The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-05-08
RE HOUR
 CHILDREN
Dy Clive Robssts Bsrton !.
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I was interested In seeing what they would do about Hnnaei nnQ Gr0toI, the two children Wno toung the wltch's house ln the WOODS Sll made of cakes and candy, ang tne witch herself who caEcd up Hans eel Co fatton him for the oven.
 buretinR with children of ail ages. Tho Junior League wns staging q honefit for their children's fund last week, It was, "The Children's Music BCx," collection Of little plays, a regular "Chauv0 soirec,'' done up In juvenile style.
 ft consisted of pnrtomtmo, folk. songs and dances, . comody ok
 Milne'a, excellent music, and the pleco de resistance of tho hrtor-
 noon, "Hanuel and Gretel." ..
 The March of the Wooden eol- dIors was greeted with cheers. Tn0 children sat up straight on thoir seats.
 "Tho Kings Broakfast, met ape
 preclatlve giggies. Children love
 humor, and the King and Queen, carlcntured, and the Cow and Dairy maid struck their risabiii- tics. amidships. Loud applause. "hur 10 Pont," and "Clairo dc Lune," E'rench musical pantomime and dance were lovely, but ! eus. pect the kids thought it was just
 being good for them. Culture food, all dono up in French, although 1t was really very lovely. Back In their seats--interoBtod but not barking with Joy.
 Then romanoe---"The Sleeping Beauty" Fine, but nothing to get the teeth Into. No thrills much,
 except the ugly bad fairy and her
 cacislo. Up In the seats again went the children. Much taikingI
 "Now she's going to prick her iiil- sins wh.a. And nd tSst Ssst was "" sS that The rustic before "Iiansel and story was long and good. it worked up to . climax. This tirne the children wore on tho edges of their chairs. 1 was worried when the last scono opened. There was tho cane ! dy house, tho cage, and the oven ID | full view. Tho program snid Han soi would be turned into a ginKer- bread boy. But the children knew that the witch ate little boys and wasn't particularly keen about gin- gorbrend. Othorwis0 why use it like bricks to build a'hOuse 0f9 I worried for two reasons. Would tho terrific old hag, and thank KoodnoHg sho was terrific, lot her cannibaiistic intentions Do knownY or would tho whole thing be .
 fade-out, turned into duck soup and end in . burst of song before
 anything happened2
 What do you thlnk7 Why way did the cat jump? We'll, ho Jumped
 to suit the youngstera. Hansel wns bundled nono too gently Into his cage and Grctol forced to feed him
 cakes Co fatten him; and altogether the big, bad witch behaved with ghoulish glec.
 Excitement in Fiction
 Then tho ovenl Tho audience under four foot high stood up. This was going to Do good. 0retoi fooled tho witch and pushed her Unto the stove intended for her | brother, then Bho released the very
 handsome Hansol and thoy. took their strawberries and went homo.
 Wero those children tickled 2 Ycs'm, they were. If anything less
 "mollerdrnmntic" had boen wished on them they would havo boon in. consoiabie. Of course t was all dono with cortnin evnsions os speech. A sweep of tho hand with out too many upHetting details That takes expert playwritlng. | Dut children can stand and seem 10 need the excItement of danger | in their fiction. Pirates, Indinns, witches, and big bad wolves arc, in their way delightful. At least read- ! ing about them nevor hurt any. body. But watch tho tiny tots.
 Thoy arc quite rcady for such cons diments.