Evening star., 1934-08-19

Cecil De Mile was to have been
present to assist in the dedication of
the new caravan, but wired from
Pittsburgh that his airplane had been
put down by impossible weather and
he could only send his enthusiastic
best wishes.
Mr.. De Mile thought the portable
theater a very interesting idea, and
he had been anxious, he said, to see
one in action. There were others Of
q similar mind In the audience on
the Mall, those more or less close to
the theater, that Is to say, as well
as the usual Central Park audience.
The latter, coming a little slowly, for
it was raining when the first curtain
rose, sat under newspapers and other
improvised umbrellas for time. but
the rain stopped before the second
act began, and an audience larger
than that in the ordinary regular
theater thereupon appeared out of
the misty dark in no time. The free
open-air performance from a portable
theater is one of the few new theatri-
cal ideas Of recent years and its pos
sibilities are interesting.
** **
MIR. CLICKS comedy was o sure
N fire satire about q Middle West
ern small city woman who neglected
her home and children for all her in
Vulnerable clubs and tried to run
things generally.
Hearing about scandal involving
high-school students, row at road
house during which a bystander had
been knocked against a table and re-
ceived blow from which he died
later, she insisted that the district at
torney prosecute the case relentlessly.
The district attorney, her husband and
several others tried to hush the mat
ter up and subdue Mrs. Blakemore's
enthusiasm. 1t finally turned out that
her own son was the guilty one, al
though he had acted in self defense.
Before things were ironed out the boy
had to spend brief time in jail and
Mrs. Blakemore had received a few
blows to her pride, but was still sub
stantially "unconquered."
The piece ends with all the worms
turning, husband and son deciding to
go abroad for long trip, and Mrs.
Blakemore taking up new cause as
the final curtain falls.
The piece was well played by pro-
fessional company, and Rosalind Ivan
was genuinely amusing as the self
centered, "nosey" and managing moth
er and wife.
THE opening of the new season
which was to have come last
week, was pushed forward at the last
moment for at least another week.
Whatever happens to the several new
plays, including the Shubert revue,
Life Begins at 8:40," already tried
out in Boston; the farce -melodrama,
Hide and Seek" tried out at West
port, and various others, the season
may be said already to have begun
when "As Thousands Cheer" concluded
its brief Summer substitute season
with its original cast. Clifton Webb
returned after a months vacation,
Helen Broderick resumed her old roles,
Dorothy Stone replaces Marilyn Miller
permanently, and the breezy Ethel
w TdtCAo CO14I41uCo dJ Lie OlQ SLdnQ.
Monday next, moreover, will see
"Dodsworth" continuing the long run
interrupted to permit Walter Huston
to play Othello at Center City, Colo.
Among the interesting possibilities of
the new season is that of seeing Greta
Carlo as leading woman in Eugene
ONeills new play, THE Life of
Bessie Bowen" The Theater Guild
Is cunning for Miss Garbo with this
end in view, but nothing definite has
been announced.
\ 4 \ r.
A UGUSTUS THOMAS, who died at
Nyack, N. Y, week ago, at the
age of n, was a regular he-man and
responsible citizen as well as success
full playwright. 1t was characteristic
that at the height Of his career, when
he was generally reckoned the dean"
of American playwrights, he should
be found in the thick of the Demo-
cratic convention at Denver in 1908,
making one of the nominating
speeches for w. J. Bryan.
He had seen a lot of everyday
American life before ever he wrote
seriously for the stage, and he never
lost touch with it. "The theater," he