Evening star., 1934-09-11

The variety indicated in this sea-
sons probable fare exceeds by far
the dramatic menu presented to
hungry theater-goers in the seasons
just past. In large part this seems to
result from the successes enjoyed re-
Gently by experimental groups who
have put on plays out of the ordinary
run of the theater.
The popularity of the Theater
Unions production is an outstanding
example of the public eagerness for
unusual themes. Where the com
mercial producers have persisted IN
what they considered sure-flre box
Office, the Theater Union last season
proved that there need be no cut-and-
dried formula for dramatic successes.
Peace on Earth" put on by that
organization, became one OF the major
attractions of the year, and where
many another play evoked mere
routine comment, it aroused heated
discussion. In other words, it is grow
ing plain that propaganda plays may
have as great a boX-oflce appeal as
serried rows of shapely legs.
The Group Theater also is instilling
in the managers minds suspicion
that they are not providing Broadway
with all the variety 1t would ike.
There is, therefore, promise OF a
more catholic assortment OF enter
tainment in the months ahead.
Thanks to the Theater Guild, the
Father of Our Country will tread
the boards this Fall, and the Shu-
berts are thinking of presenting that
Civil War hero, Mr.. Grant, as a
competing advertisement. Mr.. Grant,
feeling the theater as good test as
any of popularity, may well light 1t
out on this line with Mr.. washington
If 1t takes all Winter.
Costume plays this season Will. IN
fact, consist mostly of American his
torical events, according to present
forecasts. Broadway has apparently
wearied of performances even family
resembling fancy dress balls, and un-
less enlivened by subject TO sur
our patriotism, they do not attract
producers right now.
The reasons for this are undoubt-
edly economic. When a manager
makes a production, he must be vio-
lently wall-eyed, directing one orb at
Broadway, and the other at Holly
wood. because of the always-to-be-
considered prospects of selling picture
rights. And for the time being Holly
wood is not buying picture rights on
costume dramas. The motion picture
companies have rights already on
enough such works to last them well
into the next ice age.
But the period play OF long ago
seems to be the only category that
will not be well represented this
year. In all other fields Broadway
is girding up its loins for a strenuous
session, and on all sides the Thes-
plans are thinking, If not actually
singing, M. Michaux's favorite ditty.
v " X X
CTRANGEST prediction heard
~ around the stem: That the Sum-
mer theater reached its peak in the
past season and hereafter will decline.
With scores of new Summer play
plants opening up and blossoming
throughout the recent torrid season,
we had forced a nebulous conviction
that they had at last achieved place
of prominence and permanence in
the lush garden that is the theater.
Many a manuscript had its first pro-
duction at the small show shops in
June, July or August, giving its
doughty sponsors an opportunity to
feel out the strength of their protege,
and far and wide there were revivals
of the already tested and successful
scripts of other seasons. Some of the
brighter names glittered in the casts
around Westchester, Conn, and as
far north as Maine, leading us to
suppose that this sort of business was
getting too hardy to wilt even before
the icy blasts from Mr.. Nathan.
In the Office of one Of the city's
best known theatrical agents, how.