Evening star., 1929-11-04
BELASCO
On Sunday evening.

souls JnaG curing Jn'
Passions ot day have been attunec
Jealousy" to the infinite are no
apt to seek offerings such as Pas
sions of Jealousy" which opened at the
Shubert- -Belasco Theater for the week
as a means of diversion. True 1t comes
from tho French of Louis Verneuil but
Eugene Walter. creator of THE Easiest
Way" who adapted it. and the box Of
flee instinct of A. H. Woods the pro-
ducer, had hand in its final prepara-
tion. Guthrie McClintic staged the
whole.
1t must be admitted that the COM
bined forces have produced tense
drama all the more remarkable because
1t is presented by but two people-and
what a pair they are! Fay BANTER,
who needs no introduction to Washing
ton, finds in this sordid story Of man
and a woman who first appear on their
wedding night. after a questionable re-
lationship that preceded the marriage,
q veritable rocket to carry her to the
moon of high dramatic triumph.
Her new-made husband Immediately
begins to- unfold his jealousy OF her
guardian as we'll as of another with
whom she has probably had question
able transactions, but not unknown 10
Aer husband. A missing photograph. OF
ti1e latter and a costly emerald ring
VanlSneQ IIOm IleI IllSSI WIlHIl SlIC loo
told her husband was the sole gift OF
her father to her dead mother, but
which eventually proves to be gilt
from her guardian to celebrate her
establishment in business, into which
she has gone to furnish the means to
enable her husband to rise to the artistic
heights she thinks he will attain, If left
unhampered, are among the reasons Tor
the husbands Jealousy, which manifests
a
play progresses, until the climax when
it appears that. maddened by torturing
thoughts and suspicious he finds his
way into the guardians apartment,
strangles him and gets away without
detection. The arrest OF another man
for the murder Stings him into con-
fession ever the telephone to the police,
and when they take him away the
crushed and semi-delirious wife, totter-
ing amid the ruins OF her mucn-nopea-
for happiness, is promising that In his
trial she will tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth, that he may be
enabled to come back to her.
In high artistry Miss Banter runs the
whole gamut of the emotions with in
comparable discretion and skill. Her
work alone compensates for the sordid-
ness of the story, the painful frankness
of the dialogue at times, that suggests
deficiency that might be suggested in
the entertainment. She is accorded f1ne
support in her exacting and trying
ordeal by Melvyn Douglas, whose per-
fornance might be improved, perhaps,
with less strenuousnesS in the earlier
stages of the story. Be that as 1t may,
however, the pair fairly held the audi
ence spellbound from the rising OF the
first curtain until the close OF the play.
RRyt. 70 iT1HfIPnd
the character of the story, there is no
question that the performance as
dramatic success is thoroughly estab-
hshed.
word as to the antecedents of the
NAV NAV not be amisS. 1t is based
upon the same material that entered
into the photoplay, Jealousy" which
washington has already seen, with the
late Jeanne Eagels as the wife. But
there all comparison ends, Tor the Be
lasco offering is a fair challenge OF the
speaking stage to drama presentation
in the talking product of the screen, in
finitely superior in everything save It's
appeal to the eye, for in the play 1t Is
the mind and the heart and not the
optic equipment of the audience that Is
taxed from beginning to end. w. H. l..
Il r
D0T TIC Dominated by those antic
AOL1 y and irresistible clowns,
Animal the Marx Brothers, and
Crackers" having as supporting fea-
lures an excellent group OF musical
comedy principals. supple and comely
chorus and number of tuneful songs,
San Harris production Of Animal
Crackers" opened at Polls last evening.
The audience, filling every chair.
chuckled and rocked and gpffawed itself
into complete sympathy, as amused
collection of entertainment-seekers as
the season has brought out thus Tar.
Honors, quite naturally, went to
Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo, but
the routine of the chorus and the Mar
kert-Peterson dancers, the costumes, the
settings and the songs all contributed in
gocd measure.
with such testers as Clark and Nc
Cullough and Jimmie Durante, the Marx
Brothers share an idiom of absolute
madness. an extravaganza of persthage
without rhyme or reason, but they yield
priority of foolishness totnone. Taking
the most illogical discourse imaginable,
even the lowly pun, Grcucho weaves it
into a pattern of farce which, blended
with witty delivery, makes it supreme
idiocy. Rapid, merciless, inspired as
seems his banter. it is not a thing Of
automatic flow. Witness his occasional
ad libbing last night, moments when
he stepped out of character and in
vented his eXaggerations as he went
along; you could see then how the
man worked, feeling out his audience
with the shrewd sensitiveness CT an ac-