Evening star., 1938-12-12

element of mans emotional equip
nrent is shown to be as unfruitful Of
happiness as the others which the
playwright has found poignantly
inadequate. Man, when Mr.. Odets
gets through with his series Of bril-
liant dramatic dialogues, will add
up to the creative process most
beautiful failure. Especially will
this be true if the affinity between
the playwright and the Group Thea
ter continues, for the latter knows
all the tricks of expression and
Interpretation which enhance the
value of an Odets drama.
The persons upon whose dreams
and Illustrations the doors are
opened in Rocket to the Moon" are
the usual, varied characters of the
playwright. Each of them comes
to fascinating life in a first act that
represents some of the author S
finest writing, which is to say a
great deal. They vibrate nicely
through a second that is almost
as good only to lose considerable
of their piquancy in the third.
That's the act, of course, in which
they come face to face with the
facts of love and try to reduce them
to words. A lot of persons who
have been in the same situation
have done far less we'll with it than
Mr.. Odets and his cast, but even
what the latter have accomplished
does not give complete illumination
or satisfaction. Maybe his third
acts, for all their bravery and ideal
ism, are price Mr.. Odets always
will have to pay for doing such
shining introductions. The latter
perhaps promise too much in the
way of excellent follow through.
With such players as Morris Car
novsky, Luther Adler and Eleanor
Lynn figuring in the climax it is
by no means lacking in drama in
spite of Its wordiness. Group thea
ter acting, it must be remembered,
is very fine thing for any author
or audience to fall back upon In any
such moment
X X
The central character of Rocket
to the Moon is q bald-headed den-
tist, early 40ish, whose new office
girl sees in him an escape from the
drabness of her little world. The
dentist, an apathetic, dreamer type,
who has done none too we'll profess
sionally and even worse with his
shrewdish wife, is in mood to
reciprocate the girls feeling.
Others involved in the pageant,
all of them having that strange i'm
portance which is an Odets charac-
ter hallmark, are the nagging wife,
father, who has made lot of money
and developed a realistic philos-
ophy; a besotted partner of the
dentist who finally turns blood donor
to make his share of the rent, a
lecherous Hollywood dance direc-
tor who Is around for no good pur-
pose, a kind of ambling, philosophic
young giant named "Frenchy."
Finally, but not least Of the ones
you will remember, even If he is
dropped suddenly into the play and
then snatched away, is a little tire
salesman, a fellow to touch the
heart very deeply in his brief mo-
ment of futility.
AS the action of the play goes,
love beckons nearly every one in
their own particular terms, then
lotc fLop, doup very SADLY The
dentist lacks the courage to accept
the girls love, his wife's father
lacks the dreaming, youthful quail
ity she expects in man; the dance
director is short on everything but
contact with the glamor of Holly
wood. If there is any victory for
any one, it is that Of the wife who
keeps her husband. If that Is not
Phyrric, then Phyrric has lost its