New Plays

The Grand Duchess and the Waiter. Elsie Ferguson's appearance is always of extraordinary interest. Last year she did Molnar's Carnival and saw it fail promptly.

From the French of Alfred Savoir her new play is taken. Again she seems to have chosen unwisely.

For yourself you can read the title and figure out the theme. Waiters and grand duchesses are not normally companions. When they are you wonder why. Alfred Savoir attempts to answer the interrogation. Only in one act is his reply amusing.

Basil Rathbone (the tutor in The Swan) gives his usual excellent account. Of Miss Ferguson the judgments were mixed. Some thought she did very well, others very badly. Nearly all agreed that the venture as a whole was of indefinite consequence.

Craig's Wife. Women will probably not like Craig's wife. She was a possessive and deceitful creature, whose whole affection centered in her handsome house. Mr. Craig could not smoke in certain rooms. Mrs. Craig was forever following the maids around and remaking beds because of fancied wrinkles. Her husband was simply a necessary adjunct. He kept the house in operation with money, as the furnace kept it supplied with heat. He did not realize his helplessness until one day he was suspected of murder. His wife lied to detectives and upbraided him cruelly. All she was worrying about was notoriety. Mr. Craig abruptly recognized her unhappy egotism, smashed her pet mantel ornament in the fireplace, and walked firmly out of her life.

Chrystal Herne gives an amazingly fine interpretation of this misguided female. Seldom will you see such arresting and authentic playing. It is to be feared, however, that her performance will not avail. A character so intensely irritating and a last act so over- worded are not to the public taste. Yet the play has far more merit and a sounder purpose than nine out of ten that spread their wares along the various counters of Manhattan show shops. Weak Sisters. Bawdy humor of undeniable effectiveness is woven through this entertainment. The ladies of the title are ladies of questionable occupation. Naturally it turns out that certain other females of the company, of more pious background, are not entirely innocent. There is a roaring clergyman to absorb many of the jabs of satire. A generally competent performance by a group of virtually unknown players helps considerably. The author, Lynn Starling, is a playwright of proven skill (Meet the Wife). It is unfortunate he selected such a tawdry theme.

A Man's Man. There are quantities of people who condemn a play because it happens to be unpleasant. Their idea of the Theatre is a place to go for a good laugh or a tug of war among the heart strings. The preponderance of this type of drama lover has killed many a fine play in its deserving youth. For these A Man's Man is a good play to stay away from.

It tells a cheerless story of a thirty-dollar-a-week couple. The husband wanted to be an Elk and the wife a movie actress--estimable ambitions in themselves possibly, but scarcely the be-all and the end-all of this life. There appears on their tiny horizon a smooth and sinister young man who will get the husband into the Elks and the wife into the movies. By the third act he has all the former's money and the latter's honor. The hapless two awake to hurl recriminations back and forth and to make up in blinding tears.

An exceedingly competent company, most of them little known, are concerned. Dwight Frye, you may recall; he is the husband. Good as his performance is it is no better than the rest. Viewed from every angle--except possibly that of popularity -- the production is one of the autumn's best. Appearances. A Negro bellboy in a California hotel wrote this play and labored for two years to have it produced. It deals with the white-Negro problem and is at times penetrating and moving. For a Negro bellboy it is a brilliant achievement. For a professional playwright it would have been considered crude and relatively unimportant.

Lovely Lady. Jesse Lynch Williams wrote a crisp comedy some seasons ago called Why Marry and was applauded mightily. He followed it with one called Why Not, slipping a notch or two down in entertainment values. This, his third, is pretty definitely uninteresting despite his irresistible facility for smart dialog. He deals with the not particularly novel theme of a father and son in pursuit of the same lovely lady. She happens to be a lady not exactly young, nor too immaculate of reputation. Bruce McRae and Elizabeth Risdon contribute generously with deft performances.

Holka Polka. Continental operettas are presupposed to have good music. Sometimes they are favored with good voices. It was the peculiar perversity of this production to reverse the natural expectation. The brilliant voice of Orville Harrold is called upon to sing a score of rather ordinary quality. Assisting him was his daughter, Patti Harrold, of somewhat slighter voice and slighter figure. When these were not warbling, there were few bright spots, of which the humor was not one.

Made in America. An Armenian by birth and an American citizen by choice has written a play. His play is not so popularly concocted as the plays of his countryman, Mr. Arlen. In fact it is concocted so rudely as to seem an amateur product. The plot follows an Armenian boy from the family massacre in the old country to Ellis Island, through honest poverty and ultimate success. Made in America is said to be a kind of reverent memorial by its author (M. H. Gulesian) to his own life and liberty in this the promised land. It is as sincere in purpose as it is unskilled in workmanship.