The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 36

SECTION Of THE BROOKLYN EAGLI SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 1942 6 TREND PLAYTHINGS Jl'''lT7 1 IKK liiiwiilk A 4 4 BMMIMB fill I rJ If There Aren't Enough Good New Plays Around, Read Some Old Ones By ARTHVK POLLOCK Some fussy old fellqw who believed that nothing that had not on it a thick layer of patina of time could possibly be good said once that whenever a new book came out he read an old one. He must have been antique-crazy. However, if such literary snobs are still alive they may have found it a good idea this season to read an old play every time serious new one opened. As has been lamented here and elsewhere often lately, the theaters this season have not housed many fine plays. Very well.

There is no use getting into a pet about it. Try reading some old plays. Try, for instance "Sixteen Famous British Plays," gathered together by Bennett A. Cerf and Van H. Cartwell and published by the Garden City Publishing Company.

It's a thick book full of English plays from Oscar Wilder "The Importance of Being Earnest" of the last century down to Emlyn Williams' "The Corn Is Green," which Ethel Barry more played In in New York last season and part of this. are plays of the sort you wish you could see more of. Perhaps when it comes time for some one to Ret together another assortment of English plays to fill a book, this season's "Angel Street" and "Blithe Spirit" may be among them. They are no trifles, these two contemporary But if you like your British drama mellower, this new volume will delight you. The curtain goes up, for instance, on Plnero's "The Second Mrs.

Tanqueray," to be followed by "The Importance of Being Earnest" and J. M. Barries "What Every Woman Knows." Three famous modern English plays, surely. The next you probably won't remember so vividly, though it has been much imitated since first done here in 1912 "Milestones," by Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblock. William Archer's "The Green Goddess" is in the list.

A. A. Milne's "Mr. Pirn Passes By" and then Somerset Maugham's "The Circle," one of Maugham's finest. Galsworthy is represented by "Loyalties," though he wrote a good many better ones.

"Outward Bound," by Sutton Vane, comes next chronologically and then Noel Coward's "Cavalcade," though it has never been acted here on the stage. "Journey's End," "The Barretts of Wimpole Street," "Dangerous Corner," by J. B. Priestley, "The Green Bay Tree," by Mordaunt Shairp, "Victoria Regina," by Laurence Housman, last season's "The Corn Is Green," by Emily Williams. S.

Jay Kaufman has assembled a number of the short plays and sketches he has written through the years in a volume called- "High-lowbrow and Other Sketches," published by Samuel French. Some of these have been done by famous actors in vaudeville (William Gaxton played "Kisses" for ten consecutive weeks at the Palace), some in revues. They are quick, suave, unusual. Those little theaters throughout the country that are constantly searching lor material an? constantly finding and using what almost every other little theater has already found and used, ought to be delighted with them. There is a legerdermain in them most little theater stuff lacks entirely.

TERRY KELLY, one of the lightfooted young ladies in "Best Foot Forward," the musical comedy at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. 'Of We Sing' Stays at Concert "Of We Sing" will not move to the Royale on W. 45th as had been rumored, but will remain at the Concert Theater on 58th St. indefinitely. A second company intended for the Leventhal circuit, the army camps and Summer stock will shortly be prepared.

New material is now being collated and tried out at the Concert Theater for a second and more elaborate edition of "Of We Sing" which 'Cafe Crown' Gives 75th Performance Today "Cafe Crown," the comedy at the Cort Theater, featuring Sam Jaffe and Morris Carnovsky, will give its 75th performance this afternoon. In celebration all the members of the cast, who sit on-stage during the performance and drink tea, will be served birthday cake by Jaffe in his role of the bus boy. According to Jaffe, the cake will be specially prepared, with 75 raisins, in honor of the occasion. "Dunking will be allowed," says Jaffe. will be brought to a downtown the ater in the Fall at a regular scale of prices.

STACE PLAYS MANHATTAN Face Fixing Makes Country Gentleman of Edgar Stehli SEATS NOW- METROPOLITAN Zlll APRIL 6 to 19 wet. S.HUROKpr.i.nti SEASON OF BALLET 35 PRODUCTIONS 125 DANCERS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA "RUSSIAN SOLDIER" SsS Stninji Incl. Sunday 15c Mjtlntti April II, 5c to 17 75 "ALL-OUT" lalltt and Conctrt, Kulliin Wr Rtlitf, April 1 .45 te $5 50 1500 Seeti at 5c to $1.65 For All Ptrormoocti The fabulous Dr. Einstein, whose uniformly good notices in uniformly dismal failures until Lindsay and Crouse chose 15 months ago to un- ministrations are responsible for WILLIE HOWARD and Lou Holtz, two seasoned comics of the new show at the 46th Street Theater, "Priorities of 1942," presented by Clifford Fischer. It brings vaudeville back in a form that is proving successful.

giving Boris Karloff a face resem bling that of the motion picture TODAY at 2:30 TONIGHT at 8:30 MUSICAL COMEDY SMASH! SHE ill 9vA Helen Beverley, Wife in Gets First Half of Her Wish Will fliTt AVAIIAOIK FOR 9 WEEKS Mill Ordrn rillrd Promptl? Matlntri Sat. Sun, 1.10 to ti.1t HOLLYWOOD Slil. CI. 7-5545 SUre HASSJUtD SH0T leasn "Arsenic ana uia Lace upon an unsuspecting public. For the past year and a quarter Stehli has been playing the deft Dr.

Einstein a steadiness of occupation that still confounds him when he thinks about it. The ether waves, however, have long been" familiar with his voice in a variety of tongues. Whatever the theater lacked in permanence of employment was more than atoned for by his radio assignments, which found him playing roles of every race from the Assyrian to the Esthonian. As a matter of fact, even the ungrateful theater has accepted his gifts to the extent of casting him as a Dutchman, a German, a Frenchman and a snake mon-Axis) in recent assignments everything except the Swiss that he is. The snake was his role in "The Greatest Show on Earth," and a highly rewarding part it was, too, as far as press clippings were con 3 SHOWS TODAY actor Boris Karloff in "Arsenic and Old Lace" at the Fulton Theater, now has an estate to loll on.

For Edgar Stehli, who plays the facile face-changer at the Fulton, has recently indulged his ambition to be a country gentleman to the extent of purchasing a 50-acre farm on which he has planted over evergreens, not to mention ferns of varieties too numerous to mention which he is fond of exhibiting at the Montclair Flower Show. One of the most sought-after of all radio performers because of his versatility in dialect roles (he has an A. in foreign languages from Cornell), his luck in the legitimate theater in recent years had ranged from poor to pathetic until the day that Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse singled him out to play the Karloff copyist in Joseph Kessel-ring's homicidal antic. From Gorki's "Lower Depths" to Ellis St. Joseph'? "Passenger to Ball" he had received Few actresses, or for that matter few females in any category, are lucky enough to have their childhood dreams come as true as those which filled the mind of Helen Beverley, now In "Jason," Samson Raphaelson's comedy at the Hudson Theater.

Helen's Ideal was a stalwart and brilliant actor who would not only woo and win her but also act with her in a "VERY COMICAL INDEED. met disarming hilarity. FilUd with mrrimnt and abandon," Rlthrd ttlti Jr.i Htrtdi-Tribunt IOU WILLIE RHIL RAUL HOLTZ HOWARD BAKER DRAPER 50c 1 so I'M 50c-'2 "Uriel Acosta" for the Mercury Theater. Soon after that she went to London, where her romance with Lee J. Cobb began at their very first meeting.

Two Tears ago Helen played opposite Paul Muni in "Key Largo" in that play's tour. Her appearance in "Jason," as the critic's canny and alluring wife, is the biggest and by far the best part Helen Beverley has ever had. Even if it weren't, she would consider it the high spot in her ca Othor I I 'way JOAN MERRILL HAZEL SCOTT H02d 12 Acts Denishawn dancers before enlisting with the Ibsen Players in New York. This was a semi-professional group and with It Helen worked out her apprenticeship in the classics. "My parents made me envious when they told of all the small stock companies there were in their day, where an actress could learn her business." relates Miss Beverley.

"But today that type of theater is practically gone except for Summer work. So I decided that since I couldn't afford to go to ft good dramatic school I would get experience with an ambitious group. Despite the name of the organiza fred Lunt is much older than my husband Lee, who is only 29. I like to imagine that some day we Pcrf. Tonight at 8:40 LOSE RAINER In J.

M. BarriVs KISS FOR CINDERELLA reer, since it places her on the stage opposite her husband in a role 2 Perfs-TODAY: 3 and 8:40 'Tnaui-fttionihly fUphirlsnn' brmt hrewdly biervrd ver? entertaining. GEORGE JEAN NATHAN "One the mailt rcwardhi vrni of the neaot. hf all mtani place It faith en yonr playfoln Waldorf, Post JA A ftimiott ftioNat UftB with ITT. 3.

COBB NirhnlaR Conte. Helen BTerley, Tom Tolly HUDSON, 44th et wiy. Turn Pmi, Evi. Incl. 1:40.

Matt.Bat.mil 5e she adores. RALPH FORBES ind Cltll BumphrtTH MUSIC BOX, 5 W. at ty Clnla 6-4636 Eyi 12.71 SI. 10. Matt.

Tliuri. ana Sal 10 First flat entertainment' Una. Titled Nurse of Barrie Play Broadway success. She is the wife of Lee J. Cobb.

And Mr. Cobb is playing the title role in the Raphaelson compdy, in which she plays his wife. She and Lee have been married for two years. There are two inspirations for Helen's now fulfilled ambition. One Is the example set, by her own parents, who acted toeether for many years.

The other example was set by Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, who, according to Helen, are the finest actors she has ever seen. "I have bppn going to the theater since I was old enough to Kit quietly in a seat." says she, "and I have seen everything Lunt and Fontann have played in the last ten ypars. It was my admiration for them that convinced me the man I married would have to be a distinguished actor. Of course, Al cerned. Strangest, perhaps, of the plays in the Stehli dossier was "Papavert," which found him playing the title role in two separate engagements.

Joe Zelli was the proprietor of this one, and he came to America with his pockets stuffed with francs collected from wandering expatriates at the Royal Box. Angel street YlnrmtPrira Judith Fifljn I.frtG will be as popular a team as they. I am sure Lee can follow in Mr. Lunt's footsteps and I am going to keep on working and studying like a demon, hoping I can become a little like Miss Fontanne." She is now in her early twenties. Few young women on the stage have been so intense in their pursuit of a theatrical career.

As a small child she would Imitate her mother and her mother's colleagues whom she watched from the wings of various theaters. In Boston, her native city, she' insisted on taking courses in the drama while attending her regulation school classes. To achieve grace and posture she studied for several seasons with Ruth St. Denis and the GOLDEN Taaa 45 81. CI.

6-6740. E. 40 TfifiAV MAT. at I. S5a ta 12.20 Mala.

WEO. ana 20. Mail araart no eni. I XJUn I TONIGHT at 1:40 Began With Federal Theater tion we played Shakespeare and Shaw as well as Ibsen. The association with these amateurs was not without profit, for when the great Nazimova decided to tour her production of "Ghosts" she chose Helen to play the role of "So funny nane at will fnrirt it," Atkinson, N.

Y. Tiw time, failed to move the staid Eng lish public. TTnnn her return here she re He poured these francs into "Papa- vert," and when the play was ARSENIC AND OLD LACE M. l.it I I i Jahn Alaxana'ar, Cliaian Sunopari. Edgar Stahli FULTON.

Watt 46h St. CI. D.63MI. En. 6 40 A ahamelraa arrourtt af a ahama-rs era." Wattn.

Hernia Tribune ROWLAND PROWN vmenti Johnny 2x4 LONGACRE st.W.al I 'way. CI.I-MM 3 MATS. M0N WED SAL "Jtirhlr entertaining a genuinely rewardlnt play Brown, WnWd-Tei, Junior miss LYCEUM at I'way. CM.4.42M EVGS. 6:40.

MATS. WED. ana RAT. at Ian JS0 SEATS" EVERY PERFORMANCE AT 11.11 mained on the Abbott payroll with unreciprocal disdain in Clifford Goldsmith's high school bv the press he withdrew it for re-charade "What a Life," in which yislon- t0 5Uffer another ava- Mali.w..4 40. Mall aroara arantatly tlllnd Regina, and critics whosaw her predicted a glowing future.

Patiently she waited for an opportunity to play on Broadway, which came when she got a small part in the Bfnno Schneider production of I PERF8. TODAY Mat. at 2:30. El. at lanene 01 oaa notices on tne oc- EDDIE CANTOR to When Sarah Burton, currently playing LuLse Ralner's titled nurse in J.

M. Barrie A Kiss for Cinderella" at the Music Box. first came to this country she got her first Job from Orson Welles in the Federal Theater. He was then producing for the Federal Theater in partnership with John Houseman. Welles had seen the recently arrived British actress in a semi-professional production at the McDowell Club with Whit-ford Kane.

The mercurial Welles Banjo eyes HOLLYWOOD P. way Slat. CI. 7-5545 BEST foot forward she enacted a pedagogue. Noel Coward's musical potpourri.

"Set To Music," brought her back to musical comedy work at the Music Box, where she now appears in "A Kiss for Cinderella." A busy actress, she defies the age-old stage tradition that it is heretic for a mummer to beertical before noonday. Comes 9 o'clock in the morn casion of its reopening. Through it all Stehli suffered stoically in the leading part; on each occasion he had the customary compensation of reading that his performance was far better than the play deserved. It was with something of a start that he picked up the papers on the morning after the opening of "Arsenic and Old Lace" and found witti aiv it. 41 nia I iietir.

mrtm mm and a doxrn atar of the future, including- "A arnndrrfutlr Joroua Bltnfr-al ahow." BrnokB Atkinnon, Timet VINTON FREgDLEY Musical Stniartos DANNY KAYE ET'S FACE IT! HERBERT unit DOROTHY FIELDS Eva Benny Mary iana Effith Vivian ARDEN BAKER WALSH MEIBER VANCE COLE PORTER SONGS IMPERIAL Than. 45 St, CO I -n Mati. WED. ana SAT. at 2:30, 11.10 ta 12 75 Miurton Cannon, fill stratten.

Jack iardia, Kflnmta Bflwcn, Nanay Walknr Vletnrla SehMli. June Allyion, Mutlral Hit Tttrrrtrd Oforef Abbott BA RRY MORE.47 St. W.af B'y. Cl.ft-tttfM. Ev.

Mil. Wrd. and at HI 10 to $2.1.5 liked her, and requested her to meet ing and Miss Burton can oe found bright and alert at CBS ready him at the Algonquin. The contract, which Miss Burton "Thi play In Noel Coward's finest. 1 heartily recommend 'Blithe Spirit' a entertainment for everyone.

TOnnr and old." io emote as Lady Diane Mayo in appended her John Hancock to "The Shiek," a soap opera version of the Rudolph Valentino silent pic IVm, tvon Phelpt forthwith, was for "Horse Eats John 0. Wilson pretenti I. "A PKRFECT COMEDV" Atklnann. Tlnna Life with father ilh HOWARD LINO8AY.O0R0THYSTICKNEV PMP1RE. R'wav and 4A Rt.

2 Snata at II. IS K'ga. 8:41 VtFn. and 2 PERFS. TODAY: 3 and 8l40 MY SISTER EILEEN THE HIOTOrR COMEDT hit Ctlttna Peaav Ltnnnrt Mild4 Hat," one of Welles first produc WEBB WOOD C0RBETT NATWtCK tions hereabouts.

After her stint ture. Another daytime serial in which she participates is "Against the Storm." that he had finally attached himself to a resounding hit. Such an eventuality had not occurred since he played Osric to John Barry-mores Hamlet many a moon before. For once he need not rely upon Burk Rogers, Superman or other allied etherized opera to support his Sussex retreat. After 15 years' famine he is in a hit again and able to play country squire in New Jersey such time as he is not aiding Boris Karloff in his sundry murders at the Pulton.

RLITHE SPIRIT vnrr. rnvuRO MORORCO, 45 Rt. W. of B'WT- CI. -2R0 Summertime finds her trouping the strawhat circuit.

She has ap for the Government-sponsored theater she went to work for the highly solvent Noel Coward one-act repertory known as 'Tonight at 8:30." In addition to playing in several of the one-acters, she had Evia. 8:40. Matlaaaa WED. AM at in TONIGHT (SUN.) ,3. REGULAR PRICES Banat It Stain Rallat Puna' BILTMORE Tha.

St.W.at way. CI S-KUI EXTRA MATINEE WEDNE8DAY, APRIL MAT. and EVG. SHOWS TODAY "BRIBHT, WITTY. Sim 0 WE SING peared frequently at such topnotch spots as Maplewood, N.

Dennis, and Stockbridge. concert w.at rr Ava. Cl.l-Sd.is 2 PERFS. TODAY. 3 and 8:40 "I am (till laughing" ROBERT BENCHLEy PAFE CROWN with Marrla CARN0V8KV and Sam JAFFE CORT.48th8t.E.atB.

BR.8-0O4S. Na Man. Part. Evi. Intl.

1:40. Mala. Taaay 1 55t-12 70 EVERY EVO-aaaapt MON. Mata. SAT, ana SUN.

EVENUIB PRICES MATS. 'Nathan the Wise' Opens At Belasco Friday TONIGHT (SUNDAY) at 8:30 Erwin i a will present Nathan the Wise," adapted by the strenuous task of understudying Miss Lawrence, who starred in all nine of the series. Miss Burton first encountered Noel Coward in the offices of the veteran London musical comedy producer, C. B. Cochran, who hired her as a dancer.

Fresh from London University, she began her footlight career at the Trocadero Club, where Cochran's revues were as opulent as his larger theater of Ten-Cent Matinee "A Kiss for Cinderella," starring Louise Rainer, at the Music Box Theater has placed tickets on sale for the next four weeks through April 18. The J. M. Barrie comedy will play a special 10-cent matinee Tuesday, March 31, for New York City school children. TONIGHT (SUNDAY) 8:40 "YOU'LL ENJOY IT" ToUker Guest in the house PLYMOUTH 49 St.

W. at 6-ll Ferdinand Bruckner from the 18th century classic by Gotthold Eph- "A grass and mounding vnanrfar aucteaa." Wottl, HeraM Tnbunt CHERYL CRAWFORD vretntt Gershwin" P0RGY AND BESS lOifTt TODD DUNCAN a ajnr HRnWN ALEXANDER SMAI.LENS, Conductor MAJESTIC Thaa. W. 44 St. CI.

I 0710. Evaa I SS Eva. 12.75-551. Mata. WEB, ana SAT.

S2.SS.Ua .4 En. ImI. 1:40. Mall. WED.

2:40 Bfflnning NEXT BunrlaT, April I Ferfn. aTerj 3 1MH. and ralm Lessing, at the Belasco Theater, beginning Friday, April 3, at 8:40 p.m. The production, as directed by James Light, will be transferred from the Studio Theater on 12th with the same cast. Herbert Berghof plays the VAUDEVILLE BROOKLYN 2 Perfs.

Today: 3 and 8:40 P.M ferings. Coward wrote material for several of the Cochran revues to which she graduated after serving MAT. AND EVG. RHOWR TODAY OI.8EN and JOHNSON la Sons o- fun with Carmrn MIRANDA Ella LOT, AN WINTER GARDEN. aa tilth St.

"A GREAT SHOW." Htrald Trtbunl 50c. $1 and $1-50 Mi'mmira iNO YEAR -2ND EDITION 3 Nnw Thrilling Ita 2ND MILLION her novitiate in "Merry Go Round IT HAPPENS ON ICE Open THES. April 7 TODAY THBU WED. ttoUiaaood) Fworito Cnvdiaa Miss Burton took out citizenship papers before she began work for the Federal Theater and is now an nun na noi (Wire ar hy Mall SERLIS vrttml, Jonn Meinbeck Rfnuatlonal Mimical Icetravaeanr.a CENTER Thaatra, Rarkatallar Cantar. CO 5-5474 Eva.

ainat Man. Mati. Taaay. Wail, and Sat 501 Saatt ler Every 50. EVGS.

AT 1:40 a easter MATS DAILY "AT- 9 SEASON WAII Aarll 4 ta 12 American citizen. George Abbott JHE MOON IS DOWN 'MOU5IE' sent her back to her native city title role, and others in support are Olive Peering. Alfred Ryder, Bet-Una Cerf, Bram Nossen, Gregory Morton, Ross Matthew, Liebert Wallerstein and Darren Dublyn. Setting are by Cleon Throckmorton. "Nathan the Wise" will perform every evening except Monday and give matinees on Saturdays and Sundays.

The price scale will be $2.20 top for evening performances and $1.85 top for matinees. several seasons ago in his rowdy PQLZLL ai (a.l farce "Room Service" as the in 'th KRUCER MORGAN Directed hy rRERTER FRKKIN Prtxlilclltnt rtMlKHM bv HOK ART) BAT MARTIN BECK 48 Rt a BUY V. 8. DEFENSE BONDS AND SAVINGS STAMPS ml Prliaa attar Oaaalna Entire Orah. it' Men.

12 75: Bala. 12 28. II av II la ri genue lead. The frenzied antics of the ahoestring producer, trying to promote a production and his back hotel bill at one and the same Orah. 1275: Man.

12 11.15,' II. It JUDITH EVELYN, one of this season's discoveries, giving one of the season's best performances in "Angel Street," the thriller at the Golden Theater, laiapnanai birata l-SWI.