Evening star., 1952-10-13

has been hard for me to do aft
days"
Hart thinks it would be much
easier to be a novelist. He
neglected to learn that trade,
however. when he was young. . 4.
Most likely, he thinks. because
he has no knack for it. He
feels a writer who adopts the
theater as a career must face
frankly the fact that it is a
suicidal decision. Each play
a man writes is the hardest he
ever wrote. And each one
leaves him with a feeling that he
is totally inexperienced in the
art. j.. He knows better. but that
does not make him feel any
better about the road ahead.
The author of the play which
opens a fortnight at the NATIONAL
Theater tonight is no defender
of the traditional system of pro-
ducing plays a brief road
tryout, then Broadway. He
would not mind taking a couple
of Broadway pros and going into
some college theater to produce
a new play in an experimental
mood. But it is difficult to-
break away from the conventions.
even for the unconventional type
OF dramatist.
x \ + X
Permit Denied: England's de-
nial of a work permit to Jose
Ferrer that would permit him
to star in an Old Vic production
of THE Seagull" is not as ex-
citing in its implications as it
sounds. The Old Vic simply
is held to be a national theater,
supported by government funds
and created for British actors. i
Ferrer's appearance would make
it international. which is not
mentioned in the act which
created the company. Fer
rer's co-star in the project was
to have been Claire Bloom. the
girl in Charlie Chaplin's Lime
light" Efforts to relate the
Ferrer and Chaplin cases are re-
garded as far-fetched. But
the theater is full of far-fetchers
who see a link.
x y
People and Projects: Come Oc-
tober "a. The Fourposter" will
have proved itself a million dollar
exception to the rule that two
character plays are foredoomed. :.
The Jan de Hartog comedy of
marriage will be a year old on
Broadway on that date and will
have taken in more than 81
million at the boxoffice. .. :.
And there is no end in sight for
the husband-wife drama which
Betty Field and Burgess Meredith
inherited from Jessica Tandy and
Hume Cronyn. . The latter two
are on the road now on a 35-
weeks tour. The lovely Rose
mary Harris in "The Climate of
Eden" is playing her first pro-
fessional role in the drama. :.
When Moss Hart was holding au-
ditions for the play in London this
summer. she came with another
performer, merely as his reading
partner in the tryouts. Hart
took one look. and one listen, and
Miss Harris had a job. . Joseph
Conrad's 1.-THE Secret Sharer"
finally has found a film producer.
. After years of agitation on
the part of enthusiasts who hold
it is perfect screen material. E.
1t will be produced by RKO as one
part of a duo-drama. the other
item Of which will be Stephen
Cranes "The Birdie Comes to
Yellow Sky" James Mason
will play Conrad's dilemma-tossed
sea captain. Now If someone
will only make Saki's "Unbearable
Bassington." that will dispose of
an even more intense Illustration
on the part of story-loverS. E.
Nearest this "BaSsington" admirer
ever came to finding such a pro-
ducer was one who said: I'D make
it if only Laurence Olivier was
27." Olivier was plus about
II at the time.
y \ y y
More People, More Projects:
Peggy Lee who has hypnotized
millions with her songs, may in
crease her delighted victims num-
ber. She's been dabbling for