Variety (Dec 1929)

06 VARIETY L E G I T I M A T £ Wednesday, December 18, 1929 Plays on Broadway FAMILY AFFAIRS Comedy In three acts presented at Maxlne Ellloti's Dec. 10 by Ij. Lawrence Wobor; wrlticn by Earlc Crooker and towell Brer- tano; Hlllle Hurko starred; staged by Ar- thur Hopkins. Roger Wheaton ....Joseph McCalllon Janet Wheaton Klalne Temple Yenger ^.Cecil Clovelly Charles Wheaton Prank Elliott EattUe V.'heaton i,.BllUe Burke Horore Parker ..Edmund George , .Leona Beutelle Audrey Rldgwell Bruce Evans "SilUs" I.ee Audrey Alnv=worth Paul Savelle...... If "Family Affairs" was aa good as was Billie Burke to look upon. It would be destined to pojpularlty. It Is too llghtwelgrht a comedy, how- ever, to do much more than attract the star's personal draw. Miss Burke returns to the stage from the Flo Ziegfeld esta^te on the Hudson every now and., then in obe- dience to that urge which actresses 3urke is welcome and alwiays will be. She is by far the most attracr tive thing in and about "Family Affairs." Arthur Hopkins did the -sta.ging, fiomethlng new for him so far as other managers' shows are con- cerned, but the program sets forth the fact that Hopkins Is co-pro- ducer with L(. Lawrence Weber. For a time the show was slated for the Plymouth, but Hopkins de- cided to use that house for.'his ex- clusive property, "Half Gods," Which opens this week. "Family Affairs" is pleasant enough, though, improbable. Mrs. Estelle Wheaton has been wedded to Charles W. for quite a long time, her girl and boy now approaching their majority. Father has been preaching retrenchment, his iivealth. having somewhat shrunk in a stock market crash. But things other^ wise in the household are not to her liking. She plan^ a little surprise for the family, giving as an excuse the fact that it will help save money. The son, Roger, has been "keep- ing" a girl named. "Silks''. Lee. f Daughter Janet is engaged to a eo- ,clety youth who doesn't measure ■Mp to the'mark. Father also has been "keeping" Audrey .Ainsworth. Mother Invites all the outsiders to her home as guests for a week or two. Then, not to make it too un comfortable, she brings in young Paul Savelle, whom shd says is a, gigolo she met in Paris. Estelle's plan woyks out fairly well after she thought It. Hopped. Janet's young man shows himself yolTow and walks out. "Silks'." proves quite a girl and Roger pronri- Isos her to stop plSiylng around and go to work, with a hint of future marriage. Audrey, a high halt dame, takes air, too, when Charles finds out that Paul Is no gigolo but the son of an old friend who acted the part at the request of his , wife, things begin to look up in the Wheaton menage in the east six- ties.. ■ Charles comes to the determina- tion that .a Romeo past 5Q. Is ridic- ulous. He promises never to see Audrey again,.but Estelle sagely re- marks there are other Audreys. Compared to herself, this one is surely a stick. . It Is pejrhaps natural that most of the play's lines and chatter go to the star and she does yery well In her new rdle. Miss Burke's charm pervades "Family Affairs," if that be enough. The. supporting cast is adequate. Frank Elliott, especially, was w:ell chosen to play the husband, a poll^^hed, quiet fel- low of big business. Leona BeU'- telle did Silks nicely. Bruce Evans did Paul, whom Janet became enamored of. Elaine. Temple and Joseph McCalllon were the Wheaton off spring,-both satisfactory. However, the kind of people who will like "Family Affairs" mostly will b6 going down. Florida way soon and it wouldn't be surprising if Miss Rurke Joined the Palm Beachers again this winter. Ibee. MARY AND MICHAEL . Three-act comedy-drama by A. A. Milne. Presented by Charles Hopkins, -rlth Henry Hull, Edith, Barrett and Harry Beresford featured. Staged by .Mr. Hopkips. At the Charles Hopkins theatre. New Tork, Dec. 13 ($4.40). Mary. .Edith Barrett An Attendant. .Peter Lang Michael. : .Henry Hull Violet. ..Katherlne Standing Mrs. TuIUvant.......... Alice Belmor«CIlfIe The Rev. Simon Rowe,..'..David Glaasford Mary's Uncle. .Vernon Kelso Inspector Enderby Leonard WlUey Dr. Roberts Robert Vivian "P. C." Cuff. .Harry Beresford A Policeman. .Emlle Littler David. Alan" Wllley Miss Welby. .IJilda Plowrlght Romo. Helen Claire A superrsentlmental play, done In the repressed ijianner of the Milne- Brltlsh school, and highly effective. Promises to be the best commercial attraction at the Hopkins for a long time. It has restricted appeal, but In the small-capacity house, ought to spread out that limited draw for a long time, and at the 14.40 tap scale:for the 300-seat house looks like a good bet. House has Its following also, painstakingly built up by succession of productions addressed to a. ma- ture and perhaps discriminating cUenteli^, and that should count. Play bears certain resemblance to "Many Waters," which also Is In the English manher, and. it has a good deal of the same sentimental quali- ty, both plays dealing with the vl> cissltudes of a young man and young woman drawn, together, and tracing them through a lifetime to their triumphant arrival at middle ag^, scarred and seared by life, but con- tent in each other ^nd in mutual affection that survives hardships. Is Isn't as good a play as "Many Waters," but It makes satisfying stage material, flawlessly played by Hull, Miss Barrett and their sup- porting cast of 12. Milne has been writing for the stage a long time, but he has never entirely lost his "literary" habit. His lines would read in print better than they sound. Some of his best mo- ments are hurt by a fusslness In dialog that hampers the grip of the action. He likewise misses the bold and economical treatment Of some of his sceneis. This play several times almost halts while the play- wright goes into trivial detail, al- most as finicky as Mrs. Wharton— another manifestation of the same ^•literary" habit. . However, It is a nicely conceived and trimly made play, syrupy on the sentimental side, but with a good many touches, of real sincerity and heart-grip. An interesting side angle is Milne's novel handling of the younger generation of 1929. He doesn't rant at them or defand them with the usual excess of vehemence. Rather he finds them substantially the same as the younger generation of the Victorian era, it being rather the present older generation that Is different. That, fresh angle alone, pictured with gentle humor, ought to be enough to make the play in- teresting. One can*t help being a little Im- patient with Milne's old maldish system of ethics. The husband and wife have reached middle age after many struggles, when a blackguard tries to blackmail them. Husband very properly moves to throw him out of the house, and brings on a fat^l heart attack. By a clever de- vice they explain away the presence of a dead man In their home with-, out revealing the truth. ' - Tf^ara later the whole thing Is about to come out,' and both hus-. band and wife welcome exposure to; get what they persist In regarding as a crime oft their consciences. Any well-balanced person would have dismissed the matter thank- fully and only a British playwright would persist in making a ghost of an accidental and entirely desirable demise. There are moments when the wealth of talk Irritates one, but there are other touches of genuine senti- ment that more than redeem these passages, and there is one scene of real grijp at the end of the second act. . This is the scene In Which, with a dead man oh their hands, the couple summon the police and frame a story ta explain the situation-^ story that holds water even uhder the prying of a shrewd detective. The device for the second act cur- tain Is a startler. Keen inspector's suspicions have been lulled, and he is convinced the dead man merely dropped dead of heart disuse. He turns to a day-dreaming constable (locale Is London), asking his opinion. . . Romantic but dumbbell cop. who has literary asjKlratlons himself and dreams novels, spIUs the silly notion that the man has been killed by the couple, foe the very reason that were the case, the inspector scorn- fully dismissing the constable's Im- aginings as absurd. Play has four scenes, admirably designed and executed at just that degree where good taste ends and lavish splurge begins. There is a furnished room in Islington that speaks eloquently, and a bare cor- ner of the British Museum that is equally articulate. Alice Belmore Clifte as tbe garrulous landlady han- dled a bit trimly, and David Glass- ford, on but once, did nicely with a colorless scene. RusJi. DOROTHY LULL ITH EDmON OF "tari CarroD's Vanities" NOW ON TOUR P/ UL WHITEMAN Booking Exclusively Through His Ot»n OfUce J 560 Broadway Neii> York CitV JAMES F. GILLESPIE Personal Representative . I TRIXIE FRIGANZA METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIO Personal Managers; THE.BLANGHARDS DON ANNOY ME! I' I shall be in New York the latter part of the month arid pay a six weeks' visit to the States on .a pleasure trip. As I said above, DON'T ANNOY with offers of engagement in any branch of ariiusements. I must return at the end of that time, being under contract to Sir Alfred Butt for a new musical play, my third consecutive show under his management; therefore DON'T ANNOY Just let me. have a pleasant holiday, minus all cares or E E! worries. GENE GERRARD