Evening star., 1935-12-08

upon First Lady" an adrott and
glistening saga of the trivia which
often enough governs the existence Of
our national legislators.
There was, to be sure, every reason
why First Lady" should put q graft
flying period to such a sequence Of
plays as was represented by Satellite"
and Abide With Me-" This chronicle
Of the drawing room adventure of a
Lady. identified by first-night audi
ences as Alice Roosevelt Longworth, is
the collaborate product of George s.
Kaufman, ranking dramatist Of the
land, and Katharine Dayton, an OBJ
! liquely malicious commentator on the
Washington comedy for George Horace
Lorimer's Saturday Evening Post.
Together they have evolved a snartly
staged and precisely motivated play
which even Jane Cowl's all-too-tense
Interpretation and handkerchief chew
ing cannot impeach.
Whether or not all the characters
of FIRST Lady" are identifiable to con-
noisseurs of the Washington scene is
matter which shall be left un-
answered until we have consulted with
Edward de Selding Melcher, most dis
corning and social of the Capitals play
reviewers, but there was vast deal
Of knowing nudging on opening night
at the Music Box, and ostentatiouS
programs shielded a steady rustic OF
whispered comments among the in
formed or the spuriously schooled, as
the case may have been. Mrs.
Homer Cummings, the wife of a
cabinet minister herself, laughed
heartily in a stage box at the more
lethal thrUsts at the political anatomy
Of the Federal City, and since then a
not inconsiderable posse of the elect
from Massachusetts, avenue and Du-
pont Circle have made safari to Forty
fifth street Just to see for themselves.
NOR was the fair promise of First
Lady" belied by Boy Meets
Girl" which swan into the ken of
first-nighters the next evening at the
Cort. There was only one thing to
say about it when the towns chivalry,
faint from hysteria, assembled to be
stayed with flagons at La Hiff's bar
after the third act, and that was that
it was the most outrageously brilliant
nose thumbing at Hollywood since
"Once in a Lifetime" Mrs. Louise
Macy Brown, on the arm of Robert
Benchley, said she was sorry there
wasn't going to be fourth act. Mr..
Naxhava rfrhea Iav,a ~
is customarily as grave as that Of a
major domo, was shaking so with
laughter that he actually spilled
whisky-soda down the facade of his
elegant fur-lined coat. Herbert Bay
ard Swope had tear stains down his
cheeks and the William Randolph
Hearsts, ir., threatened to roll in the
gutter jointly and severally.
boy Meets Girl" like Sailor, Be-
ware" was one of those happy acci-
dents after 10 minutes of which it was
apparent to its audience that here was
an authentic comedy smash that
would last until Spring brings back
blue days and fair to Broadway. 1t
chronicles the super -daffy lunacies of
a pair of drolls, Immediately identif1-
able as Ben Hecht and Charlie Mac
Arthur. wandering through the opium
dream measures of Hollywood sara
band. Their impious clownings, pro-
/ jected against the fatuous background
of q pretentious and moronic film
executive, will be a source of unholy
delight to any one who knows to what
degree of madness the studios of
Hollywood can attain when they set
about it. Next, of course, to Jubilee, "
! boy Meets Girl will be the most
urgently required reading for light
minded theatergoers of the current
moment.