New Plays

The Man from Toronto. Ten

years ago England chuckled happily at this comedy and about eight years ago Manhattan rejected it. In the latter case it was played by the late Henry Miller under the title of Perkins. It has this season been revived in London and the revival was a signal for a second American experiment. Again the play fails to fit the cranky native fancy.

The traditional North American invades England with his five gallon hat and blundering manners. He has arrived to marry an English widow whom he has never seen. Through the vagaries of an old man's will this marriage will net them jointly $3,750,000. The widow objects to being married for money, disguises herself as her own parlor maid and wins the rude invader by her wit and charm.

That is to say that wit and charm were the playwright's intent. Actually, he did not charge his manuscript with an overabundance of either. The performances of Beatrice Hendricks and Curtis Cooksey were fairly helpful.

Prunella. Students of the Theatre Guild School revived this fantasy by Laurence Housman and Harley Granville-Barker for three special matinees. Winthrop Ames officiated as guest director. The story is that of Pierrot and Pierette. One young lady, Sylvia Sidney, gave brilliant promise. The matinees attracted sufficient attention to be extended to six.

Scandals. To the cosmic certainties of death and taxes the citizen of Manhattan has come to regard George White's Scandals as a fixed addition. For eight summers now Mr. White has flung his frivolity upon the town. Most of these eight have rippled with beauty and amusement. This latest sample is the sovereign of the series. It is regarded by many as one of the best revues ever unveiled.

Unveiled is used advisedly. Five years ago this entertainment would have been called cruelly iniquitous. Intimate visions of anatomy and ribaldry of wit are often apparent. Yet the display is a study in hygiene in comparison to a variety of Broadway shows. Mr. White had so much entertainment that he could apply temptation as a background. Other producers prefer to focus on it, and play it as their highest card.

The high cards in this year's Scandals are numerous. There is Ann Pennington, whose knees are impudence itself; Harry Richman, night club interlocutor; Eugene and Willie Howard, Jewish comedians; Buster West, comic; McCarthy Sisters and Fairbanks Twins, who dance, sing; Tom Patricola, frantic dancer; Frances Williams, whose Charleston is notable; and Fowler and Tamara, brilliant ballroom artists.

Such a cast has seldom been assembled back of a single stage. They have been supplied with excellent music, a joyous slapstick, a succession of amazingly beautiful sets and costumes. George White asked $55 a seat for the first nine rows. No one demanded money back. The Grand Street Follies. The Neighborhood Playhouse buried in the slums emerges with its annual summer satire. This is the secluded organization that this season astonished and stirred the population with The Dybbuk. From this solemn business they have turned to trifles spun of song and dance.

Inasmuch as earlier Grand Street Follies have been among the bravest, brightest intimate revues of metropolitan summers it is with some reluctance that one must describe this edition as often inefficient. It is almost entirely satire and burlesque, and very little of this excruciating. Dorothy Sands was the best performer. The loudest laughter of the evening greeted Mrs. Feitelbaum, Jewish matron of the lower middle classes whom Milt Gross has these last twelve months so widely popularized in his dialect

"Dumbwaiter" series. She was liberally played by Mae Noble. Most of the scenes were set at the North Pole, with parodies on the Florida land boom, Manhattan night clubs, several theatrical successes of the season, crime waves. These were all good ideas,