Critical Moments

Dawn Powell, a small compact young lady with an infectious laugh, came on from a small Ohio town about ten years ago, settled in New York, married an advertising man and started to raise a family. She never got beyond the one son stage-she was sidetracked by an uncontrollable yen to become a female “literatus” or is it “literata”? Anyway she has been very productive and to date has produced countless short stories, five novels and three plays. How far she has succeeded is a matter of values. Artistically her work is good-her novels although not big sellers, were considered faforably by critics, her plays did not enjoy extended runs yet were not out and out flops and her short stories have always been in demand.

ARRIVES WITH THE GUILD

The other night at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre under the auspices of the Theatre Guild, Miss Powell’s latest effort called “Jig Saw” was presented and it looks very much as though the still-weighty girl has arrived. In this piece Miss Powell is at her best. She has written a hard-boiled, sophisticated comedy of life among the pent house inhabitants. It concerns the machinations of a careless lady of leisure known as Claire, who is being kept in a style to which few of us are accustomed. Her surroundings are luxurious and her keeper is a cold cynical gentleman who exacts a minimum from his paramour. He is given to saying pointed remarks and smoking long cigars. Claire is one of those women who is not happy unless she is involving some poor fellow in an affair. In this instance it is a wealthy sport named Nathan. Claire is progressing satisfactorily when her sixteen-year-old daughter, who has been vegetating in a convent, appears on the scene and with little ado steals Nate away from her mother. Nate wants no traffic with this virginal miss but he cannot escape and is finally landed.

WELL CAST AND DIRECTED

I’ll admit that the plot as outlined above sounds a bit cracky but it is so well directed by Philip Moeller and so well acted by such players as Ernest Treux, Helen Westley, Eliot Cabot, Spring Byington and Gertrude Flynn that it becomes thoroughly enjoyable. The author has supplied good dialogue and in the few spots when it begins to wear thin the acting comes to the rescue. “Jig Saw,” not a great play, is nevertheless certain to give you a full evening’s entertainment. It is recommended.

NEXT WEEK MILKY WAY

In a moment of aberration this column announced that “The Milky Way” was to have opened last Tuesday evening-I was nearly right-it will open on May 8 at the Cort Theatre and Emanuel Eisenberg and Ruth Seinfel celebrate the event by forwarding the following “verse”. To even up a new grudge I am setting it down verbatim-

“THE MILKY WAY”: A SERIES OF HIGH-CLASS AND STRICTLY INFORMATIVE COUPLETS

“Have you dates and plans? Each one you’ll annul, man,

For Sidney Harmon and James R. Ullman

(Co-sponsors of prize-winning “Men in White”)

Have a new presentation next Tuesday night-

That’s May the eighth-of a pastoral play

That prefers to be known as THE MILKY WAY.

The authors, Lynn Root and Harry Clork,

Are tender offspring of tough New York;

Though they write with gall and a lead-lined glove,

The human race they distinctly love.

The show is a riot, a spasm, a roar…

And is staged by William W. Schorr.

The cast boasts loudly of Hugh O’Connell

(Who cracks no Indian nuts), Leo Donnell-

Y. Brian Donlevy and William Foran,

Four sturdy sons of the Gaelic clan;

Two dames, Gladys George and Emily Lowry,

The one hard-boiled, the other-ah! flow’ry!

And three more gents round out the array:

John Brown, Edward Emerson, Bernard Pathe.

And now that this page with names has been filled up,

Let’s confide it’s the yarn of a phony build-up

And the delicate saga of a worm’s slick turn.

But enough! enough! Let the curious learn

The path of the hero to bright resplendence

By a ticket-purchase and polite attendance.

Sointu Syrjala-we aren’t kidding-

Designed the set at the sponsors’ bidding.

Mildred Manning conceived the wardrobe,

Which means each costume will be an adored robe.

All you of good humor and comic faith:

THE MILKY WAY comes May the eighth!

And the spot-to conclude this refined report-

Is the elegant playhouse called the Cort.”