The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-11-26
In New York
: Bv PAUI, HORRISON

New York--Stage door meander-
 ings: There's no such plentitude cf
 plausible plays as you might ex-
 pect. One producer, Tom Weather
 ly, has read 66 this season without
 finding one in which he'd dare inc
 vest a dollar. Says most of the
 manuscripts are so bad that they
 have to be rewritten before they're
 even worth returning to the au-
 thors.
 The theatrical game, as I may
 have mentioned before. remains
 the worlds most uncertain gamble,
 defying the calmest judgment of
 playwrights, producers and crit.
 ics. J. c. Nugent, the actor-author,
 provides an example. In 1922 he wrote "Kempy" in exactly three days, and it ran nearly i've year.
 Dream Child" which opened re-
 gently, represented three years of hard writing--and ran four weeks. Last season Max Gordon pre- scented the musical comedy "Ro- berta" and won only groans from the critics. It grew into a phc- nomenal hit, and is still coining money on the road ... Eary this season MT Gordon trotted out "The Great Waltz and again disap- pointed drama reveiwers. Since then the show has been seen py
 some 250,00O appreciative cash
 customers, approximately 90 per out of town. The Rockefeller Gen. ter theater has three-box-offices. but they proved inadequate and now tickets are sold from a long counter--installed in the lobby. There Was Shakespeare.
 You will recall that when Anne Nicholls "Abie's Irish Rose" open ed in 1922 the critics said 1t was one of the worst shows they'd
 ever witnessed. And yet it still holds the record for the longest continu- ous run of any play in the world ... Miss Nichols, by the way, ire quently is credited with the highest percentage of smash hits, there be- ing an erroneous impression that being an erroneous impression, that she only wrote one play. Fact IS. she wrote nine.
 The late MT Shakespeare, with | fifteen hits, remains the top-of-the | list dramatist. Of modern auth | ors, Eugene O'Neill ranks highest, l with eight successes. Sam Shipman l five. George S. Kaufman and Noel Coward, four each. owen Davis
 has written we'll over a hundred plays, but only two were box ofife smashes.
 Heading For Loss.
 The first lady of the American | stage, whose name is Katharine Cornell, is making a very pretty gesture in the direction of the public that has supported he'd so heartily. Nils Cornell has hired her. self an assortment of prominent and expensive people and is about to put on a production of Romeo and Juliet" which inevitably must lose a tidy sum of money. The large company. which will play in lavish new costumes and in front of costly new settings,
 already is in rehearsal and will ap- pear is in rehearsal and will ap- pear for two weeks out of town | befare coming to Broadway for a l month. Miss Cornell has insisted that there be pulenty of ow-priced seats for her show. As a result, with every place filed. there still will be deficit. It strikes me ahat this Is a pretty good answer | to the grumblers who insist that | the theater has lost al Tits ideai- | ism.
 Just One Idea
 Theye're still having quite a time with the ten Granada sypsies-- seven girls and three men--who were dug out of their caves in southern Spain and brought over | he'd to sing and dance in Con | tinental Varieties" It was difficult l enough even to get them to New ! York. Given money for transpor- ltation. to the French coast, they spent it all on aguariente and | danced for sixteen hours. Finally put abroad the ship, they huddled l in their cabins during the entire l crossing and had to be trapped out by force when the ship reach- ed New York.
 At the theater, they refused to use the elevator that runs between | stage and dressing rooms. Per. | fectly willing to dance, however. | Too willing; they danced in the wings they danced in the wings, in | the aisles, and even on the side- walk on the way to their boarding | house. The gypsies are super stitious about practically every l thing-cats, blad-headed men, FF'-
 days. fire sirens and colored spot lights. They all shudder at the sight of coil of rope. They don't know how to take bows, because
 bows aren't taken in Granada, Don't understand applause, either: they think they're not appreciated because the audience doesn't stamp and shout during their perfor- mance-and leap up on the stage to join them in frenzied vaida or zapateado.