Word: verneuil
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Love and Let Love (by Louis Verneuil; produced by Anthony B. Farrell) is a vehicle for Ginger Rogers' first Broadway appearance in 21 years. It is a sort of bicycle built for two-both for being sadly out of date, and for letting Ginger play a glamorous actress and, in one scene, her sister, who has always taken a back seat. The actress has almost-but never quite -married many men, because her heart belongs to her first love (Tom Helmore). Discovering this, her middle-aged fiance (Paul McGrath) turns into a Mr. Fixit. Actress Rogers' costumes...
...Affairs of State," is still on Broadway, and the two may be compared in that they are both vehicles for Hollywood stars. Unfortunately, where Celeste Holm and June Havoc have been able to carry the earlier play, the efforts of Ginger Rogers are not enough to combat the script Verneuil now offers...
...Verneuil has written a brittle farce which is supposed to rely on quick, fast, clever dialogue for its wit. The lines are uniformly poor and the plot so trite that the courageous efforts of Miss Rogers and her supporting cast can bring only sympathetic applause from a thoroughly respectful audience...
Playing a double role, that of an actress and her sister, the beautiful Miss Rogers does show an aptitude for comedy. Her timing is good and an occasional gesture may be laugh-provoking, but in the final analysis she fails, again under the influence of Verneuil. The author also directed the play and one must assume that he is at the root of Miss Rogers' incessant pacing back and forth, her arm-flailing, and her occasional falling into a sophisticated mood which is neither natural nor becoming...
...Verneuil is not at home in the American idiom. Miss Rogers' speeches are punctuated with bits such as "How can I say it . . ." and the conversation frequently falls down under his attempt at phrase-making. He writes a light line with a heavy hand; consequently something must give...