadway's leading attractions. Indications, however, are for a profitable en- gagement beyond the Guild's sub- scription period of five weeks. Maxwell Anderson seems to have had the topic on h''^ mind for some tlDfie—one of thi' .,s that have been annoying him iK^'haps, and he is radically min( -L^ardless of the difference betw dramas and his comedies, as lu instance 'Satur- day's Children' and the earlier "What Price Glory,' a collaborative work. 'Both Tour Houses' Is a blast at our national law-makers, espe- cially Congress and specifically a fabulous committee on appropria- tions in the House of Representa- tives. The authors of "Washington Merry Go Round' compared that seption of the past Congress to a 'monkey house.' Anderson has the same idea, but he gives his repre- sentatives much more talent, in- telligence, humor and color, even though he charges his characters with thievery. Scenes are the offlce of the chair- man of the appropriations commit toe and a committee room. A meas- ure for a western dam project to cost $40,000,000 is 'pork barrelled" with-all manner of other costly ex- penditures so that the measure calls for spending something like $400,- 000,000 of public funds. The President has demanded that most of the extraneous items be eliminated, the total not to exceed $200,000,000. Chairman Simeon Gray Is proceeding to make the cuts, with other congressmen protesting that their own portions of the bill be retained. Each one admits that It means plenty of individual profit, with what the constituencies wanted a secondary consideration. The deliberations are interrupted by a young congressman from Colo- rado, Alan McLean, former teacher in an agricultural college, who in- vestigated bis own election and found that contractors backed him without his Knowledge. He forms a radical bloc, nearly enough votes to defeat the measure. McL.«an re- fuses to withdraw from his stand even after learning that If the bill does not go through, the chairman faces a jail term and although Gray's daughter is keen for him. The alert McLean has Insisted that every one of the discarded items be put back in the bill with the idea of killing it by veto. But the politicians then go to work and corral enough votes to upset an impending presidential nay. Mo- Lean Is not abashed at the result. He utters the sincere conviction that a change in our government must come; he warns his colleagues that a change in government is due every 100 years and 'ours Is 50 years overdue.' Anderson, aided and abetted by Inside Stuff-Legit Oscar J. Perrln, manager of the Capitol, Albany, legit, has donated to the library of Yale University, a rare theatre program printed on silk in 188S. It was arranged for a testinionial benefit for the Actors' Fund of AmericEU The performance was given at the old Leland Opera House, now the Leand (pictures), on Jan. 19, 1888. Every leading actor of the time donated his services, the New York Central providing for free transportation and for freight for the scenery. Mr. Perrin, who has been in the theatre business for 30 years, received a letter from the curator of the Crawford Collection on Modem Drama In the Tale Library referred to the program as a 'rare and unusual Item in our collection of material relating to the modern drama'. Lawrence Stalllngs, useA some vlo lent laneruage in 'Glory* and be agains employs lurid terms In the new play, some of it that does not reach print. His law-makers are generally hard-drinking, and expert in the art of the grab. The most artful of the committee- men Is old Sol Fitzmaurice and as played by Walter C. Kelly, the character makes the play a diver- sion. He seems to lean toward Mc- Lean and tells the youth that when he .first entered the Congress he, too. had radical Ideas, but was quickly brought around. Between taking nips of corn liquor whether the others were im- bibing or not, Kelly has such lines as: 'The business of the govern- ment is graft, corruption and spe- cial privilege.' His personal inter- est in the bill is to have the Atlan- tic fleet maneuver abreast a realty development in which he is inter- ested on Long Island and argues the battleships might just as well be there as hanging around Hamp- ton Roads. One of the others states that the American system seems to be: 'Every man for himself and the hell with the government?' One of Kelly's last lines is a comment on McLean's warning and is to the effect that nothing is going to change Wash- ington because of the public's un- limited apathy toward the govern- ment. All In all it was a triumph for Kelly, once the noted 'Virginia Judge' of vaudeville. He appeared in revues, but his present appear- ance opens up the legit field to him. Shepperd Strudwlck, a newcomer, made an excellent impression as McLean the militant, courageous young congressman. As a drab congresswoman, Jane Seymour fit- ted into the scheme. Not much to say, but she got her birth control item in the bill. Robert Strange, okay as the chairman. Aleta Freel provided the only dash of romance as his daughter, while Mary Phil- ips was the secretary of the fight- ing McLean. She had wise crack lines, but so early they were lost by the noise of late arrivals. Ibee. Maxwell Anderson denies that 'Both Tour Houses', which the Theatre Guild opened at the Royale, New York, last week, actually concerns the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Utle of coiu-se is taken from the line in 'Romeo and Juliet' referring -to the twa .famllles,. the. Montagues and the Capulets. George M. Cohan was invited to direct the play for the Guild. After reading the script he stated that while it was a strong play he did not care to figure In any show that took a slap at the government, an asso- ciation that would hardly be in line with his traditional use of the flag of his country. Vincent Toumans, who arranged for a year's moratorium from his creditors last winter, has asked for an extension for an additional year, the period to be dated March 1, 1934. In a notice sent the creditors It was stated that Toumans is in the same financial position now as a year ago and that certain projects worked on have not materialized. The moratorium was flgured a way to keep Toumans from bankruptcy and the composer-showman explained that he would rather pay off than take a legal plunge. He owed $300,000 in the failure of 'Great Day' and $50,000 in miscellaneous debts. Longest performance or Broadway, musical or dramatic, is 'Autumn Crocus', which rings down at the Morosco around 11:25 p. m. The rea- son is the leisurely playing of Francis Lederer, the Czech actor Imported for the show. Show as given at the premiere was cut, but Lederer inserted addi- tional lines and business, admittedly okay but overtime. Recently a letter to the theatre from a group of 30 women, residing in Jersey, stated that it was their intention to attend the show, but found out they couldn't make the 11:10 train back home. When told to Lederer, he laughed. Leo Newman, the ticket agent, and Seymour Felix, who staged the numbers in 'Strike M&tPlnW at the Majestic, New Tork, engaged in an argument as to whether a certain critic would pan or praise the revue. At intermission the first night Newman talked to the reviewer, then told Felix that there was nothing to worry about so far as that critic's notice was concerned. The stager was pessimistic and persistent that a pan would come out. So they bet a suit of clothes and Newman won, the notice in question being unreserved in praising the show. One of the moratorium laughs came to the Sam H. Harris office upon the receipt of a telegram from Dave Cauffman, manager of 'Of Thee I Sing' on the coast. California banks closed days before New Tork's t«» The message received on the first day the banks shut here read: 'It is imperative you send $8,000 by airplane for salaries.' With the Harris office paying 'Dinner at Eight' (Music Box) off in I. O. U.'s that day, the answer was: 'No can do.' By Thursday the 'Dinner' players were paid in cash in full. Anton J. Cermak, martyred mayor of Chicago, was a familiar figure at legit first nights in the Windy City. Cermak usually attended in a large party that included anywhere from four to eight members of his large family plus some of his more intimate fellow-politicians. Cermak apparently preferred comedies and ducked the highbrow stuff but was notwithstanding remarkably regular in his theatre-going for BO busy a man. LONE VALLEY Three-act play by Sople Treadwell; staged by the aathor at the' Plymouth, March 10. Settlnsa by Raymond Bovey. Scaled at $2.20 top. Joe Alan Baxter Lottte Mab Maynard Lasly Ian Wolfe Grainger Charles Kennedy Mary Marguerite Borough Eaia Virginia Tracy Lyman Oliver Barbour Play Of intensely serious Intent Is here presented by Sophie Treadwell, newspaper woman who achieved some success with 'Machinal,' based on the Ruth Snyder murder case. This one promises no such acclaim, being in the main a shapeless, drab affair, in the manner of a Green- wich Village group with profound .purposes,, but-na .sense of- the com-- mercial theatre. Play would probably pass as an inconsiderable incident in times of prosperity. In the present state of theatre-going It will scarcely Invite passing attention, both because of the state of the times and because that is the fate It merits. Story deals with the strivings of a poor young farm hand toward re- llgipua understanding and other mysteries of adolescent life, and bis eventual awakening to a very great many things in association with a girl with a lurid past who is broken by what they call a life of shame and comes to the country to recover from her illness of body and spirit. The forces of evil are represented by a bard and bitter farmer who browbeats the boy and who vaguely is represented to have spiritual problems of his own, though he's not the sort of a person you'd be likely to sympathize with, even if you could understand his sorrows. Author seems to be preoccupied with the deeper significances of life in Lone Valley, but doesn't express her observations In interesting drama. Play develops In terms of long and awkward speeches and inept quiet episodes that take place in the dreary setting of a small farm-house sitting room—episodes as colorless as their surroundings. None of the characters really take form, ambling through the three acts in shadowy silhouette, and the only qualities that become sharply etched are those of mean- ness of the wicked farmej and the dullness of the locale. The usually benign Charles Ken- nedy, who was in his element as the kindly priest of 'They Knew What They Wanted,' doesn't impress as the farmer ogre. Marguerite Bor- ough plays the scarlet woman from the city for all the world like your Aunt Cynthia, and Alan Baxter, a new recruit, is Just awkwardly juve- nile as the intrically psycnologtc young farm hand. There are In ad- dition a flirtatious and vixo.iis-h country girl who comes to a bad end at the hands of a very natty salesman, and a country preacher who babbles hokum religious conso- lation. There are seven characters and a single set, which bespeaks ., ^, economical operation, but the von- Richard B. Harrison. 69-ycar-old Negro, who plays 'Do Lawd' in 'The ture can scarcely' hope to endure Green Pastures,' plans to return to North Carolina to teach colored long even with that edge. Rush. youngsters the essentials of dr.imatio .nrtlnp. when ific Connelly opus (Opejicd Friday and closed the fol- ceases touring. So told a radio Intei viewor. Uoioing night. Printed for the record.) Plays Out of Town A Trip to Pressburg Philadelphia, March 13. This Lee Shubert production—his first try-out in some time—opened here under the subscription auspices of the American Theatre Society and first-night opinion was rather favorable. Although heavy In pro- duction and somber in story, it looks to have more than .even chance for at least moderate Broadway suc- cess and has brilJUant film possibil- ities If the censors don't frown. Adapted by Harry WagstafiE Oribble and Harold Johnsrud from the German of Leo Perutz and di- rected by Gribble, 'A Trip to Press- burg' makes excellent use of the jack-knife stage and even on the first night here the curtain went down at 11 o'clock despite the 11 scenes and the heav^ sets. The play came here with a gen- eral reputation of being dirty, but it didn't impress that way although the piece gets its title and main theme from an unconventional source. City of Pressburg is sup- posed to have a particularly famous but well regulated red-light district and one featiire is that any one who has been an inmate therein is priv- ileged to return there and spend her declining years on a kind of pension or as a guest of the community. Plot is a slight variation of an old melodramatic yarn. Leading woman (Katherlne Wilson) has, seven years before the action starts been cast adrift by her husband, Franz (Al- bert Van Dekker) because he be- lieved her untrue. After the break she has taken the easiest way and is notorious at all the spas and beaches of the Continent, posing most often as a Polish Countess. Slie returns to Vienna and seeks a reconciliation with Franz, head- waiter or major domo of the famous City Bar. He offers her mgney, but that Isn't what she wants. Later she meets his beloved younger brother, Carl, who la fascinated by her sophistication. In order to carry on their amoiir, the boy takes bank money that doesn't belong to him and is all set to travel to foreign climes with the 'Countess' when she tells him what she really is and ex- plains about her 'trip to Pressburg.' Whereupon he strangles her and throws her body in the river. Carl then commits suicide as the police search for him. The play has been given a novel twist by a prolog that concerns two characters who never re-appear. The tragic sequel to this prolog is contained in the last three minutes of the play and add to its effective- ness. The splendid City Bar scene is also a highlight of the production. It possesses real glamour and at- .mosphere-andr-In its multiplicity of character and the glimpses one gets of it at different hours of the day and night, give 'Pressburg' some- thing of the 'Grand Hotel' atmos- phere. Grlbble's imaginative direction Is aided by the performances of Van Dekker as Franz, Roger Pryor as Carl, and Egon Brecher as the old bartender at the City Bar. Miss Wilson Is not quite bo successful as the girl, but hers was a pretty tough assignment. Charles Dalton does a small bit well and there are a num- ber of other good players in minor roles. Waters. UNDER THE COVERS New Haven, March 9. Farce comedy In three acts by tien D. Holltster. Directed by the author. Sets by Kllbourne Marks. Cast: Dola MacL«an, Mary Daniel, Ninon Bunyea, Len D. Hoi- lister. Rex Carleton, John A. Wiliarde, Hugh Cameron, Rea Martin, Russell Hicks, Garland Kerr. At the Playhouse, New Haven. But^ the audience somehow can't seem to Join In the spirit of it all. There is nothing novel about the plot and a number of the situations have dust on them. The company Is badly miscast, only HoUister, John Willarde and Russell Hicks fitting their roles. Hugh Cameron, billed as the star, gives an in-and-out performance. Occasionally really funny, he loses ground when he overacts the part of Marty Slsserman, private detec- tive with a yen for picking up loose change on the side. Hollister triples as author, direc- tor and leading man and gets best results In the hust named. He works hard but there just isn't much to work with. Bone. RED ROBIN Chicago, March 9. Producing Associates. Inc. (J. J, Shu- t>ert), production based on Eln Tag In Paradise,' previously adapted as 'Blue Paradise.' Book by Harry Clark nnd Kay Kenney. Music by Murray Rumnhlnsky.' Settings by Watson Barratt. Dialog di- rected by J. H. Benrlmo. Ensembles by Bdward Scanlon. Costumes by Ernest' Schrapps. Dances by Merrlel Abbott. At Grand, Chicago, scaled at $3.30.' Rudolph Hoagstrat George Hasaell Cook Frank Robert Horn Guest Ernest Ooodhart Ludwig Schumann J. Charles Gilbert Gustave Bauman John GoId3\(-orlhy Waitress Eda Hedln Flower Girl BcttI Davis Hans ZImmer Allan Jones Carl Schlertcher Nick Long, Jr,: Countess Von Schwartzhoff, EUzaJketh Crandall Baron 'Von Schlcgnl ,. .Trueman Oalgo Captain,Von Housman Leo Nash. Trip Frank King Alberta Comatock Manila Powora Mnbel Prlc(> Lorrnlno Wclmar Anita Hoagstrat Martha Lorber First Guest Walter Wahl Second Guest F. Hornsi Josepb Clarence Harvey Len Hollister's 'Under the Covers' opened for a tryout week here at the new Playhouse. The cast gave a finished performance. The main objection, from a critical standpoint at least, was that tho performance should have been finished at 8.31 instead of 10.30 as the case turned out. The play is not for Broadway and the backers will save themselves disappointment if they let it die in the sticks instead of carrying it into New York as planned. Maybe okay in Little theatres, but has little to offer a metropolitan audience un- less some miracle of re-casting should provide a few names to put a lightweight across. E^'en allow- ing for the cramped midget stage and a limited crew, the play is still trivial. Concerns the plight of Ambrose Guthrie who gets in a jam with his wife when he loses at bridge, with- out her knowledge, $200 he was sup- posed to use for her railroad reser- vation to Chicago. He has ."ii offer to earn the $200 by helping lo stage a raid on the wife of a su.'spectins husband and gets tangled iii) him- self when he finds himself, niiniip trousers, in the room of a former sweetheart. The suspected lover, Ted Atwood, makes things hot for him and friends have more fun when Atwood hides Guthrie's pants. 'Red Robin' has a couple of much- reprised tunes, a leading man com- bining looks and voice, several other actors of some distinction, a 20- year-old plot maladroitly modern- ized, a lot of not-very-funny pansy gags and great aching voids of dull- ness. Predominately the effect is ennui, with grave doubt that any amount of tinkering can make it anything but a yawnful evening only occasionally rendered endur- able. Story was known two decades ago as 'Blue Paradise' and has a pronounced 1910 sentimentalism about it. An Austrian spendthrift youth is banished to America (Chi- cago) in the prolog. He returns in' middle age to Vienna still cherish- ing the vision of the girl he left be- hind, who is meanwhile the mother of a grown daughter by a local Bab- bitt. It Is the purpose of the nar- rative to disabuse the gent o f his romantic nonsense and prepare inih to accept matrimony with a wealthy American widow who has pursued him from Chicago. This story Is told with elephan- tine humor. It is In several key roles grievously miscast. It falls signally to generate the glow of plnk-and-lace romance, and in the later passages mingles extremely bad taste in humor with Its effort to be whimsical and tender. Nick Long, Jr., is the only out- standing personality In the produc- tion with his superb style and dancing prowess. Alan Jones, the handsome lead mentioned, is com- pelled to stand or sit and do noth- ing for long periods, and In conse- quence has a hard time keeping from looking a bit blase. Yet he is attractive and likable, and those who count him the best of the 'Student Prince' leads are vindi- cated. George Hassel Is perennially in the position of promising to be very funny and never quite getting there. They have given him next to noth- ing to work with. That Is true like- wise of the comedienne of the pro- duction, Lorraine Weimar, said to be playing her first role without a wig. She is much better than her material. General quality of the production is not distinguished. Costumes and some of the stuff is reported to have' come from the St. Louis Municipal opera warehouse. Land. Uptown Players ('THe Devil Passes') Chicago, March 13. Little theatre presentation directed by J. Bradley Grimn. Play by Bonn Levy. Cast: ISdwnrd Zabrlakle. Marlon Hoffman, Re- glna Ploclnsky, Tom McDormott. Howard Rappaport, Jim Cook, "Florence McUuin, J. Bradley OrlRln. Surprisingly good characteriza- tion and fast tempo in this meta- physical comedy by Benn Levy as offered for a week's engagement by the Uptown Players. The produc- tion excelled the average profes- sional stock of the cheaper price ranges. Uptown Players miijht very well progress to little theatre hon- ors. More than a few actors In re-,j cent years have originated in such' Institutions and three or four of the members participating In this pro- duction, notably Tom McDormott, have distinct possibilities. Land.