OCR Text |
Show Jeeter Lester and Family Amuse Roxy Patrons With Stage Play, Tobacco Road' After attending Monday night's presentation at th Roxy theater of Jack Klrkland's much-heralded Tobacco Road," Salt Lakers can readily see why the young author's story of th miserable southern . sharecropper haa occupied a pinnacled pin-nacled position on tha legitimate stage throughout th country for over six years. Klrkland's manuscript did more than lay the foundation for a revolution of th staga; It procreated pro-created a rise of sentiment which culminated In the government's modifying such appalling conditions condi-tions and steeled th public to unwelcome un-welcome sequels. Tobacco Road" la concerned with the disheartened family of th sodden Jeeter Lester, a starving starv-ing sharecropper who constantly resorts to theft and dishonorable methods to sustain his pointless life As he stupidly loves his prof-It prof-It leas lands, Lester even sells his Illegitimate daughter. Pearl, for a meager seven dollars. Dude, Ms adolescent son, marries mar-ries Sister Bessie Rice, an Itinerant woman preacher who preys upon th Ignorant of her county by selling sell-ing them prayers and wishing them well. She marries Dud and presents pre-sents her 16-year-old groom with a "new shiny car" which he soon wrecks. Jeeter nurses the hops that some day th son of Captain John, his former master, will return and give him money and food. Th son does return, but with banker who forecloses on th worthless acres. His lands gone, his wife killed by Dude's careless driving and left alone on his acreage, Lester Les-ter closes th play by fumbling with a handful of dirt. John Barton is commendable as Jeeter Lester. Tobacco Road's" dialog, however, la replete with a profanity which shocked and amused the large audience. It was this factor applied to Barton's very active laziness which nearly overbalanced the theme of the production. pro-duction. It was hard to comprehend compre-hend a man of Jeeter's alleged laziness could conjure th schemes he did. much less see some of them manifested. When th curtain rose and presented pre-sented th play's setting, the audience audi-ence was seized with the hopelese-ness hopelese-ness of Lester's situation. The shack where he lived tottered from want of repair, the yard was strewn with refuse and In the bark-ground bark-ground on could see th ghostly remnants of a one prosperous cornfield. The entire family personifies per-sonifies filth and moral retrogression retrogres-sion and- It la enacted by a sterling cast who may be lauded by the Roxy's patrons for not only depicting depict-ing th parts, but actually living them. The cast consists of John Barton, Para Perrv. Pitt Herbert, Sheila Brent. Lillian Ardell. Edgar Hinton. Hin-ton. Patricia Quinn and Eugenia Wilson. |