New Britain herald., 1928-01-27
Iheater Reviews of
 Current OGerinxs
WILLIAM HODoD
 -ia- s111AI0Hf THRU THE DooA" by N1. HODGE
CAST OF CHARACTERS

CAST OF CHARACIERS
 Meyera the painter .. Jack C. Connolly Buehner. the plumber .... John OAsara Anna Ashland. the interior decorator |.
 ................... Prancesca Hill Artanio. the stone unasca .........,.
 ..................... William DeRosa Roy SaunderG the boy friend ......
 Robert Beyers Amy Thomas. tho elder daughter ..,-
 betty Eyrne Eugene Thomas. Jr,. the son
 ...................... Paul Jacchia Wowser. the contractor .... Emil liocn Mrs Harriet Thomas the wife ....,
 ...........-... Carol Perrin Abby Thomss tho younger daughter
 ................--.... Carol Marcn Eugene Thomas. the father ........
 ........-... William HodEe John Wttherspoon. the architect ...,
 .......... Edward Cooper Martin Rollins. the detective
 ..................... William Cullen John Finney. the policeman ......
 ........... Joseph E. soraghan Frederick Ottman. tho theatrical Mgr.
 Maurice Barrett Rock. the dog .-.......... by Hinlse,t
 (By Herald Rev,ewer)
 It is possible to produce . nlys- tery play without resorting to com- monplace tricks to make the audi ence's hair stand up on end. Will liam Hodge proved it at Parsons theater last evening with his newest work Straight Thru the Door" in which. of course. he has the lead ing male role He also demonstrat. ed that in 8 mystery play, the grew ~1 sr fial t,l can be replaced with clean comedy that has a. value far in excess of the horror that has been injected forcihly into so many mystery stor- ies during the past years.
 Straight Thru the Door" is marked by the staying of a building contractor in the home of an actor while the latter, with his family. Is at homo for he summer. The de- tectivs who IS sent to track down the killer establishes. to his own satisfaction. a case against the ac- tor. But the man of the stage quietly turns 'gumshoe," exposes the idiocy of the detective and, by his own method of deduction. brings the real murderer to book.
 The plot has it's weaknesses. IL is not strongly plausible. A man of the slayer's type would hardly take the life of human being on such a trivial excuse ss that conceived by the author. It would be a better play if the murderer had stronger motive.
 Mr, Hodge, as the actor enjoying 9. respite from the stage, gives 8 nat ural and polished interpretation of his role. He is the same dry ana droll Hodge of the past whose effort less perfection reflects mastery of his vocation, an enthusiastic audi ence prevailed upon him to make 8 speech after the second act
 Francesca Hill puts just enough fire into her acting as she passes from the mood of the woman deter- mined to get her man-even if th> man is someone else's man--to the woman equally determined to save him from the electric chair regard less of.tho cost, Her work was en- loved timmenseiv William Cullen paints a, good picture of 3 brow beating detective not too generously gifted with brains. Carol Perrin and Edward Cooper, playing oppo- site each other. are sufficiently ln- teresting. Roy Saunders, Paul Jac. chis. Betty Byrne and Carol March make excellent juvenile types. AS the painter. the carpenter and the plumber, Jack c. Connolly, Al bolt Adams and John OMeara run true to tradition. If an instrument were, invented to measure bodily acceler- alton. as thermometer registers at- mospheric temperature. they would be found at about 30 below zero.
 Straight Thru the Door" will ts repeated tonight and tomorrow night. There will be the usual Sat- yIrday matinee