Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-22
NOvELLO- Little Jheater
columns were inquisitive
not long ago concerning what
subjects the drama would shed
l. its light upon, this season. Poll

NA~A@S~ SS@Ss1AA@~S
not long ago concerning what
subjects the drama would shed
its light upon this season. Poll
tics, sport, disarmament, gin,
finance, sex, the nineteenth amend
ment, peace and other themes were
suggested as ripe for clarification. with
the belief that one or all Of them would
be chosen. The stage, however. is the
art of surprises, and instead Of doing
as we expected it to do, 1t takes our
breaths away by turning what is known
as its attention to murder mysteries
and their probing.
Statisticians of the theater tell me
that IL new plays illustrate the prog.
ress of homicide and the difficulty OF
detecting its perpetrators. Almost every
Broadway platform is consecrated to
death by violence, until 1t seems that
the drama is an inquest, rather than
an art. An ingenue is slain In Mr..
Cohan's Gambling" a British army
officer in Soldiers and Women" The
bleeding carcass of an elderly spiritual
ist confronts us in Remote Control"
and in Miss Elsie Ferguson's Scarlet
Pages" a pure New York girl sheds the
blood of her foster-father. Mr. Tyler's
"Houseparty" pictures some gay mis-
haps in the career of boyish college
man, and Mr.. Woods Murder on the
Second Floor" deals, though trivially,
with hroat-cutting in a Bloomsbury
boarding house philadelphia" and
Hawk island" they say, are stepped in
assassination, reeking with blood and
retribution.
MIR. WOODS, the importer and pro-
Queer Of Murder on the Second
Floor" is notorious for his patience
with the dramatic critics. No matter
how i'll they Great his enterprises he
grins and bears them. From the
dramatic reviewers rosebed he only
asks a thorn, and when he gets it he
is grateful. Forbearance Is among the
most prominent of his virtues, the
GROWING quality Of Broadway show
mans great heart. Other managers,
resentful of the errors Of the press, re-
move their advertisements and Danish
the offending scribblers from their
theaters. Why, they ask with unan-
swerable logic, should you criticize our
But Mr.. Woods seldom, If ever. nurses
a wrong. He was e. little miffed at me
last week for not understanding Scarlet
Pages" However, after had expressed
my enjoyment Of his Murder on the
Second Floor" he renewed the amic-
able TelaClONS. so now we are JuSb 90
arm-in-arm as manager and critic
ever were, my impudences forgiven, In
sincerities forgot.
It seems that the pleasure took
from Mr.. Woods Murder on the Sec
ond Floor" was illegitimate. thought
it a jovial prank, literate and an
ingenious frolic in melodrama, 1mpish
In routine way and more than usually
amusing and well acted Nevertheless.
Mr.. Mantle denounced 1t as below par. :"
and Mr.. Anderson wrote that it left
something to be desired" Mr.. Atkinson
| said Of It that 1t was mot worth the
| labors Of importation" and Charles
Darnton described 1t as "drab and
dull" Walter Winchell frowned upon
It as "frail, tedious and unexciting."
John Mason Brown declared 1t strange
" wasteful and inept," and Mr.. Lock-
ridge darned 1t by saying that it was
mildly enjoyable"
It bored and irritated" Mr.. Littell
and to Mr. Seldes 1t was but "One Key
to Baldpate." OF it Mr.. Bolton wrote
| that "tfere isn't an ounce Of real worth
in It," Mr.. Garland In priceless COM
parison, preferred its "subdued tasti-
ness" to the incest and degeneracy"
of Scarlet Pages" and Mr.. Gabriel
laughingly pooh-poohed it was ..'hokum
! invincible."
with this preponderance Of testimony
! against Murder on the Second Floor, "