Evening star., 1938-06-26

~ blossomed about 10 years agt
has been their tug of war to see which
can hold established playwrights.
The movies have largely been sue.
cessful because they can assure new
writers larger income than they car
definitely get from the theater unless
of course. they can turn out hit play
But, there is no assurance about thai
until after the play Is written and pro.
duced. The movies start paying the
minute the scenario writer begins hit.
ting his typewriter keys.
But, despite this assured income the
theater frequently is now Turing some
Of its best-known dramatists eastward
again to write for the stage.
Paul Green. who won the Pulitzer
Prize with his drama Of Negro life. In
Abraham's Bosom" about. a decade
ago occasionally is lured to toll on the
Hollywood movie lots. but he Is con.
tinually returning either to Broadway
or to his college professor chores in
the Carolinas.
Green's newest stage work is The
Lost Colony" an outdoor musical
drama and historical spectacle. which
will open July with a cast Of 100 in
the amphitheater at Roanoke Is
land. N. c.
Produced in connection with the
350th anniversary of the founding OF
the first English colony in America
this will be the second season Green's
play has been presented at Roanoke
Island. where audiences totaling 10O,-
600 persons saw it last summer. Played
IN both dialogue and choral songs. it
tells the story Of Sir Walter Raleigh's
Colonial settlers who landed on these
shores in 1887 and vanished mysteri.
ously two years later
Another returning playwright is
Lynn Riggs, who came into Broadway
prominence at just about the same
time that Green did. That was when
his Green Grow the Lilacs" was a
Theater Guild hit and headed Franchot
Tone for stardom.
Riggs, who hasn't had play since
his "Russet Mantle" of two seasons
ago. will be back this fall with two of
them which he wrote in between his
Hollywood duties. One is a comedy
called "A World Elsewhere" and the
other is one in serious vein called
THE Year of the Pillar"
Arthur Kober, who has toiled most
successfully during the past few years
in the Hollywood manuscript mills,
will return East at the end Of this
summer with another new play, this
one about a school professor. 1t will
be produced by Marc Connolly, who
also staged Kober's highly successful
comedy. Having Wonderful Time" of
two seasons ago.
And, here Is happy justice. for
Koioer labored around Broadway as a
theatrical press agent for more than
five years, and was never able to per-
suade any of his producer bosses that
he could write plays. So he wrote a
number Of humor magazine articles
that were collected and published In
book form
On the strength of this Kober land
ed writing job in Hollywood studios,
and went West, whereupon his erst-
while bosses on Broadway rushed to
lure him back to their staffs, but this
time as playwright. Now. although
an ahiuent Hollywood scenarist, Kober
occasionally takes holiday to bring
q new manuscript back to Broadway.
Other playwrights. such as Elmer
Rice, Robert E. Sherwood, s. N. Behr-
man and George S. Kaufman, also
frequently abandon the talkie work
benches, but they come back not only
to write manuscripts for the Broadway
stage, but they also double as pro-
ducers and directors themselves.
For instance. Playwright Rice soon
will be on his way back from Mexico
City to stage new play about Abra-
ham Lincoln this fall Sherwood is
the author