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Show EUGENE O'BRIEN !AS "STEVE" GETS j WARM RECEPTION First Niht Audience at Salt Lake. Theatre Appears to Be Very Well Pleased With His Work y JACK VIVABTTA. ' Ratnlaiacanc-of " 'Way Down Caat," with an admix tura of morla talk par-maatlnc par-maatlnc arery a at that at tlmaa mlsbt bava been tntlrprated aa an apototry for aoma of the thinga that ara aald to hava happened In Hollywood, Holly-wood, la "Stave." the comedy -drama which Kurene OlBe1rn and a very ca pa Ma supporting company presented ta a rathar small audience at the Halt Lake theatre leu night. However, what tha apectatom lacked In number num-ber they made up In appreciation, which at tlmaa approached anthual-asm. anthual-asm. Mr. O'Brien la fortunate In tha choice of a vary aultabla role and one wall adapted to hie exceptional hle-'trlonlo hle-'trlonlo ability. So wall did his ef-forte ef-forte appeal to tha lfcaJ audience that ha waa repoatediy aplauded. and finally, after the final curtain, ha ro-aponded ro-aponded with a short apeach. Everyone Every-one on both aides of the curtain If any ona word were- required ts be descriptive of the aucceaa of 'Steva." it would be moderation. Mr. Dcmpater undoubtedly wielded lota of It In writing the play.1 Its uee la apparent ap-parent In the atage eat tint, which la not changed during the three acta. Tho Unea of tha various eupportlnar char actera make an exceptionally good Im-preeetoa Im-preeetoa becauae of the mooeratkm, and at tha few placea where the action ac-tion might offend poreona of refined tasto moderation aaves the situation situa-tion The notion of 'Steve revolvee about a boy and a girl in a little village vil-lage on the coaat of Maine. A provincial pro-vincial atmoaphere la provided by tha horsehair upholaWy and aatlmaeae-eara, aatlmaeae-eara, tha atuffed owls and the blooming bloom-ing hollyhocke, tha latter seen through tha open windows which look out on aa expanse of water. Steve arrives at tha (aland town but a few weeks before things really begin to happen. He Is a casting director, engaged In making a film, and Christina t Kathleen Wallace) Is the waitress In tha aummer hotel where ha staya. She presently la tha unhapy principal In a scandalous episode created when aha and her boyhood, boy-hood, awoetheart, Rebors Brown (Eane Lartmore) are forced to opeed the ntght In a church when the sexton sex-ton locks up without dlecoverinj them. Considerable of ths action centers around Grammy Lubeo (Mra Thomaa Whlffen). chief aupportlnff character of Mr. O'Brien. Although Mrs. Whlffen Whlf-fen admits being 7 and tha part called for a person of mature, years, her sprightly repartee and rent.e dignity endeared her to all present. The play moveo awlftly onoug-h after Ihs church eplaode. Becauas Resort's father la determined deter-mined that Christina ahail not become the wife or hla eon Steve, Mr. O'Brien offers her a future In the motion picture world. She accepts and becomes be-comes a atar, whlla her lover Inherits vast wealth.. aftar hla fa Over' a death and aU hut forgets har. On -her return to her childhood 1 aland, t wo years later, ha forg-ets tho tenderness of her lovf in a momentary mo-mentary paaslon. and she turns to, Stave as (he curtain falta on the final scene. The work of Mr. O'Brien is exceptionally good, carrying; him , through several di ft cult scenes wtth great credit. Of hla eupporttns; company com-pany too much could not ba aatd. Spot Oleason (Homer Barton) as a cameraman, la a ahocklng, slangy revelation to the email town folk. Lulle Toot ha ere and Aunt Joete, who ara Isabel Wlnlocke and Millie Steven a, respectively. In real life, are the Ufa of the ahow. Their dfforta at rural humor leave tltus to ba deal de-al red. Rita Norton, played by Louise Prue-Inf. Prue-Inf. Is a movie star, who la d la placed by Christine after a broken ankle makes It Impoaalbla for her to con- ttnue In her part. She accepts' the diaagreeabel sequence with good grace And. Incidentally, displays soma wonderful won-derful costumes. On tha whole, "Steve" makea ona feel that he la well repaid re-paid for Attending. If It wees designed de-signed for no other purpose than to furnish an evening's entertainment, ft dserya the eiio It has mst In New Tork and Chicago, i |