Evening star., 1940-03-10
Three Bring
Excitement
Broadway
George Cohan and
The Lunts Have
Plays Ahead
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK.

NEW x0ktGA.
At this ordinarily slack time Of
the Broadway theatrical producing
season there are two extremely busy
and exciting scenes. One is In
George M. Cohan's hat and the
other Is in the attic Of the Guild
Theater.
From Cohan's hat, which he has
long described as his ONCE, is COM
ing q new play, '"The Return of the
vagabond," which will be q sequel
to THE Tavern" II one is not of
the jitterbug generation '"The Vaga-
bond" will be a sentimental trade
mark, for that is the Cohan hit
which opened on Broadway in 1921,
a travesty on melodramas which
fingered as a hit for months. It had
a trademark catch line where the
hired man kept shouting, whats
going on here? What kind of a
night Is this? What's all the shootin'
fer?"
So Cohan is casting this new play
Of his, and Of course he will be
the vagabond, as he was in the orig
inal play. He still follows the Gus
tom Of the veteran managers Of
casting plays by wandering UP and
down Broadway until he sees an
actor he wants.
As for the Guild Theater attic,
that is where Alfred Lunt and Lynn
Fontanne are busy after cutting
short the long vacation they had
started on their rural estate near
Genessee Depot, Wis.
They are in the midst Of rehear-
sails Of Revelation and there are
several reasons that brought them
back to Broadway 50 soon after they
had been touring from coast to
coast. They really were tired, but
after 10 years Of travel they still
love touring.
Lunt thinks Seattle and Columbus,
Ohio, are exciting cities to play
because he found marvellous restau-
rants there. When away from the
theater Lunt is noted for his talents
as q cook, connoisseur of the
kitchen who produces dishes that
have frequently been quoted In a
gourmet's best 10 of the season.
Miss Fontanne's enthusiasm for
travelling is that 1t has enabled her
to learn the geography of America.
She Is = native Of England.
when we got into the lakes
region Of the Middle West" Lunt
said, Lynn became ecstatic and said
that she thought that Minnesota was
the most beautiful part of Texas
that she had seen. Which perhaps
will give an idea Of how she has
learned the geography Of the United
States"
Mr.. and Mrs. Lunt (Alfred and
Lynn cut short their vacation be-
cause Robert E. Sherwood had I'm
ished Revelation" q play about
Finland and its present war with
Russia. Lunt is directing the play
as well as acting the leading role,
and aside from those tasks he has
. deeper feeling in that Finland is
sort Of q second country to him.
His stepfather was . Finn and he
and Miss Fontanne have visited his
relatives-in-law there so often in
the past years that both Of them
feel almost as II it were their own
native land being attacked.
Sherwood, In Revelation" tells
the story Of Finland attacked with,
50 q glance at the Lunts' rehearsals
indicated, the fervor that he got
into his earlier play. Waterloo
Bridge" which dramatised the hor-
rors Of civilians In London being
bombed.
Sherwood, who wrote Reunion In
Vienna" and idiots Delight" for the
Lunts In previous seasons-as well
as following those with his Pulitzer
Prize winning Abraham Lincoln In
Illinois" to have found the
perfect combination Of playwright
and player.
Providence, Boston and Washing
ton will begin seeing the new play
late this month before 1t arrives on
Broadway.