Evening star., 1952-08-13

Miss Emerson who has been
and critics on her television progr;
from in more than a monetary WI
cerning taste in her choice Of play
better than many Of her sex whoI
cast their lovely shadows over our
summer evenings.
Miss Emerson'S selection is ]. B.
Priestley's Dangerous Corner" al
drama that has never stunned an
in-season audience with its bril-
lance but one that is about the
correct weight for summer. I'll
raises the question of how much
truth should be told of the private
lives Of humans who are related
by blood, marriage, or the cir
cumstances of business and So
ciety.
This always has been a good
question and Miss Emerson and
her fans can be reasonably glad |
that Priestley brought it up. tt
occasions a lot of probing CONVEX
Sation that reveals a great many
disconcerting things about out
wardly suave. well-dressed people.
ANY English playwright knows
these are the kinds that look most
dramatic In an attitude of squirm-
ing.
Priestley also scores somewhat
dramatically by falling back upon
the trick Of leaving one of the
more basic questions in Danger
Gus Corner" unanswered. Itsl
effect is something like that al
magician might create by going
out for a bottle Of beer just before
finishing the act of saving a
woman in half.
\ \ y
When Priestley slices life for the
purpose of writing a play, he
works around the lean, sophisti-
Gated area. He adheres rigidly to
this practice in Dangerous Cor
ner" in which his creatures are
literary types.
In one way or another, they are
identified with an apparently sue
cessful publishing house. The
suspicion Is that they are quite
like the characters in the books
they publish. They love to talk.
an occupational disease of writers,
and when it comes to toying with
ideas, they are as reckless as kids
with their first bicycles.
At a snug, intra-set party one
night the question is raised about
the truth in personal relations.
Before any one can stop it, the
publishing family's blue ribbon
skeleton whirls like a dervish into
the scene.
The skeleton in question is that
of a brilliant, reckless brother of
the publishing house owner who
killed himself year or so before.
A wad of the firms money was
missing at the same time and the
suicide naturally is linked with
the theft.
Well, not to get into the laby-
rinth Of it all and possibly also
spoil the fun of Miss Emerson's
faithful fans, it was not like this
at all. What the coroner never
found out included (a) that the
dead mag had been the lover of
his brothers wife; (b) that the
least suspected of the publishing
partners had really snatched the
cash: (c) that there was a very
shady relationship between the
dead man and junior male men,
ber of the firm, and I'd that Mar
tins death was not by a self i
inflicted gunshot wound.
Presumably the coroner never
lost his job but Priestley's expose ,
of his work certainly makes a
out of him.
*** ~
AS mystery writers are, Priestley ,
Is mysterious about his people in :
Dangerous Corner" He never :
makes it clear just who they are, :,
preferring to throw them instead !;
into an attractive mess in the !
middle of a country house drawing :
room.
Miss EmersonS role is that of !,
Olwen Peel. lovely young woman ;
who works for the publishing )
house and who happens to be in }
love with the brother whose wife :
was the dead mans mistress. She
either does not have much to say +
turing the first two acts of despairs +
Df making herself heard in a fam 3
lly that talks as much as this one. .
Her relatively few speeches, how +
ever, are quite telling and his atti- Z
tude of being the one who really |"
knows Is dramatically effective. q
The busiest character is that of n
Robert Caplan (John Forsythe) ,IC
brother of the dead man and the il
one who goes to work on digging y
the truth out of the others. It is
/ tough talkative role and in the -.