The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1938-11-04

ting up an amateur entertainment.
Robert Sherwood was just an added
starter, but he
Gay or Staid, the show. He is
0teotS o"oW inches tall, of
lath-like dimensions and has trick
of undulating both his chest and his
Adams apple at the same time,
when he sings. To hear him sing,
"When the Rob-Rob-R obin Comes
Bob Bob Bobbin'," undulating
through a full octave, and Tapping
his long arms, is rare entertain
ment. He could have filled the the
aters that way if he hadn't become
playwright.
With all his gift for foolery,
his is the "weltschmerz" Of
shy, sensitive, thoughtful man,
and his are the peculiarly civil
lized qualitie- which enabled
him to portray "Abe Lincoln in
Illinois" with insight and fidelity
which have brought the hearth
est critical salvO of years and
many cries of "the great Ameri-
can drama at last" Some of the
reviewers see here thrilling
"play within play" in the
skilled and timely dramatizatiOn
of Lincoln's timeless utterance
at just this moment of national
wavering and soul-searching.
MIR. Sherwood may be man Of
destiny.
He would dismiss all that with a
slight thoracic undulation and per-
haps modest quip. He is the least
pontifical of men, as he proved
when he was a drum-major in the
war. Unable to make the grade in
our army, he joined the Canadian
Black Watch. They put him in kits,
gave him shake and huge baton
and enjoyed him tremendously as
he quickly mastered the necessary
twirling and stick-tossing stunts.
But they also used him in plenty of
fighting, in several hot engage
ments. The trouble was that the
trenches were only six feet deep and
he was constant lure to enemy
sharpshooters. He was gassed and
sent to the hospital for a long stretch
about two feet beyond the end of
the cot. He read great deal, and
decided to be an author.
Demobilized, he connected with
Vanity Fair as dramatic critic, did
a two weeks turn as reporter in
Boston, joined the staff Of Life and
later became its editor. He was
born in New Rochelle, in 1896, and
left Harvard to get into the war.
This is his eleventh play, not
counting "Tom Ruggles' Sur
PRISE" which he wrote at the
age Of eight. His fame as
playwright began with "The
Road to Rome" which he wrote
i'm 1927, "just to lift couple Of
mortgages" as he put it. In
1922, he married Miss Mary
Brandon, the actress. He has
an apartment in Sutton place,
New York, and a modest estate
in Surrey, England, where he
has been helping Alexander KOr-
da produce films.
NJ ANAGER EDWARD JOHN
1vA SONS musical autarchy at the
metropolitan comes along slowly,
and we aren't yet quite musically
self sustaining.
Met Idkes0 For the opening
Singer From of its new sea-
n.s-.pr..A son, the Met an
F0toto oc" nounced IA new
singers. There is one American
contralto, II Germans, Austrians,
Italians and Swedes and two new
American male singers, John Car
ter and Leonard Warren.
Over in our ROckland county,
N. Y, we have been quite ex-
cited over popular local
farmer" as one Of the parochial
sheets had it, making the grade
at the Metropolitan. He is the
26-year-old Mr.. Carter, who has
been growing beans and pota-
toes, singing at his work, near
New City. MIR. Carter, born in
New York city, studied engi-
neering at New York university.
The depression turned him to
vaudeville and later to his joint
cultivation of voice and garden ,
truck. He and MIR. Warren were
winners in the MetrOpOlitan's
addition of last March.
Mr.. Warren, also 26, was born in
the Bronx, son Of a Russian-born
fur dealer. He felt constraint in
turning his big voice loose in town,
but let it run in the big north woods,
with his father on fur-buying trips.
That was how he first knew he had
a voice. He studied at Columbia
university and night school.
80, @Consolidated News Features.
ag~a WNU Service.
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