Evening star., 1932-10-09

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VI commercial theater-a theater
i uninfluenced by gainful motives
and devoted to the service OF
hall-show culture rather than the en-
regiment OF its sponsors. Recent under.
takingS along Broadway indicate that
the call is being answered by numerous
undertakings Of an unSaleable nature.
Plays have been produced SO lacking in
market value that the only explanation
for their appearance is that their pro-
ducers are not business men. am
asked frequently why such enterprises
as The Budget" "Triplets" and Bid
ding High" are launched. when 1t seems
certain that they have no money ap-
peal. Surely, 1t is said, these managers
and artists are aware that their product
cannot be sold. and that there is no
hope that their efforts will be finan-
tic to believe that they are Indifferent
to barter and exchange and are active
sheerly for the dubious joys Of sacrifice.
Still am almost persuaded that venal-
fty In art has Its advantages, and that
the non commercial theater is boon
only to those who do not have to 20
to it.
John Howard Lawson. author of
Success Story" once disdained to dicker
with the box offlce, preferring to write
Roger Bloomer" and Professional" for
himself rather than to traffic with the
paying public. Grown weary OF solitude.
however. he now extends the canny
Hollywood hand of bargaining to the
dramas customers, and asks them to
buy his merchandise at terms profitable
to one and all. His new play, therefore
is tactful negotiation between art and
n6 httc inn Of lnc
manShip with the better things. have a
letter which berates me in phrases full
Of fury for not celebrating more glee-
fully the advent Of "a vital expression
in the theater." Success Story" the
writer infers, was an inspiration for
pirouetting In the streets, yet elected
to sit the dance out. Like the lady in an
Ibsen play. she complains. though not
In these words. that there was your
champagne. but you drank it not" The
writer, seizi1g me by my coat collar and
looking me angrily in the eye. exclaims: :
Must all events Of primary importance
in the world of art be met by blindness
on the part Of the so-called professional
critics." She believes it is time for
those who claim to be interested in
creative work to shoe destructive re-
viewers from their complacent benches
and to take the function Of criticism
into their own hands She Is in the tenn
per Of the late Sidney Grundy. who. re-
senting remarks by London critics in
disparagement Of the masterpieces, said:
When see a little boy scribbling rude
words on the pedestal of Colossus
cannot refrain from boxing his ears"
So 1t is with timidity that one repeats
the impression that Success Story is
a ehovx htti1 81 ~,
materials from the dramas lumber
rooms and machine shops Solomon
Ginsberg Is born virtuoso in the art of
getting ahead. ferocious egoist. some
thing like Mirabeau's Isidore Lechat. in
Les Affaires sont les Affaires," aggrcs.
sive. non-moral ruthless. a natural
force. resembling gravity or heat"
Ginsberg. lowly statistician for flossy
firm Of advertisers. begins as an insolent
radical who wastes his evenings in the
mephitic Easements Of revolt It is his
practice 10 urge the downtrodden to
take up arms against capitals greedy
depredations and to overthrow and re-
arrange the sorry scheme of American.
civilization. Unlike most of us who 60
wild at the thought of other peoples
money he has a sense Of humor and a
poetic fair for the voluptuous. But in
him IS the bandit germ of rapacity, the
yen for gold. power and women. He
sasses his boss. much to the alarm of his
steadfast sweetheart, stenographer
with reddish inclinations: and is at once
promoted to advance the cause of the
Glamour brand Of lpsticks. lacquers,
unguents and embrocations. I must ad-
init that Mr.. Lawson's hero does not
talk like this.
In the course of q scene or two he
dethrones his odiou5 employer. who is
addicted to speakeasiesa and sensuousness,
and becomes the master Of the outfit
Reveling in trickery and double cross
ing, he betrays every one about him