Evening star., 1945-05-31

ldSIllOIldOle drawing room, Will pr
be, and more than likely such places
as Washington and Boston will see
it before Broadway.
Mr.. Lonsdale was last represented
here and in New York with a typi-
cal piece of Lonsdale writing. Not
a Love Story" he called it with
light-hearted cynicism. The setting
was the inevitable drawing room,
ever so handsome, and it was occu-
pied by the usual assortment of
sleek, case-hardened chaps and lac
quered ladies. All of them were as
sophisticated as college sophomores
think THEY are and virtually never
has so much mismating been repre-
sented in so small group of SEEM
ingly intelligent people.
1t looked altogether like a Ions
dale rewrite of 20 old Lonsdale plays
and the critics said so like fury. To
their chagrin-it was season in
which critics lived in a constant
state of chagrin - Not a Love
Story" ran merrily along for
months. The reviewers were left
only with the Wistful explanation
that it was because Roland Young
and Margaret Lindsay were in the
cast. Or sometimes they would just
say "Oh, WE'LL" or something that
sounded like "Oh, we'll"
The report that Mr.. Lonsdale has
written serious play, therefore, is
calculated to make some of his old
followers, especially the sluggish
ones, sit up and take notice.
His hero is said to be an American
soldier and the locale of his play in
NorthernScotland. We cannot think
of two elements farther removed
from the ones the playwright used
for so many years. Gives us a feel
ing OF expectancy.
In writing about love under such
a whimsically contradictory title
as Not Love Story" Mr.. Ions
dale was not without his dignified
precedent 1t had been done Just
the season before by Philip Barry.
In the play he wrote for Katharine
Hepburn, Mr.. Barry decided to call
1t Without Love" The Indifferent
passerby might have jumped to the
conclusion that here was play
having nothing to do with the mat
ing instinct. In such a case. he
would have been completely wrong.
1t had to do with virtually nothing
else.
1t is now movie, starring Kath-
arlne Hepburn again, this time with
Spencer Tracy as her co-star.
When it comes up for review one
of the things we shall say of it is
that Donald Ogden Stewart, who
did the adaptation, made a better
thing of it than it was originally.
1t is not always that one can
say that of movie adaptations of
witty dramas. Fact is, it is not very
often. Makes saying it rather fun.
**
Some day, of course, it will have
to end, this business of the Shore
ham bringing in one dance team
after another, with the succeeding
one as good as that which Just left.
1t started some time ago with the
De Marcos. Then Gardner Moore
and Maxine Lowe came to the
happy conclusion that when Sally
and Tony had to leave-her hair-do
we thought almost as sensational
as her dancing-that Rosario and
Antonio should dance here. Con-
stantly packed Blue Rooms thought
so too, night after night.
After that, what team? 1t was
simple for the maestri of the Shore
ham. Who else but Mary Raye and
Naldi, who are as different as they
are completely up to the Blue Room
standard.
The only ones left that we can
think of are Mario and Floria, the
team that Harry Anger brought
first to Washington at the Earle
and whose last engagement here
was at the Troika. After that,
Mario went into the Army, from
which he subsequently was dis
charged for back injury.
The team is dancing again, how
ever. Mario needs just a little