Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-28

nervous state on Monday eve
~ ming because he feared there
would be public objection to
Mr.. Hemingways guileless prose. Mr..
Woods, the producer, had urged him to
erase some of the holder words and had
tried to frighten him with pictures of
patrol wagons and prisoners docks. The
only courtroom scenes that Mr.. Woods
cares for are those he stages himself in
dramas by Samuel Shipman and Bayard
Veillier. Mr.. Stallings, though aware
of trouble, from his own experiences
with What Price Glory" refused to
amputate the brutal language, on the
as loyalty to Mr.. Hemingway demanded
its retention.
He was right, as authors always are in
controversies with other men, and he is
to be commended for his gallant stand
against the vandals. The speech of
Farewell to Arms" is often impolite,
causing the sheltered ones, If any, to
shiver with embarrassment But it is
essential to such q stark work as Mr..
Hemingway's; and to deprive the
stronger minds of its aid would be a
miSdemeanor. Bad words and bad deeds
by dirty clowns In musical revues ought
to be illegal, even IL they are not but
In Farewell to Arms" they are legiti-
mate. In all the plays frank phrase
ology there isn't an obscene or a
lasc1vious syllable 1t is not deliberately
designed to evoke cheap filters, and
those who are qualified to hear it intel
ligently will not be demoralized. The
bashful had better stay away.
Mr.. Woods, that timid man, was eSpe-
cially worried about the scene in which
the young American, wounded while
serving with the Italian army, comes to
grips with o snooty American head
nurse. You may recall, II you know
your Hemingway, that the battered fell
low, tired of the nurses petty persecu-
tons, blasted her with an impudent In
quiry which contained a secret noun.
II Mr.. StallingS had hearkened to Mr..
Woods omens he would have banished
that indignant question from the manu-
script and left the play bereaved of one
OF its most eloquent moments. Mr.. Glen
Anders, the actor, would have lost q
high spot in his frequently mediocre
impersonation and the hearts of the
Hemingway following would have broken
with chagrin.
A FORTNIGHT ago I met Mr. STALL
"A ings in the smoking room of
Long Island railroad car, and he talked
to me and Grantland Rice of the ease
with which Farewell to Arms" had sue
cumbed to dramatization. Here and
there, he said, he had to compress the
book and At 1t into the limited in
terstices Of the stage. But, he added,
the tale was SO truthful that even the
snide devices of the theater could not
destroy its fidelity to life. The dialogue
was so perfect, said he, that he had had
to write but q sentence or two of his
own. do you think" he asked Mr..
Rice, that Hemingway's candid lines
win affront the audiences and the ALL
thorities, and be offensive on the stage
where they were agreeable In the IL
brary?" Mr.. Rice, q sane observer and
oracle, assured him that they would not.
Mr.. StallingS' stage arrangement Of
Farewell to Arms" is q feat of adapta-
ton, considering how difficult It was to
amend the book to the processes Of
the drama. 1t is not q good play, but
1t is q good adaptation, and Mr.. STALL
ings has wrought miracles, where mir
Acles were needed. The scene in which
the shot American is miniStered to by
his italian comrades would cause Mr..
Hemingway to retreat to his home in
Piggott, Ark, 50 foot light Is its exhi-
bition of the horrors Of first aid. And
when they laboriously fetch the heros
dying sweetheart from the wings onto
the stage, in order that she may expire
in front of the spectators, you feel,
despite the me acting Of Miss ELISA