The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-09

Apparently the opportunity is
eagerly awaited, for in Kansas City
where the road show is now playing,
the theater drew the same capacity
crowds as greeted the other out
standing success, Dinner at Eight"
and according to Vincent Burke,
manager of English's, mail orders
and advance reservations indicate
like interest here in this rather
riSque play.
Corinne Griffith Stars
Interest in Design for Living is
shared between the comedy itself
and the star of the production.
Corinne Griffith, screen star who has
been famous for her beauty since
the days of the silent pictures, heads
the cast of Broadway players who
will interpret Mr.. Coward's play.
She vii play the role of Gilda Gre
ated by Miss Fontanne. The roles
which Mr.. Lunt and Mr.. Coward
played on Broadway will be en-
acted by Alexander Clark, Jr., and
Matthew Smith.
Design for Living" is not a play
for the prudiSh. 1t is a saucy scan
dial with dialogue and situations
which skirt the edges Of risqueness
in a most f1ippant and charming
manner. The story is an uncon-
ventional variation of the eternal
triangle with modern Manon.
This unblushing heroine, GiIda,
is an emancipated woman with ar
tistic inclinations but no recorded
achievements in strictly the field of
art.
Moves Swiftly
She finds that she would not be
"cozy'' as she expresses it, in a
state of matrimony and consequent
ly lives blithely but unblessed by
benefit Of clergy with such men as
please her. The men are, success
sively, a playwright, an artist, and
an advertising expert.
The artist and the playwright are
devoted friends, but that friendship.
deep and treasured as it is, does not
cool the attraction Gilda has for
them. At the beginning of the play
the girl is living with the artist, but
the playwright takes advantage of
his friends absence and when the
artist finds that fidelity is not one
Of Gildas virtues he is embittered,
not at the girl, but at the play
wright, who feels that his friends
should share everything with him.
In the next act the tables are
turned. 1t is the playwright who is
with the heroine and the artist who
takes advantage. So it goes, with the
two friends jealous of each other
and the polyandrus Gilda trying to
keep their friendship from splitting
by frankly admitting she has no
favorite between them.
No Pretense of Morals
Then another man comes in to
make a claim on the heroine. He
takes her from her Partisan play
ground to New York. The play
wright and the artist are reunited
and decide that they should mu-
tually reclaim Gilda. She tires of
her conventional New Yorker, and
when her artists offer her the op-
portunity she agrees, to accompany
them back to Paris with a mutually
satisfactory agreement to confine
her consistently f1uctuating affec-
tons to the two young men.
The play makes no pretense of
moralizing, but assaults the tradi-
lions of both monogamy and mat
rimony with sharp barbs of satire.
According to New York critics it
provides many merry moments in
the theater
Miss Griffith has been playing the
stellar role in Design for Living"
throughout the east this season.
Both Mr.. Clark and Mr.. Smith
are well known and accomplished
Broadway players. The former
played all last season opposite Ina
Claire in the Theater Guilds pro-
duction of Biography" Six other
well-known Broadway players COM
plete the cast.