The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-03
ACtveSSS Role Brings AdUiCe-Seeking SevUiCensenS Vices To Stage Door
Ny R0sELLEN CALLAHAN NEA stan Writer

New York-Whcn tllmlnutlve ilm star Martha Scott signed a con. raet to play the title role ln the Broadway hit soldiers Wife" she ,ook on, without knowing it at the lime, the responsibility Of acting aS adviser and morale-bullder to all the servicemen'S wives within a .raln.rldc of New York,
 Sitting in her attraetively dec- 1rated dressing room, Martha Scott said that one Of the most oerplexinR problems these girls and their husbands faced was the financial Independence the wives had gained
 'The girls are torn between keeping their jobs after the war to help in those first hard years to set up home, or giving them as as soon as their men return The boys worry that their wives new-found independence may make difference in their relationship.
 "Of course they think of me as the wife in the play who was faced with the problem of a ca- reer vs, homemaker and the dif- flculty of adjusting herself to husband returned from overseas" she smiled, but, of course, can only advise them generally on such things. don't attempt to mold or adjust their lives" she added.
 AS she finished, knock came at the door It was a pretty dark haired girl who alphabetically ex" plained that she had just seen the show, and wondered where she could buy the pair of bright striped lounging pajamas which the actress wore In the first act when she welcomed her husband home from overseas. The girls husband was due back in the country for q 30-day furlough, and she felt that if she could look and act as the girl in the play did, she'd be sure his homecoming would be perfect.
 The wives aren't the only ones who ask the actress for help, From overseas come letters from many of tho girls husbands whc thank Miss Scott for the courage She has given their wives. But tell them to write more often they plead"
 The soldiers wife in the play 1t should be explained, wrote such provocative, amusing, revealing letters that her husbands buddy sent them to his publisher father to be put in book and it be- came a best-seller
 But it's SO hard to write lct- ter every day when nothing much happens" the wives complain to her.
 "It won't be-" Miss Scott as- sures them, If you'll keep a few pads around and jot down things as they occur to you, Keep one by the telephone. by your night table and in your purse. There's plenty that happens every day which will interest your husband They don't have to be world- shaking events, He wants to heal about the baby cutting his first tooth. about the new recipe you conceded, about the chair you bought from a junk dealer and reupholstered with a pair of drapes you found at the bottom of the trunk"
 Miss Scott, who has been made an honorary member of WIVES a group of servicemen's wives who organized to keep each other company while their husbands arc overseas--goes down to their can. teen very often on Sundays to help the girls serve supper to men passing through town. CanteenS, she believes, are as much a mo rale-builder for the girls as tho men. Tt keeps them in touch with what the men are going through and helps them to real ize the changes in viewpoint they must expect from their husbands when they come home" she says.
 This group, which has bought out the entire theater for two per formances of the play, tell Miss Scott they are planning to make their weight felt in maintaining peace after the war. They're studying international and na- tional politics as closely as their ration book Headlines.
 Politicians will find these girls will have a lot to say about the way the affairs of the nation are handled from now on," Miss Scot: is certain.