Lawrence Langner

P.G. Wodehouse's adaptation of Jatek a Kastelyban (The Play in the Castle) brings Ferenc Molnar's classic comedy to a wider audience. The play is a romantic farce without the usual door-slamming and comic entrances and exits. Instead, we are treated to a party of guests seemingly overhearing a lover's tryst, only to find (with the help of a very quick-witted playwright) that they are actually hearing something very different. The play combines beautifully formed characters with an exquisite text.

A lively, entertaining, egotistical success story- self-told by the famous patent lawyer, dramatist and head of the Theatre Guild. Born in a small Welsh town in rather humble circumstances, Langner entered the world of work at the age of 13, studied patent law at night, emigrated to America and started on his irrepressible rise to success. As a patent lawyer, he opened offices not only in New York and other American cities, but in Europeans capitals as well. His contacts with such men as Kettering, the Wright brothers, the inventors of Germany and England are all interesting. But he slights this material somewhat in favor of his all-absorbing hobby, the theatre. He tells the story of the formation of the Washington Square players, the founding of the Theatre Guild- its rise, vicissitudes and proliferations, the story of his own theatre- The Country Play-House in Westport, and finally the opening of the Shakespeare Festival Theatre there this year. Mr. Langner's life seems to be an extrovert's dream realized. He is in and out of a myriad of activities. All he touches succeeds, or if it doesn't, he is unaware of it. And many celebrities cross the pages of his book- and his relations with Shaw and O'Neill form a fascinating part of it....A long, aggressive, and often amusing book which may well sell considerably. The persons mentioned, and their friends, should account for 5000 copies; and those interested in the theatre in America, in which langner has played a decisive part, will add an appreciable audience. -- Kirkus Review.

Just as Pursuit of Happiness dealt with "bundling" amongst our forefathers, so Suzanna and the Elders deals with plural marriage and selective breeding in certain communities in America during the latter part of the 19th century. But Suzanna and the Elders is not a play about these quaint customs, solely. If you can picture an imaginary character of the type of Shaw, who has attempted to found a socialistic community in New England in which all goods are owned in common, and in which the primary evil is possessiveness, not only of property but of people, you will have a rough idea of what the play is about. The play attempts to show that the old Adam in human beings will always ultimately prevent men from being regimented, even though the dictator has only the highest motives, as was the case with our character, John Kent. Our attempt to treat this subject lightly is deliberate; not because we do not appreciate the importance of the subject, but because we feel that what we have to say can be better appreciated through this medium then by a solemn treatise on the subject, which by the way is available to anyone who will take the trouble to do the necessary research. - Jacket flap.

Describes Tubman's spiritual journey as she hears the voice of God guiding her north to freedom on that very first trip to escape the brutal practice of forced servitude. Tubman would make nineteen subsequent trips back south, never being caught, but none as profound as this first one.