THEATER CHRONICLE
PROPS AND PR OPERTY
THE HEIRESS. By Ruth ond Augustus Goetz. Biltmore Theoter
AN INSPECTOR CALLS. By J. B. Priestley. Booth Theoter
COMMAND DECISION. By Williom Wister Heines. Fulton Theoter
THE DRUID CIRCLE. By J ohn Von Druten. Moresco Theoter
Business is bad this fall in the theater. Behind time, as usual,
the entertainment industry is just now feeling the slump which began
last year for the book trade and the department stores. There are fewer
openings; empty rows of seats betray plays that are classified as suc–
cessful; a school has been organized for the benefit of unemployed
"name" actors to provide them, like patients hooking rugs in a mental
institution, with some therapeutic occupation. Plays which have
weathered the season display, for the most part, a certain workmanlike
solidity. The well-built stage set of
The H eiress,
the safe, well-con–
structed plots of
Command Decision, The Druid Circle,
and
The
Inspect).or Calls,
all reassure the playgoer against the prevailing storms;
they are built to last, for an evening. As the value of houses and land,
of what is called "real" property, becomes inestimable during a dan–
gerous inflation, so the "real" property of the theater, sound plotting,
plausible characterization, a balanced outlook, appears to be quoted
during this crisis at an almQst exaggerated premium-there is some–
thing slightly ridiculous about those open, well-padded boxes of experi–
ence into which, at the rise of a curtain, we can gain admission for a
few hours in the evening. These plays are not contemptible: upon a
modest segment of human life, a family, a school, an air-force unit, a
temperate beam of justice plays impartially-a small truth is told. But
the heavy workmanship of these structures is out of all proportion to
their function; it is as though one were to make an umbrella out of
solid marble. These plays are honest but not serious-decent, respectable,
and humdrum, like the contents of the average man's mind. The play–
goer can participate in them with a mild sense of satisfaction, but he
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