The Washington times., 1931-03-23
ELMER RICE'S
PRIZE PLAY
OPENS
BY ANDREW R. KELLEY

OI11y rarely uOGS GLlG SLdS6 Cap
ture such a throbbing segment
of naturalistic drama as Elmer
Rice has set down in his excit-
ing saga of the New York tene-
mentS, street Scene" which af-
ter long delay unfolded its trag-
edy and thrills at the Belasco
Theater last night.
With almost Photographic &C
curacy the playwright has con-
ceived a motley collection of types
such as dwell in the cheap apart
ments of the teeming metropolis.
You can recognize many as they
drape themselves on the front
stoop of a hot summer night in
June to gossip in dialogue so
graphically genuine as to hold an
audience deeply interested for
three absorbing acts.
Tells Dramatic Tale
"Street Scene" tells with con
siderable dramatic force the
tragic story of the Maurrant
family. Frank Maurrant is a
somewhat cynical and cruel stage
hand who fails completely to
understand the problems within
his home. His wife, yearning
for some happiness and spark of
romance, yields to an affair with
the apartment milkman. His
daughter Rose, an impresSionable
young girl eager for love and
congenial companionship, seems
destined to become a lily of the
tenements. Eventually Maurrant
discovers his wife's infidelity and
in a moment of drunken rage
kills her and the lover. He is
captured and the porch gossips
have juicy new tidbit for their
nightly small talk exchanges.
Such is the story.
Picturesque People
Playwright Rice has dressed up
this elemental theme with pictur-
esque and straightforward char
acterizations which have the
sweaty odors of the crowded
pavements. There is the gossipy
Mrs. Jones, the young married
Buchanans who go through all
the terrible worries Of their first
baby, the ranting Socialist, Kap-
Ian, and his intelligentia Jewish
son and daughter, the Italian
musician, Feorentino, n d his
plump wife, Ghetta; policemen,
sailors, peddlers and court bailiffs.
They comprise a polygot group OF
commonplace people, but who will
say that collectively their every
day presence does not aid in pre-
senting an authoritative weave of
pulsing life on a side street in
the densely populated slums.
Effective Setting
10 Meilziner's setting showing
the brown-stone front of
walk-up apartment is a marvel
ously effective background for
this narrative of sordid misery
with ironical humors. "Street
Scene" is we'll acted by charac-
ters who fit neatly the contrast
ing types. The tongue-wagging
Mrs. Jones was made impress
Sively human by Ida Moore and
ClOI Ic11Cc Cd1I pAdyCO GA4C unhappy
Mrs. Maurrant with an under
standing that generated sympa-
thy. Rose Maurrant, the most
appealing character in the play
was deftly handled by Barbara
Wilson and Albert Webster made
the murderouS stagehand a surly
and depressing figure. Such re-
freshing comedy as enlightened
the early acts was provided by
Frank S. Marino who made the
demonstrative Italian musician a
likeable character. M. B. Samuy-
low, Matt McHugh, Ann Weston,
June Webster, Huntley Weston
and Sadie Banks were others who
contributed competently.
street Scene" long since cap
tured the Pulitzer prize for
1928-29. There is nothing now
to be added except that the
Elmer Rice play wears the laurel
becomingly,