New Plays in Manhattan

Foreign Affairs (by Paul Hervey Fox & George Tilton; Kamsler & Fuller, producers). A great many people admire the slick urbanity of Osgood Perkins; many more are titillated by the romantic comedy of Henry Hull; others like to watch Dorothy Gish purse her mouth. Foreign Affairs, with all three of these favorites in it, should therefore afford capital fun to playgoers in considerable numbers.

Scene is laid in an inn in the Italian Tyrol, whither two lovers (Miss Gish and Mr. Hull) have foregathered for a blissful fortnight. To their horror they discover that the lady's husband has become aware of his cuckoldry, is expected to arrive soon. Just ahead of him arrives the great Otto Zeigen, the Rumanian millionaire (Mr. Perkins). That gives the amorists their chance to trick the husband once again. Actress Gish sets out to ensnare Zeigen, Actor Hull tries to charm a kitchen maid (porcelain-faced Jean Arthur of the films). Neither has much success at first. Zeigen, it turns out, is a man of frugal habits. He is ready for an onion sandwich and bed. The kitchen maid does not think Actor Hull "very interesting." However, next morning, Zeigen gets and willingly takes the spousal wrath, settles with a check and departs with the irate husband. That leaves the lovers alone again, but not very blissful. In spite of the maid's initial unwillingness ... in spite of Zeigen's onion sandwich. . . .

The Tree (by Richard Maibaum; Ira Marion, producer). Ed and Denny and Matt are all in love with the same girl in a rural district "north of the Mason-Dixon Line." A happy blackamoor named David is found dancing and singing for the girl. He is warned to stay away from her. The geography of The Tree, however, must not mislead you. There is a lynching. Victim is the Negro after the girl is found raped and slain. At this point this earnest play turns allegorical.

Back to earth comes David, not as David, to be sure, but as David's pious uncle. Since both parts are taken by the same actor (Thomas Mosely), the disguise is thin. He appears to Matt and Denny, members of the lynching mob, forgives them for their crime, pleads for a better understanding between the races. This action so moves Matt, the real murderer of the girl, that he and Denny decide that he (Matt) should be hanged. This is finally done with the same old rope in the same old tree where the Negro died.

Take My Tip (by Nat N. Dorfman; Mack Hilliard, producer) is, of course, about the 1929 stockmarket crash. A not overbright Connecticut householder has bet his shirt on something called Triplex Oil and, sure enough, Triplex Oil takes a devastating tumble. Playwright Dorfman is not so sanguine as to have Triplex Oil ride the Connecticut punter and the play back to prosperity and happiness. That end of the comedy is taken care of by a machine, well "planted" in Act I, for engraving monograms on soap.

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