New Play in Manhattan

That Lady (by Kate O'Brien; produced by Katharine Cornell) is ornate claptrap laid in 16th Century Spain and starring Katharine Cornell. The lady in question is Ana de Mendoza y de Gomez, a widowed princess who wore a patch over one eye, and her heart, to her undoing, on her sleeve. Cruel, capricious Philip II was Ana's devoted friend until she became his Secretary of State's enraptured mistress; thereafter the King, out of pique and jealousy, hounded the lovers implacably. The Secretary (Torin Thatcher) escaped at last to Aragon; Ana was kept a prisoner for life in her walled-up palace in Madrid.

Through ten scenes compounded about equally of history and Hollywood, Playwright O'Brien chronicles all Ana's ecstasies and woes. Rich in period costumes, and richer in theatrical cliches,' That Lady accelerates now & then from the speed of a glacier to that of glue. It is enacted, moreover, in whaleboned prose: characters address one another as "dear friend." and favor such pronunciations as "princess."

No doubt Actress Cornell was sufficiently charmed by the part to shut her eye to the play. Ana allows her a fine actressy evening in black velvet and white brocade; she suffers, poor woman, almost as much as the audience. The other players have not so much roles as rigmaroles, which cannot be acted, but only hammed. Henry Daniell hams best, as the King.

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