Evening star., 1936-03-22

ttouS have been comparative
approval In q persuasive, If partial
social and economic structure and rel
has been comparatively fair In its at
tacks. In plays that execrate the
prosperous and eulogize the poor 1t
has suggested that we whirl further
to the left in the search for justice,
though without definitely pointing
where and how. It has hinted that
the Creator erred, II He did not al
together make q botch of this ne
elected nook in the universe, failing to
distribute fortune and misfortune
equitably among the inhabitants. That
some Of US are beautiful and others
eyesores, 1t regards as not square, as
1t does the fact that I am blind while
my fellow critics can see, and that
Paul's wife is faithful while Peters is
false. Is 1t, the group has inquired,
right that Clifford Odets is able to
compose interesting dramas, and that
some Of his brethren lack his Ca
pacity? Luck, health, genius, talent
and happiness ought to be common
property in the groups opinion, and it
is steadfast in its efforts to make what
Mr.. Balfour called the meanest of the
planets a paradise for one and all.
RUT when it twists a simple and
notorious case Of seduction and
murder into an indictment of the So
cial and industrial system it becomes
too prejudiced. Some years ago, it
may be recalled, an amateur libertine
named Chester Gillette. made spurious
love to, betrayed and assassinated an
innocent factory girl in q city in
Northern New York State. It was a
plain example Of selfish passion and
its hysterical consequences. Chester.
a weak and evil snob, attracted the
attention of a wealthy belle, the
daughter Of a suburban capitalist. In
order to marry her and to live luxuri-
ouSly ever after he drowned the victim
in convenient lake. Although he had
taken shrewd pains to hide his crime
it was found out and he was tried and
executed. Seeking material for novel,
Mr.. Theodore Dresser, q sympathetic
friend of his fellow unfortunates, ex-
humed Chester Gillette as Mr.. Shaw
exhumed Joan Of Arc and returned
him to discussion.
IN MIR. Dreiser's account Of Chester's
crime Erwin Piscator. a German
scholar and dramatist, discovered .
text upon which to preach sermon
against society. 1t was not Chester
Gillette's fault that he destroyed his
sweetheart and himself, but that OF
the cruel collar-and-shirt industry. If.
as Herr Piscator contends, there were
no such wrongs as prosperity and pow
erty, boys would not ruin girls and
suffer the result thereof. This, think,
is going little too far in denouncing
a dog that already has bad name.
For Chester's villainy, 1t seems to me,
was due to an inherent urge rather
than to the Vaccinations Of the harm
full dollar.
EASE Of Clyde Grifiths" is now
presented at the Ethel Barry
more Theater with all the groups
grim determination to be improvingly
destructive. Its scenery is Of the ad-
vanced sort. an eerie combination Of
color and shape having no resenl-
blance to the ordinary stages coun-
terfeit reality. Mr.. Morris Carnovsky
appears in the auditorium as q one
man chorus explaining the why's and
the wherefores of Herr Piscator's dis
tortion to those who otherwise might
be unable to grasp its meaning. Per.
haps In his generous interpretations
Mr.. Carnovsky Is meant to be a SYM
boil. as literally he shares his under
standing with less competent drama
lovers. Mr.. Alexander Kirkland al
Chester Gillette, alias Clyde Grifiths
looks and acts superbly and is as sin.
cere q player as the circumstances
permit. Other members Of the superior
group company do well by their roles
from pretty Miss Phoebe Brandt, ar
expert in tearfulness, to MIR. Luther
Adler as the doctor to whom she
pleads that he rid her Of her illegit-
| innate fetus.