Evening star., 1952-06-25

current attraction at the Olney T.
Of summer theater production.
which is about the height of a
small cocker spaniel, Taylor's
point Is made humorously clear.
It was done with much more polish
In New York in the original Rogers
and Hammerstein production but
this was two seasons ago and be-
sides Olney is closer.
AS the French grandfather
wisely observes at one point in
"The Happy Time," nothing is
perfect. This leaves open to de-
bate the question of what degree
Of imperfection is tolerable but
last nights Olney audience seemed
TO feel that the present company
was within reasonable limits.
4 \ X
Taylor's comedy, based upon the
stories of the Ottowa Bonners
written by Robert Fontaine, is
pretty funny. Nothing in it will
come as a surprise to any one who
managed to survive adolescence
but watching young Robert (BibD
Ronnar stumble into manhood is
q way to pass a summer evening.
At the age of IL, he is caught in
q crossflre between his Scottish
Presbyterian mother and four
scapegrace male Bonnars. Mother,
q reasonable woman, who has
learned from the Bonnars herself.
is of the notion that boys should
emerge slowly into manhood. The
Catapult method is favored by the
men of the household. This is the
one that prevails in the case OF
Bibi who, in moments of major
significance, is profoundly more
French than Scotch.
+
The household in which Bibi
suddenly is confronted by the
problem Of growing up is never
dull.
In addition to the reluctantly
liberal figure of the boys pretty
mother, the home abounds in in
teresting humans, more carrica-
lures than characters. There is
Jacques. Bibi's father, a gently
made vaudeville violinist (this was
In the 20s before vaudeville died
and was buried on television).
Beyond Jacques, there is Uncle
Louis, the older BOnnar brother
who is famous for carrying around
a water-cooler full of wine and
also for quitting work the minute
his wife limited she would like
career. Uncle Louis is a lovable
creature and SO is Young Uncle
Oesmonde. Desmonde is a travel
ing salesman. young handsome
and classically a Casanova.
To these two highly qualified
instructors. fate has seen fit to
give Bibi also a grandfather, who
apparently is combing Ottawa for
a strange bed to die in. He has one
firmly fixed idea of the proper
way for a man to bid adieu to
this endlessly inviting world. No
one is going to divert him from it.
The Bonnar's living room, which
serves as Bibi's classroom for the
three acts of 'The Happy Time, 3"
Is an extremely lively place. It
really begins to seethe when kind
hearted papa brings home from
the theater lovely girl who has
just been fired from an acrobatic
act. Mignonette is her name and
her first enthusiastic kiss for Bibi
shakes him to his Bonnar roots
and implies an ever greater impact
upon Uncle Desmonde when he
comes home later.
The implication is fully justified
by subsequent events. Yet, spirited
as these are, they are not enough
to string play out for three acts.
Taylor has others to fall back
upon for this purpose. Uncle
Louis drinking is quite an asset,
especially in a touching scene in
which he tries to be a proper
French father and marry his
daughter off to a bank clerk he
has grossly overestimated.
Another incident which injects
the mood of a wild vaudeville
slapstick into the proceedings in
wolves Grandpa's collapse and his
recovery in burst of indigna-
ton that he is being underrated.
A fit Of filling out is accom-
plished by injecting a twisted
toothed brat next door, a row at
school over Bibi's circulation of
old copies of La Vie Parisienne
and the revelation that Mignonette
is the kind of girl who will yet
make a honorable man out of
DeSmonde.
\ \
A lad named Warren Berliner
Is the Bibi of the Olney's Happy
Time" and he makes workman
like job of carrying the Bonnal
banner along the traditional path
His stiffest competition for the
distinction of being the most in
gratiating Bonnar is provided BY
Jacques Aubuchon's tragi-comic
figure Of -bibbing Uncle Louis
Robert de Cost is the gentle
g. .