"DRAMA SHOULD SHUN SO-CALLED REALISM," SAYS MADGE KENNEDY

"What the American theatre is pleased to call 'Realism' is responsible for the unprecedented number of failures on Broadway during the last season. The drama should be a vehicle for glamour, a movement up and away from the seamy side of life. Eugene O'Neill's 'Strange Interlude' succeeded only because of the unusual and novel mechanics superimposed on a poor play. Boston audiences are the most appreciative in this country of farce or pure comedy. I'd like to play Shakespeare. I love Oolong tea and. English muffins, and I'd rather live in San Francisco than any other city in the world with the possible exception of Paris. Aeroplanes are a lot of fun and I like war-pictures. I never read unfavorable criticisms until I've left the city where they were written."

These were the outstanding impressions gleaned by a CRIMSON reporter from a hectic, dazzling twenty-minute interview with Madge Kennedy, lead in A. A. Milne's "Michael and Mary", current at the Plymouth Theatre. Between snatches at the aforementioned and self-same Oolong and muffins, Miss Kennedy, looking very much like her beyond-the-footlights-self, gave a running translation of her life, experiences, hobbies and beliefs.

Enjoy Herself Thoroughly

She seemingly gets a tremendous zest out of life. Breaking her promise five minutes after it was made not to mention the theatre, she expounded her theory of what the American theatre has to offer in the way of development. Miss Kennedy is a firm believer in the use of dress, settings, and a minimum of makeup to accentuate development of plot or character when the lines are not nearly sufficient. She used illustrations profusely from "Michael and Mary" to prove her points. Miss Kennedy emphasized the fact that all the latest hits of New York were decidedly the other extreme from the realism so popular a few seasons age. "Green Pastures", "Berkley Square", and the New York cast of "Michael and Mary," are instances of this, she declared. Glamour, "the willing suspension of disbelief", the successful effort to make people laugh understandingly, are the missions of the modern theatre.

"And come again. We'll have some more tea and muffins and I'll promise not to talk about the theatre next time," Madge Kennedy, who would like to play tragedy but is smart enough to know her success lies in comedy and farce, promised to the reporter, as the muffins and the interview came to an end.