Theatre World 1930s

July 1931 Theatre world p. 45
As we go to press
Late night final
The current attraction at the Phoenix is Late night final, a drama of newspaper life, which had a successful run in New York, under the title, Five star final.

August 31 vol. xvi, no. 79
Full 12 page feature on late night final
The newest plays p. 65 Has full page review
Bea listed 3rd
"Here is the stuff that great drama is made of. The play does not pretend to be a literary masterpiece, nor is it a nice play that your aunt from Haslemere will be certain to enjoy. It is bitter, crude, ferocious, unfair and at moments revolting. But it is a play written with passion, with passionate fury, and it is good, after a round of tame comedies, to hear someone who has something important to say and says it with conviction. There is genuine tragedy here, in the spectacle of a family struggling hopelessly against a merciless environment, being pursued, hemmed in and crushed in such inhuman (and therefore all the more terrifying) forces as public opinion and popular press.
It is difficult to single out individual performances from so large a cast, but the charm of the quiet scenes in the play was almost wholly due to Louise Hampton and Eliot Makeham...Francis Sullivan and Beatrix Lehmann, as fellow sensationalists, were supremely good...
(mentions Massey and the complicated stage)
RM has made several gallant attempts to infuse new life into an ailing theatre. More than one of his productions has just failed to commend itself to the wider public. Here at last he deserves to achieve complete success. IT Is as though the lethargic theatre has roused itself and shown what it really can do. Certainly nothing more invigorating could ever be asked for.

p. 71 If I had my way Raymond Massey
Talks about needing to redesign physically theatres, and how he prefers shorter dynamic runs to long ones.

p. 73 The play of the moment
Late Night Final
Description of the story - 12 pages of photos

Fashion on the stage has a special piece on Carol Goodner's outfit in LNF

Sept 31 p. 112
Plays you should see
Late night final
Louis Weitzenkorn's drama of American yellow press methods provides magnificent entertainment for playgoers who appreciate high speed production. Several changes of cast are due to take place in the near future.

Theatre World
April 33, Portrait of Diana Wynyard, mentioning she "will probably return to the London stage later in the year" (WD opened the next month)

June 33 has a mini interview with Diana in which she says a desire to act should be suppressed in the young

p. 296 as we go to press
Wild Decembers
Clemence Dane's play dealing with the Brontes arrived at the Apollo Theatre too late for review for the present issue. Mr Cochran has gathered together a strong cast for Wild Decembers. Diana Wynyard returns from Hollywood triumphs to play the role of Charlotte Bronte and among the other principles are Emlyn Williams as Bramwell Bronte, Marcus Barron as the Rev. Patrick Bronte, Beatrix Lehmann as Emily, Thea Holme as Anne, Ralph Richardson as Arthur Bell Nichols, Austin Trevor as Monsieur Heger, Frances Ross Campbell as Tabby, Angus Imlay as Miss Wooler, and Ethel Wellesley as Ellen Nussey. The producer is Benn W. Levy.


July 1933 Theatre world, p.13
The newest plays
Apollo May 30th Wild Decembers
Although the Bronte piece at the Royalty may have stolen some of the thunder of Wild Decembers, yet Miss Clemence Dane's play is such a delicately wrought and intelligent piece of work that it would have  been a thousand pities had its run terminated at the end of the first week, as had been announced. Fortunately, Miss Wynyard and her fellow players determined that the play should continue, a gallant gesture that deserves the support of every playgoer with a genuine interest in the theatre.
Miss Dane has divided her play into fourteen episodes,...
Charlotte, although she outlives her brother and two sisters, is a difficult character to portray on the stage. Emily's wild nature of mingled ice and fire and Branwell's drunken frenzies provide obvious theatrical material, yet is is essential to the balance of the play that Charlotte should in no way be overshadowed. Miss Wynyard rises nobly to the occasion, so that when death removes Emily, Branwell and Anne from the grim parsonage, the play still retains our undivided attention.
... Ralph Richardson scores and outstanding success in this role, carefully avoiding any attempt to overplay the comedy and investing the man with a curious dignity.
One of the most memorable scenes is that between Emily and Branwell, when, after prophesying her brilliant future he reveals his own literary ambitions which can never be fulfilled owing to his dissolute, shiftless life. Emlyn Williams extracts the utmost effect from this scene by the quietest possible methods.
(p 14) Beatrix Lehmann's Emily is a study of emotional repression admirably carried out...
Contains no photos, though previous editions had photos of the other Bronte play

August 1933 has an article by Flora Robson what is acting.

Sept 33 as we go to press, p. 148 has announcement for the Wandering Jew


August 31 has Late Night Final (need to order)

Nov 33 has interview with Laura Cowie who will be with Bea in mourning

Dec 33 p. 276 has full page photo of Bea and Derrick De Marney in Tudor Wench(j. W. Debenham photographer)
Caption - Princess Elizabeth and the page with whom she is in love, Fernando Aubrey, in The Tudor Wench by Elswyth Thane, which opened at the Alhambra Theatre on November 16th. The page comes to visit her in her bedroom at midnight.

The newest plays, October 1934 p. 161
Eden End
Duchess September 13th
A new Priestly play is a theatrical event of considerable importance. Unlike many novelists who turn their attention to the stage Mr Priestly has shown in dangerous corner and Laburnum grove that he realises the possibilities of a new technique. His method is of the naturalistic school, and while appreciating this, I felt at time, in his latest play that he was bringing naturalism near to dullness.
Eden End it goes without saying is a thoughtful, intelligent play. The construction is compact, the characters are skilfully drawn and instantly recognisable as flesh and blood people. Perhaps it is because they are so real that nothing very much seems to happen, and the play stands in danger of becoming static through the excessive length of the conversations, which consists chiefly of duologues....
The nature of the story permits of only one "full pressure" performance - Ralph Richardson as Charles Appleby. This is just about the best piece of acting we have seen from from Mr Richardson, every gesture, inflexion and expression being perfectly done. ...
Beatrix Lehmann and Alsion Legatt play the two sisters with skill and restraint, Nellie Bowman is the faithful family retainer to the life, while Edward Irwin's study of the quiet, kindly old doctor is a sterling piece of character acting.
(with photo of Bea and Franklyn Bellamy)

Theatre world, Nov 1934
p. 204
Plays you should see
Eden End (Duchess)
This delightful little playhouse has acquired the habit of success, and J.B. Priestley's new play continues the unbroken sequence. The plot revolves around a doctor's family in a Yorkshire village, the period being 1912. Skilful character drawing and polished acting by Ralph Richardson, Beatrix Lehmann, Alison Leggatt, and others.



(Nothing for 1935 or 1936. Bea did very little acting during this time and spend some time in Berlin writing)

Theatre World Feb 1938
Frontispiece portrait
Beatrix Lehmann by Angus McBean
Beatrix Lehmann who has scored one of the outstanding acting triumphs of recent years as Lavinia Mannon in Eugene O'Neill's Mourning becomes Electra. This tremendous drama was presented at the Westminster Theatre for four weeks, but public demand necessitated an extension. It has now been transferred to the New Theatre for an unlimited run.

P. 67 has three more photos from the production by Angus McBean (See his book on how these came to be)
Eugene O'Neill's brilliant play, presented by Anmer Hall at the Westminster for a season of one month, established itself so firmly in the public favour that the run was extended for another month. even then an increasing demand for seats was experienced, so Mourning becomes Electra has now been transferred to the New Theatre for an unlimited run.
These illustrations show some of the leading protagonists in this sombre, compelling tragedy, which forms a parallel to Sophocles Electra set in New England in 1865. Left Laura Cowie as Christine Mannon and Beatrix Lehmann as her daughter Lavinia. (Below left) Christine greets her husband, Brigidier General Ezra Mannon (Mark Dignam) on his return from the civil war, and Christine with her beloved son Orin (Robert Harris).

p. 82 plays you should see,
another photo,
Laurie Cowie and Beatrix Lehmann in Eugene O'Neill's brilliant play, Mourning becomes Electra at the new.

Theatre world, March 1938
p. 109 Has the caricature of Bea and the rest of the MBE cast
These vivid sketches depict the tragic Mannon family in Eugene O'Neill's trilogy Mourning becomes Electra at the New theatre.

p. 130 has the photo of Laura and Bea in Theatre world recommends some plays you should see.

April 1938 lists mourning becomes Electra was withdrawn
\
Theatre world oct 38 has description of the corn is green which Bea was in later but I know nothing about. (photos taken to write up)
Acclaimed by critics and playgoers as one of the most noteable plays in recent years, Emlyn William's The Corn is Green was produced at the Duchess on September 21st, 1938. In normal circumstances it would have continued its London run well into 1940, but provincial playgoers are now given the opportunity to see the play several months earlier than had been anticipated. [nice way to spin the war].

Dec 1938
Has Off with the Motley! Random impressions by Playbill. p. 276
And then a great play with some of the finest acting of the year - Mourning becomes electra. Four hours in all, but it seemed shorter than most of the dreary little teacup comedies which london takes to its bosom. Packed, tense audiences at the Westminster Theatre, playgoers who had come to see and not to be seen, and a bravura perfromance from Beatrix Lehmann as the morbid, introspective duaghter of the accursed family of Mannon. It is hard to pick an outstanding moment when there were so many, but I plump for the final scene, where Lavinia closes the doors of the deserted house with a gesture of tragic finality, as she prepares to spend the rest of her life alonge, in expiation of her sins.

January 1939
Over the footlights,
Mourning becomes electra, Three sister,s golden boy and the corn is green made, perhaps, the sharpest impact.

Reader recollections of 1938. p. 41
For a memory never to be foregotten, a constant comparison to all plays and players, mourning becomes electra and Beatrix Lehmann. For sheer ... Miss M Jones
The intense feeling of dread at the open door of the shrouded sitting room while Orin and Lavinia awaited unknown approaching footesteps ... J.H.T.
My first memory of 1938 is an exisitie Midsummer Night's dream at the old Vic. This was followed by the utterly satisfying close of Mourning becomes electra... stephan W. Bateman.
Mentioned by 3 out of 6 of the letters

p. 63 the corn is green was voted best play of 1938 by theatre world readers

p. 62 the newest  plays,
Shaftesbury, They walk alone, Jan 19th
This is a play about a Cornish maidservant who is a homicidal maniac.

Although it is undoubtedly the best play that has been written about a Cornish maidservant who is a homicidal sex-maniac, that is not to say that it is above reproach with regard to probability and credibility.

Here are some of the points that worried me. How has this baleful werewolf managed to reach the age of thirty without being put away seeing that she must have been dulging her amiable practice seducing young village lads, and strangling them in the floodtide of their ecstasy, for the past twelve years or so?

Why did the respectable Tallents welcome her to their Lincolnshire farmstead without bothering about references? Why couldn’t Bess, the married daughter, communicate her unformed but deep suspicions of Emmy’s true Character? How did Mr Tallent return from London so swiftly on receipt of that telegram, and how did he evade the cordon waiting to enmesh his son’s murderess? And why did Emmy prove so fatally irresistible a lure for the boys? She frightened me so much I should have run miles in the opposite direction, rather than chance an assignation in the barn.

But these queries only occur when the uncanny fascination of the play’s atmosphere in general and Beatrix Lehmann’s acting in particular, is at at an end. While the drama is in progress it provides one of the most scarifying experiences of recent years. Miss Lehmann is positively hair-raising, yet she evokes a queer feeling of pity mingled with one’s loathing for the afflicted creature.

The best moments in the piece are the tense scenes between Emmy and the suspicious Bess. In the latter part, Carol Goodner gives a brilliant performance, of necessity less showy and spectacular than the maniac, but in its way equally vivid.

To sum up, if your nerves are strong, if you have a taste for the grand guignolesque, and if you accept the play for what it is and don’t go delving below the horrific surface you should spend a thoroughly frightening evening.

Feb 1939
p. 89 has more reader reactions mentioning Mourning

Beatrix Lehmann entering her empty and shuttered home at the end of Mourning Becomes Electra… E. Densham

A year of grand team-work. Outstanding memories: the culminating tragedy of Mourning becomes Electra… Rolf King

(3 no mention)

The performances of Beatrix Lehmann in Mourning Becomes Electra, …(Miss) E. J. Punton

January competition results list in voted 5 in the best plays of 1938

April 1939 has photos for they walk alone.
(despite being reviewed was not listed in the plays you should see section either month)

Description of the plot of the Corn is green
To a small Welsh village, in the late 1890s, comes Miss Moffat, a strong-minded, unconventional English schoolmistress who has been left a house by the will of a relative. She is accompanied by her cockney servant, Mrs Watty, formerly addicted to petty larceny but now a pillar of the Salvation army, and Bessie, Mrs Watty's sly and objectionable young daughter.
Realising that the young boys who work in the mines nearby are quite uneducated, Miss MOffat becomes obsessed with the idea of starting a school for them in the barn next to her house, and enlists the help of Miss Ronberry, a village spinster, and Mr Jones, an earnest chapel goer.
Local prejudices stand in her way for a time, and she is on the point of throwing in her hand when an essay written by a young pit boy named Morgan Evans comes to her notice. Recognising beneath the halting phrases the unmistakable touch of genius she fires Morgan with her own enthusiasm and resolves that he shall become her star pupil.
By wheedling the foolish old squire Miss Moffat secures her protege's nomination for a scholarship to Oxford, but her cherished plans seem doomed to failure. For Morgan, resentful of a woman's domination, goes back to his old drinking bouts and becomes entangled with Bessie, who has deliberately laid herself out to entrap him.
Bessie is sent away into service, but returns on the morning of Morgan's examination, to claim him as the father of her expected baby. Miss Moffat buys her silence and Morgan, ignorant of what has happened, sits for the exam. In the last act, the result is being eagerly awaited when Bessie reappears, this time determined to exact her claims. The truth can no longer be hidden from Morgan, who obstinately decides to do the right thing and let his career go hang.
Miss Moffat, after a long struggle succeeds in convincing him of his real duty - to himself and to the world - and so  he says goodbye to the woman who having sacrificed so much for him is now undertaking the upbringing of his child.