Critical Moments

At times there comes to even the most energetic the desire for peace, restfulness and quietness. If such an urge surges through your pulsing veins and you find yourself marooned in New York on a Saturday evening, I know a fine way of satisfying this desire. Instead of remaining in your flat where you will be forced to listen to the wailing of restless infants and the neighbors’ radios, take yourself to Times Square which has become these summer week-end nights, one of the deadest places in America.

You will find the streets practically deserted, automobiles so scarce that you can cross Forty-second street without waiting for the traffic lights to change. The restaurants will look as though all the diners had suddenly discovered poison in their food and had rushed off to the doctor. The theatres are so empty that the tall doorman will personally usher you to your seat. In fact Broadway on Saturday night resembles Berlin since Hitler ordered the Jews to keep out of public places.

The reason for this lull in activities are not hard to find. Summer business has always been slight but this year has never had an equal. The gentlemen who make their livelihood off this street, say that the unprecedented heat, the NRA and its five-day week, and the sudden interest all New York has shown in getting out of town over the week-ends accounts for the absence of crowds in the places of amusements.

Many of the restaurants have closed for the remainder of the summer. The taxi-cab companies have reduced the number of hacks they usually send into this sector, and the theatres are considering lowering prices for that night.

Broadway has actually become a hide-away. The chances of meeting anyone you know are slight. About the only type of humans around are visitors from the hinterland who have come to town for a wild and noisy time but even these visitors become discouraged when they find themselves in large empty night clubs. Convival people must have an audience, but Broadway has become a grand street for an egoist. To walk down Broadway practically alone with its millions of lights glaring upon you, certainly makes you feel that you are getting a great deal of personal attention.

FROM THE STAGE

“Life Begins at 8:40,” the new musical, which the Shubert’s are sponsoring, will have its premiere at Boston, tomorrow night. It will be brought into the Winter Garden later in August. . . .

Four shows left on Broadway but by the fifteenth of this month the new crop will begin to move in. Among the shows scheduled to open are “Hide and Seek” and “Keep Moving.”. . .

Eighteen new plays were tried out in suburban playhouses so far this summer. Of that number at least four will be brought to Broadway. “Light Behind the Shadow,” a drama about physicians, is one of the most promising of the quartet. “School Teacher,” which had a tryout at Provincetown, is another likely possibility. . . .

The Hippodrome stage which has not reechoed with the voices of opera singers for some weeks will play, beginning on August 25th, popular prices opera. The Manhattan Opera House will also have a company which will commence its vocal efforts early in September.