Word: humorous
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Steel- The high mortality among propaganda plays would seem to occur, not because the theatre is no whetstone on which to grind axes, but because when a playwright sets out to champion something he usually loses all his sense of humor and proportion, together with his head, in excoriating the Other Side. Having acquired well-deserved kudos for his first play, The Last Mile, John Wexley has now broken a lance against the boiler-plated sides of the steel industry. This he does by presenting the sad case of Joe Raldny (Paul Guilfoyle), a young resident of Ironton...
...Shaw had ever had to do. For Bernard Shaw is neither an authorized nor an orthodox biography;† a lesser man than Shaw might well have considered it a personal attack. Shaw did his odd job, corrected some facts; but "all the criticisms, jibes, explosions of passing ill humor, and condemnations have been piously preserved...
...stage play from which it was adapted, "The Spider" fares acceptably under the auspices of Edmund Lowe and Lois Moran. Perhaps somewhat unsuited by nature to the role of a shrewd magician. Mr. Lowe maintains his usual affable suavity despite the fact that little chance is provided for humor. In general, the production suffers from the result of being little more than the photographing of a good stage play...
Slice of Sweetness. That Phillips Lord's program is an adroit combination of tasteful humor and genuine piety, few observers have denied. Proof of its genuineness appeared when Seth Parker and his troupe went touring-from Buffalo early last month, continuing in Colorado. Utah, Oregon and California last week. Everywhere, audiences seem to represent a class which could not be won by smart, theatrical revivalism. To city theatres, churches, convention halls go elderly, placid people, some blind, some lame or halt, who might not have gone out since the last Chautauqua or travelog in the church basement. They...
...humor lies largely in the excellent situations developed. The quips are obvious, occasionally cumbrous, and, except when Jean Dixon handles them rather unconvincing. But the authors were quick to realize that the real wit lay in their subject, in their caustic satire. If at times this becomes rather broad and slapstick, they may be excused by the fact that as a rule they stick to their knitting and produce what is a very necessary douche for America's most chronic, most virulent ailment...