Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-04

A4O Ot4AOA VIVIAN Ava 4Se SAAAO W W.
Miss Barry is a human rela
that one does not expect to meet
in reporting drama. Playwrights.
directors, actresses. especially ac-
tresSes. yes. But not specialists
in human relations. These are
conducted in this trade without
expert counsel on the old trial
and error basis. Despite all the
trying and erroneous experiences
it has led to, the practice has
survived.
Until Miss Barry.
Il X X \
Miss Barry with whom we ate
almondined sole at the Raleigh
is a learned one, as both her pro-
feSSion and her eXecutive-type
SpectacleS intimate. She turned
out not to be awesomely learned,
however. She was as tentative
about meeting a critic as a critic
was about meeting her. possibly
even more so. A great leveler,
StrangeneSS.
Miss Barry is here because she
IS suddenly on the payroll Of
United Artists in connection with
the film, Act Of Love-" which
opens at the Palace tomorrow.
A vast complex Of human re-
lations in involved in Act Of
Love-" It deals with love, sim
full love if you insist upon calling
a spade a spade, misunderstand-
ing, loneliness, the chaotic i'm
pact of war upon emotions. and
ever so many other aspects Of
wartime life.
This is where Miss Barry
comes in. She learned a whop-
ping lot about this very kind Of
human relations as a Red Cross
field director during World War
II. United Artists thought she
might have something interest
ing in the way Of background to
pass on in connection with the
specific case in the picture.
When the idea was proposed
to her Miss Barry gave it some
skeptical thought and decided
maybe United Artists was right.
Actually" she says, II found
the picture deals with a subject
that has always interested me,
professionally and personally.
That subject. broadly, is sin. I
am against sin, which I hope
goes without saying, but I am
also against the extreme price
exacted of those who are not un-
mitigated sinners.
''I like the script Irving Shaw
wrote for this film. He does not
exonerate the French girl and
the American soldier, the key
characters. But he does make
clear that they are true and ten
der lovers with the highest aspi-
rations for their emotion. He
makes equally clear how the con-
ditionS of war Illustrate their
every decent hope.
HE writes of an affair that is
Infinitely more than an affair.
He writes of it with pity for the
victims and with pity. too. for
the collateral characters who
contributed, through misunder-
standing. so much to the total
torment Of the lovers"
Miss Barry, who dealt with
many similar cases behind her
Red Cross desk between 1941 and
1945, is convinced that Shaw
missed almost none Of the subtle
shadows Of the films case record.
She has a social scientists adj
miration for the understanding
that went into his script.
She wishes she could earn as
much understanding, by being
equally convincing, on the sub
ject of her association with the
promotion of the film.
I've taken a lot of rubbing, u
she admits frankly. from my
fellow professionals, and from
critics. They want to know what
I am doing promoting q movie
Well, I'm not entirely sure. HUI
man relations are my field, how
ever. and I have always had an
academic interest in this kind of
public relations.
GAS for just what I am doing.
no doubt I will know more later. I"
Is the job more interesting
than studying worker attitudes
and some of the psychologist as
poets of security in highly SenSi-
tive industrial plants, a field
with which she is vastly more
familiar than movie promotion
Not a bit. Human relations
interest Miss Barry, everywhere
and anywhere.
\
BULLETIN BOARD: Special
newsreels of the shooting out
break in the House Of Repre-
.sentatives are now being shown
at the Metropolitan and Ambas-
sador theaters They show
the capture Of the Puerto Rican
assailants and the rushing of the
five wounded Congress members
to the hospital Sidney Lust's
FL. C~.:..