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"Cradle will Rock" Has Radical Leaning

March 23, 1938

Without scenery or costumes, with nothing but a bare stage; chairs, a piano, and a witty dialogue, with music by Marc Blitzstein, the Mercury theatre presents one of the hits of the season. Produced by Orson Welles, Sam H. Grisman presents this play at the Windsor theatre.

The action occurs in Steeltown during a union drive. Suggestive names, such as Editor Daily, newspaper editor, are used to denote the profession or business in which the characters are engaged.

Play Has Radical Leaning

The play sympathizes with the unions, since the foreman triumphs over the capitalist, It is intended to sway the emotions that way. Mr. Mister, the man who owns the town, Mrs. Mister, Junior Mister, and Sister Mister, his family, are effectively satirized. Mr. Mister, influencing the important men of the town, is very interesting.

The one deserving most credit for his part was Mark Blitzstein, who played the piano and took the various small roles. Olive Stanton was good as the Moll. Ralph McBane, Peggy Coudray, Maynard Holmes, and Duce Fox, were perfect in their respective roles in the Mister family. Charles Niemeyer and Howard Da Silva were two of the laugh provokers.

ONE THIRD OF A NATION

Another Federal Theatre play, at the Adelphi, which has aroused much comment. "One Third of a Nation" is based on facts and statistics interestingly presented. It was most appropriately subtitled, "A Living Newspaper About Housing". Taken from one of President Roosevelt's speeches, wherein he stated that he found "one third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished," this play takes the first problem and deals with it in a startling manner. All the figures concerning the old law tenements, fire traps built during the 1880's, have been dramatized in this presentation, and present a true picture of conditions existing throughout one third of this nation, describing how these conditions were brought about.

Since everyone had a minor part, and there were a great many people in the cast none can be especially commended, but they all did a fine job of making statistics interesting and vitally moving.

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