Dean Murdock Approves Award of This Year's Pulitzer Prize To "Of Thee I Sing"-Says Unpretentious Plays Are Relief

In discussing the selection of "Of Thee I Sing" as the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in the field of the drama, K. B. Murdock '16, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said, "The selection of the play seems to me an excellent one and a proof that the life and reality of "Of Thee I Sing" is more acceptable to the public at the present time.

"An article i the 'Saturday Review' previous to the choice stresses the fact of the musical comedy's vivacity, and so supports the desire for reality in the drama. Since Eugene O'Neill has received the award already, the consideration of his 'Mourning Becomes Electra' has had perhaps less serious attention.

"The modern theatre seems to have become unusually arty, so that the least pretentious production offers a relief from the extremely serious plays. Both the producers and theater-goers have for the last few years taken the stage too seriously and the choice of this light piece may point to a reaction."

The Pulitzer Awards, totaling $17,000, and consisting of 14 separate prizes, were announced yesterday by Columbia University, which make the choices. "The Good Earth," a novel by Pearl S. Back, received the award as the best novel of the year, but is an exception to the rules of the prizes which require the story to concern itself with American life, since the scene of the prize-winner is set in China. The award in the field of history went to General John Pershing's Memoirs of the Great War.

Walter Duranty, of the New York Times, received the correspondence award for his dispatches from Russia, which were marked by "scholarship, profundity, and impartiality."