Evening star., 1943-03-28
He Found a PLAY in His Own Life
Emlyn Williams Did Rare Thing an Autobiography
In Drama Form in The Corn Is Green
BY Jay Carmody.

When American theatergoers sit down to count
the blessings of English eatergoersan nfrequent
but not unheard of thingthe most precious of them
very often is NoeCoward at least among the oderns
Mr. Coward is so expert, witty, charming and so
generally ingratiating that he often is regarded as
significant too. Beside him, the others appear to be
skimpiy gifted. They merely some people named
Prestly, Morgan, williams, Bride etc. They are oc-
casionaly represented by play over here but fire.
quenty the plays do not get very far in either time
space and the authors regulations are correspondngy
limited Cowards plays the other hand run forever
When the original cast abandons them they are taken
up by some of the most unoriginal casts in human
history those of the little heaters everywhere 1t gives
Mr.. Coward a promise of Immortality which many
serious students of the heater extremely dubious
In England, where Mr. Coward either is much
admired by every by the very Shaw he mmics
he is not universally regarded the significant
OF the playWrights OF his generation.
Williams Deemed More Likely
To Put His Mark on Time.
Another versatile young man is deemed more
likely to leave his mark more deeply upon his time
The playwright in question is Emlyn Williams whose
The Corn Is Green" returns to the National tomorrow
night.
Williams, small dark, hawk-faced young Welsh
man. is also extremely versatile theater craftsman
Like Coward, he writes his plays, acts in them,
and is creator to be reckoned with their prodLc
ton and direction Between his self-sponsored
In the theater, he will act in anybody eses movie or
play when he deems the part sufficiently interesting
and has the time available Possessed of boundess
energy, or its equivalent in restessness, he
already has crowded couple of average lifes works
into his relatively few years.
Williams drama is much more like that of the
Irish playwrights than of the English especially of
Coward His with the of the 1oulv
the real If unlovely people that he in his days
Wales and in those backwash haunts where life is
dramatic in its harshness.
Like Coward, Williams is not altogether unettereo
in his human interests although they opposite in
nature. The psychopathc criminal, just the plain
psychotic when the criminal is instantly available
is Williams favorite character He quite fond of
him as Coward is of the witty male and female butter
flies. Out of particularly good mental case, he
make play such Might Must Fall That the
drama of extremely agreeable young whose only
lapses from graciousness when he choked
to DEATH 1t the play which first introduced
Williams to this country. 1t also was the play which
so fascinated the cnema's Robert Montgomery
that he could not rest until he played the role which
Williams acted in the stage version incidentally, It
the movie whose merit stupidity unreCognized
by this reviewer that he still bushes. when it is mem
tioned.) -.. --
Play sThat Rare Thing, =
Dramatic Autobiography. i-~.-..~ t-- -
Charming murdesers and other moral eccentrics
could not hold Williams interest exclusively. however
1t implicit alwaysin his background in the mining
country of Wales that some day there would be, q
play, quite there has been 50 much OF realistic dram
sprung from the soil a. Ireland ~
The drama was long in CESSATION in the mind
of Williams 1t finally evolved in THE Corn Is Green
which made its first appearance in this country two
years ago-openng, incidentally, at the National and
setting fire to which, heretofore, had been
a protracted hzzle. The play brought to this
country by Herman Shumln after it had been great
success in England with Williams and Dame May
WI,ittv in the nrncipal