Evening star., 1938-05-24

ana CndC tne new issue OF March OF
Time" will open along with it.
''Vivacious Lady" is the new Ginger
Rogers picture which finds her in
volved in a comedy romance which
has been highly spoken of in some cir
cles, though not having seen it We
couldn't agree or disagree. Anyhow
Ginger is night club singer who mar
ries small town college professor.
situation not without its possibilities
as almost any one will agree. The
others in the cast are James Stewart,
Jimmy Ellison, Charles Coburn, Beu-
lah Bondi and Phyllis Kennedy.
The new March of Time" has to do
with the manner in which Short
change and short-weight artists steal
hundreds of millions of dollars from
housewives; typical Representative
at work, and England's bankrupt peers.
X x X 4
T IFE can be no end difficult. Some
- one is always taking us to task for
one thing or another. Now it is the
Civic Theater's director, F. Cowles
Strickland, who does not, as We half
way expected, see eye to eye with us
about ." one third Of nation
:" Mr.. Strickland submits brief
for the defense, starting out by ad-
dressing it Dear Mr.. Macarthur" a
matter of formality which has us
floored from the outset. Then he
goes on:
Your riview of a.. one third of a
nation -" brings up very interesting
point that Washingtonians will not be
interested in the Civic Theater's pres
ent production because it is about New
York. There is, of course. the horrible
possibility that you may be right.
1T was the opinion of the Board
of Governors of the Civic Theater
that Washington, in spite Of the fact
that it is some 200 miles from Broad
way, is not provincial city, that it
is in fact and spirit the Capital of
the Nation and that its citizens are
interested in national problems and
therefore they would be interested in
the New York version of problem
which you point out is not purely local
but also exists in Philadelphia and St.
Louis and Chicago and Washington
and probably in Keokuk and Kala-
mazoo and xenia for all you know.
Lest any one should leave the thea
ter comfortably SNUG that Washing
tonians need not be worried or con-
cerned we went to some pains to in
clude the Washington scene. We
hoped we dramatized the fact that
there are many Washingtonians who
are unconscious of the local problem,
which is in many ways more vicious
than the New York situation, since
bad housing has infected the entire
city and is not localized to a particu-
lar area.
(The living newspaper technique
condones the use of only partial
quotes. so it probably will be all right
with Mr.. Strickland if we pass over
a couple of paragraphs, because Of the
space situation.)
"Of course, as a critic and reporter
you may be right. 1t may be that
Washington audiences will be SNUG
and unmoved because the drama on
our stage is set in New York. If you
are, it will be too bad for :. one
third of nation : and too bad
for Washington.
X X X
THE deleted paragraphs have to do
with the belief by the Civic Thea
ter that 81. one third of a ma
ton :" is a good play and point
out that one does not dismiss the
Abbey Players because their plays deal
with Ireland, SO that we shall take
up first. &c. one third of a ma
ton :" to our way of thinking is
not a good play. 1t may be the most
vivid and exciting thing the Civic
Theater has done this season, but 1t
is no more a good play than is a STIR
ring film like "The River" one OF
the best things the cinema has done, a
good photoplay. There's difference
And, Mr.. Strickland, If you thought
it was a good play, would you have
tampered with it to add that WASH
ington scene? If you were doing.
say, ''The Plough and the Stars"