The Wilmington morning star., 1940-07-27
Man bout

By George Tucker

nlgnL we Went DdckStdSe az lle
Plymouth theater in west 45th
street and had a perfectly delight
full talk with an old friend of ours
Lyle Talbot. We hadn't seen him,
to talk to, since he was a leading
man in a midwest stock company,
so there was a lot of ground to
cover as we sat there chewing
over old times. That was ar in
teresting stock company, the Hart
man company, of Columbus, and
it gave four successive leading men
to Hollywood. The first was Ralph
Harold, still in pictures. D on n
Cook vas next, and Dom has just
finished a long run or Broadway
in ''Skylark" with Gertrude Law
renee, who got married in Connect
cut a couple of weeks ago. The
third leading man to jump from
Columbus to the films was Melvyn
Douglas, M finally Lyle himself.
Although there are only a
dozen plays on Broadway, Lyle's
is one of these. 1t is a comedy
called Separate Rooms" and that
it has gradually won its way into
box office favor has been some
thing of a personal triumph for
Talbot, and for Glenda Terrell and
Alan Dinehart, who are the three
principal players in the cast. The
show opened to melancholy notices
and this is nearly always fatal. But
since then at least Is plays, many
of them bearing the best names OF
the Broadway theater, have come
and gone.
1T looks like it will run through
the summer and into the winter"
Lyle said. Every week it G e t
stronger and stronger"
One of the girls in the Column
bus company, when Lyle was its
leading man, was a tall, serious
girl with long gangling legs who
used to like to walk in the rain and,
so many believed, be like Carlo:
Her name then was Jean Fullarton
and she was altogether sincere in
her devotion to the theater. Later
she too turned up in pictures and
made quite a success for herself
under the name of Jean M u i r.
Jean was a Scot, and as 1 remem-
Der her telling it, she came over
to this country when she was only
a lassie of seven. Her mother still
lives in New York and, for fun,
runs a tiny but very attractive
bookshop not far from Sheridan
So.
Lyle's dressingroom looks out
on a fi%re-escape that leads down
into 45th street. AS he talked he
said, Don't let me forget to close
that window when we go out. I've
been leaving it open lately, and the
other night while l was on stage
someone climbed up the frees
cape and rolled be for $125.
New York isn't always kind to
its visitors from Hollywood, and 1
asked Lyle if he had noticed-as a
general thing-the attitude of the
critics toward newcomers from
pictures.
cts like this" he said. Pm no
more a Hollywood actor than YOU
are. I'm a stage actor. They asked
me to go out to Hollywood and
make a few pictures, which 1 did.
But it was on the stage before
ever heard of Hollywood, and I've
never considered myself as any,
thing other than a stage actor. I
have noticed that attitude. That is
why l am SO gratifed with the
way Separate Rooms has turned
out. 1t is a sort of personal little
victory for Glenda and Alan and
myself. All of us have new Offers
to go back to Hollywood since this
play has caught on, but we ref1s.
ed. We are going to stay right
here and have some fun. We NAV
even go on the road with it after
the New York run, but that is look.
ing ahead" .