Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1936-01-27
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for ETHAN Frome." There is actual
ly play now running in New York
which deals with the tragedies which
befall men and women rather than
the playwrights squirming under
what he terms 1.-THE economic system
i. G., the necessity for making liv-
ing.
We have been treated to rash Of
what We really miracle plays From
thu huMhling and heaVyliGdcd pOcs-
les; Of "Wintcrsct" through the plat
form harrangues Of Comrades Odets
and Rice to the pious sermonising be
hind footlights of Or. John Haynes
Holmes, $500 Of this seasons drama
tic offerings have contained not char
acters but types or distractions.
Several times / have thought 1 was
about to witness n play involving old
fashioned emotions such sas love and
hate and getting ahead in the world.
Along about Act II. however, the pick
ct line began to form at the left, all
the people III the play who were reg
ularly employed were revealed as vii
lains and hte young hobo with bed
room eyes began to inSinuate that he
was no mere character but an actor
III q larger drama: be was The Peepul.
He was the playwright III the days
before he found out Il soapbox on a
Broadway was more profitable than
the old stand in Union Square. f
Not so Ethan Frome." There is
a charming horse-and-buggy quality
about this play, as adapted by work
manlike Owen Davis from the Edith
Wharton novel It is not a pretty
play; it J.. indeed, as gloomy as the
devil. But the people in it are pal
pable human beings and not, accord
ing to the fashion Of the time, rein
carnations of Adam Smith and Karl
Marx in debating school with old love
sick money-compleXcd Prof, Marx get
ting all the fat lines.
Pauline Lord, one Of the finest act
resses Of our time. makes you alter
nately despisc and feel sorry for her:
she is Mrs Frome to the life and Ray
manages to swallow his broad "a's"
and become northern New England
or without q single false note. The
Fromcs are hard-btten folk on
rocky and frigid farm and when Eth
an has no money with which to elope
with the hired girl it never occurs
to him to blame either Prof. Frank
furter or j. p. Morgan. He knows. as
did many Of his lost and realistic gem
Grafton. that the blame cannot be
properly allocated, along with the
blame for most Of the sorrows of this
world. without a touch of blasphemy
and so he does not bother to blame
anyone at all.
"Ethan Frome" has another rare
quality: it comes from the pages of
book with neither the mood nor
the manner in any way cheapened or
grease-psinted All of the simplicity
remains and I imagine Mrs. Whar-
ton was cheered to see her fine novel
so intelligently handled.
Incidentally, when two acts of this
play had unrolled. your reporter re-
marked his Joy to Clark kinnaird, an
other Central Press scribe, to be wit
Messing a show once more in which
the characters We're men and women.
rather than tho hysterianS scrubbed
on the sandwich boards Of protest-pa
raiders.
Kinnaird dour fellow i'll his gayer
moods. remarked
II don't believe it yet. Someone
told me that in the last act the whole
cast Joins in singing the 1utcrna-
tionale'."
But clearly his informant was kid
Heaven and the muses. for ETHAN
ding. And I say once again, thank
F'rome."