New Plays in Manhattan

To See Ourselves (by E. M. Delafield; J. H. del Bondio & Joshua Logan, producers). Joshua Logan, a corpulent young man with more brains than money, first smelled greasepaint as a comedian with the Princeton Triangle Club a few years ago. Since then he has been doing bit parts and managerial work on Broadway. To See Ourselves is the first show he has produced and directed. It is also the U. S. theatrical premiere of Author E. M. Delafield (Elizabeth M. Dashwood), a capable, Grade B English literary lady (Diary of a Provincial Lady, The Provincial Lady in America), Both debuts scored tranquil, unostentatious successes.

Miss Delafield's homely comedy of quiet laughter and gentle tears chiefly concerns Caroline Allerton (Patricia Collinge), a dowdy little matron on whom is just dawning the appalling realization that life has no more excitement in store for her. Her children are at school, her husband is concerned only with his paper business and the most momentous event of her day is the decision as to whether she will order turbot or sole from the fish man. An almost accidental kiss from her sister's fiance makes her marriage suddenly seem so woefully unromantic that Caroline goes into hysterics. The final curtain does not indicate that the Allertons' domestic problems have been solved but Caroline has learned the lesson of acceptance.

Playwright Delafield comes close to Chekovian penetration in the scene in which the wife, verging on collapse, daubs her face with cold cream while pouring out her anguish to a husband whose attention is distracted by a bumbling search for toothpaste. Miss Delafield also occasionally gets off such lines as: "Every Englishman is an average Englishman." The husband, ringing for the harried servant in spite of the wife's wishes, observes with exquisite Edwardian pomposity: "What's the use of keeping a dog if you do your own barking?"

Something Gay (by Adelaide Heilbron; Shuberts, producers) is something, but not gay. It tells the tale of a wife who sets out to reform an erring husband by the time-honored method of flirting with another man, finds the other man more attractive than the husband, runs away with him. And it represents Tallulah Bankhead's third time at bat this season (previous plays: Dark Victory, Rain). While Something Gay affords Miss Bankhead ample opportunity to cuss and cuddle, its dialog is so low-pressure, its scheme so trivial that critics sorrowfully had to credit her with another strikeout. Actress Bankhead is evidently having as much difficulty finding a proper vehicle for her lush talents as her Congressional father and uncle are having trying to grope their legislative way out of the cotton crisis (see p. 15).

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.