Evening star., 1953-12-08


Confidential Clerk" with Ina c.
goes to Broadway. The National
is the theater, the opening date
January 25, and the booking for
two weeks.
BY the time it reaches here, the
latest of Eliot's London hits will
have had two and one-half weeks
of playing in New Haven and
Boston. It's Washington fortnight
will be Immediately prior to its
New York opening.
X x X
Mr.. Eliot's Olympian stature in
the worlds of literature and
drama makes it pretty certain
that THE Confidential Clerk"
will be the theatrical event of
the season.
This has been a great year of
theatrical events of the season.
'FTea and Sympathy" was the
first, followed by Kind Sir" and
the current 1.-THE Prescott Pro-
posals" Mr.. Eliot's international
prestige assures that he could
challenge these, big as they are,
on his own.
He will not have to do so, how
ever Producers Theater, COM
posed of Robert Whitehead,
Roger L. Stevens and Robert w.
Dowling, has supplied him with
strong reintorcements.
The strongest element of this
supplemental force is, of course,
Miss Ina Claire. 1t has been
seven years, although that is
hard to believe. since Miss Claire
retired to the serenity of pri-
vate life in San Francisco.
There she sat, poised and nom
professional, until she heard
that Mr.. Eliot had written a
play which so piqued her that
she sent a cable to English Pro-
ducer Henry Sherek, inviting him
to invite her to star in it.
Mr.. Sherek being the man he
IS. and Miss Claire being the
woman she is. the former leaped
to respond affirmatively.
Beyond Miss Claire and Mr..
Eliot, lie other prominent par
ticipants who suggest that "The
Confidential Clerk" has lavish
appeal to performers. Also in
the cast are Claude Rains, Joan
Greenwood. Aline MacMahon,
Douglas Watson, Robert Newton
and Newton Blick.
X X X x
Unlike the other London hits
spurted so hopefully across the
Atlantic this year-"The Little
Hut" and "Escapade" the most
notable-the Eliot play has in
controvertibly bright prospects.
American critics and audiences
are no more likely to disagree
on its merits than they were on
'.'The Cocktail Party" This last
Eliot work, which starred Alec
Guinness in the New York COM
pany, was more successful, con-
fusing and debatable than any
play in the last decade.
1t has been gone now for sew
eral seasons, but the controver-
Sialists have not forgotten it.
THE Confidential Clerk" will
have no such acrid impact.
There is virtually no mystery at
all about what it is about, as
there was in the case of it's
predecessor. This one is COM
edy - high, naturally - that is
concerned with the offbeat off,
spring of a prominent London
couple who were not always dis
Greet in their matings.
- Mr.. Eliot. the English critics
recorded of the instantly success
full effort, could not have been
more lucid if he set out to write
q play to atone for the myStify-
ing effect of The Cocktail
Party"
He is here no more or less than
a man amusing himself with the
spectacle of the sins of the par
ents being visited upon the
parents.
~ X Il
BULLETIN BOARD: Open a
Theater Guild play on Tues
day. instead of the traditional
Monday night. and there's a
problem. :. So, because I'm the
Summer House" opens at the
Shubert on Tuesday, December
Is, there's problem. Miss
Bess Davis Schreiner, an old
hand at solving this sort of
thing. disposes of it this way:
Monday nights regulars will be
accommodated on opening night
as usual, with Tuesday nights
subscribers being distributed
throughout the rest of the tive
weeks as they select subsequent
performances. Movie man
ayers already are thinking of
Christmas. e. First to announce
Its program is the K-B group.
-. All the houses in that chain
will be closed on Christmas Eve,
reopening on Christmas Day at 4
pm. For the six days prior,
the Macarthur will play a return