Evening star., 1943-03-07
A Businessman
Writes a Play
Called This Rock
Some Question Arises
Whether Mr.. Faust
Should Have Retrained
(Associated PreSS.)
NEW YORK

VASAA 00A 1dO6NAA 1CAt bAlC OdllA
Ing business to devote his full tim.
to painting and when the story gen.
orally became known, chiefly
through Somerset Maugham's novel
The Moon and Sixpence," bushes.
men with artistic urgings every.
where took heart.
Few, of course, were likely tt
abandon home and family as Gau.
guin had done or were willing to
endure the poverty he willingly &C.
cepted, and none certainly possessed
his genius. But the romantic glow
Of the light which publicized his
person more than his work touched
the soul Of every broker, manufac-
turer, banker or accountant with an
unfinished picture, symphony or
novel.
It was like a minor miracle in its
revelations Of what lay hidden be-
hind the grud exterior of the fresh
produce merchant or the starched
shirt bosom Of the manufacturer of
steel filing cabinets. No longer need
he fear the gibes of his own class
Henceforth the poet, composer
painter or playwright could be re-
spectacle.
Oil and Playwriting.
Luckily, moreover, he need not
desert his first calling while he
f1irted openly with fame and even
fortune. A Secretary Of the Treas
ury could have his little compost
tions played over the radio. A staid
commuter to Wall Street could study
sculpture and the banker fret over
his sonnets.
In such q contemplative state of
mind one may approach This
Rock" the comedy starring Billie
Burke and produced by Eddie Dowl-
ing 1T the Longacre Theater. For
the author Is Walter Livingston
FAUST Of Short Hills, N. j., vice
president of Socony Vacuum, for
some time q resident of England and
q man in whose soul burns the white
lame Of creation.
This Is not Mr.. Faust's first essay
at playwrighting, nor is 1t likely to
be his last. Before he completed
This Rock" and saw it through q
tryout at little theater in Sum-
init, N. j., last summer, he had
written q score of plays, couple
of novels, and at least a half dozen
short stories. This Rock is his first
play On Broadway, and its stay is
doubtful despite its generous back
ing.
It would be idle to argue that Mr..
Faust should stick to the oil business
and leave playwriting in more COM
petent hands, especially today when
his right to spend his time and
money in the theater is one of the
things the democracies are so hotly
defending.
Dictated by Conscience?
It would be to the point, however,
to inquire why q man as astute as
Eddie Dowling saw fit to bring ''This
Rock" to New York unless his con-
science bothered him about Billie
Burke, since 1t was he who induced
Miss Burke to leave Hollywood and
return to Broadway after an absence
Of II years.
The play concerns the reactions
Of group Of English children evacu-
ated from London's east end to the
home Of wealthy country family
and the reactions Of the family itself
to what would appear to be mad
del1ing intrusion. The love interest
the RAP mechanic who shepherds
the children eventually marries the
daughter of the family-is SO trans
parent as to be silly; and the po-
1itical economic views set forth both
by the young lady and the mechanic
are puerile in exposition.
Miss Burke has been sympathet-
ically received and perhaps would
have acquitted herself well had she
not brought from either Hollywood
or the radio an irritatingly f1uttery
manner. Nicholas Joy, Zachary
Scott, Jane Sterling and Alastair
Kyle are the other principal actors.