Evening star., 1942-03-22
Theater Has
More
Bad Week
New Offerings
Fail to Please
One Critic
By SheiIah Graham.
NEW YORK.


The more plays I see. the more
movies I want to see. Yes, another
bad week in the theater And the
only future relief in sight is the
new John Steinbeck play. and maybe
If we all keep our fingers crossed
Katharine Hepburn and Philip
Barry will raise the deadly average
Of this seasons output of plays be-
fore the summer brings it to q
longed-for end.
In the past few evenings, Broad
way has been subjected to Johnny
2x4," called a melodrama by Row.
land Brown, and "Priorities of l942,"
a variety show presented by Cliff
ford c. Fischer. Both were ex-
tremely mediocre.
Johnny 2x4" takes place in q
cellar speakeasy in Greenwich Viii
lage, with the time given as 1926
to 1886 The staleness of the offer
ing had the same effect on this re-
viewer as would band of merry
makers from the twenties, now
grown to respectable parenthood,
wearing toupees over bald heads,
wicked cupid bow lips on painted
feminine faces, corsets over bulging
hiplines, plunging cautiously into
the old dreary routine of drunken
fun and frolic.
The story Of the speakeasy and
the gangster is as old as the speak
easy and the gangster. Many years
ago it was told extremely we'll in
the play Broadway" 1t has been
retold many, many times since then,
on the stage and on the screen. The
subject in fact has been very
thoroughly taken care of. So why
did you bring it up again, Mr.. Brown?
! The huge cast of characters in
cludes pretty singing blond, Eve
lyn Wyckof1, who has a ticket to
Hollywood written all over her at
tractive person; the Johnny of the
title, Jack Arthur, owner Of the
speak" Barry Sullivan, who is
too good looking to be a gangster,
and Isabel Jewell who plays a harlot
with the usual heart of gold. Miss
Jewell makes periodical trips to
Broadway in hopes of getting Holly
wood to sit up and take notice. II
that is really her object she is vast
ing her time in Johnny 2x4."
For Vaudeville Fans.
If you like vaudeville you may
like "Priorities of 1912" I have no
particular feeling one way or an
other on the subject. When the
actors are good I like them. When
bad. no. The brightest of the prior
tiles for this writer was the dane
ing of Paul Draper. Or maybe he
only seemed bright in comparison
to the dull moments in the show, Of
which there were too many.
Most of the stuff, even from the
usually amusing lips or Willie How
ard, Lou Holtz and Phil Baker, was
old turkey. Can it be that the joke
books filling the libraries of come
dians have been used so often that
a first night audience filled with
relatives and friends of the manage
ment found difficulty in producing
more than a (genuine) snicker at
the antics and wordage of the above
trio of gentlemen.
Karen Comes to New York.
A more pleasant topic Of the
theater is Karen Morley, late of the
movies and now engaged in the difn-
cult but pleasant task of collecting q
stock company for q season in q
summer theater on Long Island or
New York.
The last time saw Miss Morley
was on a sound stage at Metro in
Hollywood, where she was playing q
role in Pride and Prejudice" She
was not happy. Before Karen's mar
riage to Director Charles Vidor, about
nine years ago, she was big name in
the cinema world. She was q good
actress, too.
Karen wanted d child. She de-
cided that being a mother and q
full-time wife was more important
than the best of careers. After her
son was born-he is now 8 years
old-she turned q deaf ear to good
(see GRAHAM, Page ESD