New Britain herald., 1930-10-24
Reviews of Current
 Theater Offerings
LEE SHUBERT
 Presents BIRD IN HAND" By John Drinkwater

BIRD IN HAND"
 | By John Drinkwater
 l The Cast
 1 Joan Greenleaf ......... Jean Fullarton l Alice Greenleaf. her mother. Olga Slade Thomas Greenleaf. her father ........ ..................... Walter Edwin | Gerald ArnWood .......... Ronald Dare Mr. Blanquet .......... Eliot Makehan Cyril Beverly .......... John Warburton Ambrose Godolphin. K. G.. Frank Petley Sir Robert Arnwood. Gerald's father | ...,........,. .,.....'..... Arthur Ridley Barmaid ................. Gwen Lowrey (By Herald Reviewer) With a cast 'as British as the flag" Bird in Hand" John Drink | waters three-act comedy Of rural English life, delighted a large au- dience in Parsons theater in Hart ford last night. Not only is the play
 in itself riotous but the actors are
 unusually we'll cast. The audience could feel that MT. Banquet travel led in sardines" even before he in- formed the Greenleafs of his occu- patton.
 Absence of a single "by love" and
 a glaring lack of monocles showed tEat the play was true to life and not an overseas conception of the British cousin. No one even said 'Cheerio" although the angry father
 did become square -jawed" and his
 daughter had ripping" time and
 the K. C. hoped to meet Joan again, well, rather!"
 The curtain rises on the dining
 room of an English inn with the landlord, Thomas Greenleaf, at din- ner with his family. Joan, his daughter, is being told that she may not attend a class in ballet dancing
 even although it is conducted by the wife of a clergyman. Her being a
 parsons wife doesn't make dancing
 with no skirts righteous he says
 and then turns to the subject of Gerald, son of Sir Robert ArnWood, who has taken Joan for an automo-
 bile ride or two. The girl is told that Gerald is above her station and
 that although many things have changed, class still existed and no good could come of her going out with young man not of her class.
 He tells the girl that Gerald isn't thinking of marrying her and the
 girl agrees. telling her father that
 they have merely been riding to- gether.
 Gerald chooses this inopportune
 moment to call for Joan and for the first time appears without his chauffeur. The father forbids the
 young man to take Joan to a neigh
 boring village but Joan insists tha. the engagement be kept. After their departure Greenleaf berates
 the times and the manners and
 planes the labor government for the
 outlook the younger generation has
 on life.
 MT. Banquet then arrives for the nightIand joins the family circle. A meeker man never lived and he fails to share the indignation of Green leaf concerning the waywardness of
 modern girls. Cyril Beverly. an-
 other guest. arrives and adds to the
 landlords ill-temper by proclaiming that he is a laborite. Cyril, young. handsome and wealthy, makes free
 with everyone until the arrival of Ambrose Godolphin, K. C., who is compelled to share his room. Their
 evening together is one of the high spots of the play with Beverly ir-
 repressibly bursting out with com-
 ments and Godolphin making vain attempts to preserve his dignity.
 Rain has delayed loans return and
 her father sets out after her. When
 he arrives home with her a scene
 fellows and Godolphin acts as
 mediator.
 Little progress is made. however,
 the old landlord remaining cbdur-
 ate. Tor 300 years the Greenleafs and the Arnwoods have lived on this land, each in their respective place"
 is his final answer to all arguments.
 Sir Robert. approving of the
 match, succeeds where others fail