Police May Ban 'Desire'

Two Cambridge policewomen were in audience last night when Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms" opened at the Brattle Theatre.

Because authorities felt that the play was more concerned with desire than with elms. City Manager John B. Atkinson requested that Police Chief Patrick F. Ready assign the pair, Miss Edith Taylor and Mrs. Louise Darling, to act as moral critics.

They had reached no decision as of late last night. If they feel the play warrants it, they will seek court complaints Should a court decision go against the theatre, the city can revoke the Brattle's permit.

The Brattle management said last night that they are producing the play because they consider it a "masterpiece of American theatre which the people of Cambridge and Boston are entitled to see."

The play is generally recognized as being highly moralistic and semi-religious in nature, dealing with the wages of sin and greed.