Amateur Nights

In Manhattan's Waldorf Theatre all last week, every night was amateur night. Occasion: the eighth annual Little Theatre Tournament, held under the aegis of Producer David Belasco. After 20 one-act presentations had been performed by amateurs from Manhattan, Brooklyn, Chicago, St. Louis, Albany, Providence, Buffalo, Starkville (Miss.) and Goldsboro (N. C), the following survived for the final round:

Anatole France's The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife, presented by the Studio Theatre Players of Buffalo, had to do with a husband whose wife's affliction saddened him until she was restored to speech. Then she talked so much that he was glad when he became deaf.

Marshal, by Ferenc Molnar, presented by the Paravent Players of Providence, was concerned with an aged nobleman, his philandering wife and her affinity, an actor. Shot, the actor is too proud to give the outraged husband the satisfaction of knowing it.

Maxine Block's Eyes (Morse Players of St. Louis) and Maxine Finsterwald's Seven Against One (Association Players Stock Company, Manhattan) were the plays singled out for the two Samuel French (play publisher) $200 prizes awarded to the best unpublished dramas. In Eyes an old paralytic stared on while her grandchildren sank into corruption, but rose and walked when a ruffian tried to seduce her granddaughter in her presence. Seven Against One, played on a double stage, showed a group of patriotic priests praying for the death of a dictator who had jailed them. On the other side, the politician acutely suffered from the effects of prayer. For her play, The Severed Cord, Miss Finsterwald won a similar prize last year (TIME, May 20, 1929).

Winners of the highest award, the David Belasco Trophy: the Studio Theatre Players of Buffalo, a three-year-old group which entered the tournament this year for the first time.

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