Salt Lake Telegram | 1928-09-23 | Page 14 | Gripping Realism Marks New Plays; Wide Variety of Subject Matter Noted, However

Gripping Realism Marks New P Plays ays Wide Variety of Subject Matter a t S Not Noted d Ho How ever vei 5 SWAN NEW 1 YORK Sept 22 r NEA- Theres There's one sure way oJ of telling when a new Broadway theatrical season has been officially launch launched d. d Whether you you drift into Manhattan front from a gas station in Death valley vaHey or from th the home office ota ofa d cloak ak and suit conCErn its it's possible to appear wise without taking the blindfold test S You merely walk into Mc- Mc Ic- Ic Ici i AI BrIdes BrIde's or a y yot ot the ticket brokerage brok- brok brokerage concerns If two or mOre plays have been bought up by bythe bythe the or brOkers ers l i it th tho clerks got get ritzy and teU you sold out for five weeks in advance it if they smile at the suggestion oJ of a double double dou ble premium on on tickets then you you may know that thata a new season is' is definitely under wa way S S 0 Anyway the 1929 season is Is' Is Ison On on The Page is the first gold goldmine goldmine mine and Zita JohannIs Johann is the first discovery The Front Page is a rowdy profane comedy satire of hard boiled newspaper reporters which already has sent the district attorneYs attorneY's on nightly excursIons excursions to street there to listen ill in on language such as as' as they are aro accustomed to applYing only to unfriendly unfriendly un- un friendly judges This language one ope assumes may have vo been provided by Charles MacArthur who Indicated his acquaintance ac- ac with robust oaths in his last play Lulu Belle BeHe However Ben Hecht who shares the laurels of authorship lived in Chicago long enough to pass the tho kindergarten ex- ex ci In cussing The play concerns the efforts of oC oCa ofa a wool the reporter to get getaway getaway away on his when a big newspaper yarn arn tumbles Into his unsuspecting hands The characters charac- charac are mainly district police reporters reporters re- re porters and because these are expertly ox- ox pertly drawn by the authors the language becomes the bawdY rowdy chatter that It is is' The critical consensus consensus con con- has beer bee at moments loudly loudly loud loud- ly laudatory The argument has been that a heathy Rabelaisian oath Is more desirable than off off- color whisperings in a corn corner r Since the brokers have it up for 12 weeks In advance The Front Page already Is an outstandIng lag Ing hit The leading role Is in the hands of Lee Tracy wio jumped to stardom in Broadway S Miss liss J Johann hann is One ope of oC those over overnight overnight night finds who C cuse Use a dozen managers managers to remark when its it's too toolate toolate late where has she been all my my lIle S As a a. matter matter ot of fact she has been in and about Broadway for six years eats tucked away in minor roles Arthur Hopkins perhaps ablest ot of Broadway certainly one dl f the most artistically sincere has brought her to the forefront in Machinal SophIe Treadwell's combination of oC modern expressionism and cruel realism lit It is a play by the Sn Gray der-Gray case telling the pathetic story ot of a stenographer trying to grope way out ot of the tho routine routina In which 1 she Is caught Sheer dumbness dogs dog's her steps and she sho wInds UP at the tho final curtain In lathe the for slaying her dun dull husband and in hope of oc freedom I wHit a quite unworthy lover In this play can be found the tho new nc ot of Strange Interlude Interlude Inter Inter- lude herein characterS characterS' think out loud the idea ot of a machine machino age Is earned carried to the vry ry last moment where the fumbling figure is wiped last by ot an monster Its Us a t terrifying g finish and a a very ery affecting play perhaps too b fo for r baa lont popularity l Johann a awoke on the morning r the premiere to find the critics shouting her praises Her career will ot of course now b begin gln And incidentally the fame of oC Robert Edmund Jones already already al- al ready noted scene artist will grow oven even wIder J if for no other reason titan his Ilis staging of oC the thO death chair scene upon a pitch black sta stage e. e Another scenic of a a. dir dir- ferent nature Is afforded in Good GoodBoy GoodBoy Boy first of tho Dillingham music shuns shun's wherein J has gone sone to John Vang r for trick I treadmills and Whirling stages whereon to present Is' Is amazing panorama Two other indicated hits are arc Eva the Fifth John Golden Goldens amusIng amusing amus- amus Ing opus about a a. a traveling Uncle Tom company t Foster loster los Fos- ter and Ringside first ot of several sev sev- eral prizefight dramas concocted by Ted Paramore and fly lIy Daab Elmer Gantry has not not converted critics or public to to- date Another newspaper play Gentleman or of the Press Is a better Portrait of a city room than a Specimen of good drama It may travel ravel for a time the momentum or of on aroused Int interest rest In the tho newspaper game and anel the fact that It was authored b by Yard Ward a r or chatter 0 0 0 Meanwhile the tho leaders or of last years year's parade Interlude merrily o orb Strange the hou Pulitzer winner how Jow has Anderson in the role JUdith created Lynn 1 Fontanne There by waning ot of interest rest nd those seems no two GuIld other successes Por and g gy are lack Dack Mao no West Vest still draws with her standing rowdy underworld character Diamond Lit ku Show Boat n Rosalie and anel Three Musketeers The are tt felds feld's holdover Arthur HOPkins has found Paris BOUnd Madge ad e Kennedy a happy happ With for I SOnic some of the losses In Deep River I nd The I Royal noyal family I leaving shows no sign ot of I 1 S.- S.