July n,imi Page 375 ^^ The Latest Plays <^ Ivory, Apes & Peacocks DVERTISING Frcuch, like radio Eng­ T^HIS is a fine time to be bringing and delightful Frank Moulan continues A lish, is a language with a grammar I this up, it is, but I hope it is news to be just that as the major general. and vocabulary all its own. Hitherto its to a few people that there is a per­ The latter will be in lolanthe, as will use has been largely confined to fectly delightful and competent series Howard Marsh, late Eavenal in Show coturiers and parfumeurs and other af Gilbert and Sullivan revivals in prog­ Boat, who is a handsome enough tenor manufacturers of more fashionable and ress at the Erlanger Theatre, under the for anybody. Vera Ross, who will be luxurious wares. Nothing makes mer­ direction of the veteran operetta im­ remembered as the Queen of the Fairies chandise seem more smart and expensive presario, Milton Aborn. His organiza­ in Winthrop Ames' beautiful production, than a, je ne sais quoi and a couple of tion is called, somewhat grandiosely, the will again sing that role. And Vivian soupcons. The advertising writer knows Civic Light Opera Company, but never that he has only to sprinkle a few ac­ nind about that. They began back in Recommended Current Shows cents aigus through his copy and the May with The Mikado for a two weeks' boss will shout Man Dieu! and kiss him Craay Quilt: Eowdy and fairly entertaining engagement, presumably because. A: a revue. on both cheeks. And now comes Sears Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals: See current ot of people had nothing much to do and article on this page. Eoebuck et Cie., announcing in a re­ Grand Hotel: Still revolving- merrily and vvould work for reasonable salaries and, dramatically. cent ad: "Je n'avais aucune idee Sears Once in a Lifetime: Seems set for the summer. R: because all of them really liked the And why not? It's funny. construisait des si belles maisons!" Savoyard operas and had faith in their Precedent: Grim and earnest presentation of "Which," continues the ad, "is the French the facts in the Mooney case. mmortality. All the wise guys said it Private Lives: Noel Coward's comedy hit goes way of saying I had no idea Sears built on without him. wouldn't be done. Mr. Aborn was just The Band Wag"on: Perfect staging of a tasteful, such fine homes." Well now, mon cher M. starful revue. wasting what little money he was spend- The Barretts of Wimpale Street: Not even the Sears (ou M. Roebuck), vos idees n'ont weather can keep Katharine Cornell's ad­ pas de bretelles, which is the French ng oil his economical productions. The mirers out of a somewhat pathological play. Shuberts and others, including the re- The Green Pastures: It's getting tough to think way of saying your ideas are not sup­ of anything new to say about this pne. You loubtable Winthrop Ames, had tried it know it's good, don't you? ported by the facts. You may build swell Third Little Show: Bee Lillie and Ernest Truex houses, and no doubt you do, des mai­ igain and again. Everybody always in an entertaining revue. alked about how much they would like sons exquises, des maisons charmantes, o see Gilbert and Sullivan revivals, and Hart, who was a charmingly piquant but when it comes to building French vhen one was presented the ones who Mabel in the Pirates, will be in lolanthe phrases, you put the cellar in the attic. lad asked for them most vociferously as well. Which is the American way of saying, as .tayed away with the rest—even as you I'm sorry, but I almost forgot a moral a linguist you're a good architect. Par­ md I. All right, what happened? Well, about all this that needs a bit of point- , don, M. Sears (ou M. Roebuck), our hey have built up what is by now a ing: the scenery and costumes for Mr. brutal frankness. But leave, nous vous •apacity business, and Mr. Aborn plans Aborn's revivals are far from elaborate, prions, French to the Frenchmen. And o stay right there in the Erlanger not being fairly obviously from storage; remember, when you check up on this )nly through the summer, but extend the there isn't a revolving stage to be seen— with some Frenchman of your acquaint­ .eason into the fall and winter—that is, not one! But you can hear practically ance, that the French are a very polite he period covering what is regarded as all of W. S. Gilbert's priceless lyrics people. He will assure you that you he "regular theatrical season." (Quotes and, through doing away with the un­ speak French like a native. He will be Vir. Aborn's, from his special announce- necessary gorgeousness, it has been made too t)olite to add: "of Chicago." nent.) possible to stage the operettas at a two By the time this piece is in print dollar top price. The moral is that Mil­ ^^ TEAKWOOD makes good garden 'olanthe will have been running a week, ton Aborn has demonstrated that there furniture. It doesn't need to be stained md before I can tell you exactly what is a large American public still who ap­ or painted; exposure to frost, snow, sun he performance is like it will have preciate wit and melody if they can get and rain does it no harm. Brown in •losed, unless it is held over, as they are them at a reasonable price. color, it turns with exposure to a pleas­ till sticking to their two-weeks-per- This all makes me pick up hope that ant natural grey. We have seen some how plan. However, the company is a he or somebody else may still have the excellent teak garden furniture, simple emi-permanent one—that is, the chorus temerity to import A. P. Herbert's and sturdy—rather more expensive than nd most of the principals appear in all Tantivy Towers, of which I wrote you other material, it is true. The company f them, only one or two changes being from London some time back. If Thomas that makes this also makes teak sinks, nade each time on account of special F. Dunhill is not quite a Sir Arthur drainboards and panelling for the house, ypes being needed—so all you really Sullivan, I strongly contend that he has plant tubs and rose bowers for the /ant to know is whether the troupe done a better job with Mr. Herbert's garden, and decks, deck houses and rails now their business. The answer is em- lyrics than any other living English or for yachts. )hatically that they do, and not only American composer has given any con­ hat, they give the impression that they crete indication of being able to do. I'm ^>^ WASHING cars in your own garage re enjoying themselves as much as any as sure as Mr. Aborn was about the is made easy by a new overhead washer, f us out front. You know what that public for Gilbert and Sullivan that which has a 6-foot hose arm revolving on oes for a show of that type ! there also are a lot of audiences that swivel bearings, ten inches below the In The Pirates of Penzance or The would like to hear the Earl of Tantivy ceiling. The arm has an automatic shut- 'la'oe of Duty, which is the first of the sing. off, and it is possible to get anything sries that I laggardly got around to It's really remarkably pleasant from a full stream of water to a small 3eing, the sergeant of police is played To wander about in the wood, trickle. The long arm is supported by y William Danforth, who knows how 4nd kill an occasional pheasant. a shorter one, which takes the strain off 3 get all the laughs there are out of Provided the motive is good. the bearings and insures against leaks. ' Policeman's Lot Is Not a Happy One, OTIS CHATPIELD-TAYLOR. W. E. BROOKS. 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The Summer Crop of Verse ous subject-matter gives the feeling that broad in its scope to be of general in this young poet is at present mainly con­ terest, showing as it does the progres ONFIRMED travelers, and in­ cerned with how and not with what she sive development of an important liter deed most people with a longing writes. When she learns to balance her C for a sight of strange ports and technical ability with an equal amount coantries still unvisited, are quite likely of thought and feeling, her work will to enjoy an odd volume by Robert C. grow into something of more than Most Discussed Mooks Brown called Nomadness (Dodd, Mead, decorative importance. Fiction Father, by Elizabeth: Doubleday. Domn. : Tlii $2). It is far from being a serious vol­ The Bendon volume, richly intro­ daughter of a novelist escapes for adventures o; her own. Gay and charming. Reviewed June 10> ume, and equally far from being poetry; duced by Gertrude Atherton, is the work The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck; John Day but those not repelled by a mockingly of a Montana woman in her early A simple and dignified story of a Chinese familj and their devotion to the land. Reviewed March 18 ; youthful style or a vers-Ubre kind of twenties, a person of talent and of classic Years of Grace, by Margaret Ayer Barnes: Hough ton Mifflin. A detached and clear picture of fiftj printing will laugh with Mr. Brown at training and much interest in classic years with their changing iiifluences. Pulitzer pnzi what he has seen and heard in his ex­ subjects. Miss Bendon wrestles with novel. Reviewed July 2, 1930. The Sixth Journey, by Alice Grant Eosman: Mm tensive travels around the world. Mr. large ideas, and for this she is to be ton, Balch. Grown-up love and a waif who finds c home at last in a charming romance with an Eng Brown is a brash young person with a praised. Sometimes her work comes out lish setting. Reviewed July 1. ready wit and a way of hitting off smoothly as poetry, more often it Ships of Youth, by Maud Diver: Houghton Miffiinl A story of Anglo-Indian life in which character' ; famous foreign places in a series of emerges twisted or raw or inverted from whom Miss Diver has previously introduced attemp short passages which are full of acute her struggle, in which she is not always to "live happily ever after." Reviewed June 24i observation. He writes mostly about the the victor. The impressive thing about Non-Fiction her is the fact that she thinks; and Death and Taxes, by Dorothy Parker: Viking. Re less-featured side of travel—the side viewed June 24. never mentioned by steamship folders or some time, if she perfects her technique, The American Black Chamber, by Herbert 0 Yardley: Bobbs Merrill. Memoirs colored with sen managers of Cook's Tours or eloquent abandons the peculiar as her genre, and sational disclosures of the Cryptographic Bureai established by the author during the War. Reviewe* foreign exponents of Tourisme. You digests her words, she may very well in this issue. may call it the seamy side, but not all reach a prominent place in letters. My Experiences in the World War, by John Ji Pershing: Stokes. At the front and behind the line of it is seamy. Throughout the pages Any one who cares for German lyric from the point of view of the American com you will find excellent and appreciative mander. Reviewed May 6. poetry, or wants to know something Fatal Interview, by Edna St. Vincent Millay descriptions of places, types, and activi­ about it, will find a new volume. Number Harper. This exquisite sonnet sequence is the besi of all Miss Millay's distinguished work. Reviewer ties, of methods of travel, and of the 13 of the Hogarth Lectures on Litera­ April 29. color and atmosphere of familiar and un­ More Boners, by Dr. Seuss and A. Abingdon ture Series, published by Harcourt, Viking. A weaker sequel to Boners, with more oi familiar lands, all told in a slap-dash Brace and Company, just exactly what the same, sort of way, with considerable charm. he needs. The book, German Lyric Among a group of new first volumes Poetry (Harcourt, Brace, $1.25) was of poetry there are two, both by very written by Norman Macleod, and covers ary form. The German selections art young women, which stand out because work of the Minnesingers and Folk- well-chosen, and the author has worket their authors are working hard to write singers and other lyricists before Goethe, them over into characteristic EngHsl good poetry. One of these volumes is then the "Great Age" of Goethe, Schil­ verse which conveys with remarkabh Blue Harvest, by Frances M. Frost ler, the Romantic poets and Heine; and success the feeling of the originals. Ger (Houghton Mifflin, $2.50), and the other finally the age of lyric writers since man verse is notably hard to translate is Mirror Images, by Dorothe Bendon Heine, comprising poetry of the middle into English verse, and Norman Mac (Horace Liveright, $2). Miss Frost's Nineteenth Century and of the last fifty leod has made all his translations sount work has appeared in a quantity of years. Each chapter is Vi^ritten in the as if they were not translations at all- periodicals, and is for the most part manner of a lecture, with illustrative which is Slaying a great deal for his owi musically written, graceful in form and material in German followed by metrical skill and ability as a poet. manner, and direct in statement. It English translations. Altogether it forms The Book of American Negro Poetrif\ makes a pleasing impression but on the a most interesting volume of great value edited by James Weldon Johnson (Har whole too slight a one. The rather tenu­ to students and teachers, and sufficiently court, Brace & Co., $2) and first pub lished in 1922, has just been brough up to date in a new edition containinj much added material. The volume, witl

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