Evening star., 1955-08-20

It comes up this week, ther
movie called wishing Well In
workmen without in any way
interrupting them. OF course,
the workmen are not on the job
while the picture is running but
this might make an interesting
test If the Plaza cared to try it
some night.
AS its title might imply, If
anyone could care about that,
wishing Well Inn" is a terribly
distant, country cousin OF the
Grand Hotel" type Of movie.
Its setting is a tumbledown
hostel in a Welsh village to which
a variety of uninteresting hui
mans bring themselves and their
problems. Their common idea.
of course, is to toss coin into
the hotels well, make the wish
of their hearts and live happily
ever afterward.
The point of all this Is that
what the world needs is faith,
which is undoubtedly true
enough. What it also needs,
however, is much more elo-
quent expression of this need for
faith than that represented by
wishing Well Inn
The pictures approach to its
theme is one of simple-minded
cheerfulneSs. This attitude is
most energetically represented
by the village postman who
doubles as the inns handyman
In his off duty hours. One by
one, he learns what the guests
problems are, then provides So
lutions in the form of quiet little
talks or work that will take the
sufferers mind of himself.
His formula works just fine
for the characters on the screen
but one of the characters sitting
out in the house left the Plaza
feeling 17.9 times as miserable as
when he entered.
4 4 4
GREEN THUMB: 1t may have
been that he was about to romp
In Arden Forest as leading man
In "As You Like 1t" at Olney,
but we got on, the subject Of
gardening with William Prince
over cup of coffee. Not ell
actors have gardening stories.
you can be sure, but Mr.. Prince
is exceptional in this respect, too.
II once had a penthouse, he
told US. "the most modest pent-
house ever called by that name.
The only impressive thing about
1t was the terrace, but it had
a0-feet of window boxes. That's
something.
THE only trouble with the
window boxes was that they had
no soil in them. I was not going
to be frustrated by that, espe-
cially after a friend of mine told
me where I could get some free
topsoil. The spot he pointed
out. with the assurance the owner
wouldn't mind. was back of a
seed store.
$50 I set to work. For a week,
! filled basket after basket with
dirt. lugged it up to the apart
ment house. and dumped it into
the boxes. When they were all
filled, / naturally felt grateful.
especially to the seed store man
who owned the dirt. So, went
to him not merely to buy the
seeds but to thank him for the
topsoil.
What soil. he wanted to
know. and when I told him. he
could not have been more pain
fully aStoniShed. That soil, he
assured, would not grow weeds.
He couldn't have been more right,
but what do you do after Juggling
dirt for 90 feet of window boxes.
What did, on his suggestion.
was to try chemicals. I did,
and I ended up with a jungle. a
wicked looking jungle that l
almost never looked at"
Mr.. Prince had to leave at
this point to take UP his work in
Arden forest where native could
not have been more at home.
X X
SATURDAY SUMMARY: Oh
ney's closing play, opening next
Tuesday. will be reminder of
what a cheerful fellow William
Saroyan used to be This, Of
course, is THE Time Of Your