Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-18

there actually Is hardly any theatet
left to write about in the New York of
the moment, although there are signs
Of promise as a new season blinks its
big eyes In parts suburban and won
ders If it would be right to be about
Times Square alone after dark.
The principal event Of the week
centered about John Patrick's new
play, originally called Hell Freezes
Over" but rechristened white He'll"
for its premiere at the Ridgeway
Theater up at White Plains. A much
touted script, the production rights
to which are owned by George Kon-
dolf, it drew most of professional
Broadway to its opening and, accord
ing to spies, proved itself something
of success de scandale, if not too
promising commercial venture. Hell
Freezes Over" the script Of which we
were permitted to read a few weeks
since, is about the toughest and most
masculine drama since The Last
Mile" There isn't gesture of senti-
mentality, kindness or chivalry in 1t,
If you except the abrupt poisoning Of
a dying youth by momentarily SYM
pathetic narcotic addict. This whim-
steal interlu6e is the nearest approach
to humanitarianism which Mr. Patrick
could conceive among a group Of
stranded Antarctic explorers.
In any event, Lee Shubert, Louis
Calhern, Natalie Schaeffer, Robert
Buckner, Barney Klawans and ap-
proximately 300 other theater folk
fooled up to Westchester to see Bruce
MacFarlan play the lead in a prac-
tically actorproof saga Of the SHOWS
The report has it that White Hell"
in production is just as hard boiled
as in script. But it is essentially a
closet drama. a little bijou at times,
We are told, to be kept, like a stuffed
Victorian canary, sou cloche 1t Is
implicit with rave notices, but not
with box Office business.
IN THE vicinage Of Longacre Square
the principal excitement of the
week has been furnished by the in
telligence that the American Ballet
is to be incorporated with the pro-
gram Of the Metropolitan Opera Co.
next season. 1t has been 'front.' page
news. happily coinciding with the cir
cumstance that the ballet has been
on view during the week at the
stadium concerts, while Paul Haakon,
one of its brightest lights, has danced
at the Radio City Music Hall within
the month. 1t is the more pity that
the Met, in its releases. and, perhaps,
George Balanchine, its matre de ballet,
have quite failed to mention that
Lincoln KRISTEN and Edward War
burg first thought Of the American
Ballet and brough it into factual
being.
An esthetically Complementary pair
Of Harvard balletomanes, Messrs. Kir-
stein and Warburg, were first fired
with the notion Of an exclusively
American school Of ballet, and it
took the appearance Of the celebrated
Russian dancers of the Monte Carlo
troupe last Winter to illustrate, by
dramatic contrast, just how much
they had justified their ambition The
American Ballet could very well have
afforded to finance the touted foreign
ers. who were shabby, down at the
heels and listless to degree. They
seethed with apathy. Patrons came
breathleSSly awaiting the entrechats
royals of Nijinski and found first
dancers who would have fallen on
their faces had they essayed an Off,
to-Buffalo. The proteges of MeSsrs.
Warburg, KRISTEN and Balanchine,
on the other hand, we're at times
breath-taking, always competent and
vastly humorous. In William Dollar
and Paul Haakon they had acquired
professional excellence beside which
anything produced in the more cele-
brated Continental schools (save their
inflated traditions) would have been
hard put to it to shine. Kay Swift's