Evening star., 1939-12-10

can QIdIIld, anu III IIlcIl pldyeu
supper intermission. Now he plays
HIS, with no recess to dine
With Mady Christians still the
queen of Denmark and Katherine
Locke the blond and lovely Ophelia,
1t is still much the same Hamlet"
company that this vital actor, who
was the Romeo to Katherine Cor
nell's Juliet, assembled more than a
year ago.
And the fact that he can come in
on Broadway and win cheers at the
moment is an achievement, for
Broadway, seeking surcease from
gloomy news abroad, is definitely on
the comedy upswing.
Top hits are Life With Father"
"Skylark," "The Man Who Came to
Dinner" Margin for Error" "The
Time of Your Life" THE Philadel-
phia Story" "See My Lawyer" and
Mornings at Seven"-all comedies.
Life With Father" is hilarious
dramatization of Clarence Days
book, the picture of well-meaning
husband and father who is contin-
ually thwarted by his just-as-well-
meaning wife and several children.
He loves the confusion they cause
him, but he likes to scream about it.
THE Man Who Came to Dinner"
the newest comedy from the pens of
George S. kaufman and Moss Hart
and which is crossing enough money
to pay off several war debts, is a
humorous profile of Alexander Woll-
colt, that noted raconteur and wit
of newspaper columns and radio.
Monte Wooley, the ex-Yale profess
sor, is doing hilarious job with
his red beard in the title role on
Broadway, and Clifton Webb, who
is lean where both Woollcott and
Wooley are plump, is to play the
role in the Chicago company. And
somewhere you can expect Wooll-
colt himself to appear in the role,
the best guess now being IN the
West Coast company.
Katharine Hepburn continues to
triumph in Philip Barry's comedy,
"The Philadelphia Story and the
probable answer that this hasn't
already been translated into the
movies is that the determined Miss
Hepburn bought the movie rights
for herself and is waiting until she
has finished this, her first Broad
way stage hit. before she starts the
cameras turning
Gertrude Lawrence has hit in
Samson Raphaelson's comedy OF
wife trying to revive her husbands
romantic feelings on their 10th
wedding anniversary, in "Skylark.'
It is another glib domestic play
that finds its chief charm In MISS
Lawrences adroit humor, such as
In those we'll timed moments when
she quits being a drawing room
comedienne and gives the contrast
OF being straight burlesque.
In Margin for Error" Clare
Boothe detours from the kidding
she did of Gone With the Wind
in her comedy. Kiss the Boys Good
bye" to become semi-serious and
make fun of the Nazis. The hu-
morous ridicule she pours upon bund
leaders and their followers is de-
vastating to the Nazis and fun
making to Broadway audiences.
Paul Osborn. who wrote that
splendid comedy called "On Bor-
rowed Time" has returned with
one not so warming in mornings
at Seven" But, it seems to be a
hit and is a comedy about a half
dozen old people-all up in their
fifties and sixties and all are in
laws-and their chief troubles are
founded upon which in-law will live
upon which in-law in their old age.
Dorothy Gish, the pert and dimpled
Gish sister, heads very good cast
which Dwight Deere Wiman has
assembled.
While on the comedy field, let it
be recorded that "Hellzapoppln,
the Olsen and johnson revenue
which this department said would
fail within a fortnight when 1t
opened. is now well into its second
wear. But, Tobacco Road always
a favorite of this corner, has just
gone into its seventh year.