The Washington times., 1931-05-26
GAY COMEDY IS
WELL DONE BY
PLAYERS


Gentle reader, give a thought
70 the plight of the hapless re-
viewer assigned to the cause of
reporting the productions of the
National Theater Players. Week
after week, he is sent to the
scene of action armed with biting
invectives, bitter sarcasms and in
Sinuating innuendos, all prepared
to blast with his lightning thrusts
and parties the work of another
summer stock company. And
week after week he is forced to
acknowledge defeat and the i'm
potence of his weapons for after
all Steve Cochran and Cliff
Brooke are maintaining such a
high standard of excellence that
the aforesaid ambitious reviewer
hasn't even a chance of display
ing his prettieSt and most acrid
and acid comments-even if he
wanted to. And "Up Pops The
Devil" is no exception.
Was Broadway Hit
Just a little less than a year
ago this comedy by Albert Hack
EFT and Frances Goodrich had its
first presentation on Broadway
with Roger Pryor, a member of
the alumni of the same National
Theater Players, in the leading
role. And how an original cast
could possibly do it any better
than was done last night is just
one Of those things which one
who hasn't seen the original cast
can't possibly attempt to ex-
plain!
It's just rollicking comedy of
marital life, laid in a studio
apartment in Greenwich Village,
which catches one in the coils of
its fascinating interest and re-
tainS it throughout. This re-
viewer cheerfully admits that he
Knows not a thing about the au-
thors or their regulations, singly
or individually, but he readily
comedies that they have a thor
ough grasp Of modern life and
that Clifford Brooke found the
National Theater Players most
pliable clay in casting them for
their respective roles.
Drop in Apartment
It's laid in one of those anart-
ments where people just drop
in, whether the rule of "B, Y.
o. L." is observed or not. The
husband, an aspiring young ad-
vertising man, like most aspiring
young advertising men, really
wants to write. But young ad-
vertiSing men in the pursuit of
their daily calling in rhapsodis-
ing over the merits of soap or
beans or mustard seldom having
time to devote to the great Ameri-
can novel, find a problem. And
this particular young man seem.
ingly finds the solution in the
persons of a young wife who
agrees to support him while he
runs the houSe-and the Corona.
But there are problems-ah,
yes!
Stanley Ridges and Nancy Sher-
idan enact the principal roles to
such a degree of perfection that
there really isn't anything further
to be said. And the play has it's
ups and downs until a biological
necessity smooths everything over
to happy conclusion, notwith-
standing the intrusion of that
thoroughly delightful personality
Of Daphne Warren-Wilson which
seems to inject itself and compli-
cate the writings of every pro-
duction this reviewer sees.
Orr Has Good Role
Then there's Forrest Orr in an
other of those roles he fairly
revelS in, aided and abetted by
Raymond Bramley and charming
Roberta Beatty. And for making
a great deal of small part-sheer
genius in fact-allow us to COM
mend you to Burke Clarke, cast in
the ignoble role, according to the
program, of simply Drunken
Man." How naive these pro-
grams can be! And along at the
very tail-end come Adelaide Hib-
bard and Edward Poland in two
sharply y-limned Characterization
as the high-browed reviewers
would put it.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable
show and thoroughly enjoyable
evening and the reviewer, loath to
further inject his unassuming per
sonality, doesn't care who knows
it.-ARRO.