Evening star., 1938-01-02

tional Ladies' Garment Workers
Union. laughing good-naturedly at
both its foes and its friends, must
confess that found the lively con-
ceits of Between the Devil" which
dealt only with sex and bigamy, pro-
vlding a very pleasant quality of
nostalgia. It may have been the fact
that Three Waltzes" brought into its
three generations OF narration such
political figures as the Hapsburg huz-
GERS of Old Vienna that made me so
cold to it.
All of these shows possess, think,
redoubtable merits. I found Three
Waltzes" the least satisfying of the
six, but that is because these earnestly
rueful operettas of lost love among the
Hapsburgs with the granddaughter Of
the famous ballet dancer winning the
grandson of the dashing Count Won
Hohenbrunn 10 years later seem to me
wearisome stuff, unless done with an
! imaginative freshness that the current
version of the tale does not possess.
On the other hand, Between the
Devil" which appears to have struck
most of the reviewers as being even
more antique in plot than Three
Waltzes," seems to me gay lively and
colorful show, with an attractive score
by Arthur Schwartz, pleasant per-
formances by Jack Buchanan, Miss
Evelyn Laye, Miss Adele Dixon and
their colleagues, handsome produc-
ton and the seasons best-looking
chorus girls. I will grant you that
some of Mr.. Howard Dietzs jokes about
bigamy and trigonometry struck me
as being little less than inspired,
but, on the whole. found Between
the Devil" good show, given friend
| ly and likable air by the very absence
of any political illusions.
HAVE already said so much about
Pins and Needles" and The Cradle
Will Rock" in these columns that
there is no reason to go into them
further here, save to repeat that the
former is the best-natured and has
the brightest lyrics Of the towns hall
dozen musical shows and that The
Cradle Will Rock" has sardonic con-
temptuous humor that is decidedly
effective. I'D Rather Be Right" hasn't
gone without comment in these Sun
day pastoral letters, either, and il
should be enough to say here that this
glorif1ed version of a Washington
Gridiron show is far from being q
biting political satire, despite its anti.
New Deal basis but that it Is given q
warm and gracious charm, as we'll a.
strong pro-Roosevelt tendency. by
George M. Cohan's enchanting per-
formance in the role of the President
In addition, although the score is not
one of the indefatigable Mr.. Rodgers
best, it contains several uncommonly
attractive numbers, in particular
Have You Met Miss Jones?" and
Were Going to Balance the Budget
"Horay for What" may be a po-
litical satire and all that, but what
makes it worthy of our deep appre-
| citation is that it is the show that
rescues the superb Mr. Ed Wynn from
the radio and brings him back to III
with his fine comic art happily intact
AS satire found the work disappoint-
ing. Its thrusts at militarism, the
munitions manufacturers and the
scoundrelly Europeans are generally
feeble or confused and. while the idea
of presenting military fashion show
with the girls representing deadly
projectiles. may have sounded funny
in rehearsal, it is in reality far from
that. But when Mr.. Wynn springs into
action, with his ridiculous clothes, his
memorable lisp and his eloquency
fluttering hands. all seems right with
the world, and both the theater and
the Nation are safe again.