Evening star., 1939-02-05

no" Oops, sorry" replied Mr. Mar
made everybody who had said mo-
feel like rotter.
Now the boy was beginning to get
sore. He moved some of his fur
niture, but not the swimming pool,
in from Hollywood, put his 5-year-
old Tony and 6-year- Penelope
into school here, signed long lease
on an apartment and prepared for
battle.
The battle was pushover. One
Saturday night, he went on in "The
American Way" When the Monday
papers came out, there it was
small-town boy makes good in big
city, small-town boy makes big in
good city and. for the female inter-
viewers, big city makes good with
small-town boy.
So now he sits, II floors above the
East River, with a costly view OF
the hospitals and old-age homes on
Welfare Island, loving life very
much. This success puts him even
with his wife.
when Mrs. March married me,
she was a star on Broadway and I
was a punk kid scratching along"
he said.
This is the first hit show he has
starred in on Broadway in a long
career. However, there are couple
of flies in the ointment. The thea
ter is on Sixth avenue. There
wasn't any on Broadway big enough
for this great big show. And Mrs.
March was approached to take the
feminine lead before Mr.. March was
asked to take the male lead.
The Marches at home make
pretty picture. Mr.. March sits with
has feet sprawled all over q big
yellow couch, and Mrs. March
(Florence Eldridge), being first an
actress and then a housewife, re-
CARDS his feet and the yellow tapes
try with outward composure. Then
blond little Tony bounds into the
hall and interrupts an animated
discussion of the psychological ef-
fects of women's suffrage with a
yelp of May come in now?" After
that metaphysics goes out the win
dow.
But before that they had talked
about how nice it was to be on
the stage again, where performer
had a chance to feel like a creative
artist. I'm Hollywood" said Mrs.
March, "the director feels he ought
to do it all. They call you up and
say, Now, don't come down to work
with any preconceived notions OF
the part Well, now, that's just
what an actor wants-his notion Of
the part"
The way it worked here, George
S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the
authors, directors and producers,
sounded out Mrs. March last Novem-
ber ELECTION Day to be exact, and
Mrs. March came home and an
nounced casually, Freddie, we have
an appointment for tomorrow with
George and Moss to talk business" :"
That" said Mr.. March, was the
first l heard of it"
| 1t WASH t, however, tne laSt. FleI-
ty soon, kaufman and Hart were
up there reading the script for the
Marches. Mr.. kaufman, tall, thin
and somber. read the script all the
way through. Mr.. Hart, tall, thin,
somber and nervous. sat listening
In a corner He never said q word.
1T was just the kind Of thing
we wanted to do" said Mr.. March.
"A great, big, heart-breaking play
that would reach every American
D. A. R. and American Legion, G. I.
o. and Norman Thomas-and make
them think that, however we diner
among ourselves, the American way
is wonderful and worth holding
on to-"
Then rehearsals. There are $50
in the cast, huge scenes, 1,700 cos
tunes. The second act had to be
rewritten completely and then tink-
cred with.
"The whole business" they agree,
was marvellous. No screaming
Nobody pulling his hair out by the
roots. Every costume ready when