In London

Plays New and Old -The Halls -The Pit

The London theatre, on the other hand, presents an easier problem to the wandering American. While Oh quel Nu! if transplanted to London might well be rechristened by the censor What a Fully Dressed Person!, the language at least presents fewer difficulties than French to the tourist.

There are several plays well known to the American theatregoer now running in London. Pauline Lord and Anna Christie are at the Strand. E. U. R. and its robots persist at the St. Martin's. The British edition of the Music Box Revue at the Palace, So This Is London! at the Prince of Wales, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, Partners Again, Secrets, a New Yorker could almost spend every night of a week in London seeing plays he had already seen in America, Though why he should is, of course, quite another matter. And then there is From Dover Street to Dixie at the; Pavilion, a new revue, featuring in its second section Florence Mills and members of the colored company that, used to be at the Plantation Cabaret.

The Merry Widow -the deathless -has been revived again. A new historical drama by John Drinkwater. Oliver Cromwell, has been put on at, His Majesty's, concerning which opinions differ, except as to the admittedly great histronic merits of the cast. Also we hear that a drama called, The Outsider offers an original melodramatic idea in a crude but powerful way.

And then there are always the 'Alls -the Music 'Alls where one can; study the difference between the English and American brands of humor for hours without ever reaching any conclusion whatsoever.

There is also that great British theatrical institution, the pit. You stand in line at the door for a length of time in a length of queue depending upon the success of the play -then the whistle Wows and you all crowd in and try to grab the nearest available seat to the barrier that cages the pit-devotees away from the swells in the stalls. Thus, if you don't get your eye gouged out in the rush, you obtain what would be in I New York a $2.75 orchestra seat for a good deal less. The pit need present no complexity if you are in fit form to fight.

Anyhow, you will want to see Anna Christie, no matter how many times you've seen it before.