Evening star., 1955-11-13
By JAY CARMoDY

In the literal sense Of the.
phrase, Mrs. Carolyn Green
would be the new playwright
most likely to be welcomed by
the critics with open arms.
And, very likely, in the figura-
tive sense too when her play
gets to New York.
Mrs. Green, q Scranton, Pa,
wife and mother. is the perfect
antidote for those wan,
Wretched drama writing hui
mans who have been through
the mill Of getting a first play
ready for Broadway.
Undoubtedly, she has lived
more radiant days than amy
of those in the last few weeks.
but the author of 4 Janus, !,
now at the National, Is survive
ing the circuitous route to
Broadway most attractively.
This. to be candid. is not really
to be expected Of such first-
time. or even tenth-time,
travellers but when one meets
Mrs. Green, 1t seems not at all
surprising.
She appears to have q
blithely healthy way Of keep
ing life In balance in what In
siders know is the most unbal-
anced area Of human activity.
It's Exacting
@If you asked me right
nov" she said at luncheon the
other day. 4 might say that I
would never write another
play. But this perhaps is lack
Of sleep. living unnecessarily
on tea and toast, and living
too closely too endlessly with
Janus i"
Nevertheless, it has been
stimulating and exciting also.
Moreover, Mrs. Green is sure
q new playwright could not
ask more congenial collabora-
tors than those involved in her
sparkling, wittily barbed ro-
msntic comedy which may
very well prove TO be Broad
ways most delightful play of
1866. she could not hope
for . better cast than Mar
garet SULLIVAN, Robert Pres
ton, Claude Dauphin, Robert
Emhardt and Mary Finney, 8
more poised producer and di-
rector than Alfred De Liagre
and Reginald Denham, respec-
lively.
Mrs. Green who makes her
own clothes, keeps house,
plays tennis. gardens. reads,
mothers three children and IS
happily the wife Of q vice
president Of q salt company, is
q little surprised To find her.
self d playwright.
How did this come about?
Little Theater Did II
"When we moved to scran-
ton from Long Island. eight
years ago. / became interested
In little theater IN our subir-
ban area. My experience IN
theater had been long and en-
thusiastic, but from a specta-
tor standpoint only. In Scran-
ton I found myself directing
our group and, you know how
It is. after q few Of these light
comedies, you begin to feel
anybody could write one. All
least, ! began to feel that way
Mrs Green found this d
gross deception. 1t proved
anything but easy to write 4
comedy, but she wrote four
the last Of which was Janus =
She sent 1t to Aldrich and
Myer, the producing Richards.
They liked It, took an option,
kept 1t q year and one-half,
found 1t beyond their casting
powers at the moment, and
reluctantly surrendered 1t
again to the author.
Mr.. De Liagre took over next.
with results that National
audiences are enjoying the
play more than anything that
has come their way this season.
A Double Life
If you have not heard, for
shame, Janus" is q play about
q pretty, anarchiaily illogical
woman who lives a brilliantly
double life. One half Of this is
as the wife Of Seattle ship-
ping tycoon. the other as the
affectionate collaboration Of
French teacher at Andover
with whom she writes best
Gsler historical novels.
s-zhis ~ q recklessly funny