New Plays in Manhattan

Penny Wise (by Jean Ferguson Black; Juliana Morgan, producer) belongs to a trivial and pleasant species of growth which, like grape hyacinth, hepatica and the dogtooth violet, crops up in southern New York State spring after spring. This particular specimen of a vernal theatrical perennial is concerned with the clever wife

(Linda Watkins) of an amiable but footloose playwright (Kenneth MacKenna).

She looks and acts dumb but in truth is far too smart for him and his girl friends, whom she converts by a great display of sheer innocence into her friends instead of his. Actor MacKenna (Merrily We Roll Along, Accent on Youth) has been playing erring dramatists so long he should be able to present the required blend of boyish and goatish behavior even though in the throes of somnambulism. Linda Watkins (June Moon) is equally adept at impersonating the girl whose shrewdness is masked by wide-open eyes and naive questions. Between them, they should manage to keep Penny Wise on the boards well into the peony season.

Curtain Call (by LeRoy Bailey; Quigley-Schachtel Inc., producers) is interesting as a nearly perfect example of a bad play. In his stage-struck youth. Author Bailey joined the company of the illustrious Eleanora Duse in Pittsburgh, did odd jobs for nothing while he studied backstage life and listened to Duse's reminiscences. Curtain Call is a futile and impertinent attempt to stir the ashes of Duse's affair with Gabriele D' Annunzio. Feebly directed and stuffily acted by Ara Gerald and a supporting cast which includes Elaine Cordner, Selena Royle and Guido Nadzo, it achieved the ultimate indignity of being laughed at by first-nighters in passages intended to be solemn.

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