New Britain herald., 1925-01-20
AT YOUR LIBRARY

read fairy stories you used to plan what your wishes would be if q fairy godmoihcr should just happen to come that way or course, at first it was funny childish things you wanted like all the whipped cream you could eat and hill to slide on that would tip up tho other way and let you slide back. And then you wanted to be good.loolSlng and popu- lar and athletic, And now-well, this is getting a little personal! Any way don't you have just that feeling when you look al the theatrical page of New York paper? It would be such fun to be able to see every play with just the right touch of the casual and bored in your manner.
 But did you ever realize how close you can come to just that thrill by reading plays? Of course you don't sec tho crowds and hear the or- chestra but you alsb don't miss tive hours of beaety sloep and most merciful of al you can loaFs when you're bored! .....
 If you want to discover how many plays you have been aching to read, start Essays on Modern Dramatists by William Lyon Phelps You won't get ,ery far in it unless ycu are too incapacftated to start straight out for the plays he is talk ing about. He writes about Barrie and Shaw and Galsworthy and Fitch and Mae.arlinck and Rostand until one feels that the summum bonum in life would be to read everything they eve: wrote!
 Of course you won't do 1t but you may firmly resolve to read some plays anyway. In which case let us suggest that you begin with a col lection like shay's Contemporary One Act Plays 1921 (American). These are light, and amusing sea- soned with bits of real pathos and are all short. Similar collections are Ten Minute Plays by Pierre Low ing and Contemporary One Act Plays by Lewis, also One Act Plays by Cohen.
 Fifty Contemporary One Act Plays by shSy and Loving and Representa- tive One Act Plays of Continental Authors by Moses will give you an idea of the kind of thing foreign dramatists are doing without being quite as hard reading as some Of their longer and more intense dramas.
 If you want to know what the very best in drama has been since the days of Greek tragedy do Chief European Dramatists by Matthews from cover to cover. It contains 21 plays, all of them ones you should known and have probably been dodg- ing all your life because you don't know how much you will like them! Then read Longer Plays by Cohen and Chief Contemporary Dramatists by Dickinson. The latter contains some rather grim and realistic Rus sian things which you will like tre- mendously or dislike violently &C., cording to temperament.
 Dukes Modern Dramatists gives brief essays on the chief dramatists of each country so you will know a little better where to begin on in-
 dividual plays. We should like to tell you ourselves but if we started to talk about the haunting Celtic beauty of Synge or the fanciful genius of Barrie or Shaw's im- menselN stimulating fashion of smashing illusions Or Drinkwater or Galsworthy, we never should be done.
 So, since we know you are be- ginning to suspect us of being high brow, we'll tell you we have such nice books on the movies. There's one on Screen Acting; Its Require ments and it's Rewards which is written by committee of prom inent movie stars. Then there is With the Movie Makers by Amid which tells you how they do the stage sets and manage their makeup and put on the hair raising stunts with so small a casualty list. Film Folk by Wagner also gives you slangy, amusing glimpses behind the screen. Animated Cartoons by Lutz tells how those fascinating creations originated and how they are made. Scenario Writing Today by 1.ytton will give you 8 few pointers If you're planning to make your mil lions that way.
 Did you ever wonder what makes play or a movie go? Or course the acting and the stage managing have an enormous amount 10 do with that. One has only to read David Belascos Theater Through the Stage Door to realize that. He gives a fascinating record of the trials, sue cesses, and unexpected finds Of manager and the wiles he has to use 10 put performance oNrr' Frohman tells o! similar experiences in his Memoirs of a Manager
 The actors viewpoint is delight fully expressed in Southern's Melan- choly Tale of Me" and in Berton's Real Sarah Rernhardt. Joseph Jeff ferson also has a charming autobl- ography.
 But of course ultimately it comes back to the playwright. PIatt in his Practical Hints on Playwriting gives brief non technical discussion especially good on details of con- struction and stage business. Bakers Dramatic Technique is a stimulating analysis of the very essence Of drama and the way construction characterization and dialogue can make q play profoundly stirring.
 The old fashioned Easter and Christmas concert" which was such an event in Sunday schools is now being very largely replaced by pageants and simple drama. Cos