Word: devilment
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Known Devil. The leadership crisis extended even to Congress, generally considered the hard core of Democratic strength. The President's veto of the natural-gas bill last February was a blow to the prestige of those leading Texans, House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. And Rayburn's fumble in bringing the farm-bill veto to a House' vote last week undermined what had seemed to be the party's most promising issue. Even if the Democrats pick up farm votes, there is still the civil-rights issue-on which congressional Democrats...
...Empire." The voice was that of a member of the League of Empire Loyalists which, earlier in the week, had presented Prime Minister Eden with a 10-ft.-long wooden spoon to illustrate an old-but non-Russian-saying: "He must have a long spoon who sups with the Devil...
...Devil's Disciple by G.B. Shaw is a funny play with a serious design. The plot of the play is mostly a joke: there is a hero scene and a heroine scene and a disputed legacy and a last minute gallows rescue, but none of these things happen the way they should. The seriousness is in Shaw's own bored attitude with the melo-dramatic happenings. This comes through best in the amazing words of Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne who appears in the third act when the British are doing their best to lose the Revolution...
Because its plot is almost non-existent, The Devil's Disciple is a tricky play to tackle: unless all the funny lines about George III, the British army, heroism and relatives are held together by the actors, Shaw's own attitude will be lost. What the play needs and what the Lyric Theatre production doesn't always give it, is careful timing to get the funny sayings across. Though the actors do well in the smaller scenes, the pace is harried enough in the group scenes that some of the wittier lines go by too fast. This weakens the performances...
...minor characters, however, are sharper and more consistent. As the "only irregular daughter" of the late Mr. Dudgeon Sr., Patricia Goest is really appealing, and Wayne Maxwell is a fine half-wit brother of "the devil's disciple." There are also several British soldiers marching up and down in front of Darwin Reid Payne's clever set. Exhuding pompous noises, Harvey Widell makes them a fine sergeant. The play's best role, that of General Burgoyne, is given the night's most polished performance by Stanley Jay. Bored with the whole war, Burgoyne says some magnificent things. When Dudgeon asks...