Evening star., 1932-10-09

L plete turn about This
state of affairs, a not unhappy
change of face, is being accom-
plished slowly but surely by the
daily collapse Of what IN the OLD
days would not have been col
lapsible plays on Broadway. In
stead of the old giving place to
the new, it is the new that is
going to give place to the old.
BY this we mean that-much to
the surprise of veteran theatrical
folk and sage councillors and
producers of the Stage-such Or
ganizations as the New York Civic
Repertory Group (which Washing
ton was privileged to see last
week. by giving its customers a
weekly change of diet in the man
ner of the old days and the dis
tinguished Comedie Francaise, are
l.kely to be the only survivais OF
a theater which is finding life no
longer a bed of roses.
More and more attention is be-
ing paid this admirable group, and
such revolving" theaterS as Miss
Catherine Cornell plans to give
when her season gets under way,
or as the future of the embryonic
Group Theater and veteran The
ater Guild indicates they may tall
into. ,
AS Joseph Schildkraut stated
last week, The Broadway theater
with it's box-office hits and stars
is not the theater. There is no
such thing as star. There are
only good and bad actors. The
theater, too. is rot wild burst IN
the air-a financial Towering
which dies quickly. 1t is some
thing like Max Reinhardt's the
ater abroad. Not the much pub
licized Miracle which he brought
to America, but the small theaters
which he sponsors and that play
to three or four hundred people
and in which the best actors OF
the country are trained.
These seem like sage and
prophetic words, fitting IN
nicely with the current progress
of our theater. The flamboyant
"Iillv Turner's" this play died
recently on Broadway, which
would have been furiously popu--
lar a few years back, now tlnd
themselves liked for a few days
and then snuffed out. In their
nlace come the old favorites-the
tear stained "CamilleS." the
Ibsen's, the Chekov's, the Romeos
and Juliets, which patrons are
falling back to again.
Perhaps all this has something
TO do with the psychology OF the
times. which prompts, for in
stance. Maestro Stokowski to lg-
more the machinist symphonies
which he was so fond OF only
last wear and substitute in their
place the veteran Beethoven and
Mozart classics. Certainly the
theater is not thriving so much
On excitement now as 1t did re
Gently. 1t seems to be relaxing
into bygone days and taking the
sturdiest of the classics, giving
them the modern airing that they
have had all too briefly.
People, after all, want to see
how the current great" in the
theater measure up with the OLD.
Whether or not Eva LIE Galllenne
can take her place with Olga
Nethersole as Camille-Whether
Lillian Gishs Camille" is directly
opposed to the once greatly criti-
cized Ethel Barrymore lnterpreta-
tion-Whether or not as many
tears are flowing over the brldge
now as when Sarah Bernhardt
coughed and coughed and cried
over the Booth Theater footlights.
Other than these weekly play
ing of the classics which are the
reason for the present turn-about
in the theater, playgoers prefer
the calm beauty and dignity OF
THE Green Pastures" or the pic
turesque and wonderfully tragic
story of a China such as Pearl
Buck and Donald and Owen Davis
have incorporated into "The
Good Earth" The latter is not
a rowdy panorama of life as it
might have been, but sensitive
study of a man and his woman
who weather their trials and
tribulations together with what
amounts eventually to be tre-
mendous sympathy and under
standing.
In other words, the theater is
through temporarily with gang
IIters and beefeaters. A quiet and