The Stage in Review

“One More Spring,” directed by Henry King; from the novel by Robert Nathan; a Fox film, at the Radio City Music Hall.

The fate of a Jewish musical genius who is compelled to become a street player in New York because of the depression, is vividly brought out in the excellent film, “One More Spring,” now being shown at the Radio City Music Hall.

Maurice Rosenberg, a Jewish violinist who was a successful soloist in a symphony orchestra, is out of work. He has no friends, no shelter and no food. He is left with only his fiddle. Hungry and roofless, he is brought together, by fate, with another “has been”—a Mr. Otkar, who lost his fortune during the depression, and with Elizabeth, an actress whose only home is the subway stations. The trio decides to utilize Rosenberg’s fiddle to earn a living. They live together until fate again begins to smile upon the violinist whose heart’s desires are finally fulfilled by a position in a symphonic orchestra.

The role of Mr. Rosenberg is excellently portrayed by Walter King, a newcomer to the American cinema field. Warner Baxter plays the role of Mr. Otkar and Janet Gaynor enacts the part of Elizabeth. The picture is taken from the novel of the same name by Robert Nathan, the Jewish novelist who has recently scored another success with his recent book, “The Road of Ages.”

“One More Spring” is one of the moving pictures which will, no doubt, attract attention since it is a realistic presentation of human interest. It deals directly with American life and with a subject close to the American people. Touching as this picture is, it contains a quantity of good, healthy humor and holds the interest of the audience from the very beginning right to the end. It is as convincing as Elmer Rice’s “Street Scene,” and can be recommended as one of the best photo plays on Broadway.

The Moscow Art Players, now playing at the Majestic Theatre, are attracting wide attention, not only among Russians and Russian-born Jews who are able to follow the performances in their native tongue, but also among Americans who have no knowledge of the Russian language. The secret of this success lies in the fact that among the players are first class actors who, in both their acting and make-up, are exceptionally impressive.

One who has seen “The Inspector General,” the old Russian satire by N. Gogol performed by the Moscow Art Players, cannot help but admire Michel Chahhov in the leading role. P. Pavlov, in another leading role in this performance, is also much admired by the audience for his natural and convincing acting. One who remembers the old Russia of the Czar is enchanted with the figure which Mr. Popvov cuts of the Czarist Chief of Police which he portrays.

On Monday night, February 25, the Moscow Art Players will give the first performance in this country of a modern Soviet play called “The Strange Child.” This play has run in as many as a thousand theatres during the past year. Last Spring it was on the boards of forty theatres in Moscow. It deals with a young actress who, while studying the role of an unmarried mother, carries her pretense into real life. It is the first farce that has been shown in Russia since the Revolution. The author of “The Strange Child,” Victor Shkvarkin, a popular Soviet playwright, is now considered the only “millionaire” in Soviet Russia because of the success of his play.

Tonight (February 24) the first Chekhov evening will be given with Michel Chekhov, the nephew of the dramatist, and P. Pavlov playing the leading roles in a number of short stories by Anton Chekhov, well known Russian writer, recently dramatized for the stage.