New Play in Manhattan

Whistler's Grandmother (by Robert Finch) is almost as bad as its title. A young saloonkeeper, whose singer fiancee craves a wholesome family background, hires a lovable old rip to pretend to be his grandmother. She soon turns the backroom--and the boys in it--into a God-Bless-Our-Home Victorian parlor and makes every one so happy that, when the truth comes out, they all vote to go on living a lie.

To all this, Playwright Finch brings no jot of extenuating talent. His play is as harmless, soporific and old-fashioned as a child's soothing syrup. Its big asset is that grandma is played by that favorite of You Can't Take It With You, Arsenic and Old Lace and Harvey, Josephine Hull. But seldom has so winning an actress engaged in so losing a fight.

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