Romeo and Juliet

A tragedy by William Shakespeare, arranged in two parts and twenty-three scenes by Katharine Cornell. Opened at the Martin Beck Theatre, New York City, December 20, 1934, (following the seven-month U.S. tour) and ran for 77 performances. Produced by Katherine Cornell, staged by Guthrie McClintic, settings by Jo Mielziner, dance direction by Martha Graham, music by Paul Nordoff.

Cast of characters

Part I, Scenes 1 and 11 — Public Place in Verona, Mantua
Scenes 2 and 4 — Capulet's House
Scenes 3 and 8 — Street in Verona
Scene 5 — By Wall of Capulet's House
Scenes 6 and 9 — Capulet's Orchard
Scenes 7 and 10 — Friar Laurence's Cell

Part II, Scenes 12, 15, 18 and 20 — Juliet's Bedroom
Scenes 13 and 16 — Friar Laurence's Cell
Scenes 14, 17 and 19 — Capulet's House
Scene 21 — Street in Mantua
Scene 22 — Outside Friar Laurence's Cell
Scene 23 — Tomb of the Capulets

Rathbone first played the role of Romeo in 1915, with the New Shakespeare Company. It was his favorite Shakespeare role, so he eagerly accepted Katherine Cornell's invitation to play Romeo opposite her Juliet. During the U.S. tour Orson Welles played the part of Mercutio.

"The version of 'Romeo and Juliet' used by Miss Cornell divides the play into two acts, intermission following Romeo's flight to Mantua."

[from The Best Plays of 1934-35, ed. by Burns Mantle (Dodd, Mead and Co., 1935), page 424-425.]

At the beginning of the U.S. tour of Romeo and Juliet (October 1933), Rathbone developed a throat infection that persisted for several months. In June 1934 Rathbone had his tonsils removed.

See back of Katherine Cornell book for reviews. Blanche Yurka defended Basil's interpretation of Romeo.

See The Baz for more info on this play:

https://thegreatbaz.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/letter-from-fitzroy-davis-to-michael-druxman/   (The Countess says that Fitzroy Davis was in the tour.)

See discussion of book called Quicksilver.

Other notes:

Cornell et al. found audiences on the tour more enthusiastic than New York playgoers. "At Romeo and Juliet, for instance, they would applaud after every scene, without even waiting for the intermission. It was as if they were saying, 'We want you to know, right know, that we like it.' . . . If New York audiences seem less demonstrative than some of those I've played to this season, it's not from any lack of appreciation. It's just that the theatre is a more usual thing with them. Then, too, they know the cast won't come out and bow until the end of the play, and that rather discourages applause. On the road people are not so familiar with this custom." (New York Herald Tribune, June 17, 1934)

Cornell grew up in Buffalo, NY.

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NOTES from Blanche Yurka's book: Bohemian girl; Blanche Yurka's theatrical life., Yurka, Blanche. (1970) Ohio University Press, 1970, pp. 215-219

Describing opening night of Katherine Cornell's Romeo and Juliet in NYC, December 1934:

On opening night the characterization which, after Kit's Juliet, was on everyone's lips was that of Edith Evans as the Nurse. she brought a rich fruity quality to the role. At her stipulation the part was uncut. Even the "keening" scene was retained—the scene in which the Nurse discovers Juliet lying on her bed, seemingly dead. This gave the part an importance and emotional values never revealed in any performance of the play I had even seen.

Shortly after the opening a sudden death in her family made it necessary for Miss Evans to return to England. [The death was her husband, George (Guy) Booth. He died in London on January 10, 1935.]

Mr. McClintic invited me to replace her. I was both flattered and frightened. Miss Evans' performance had been acclaimed; following her would be a tough assignment and an interesting challenge.

Never having played anything remotely like the fat, bawdy old Nurse, I had to re-adjust my thinking. I buried the slimness, so laboriously achieved at the Arden salon the previous season, under the required thirty pounds of padding. I even wore it while rehearsing in order to acquire the waddling walk and labored movements of the character.

Mr. McClintic and Katharine were infinitely patient with my fluctuations between hope and doubt as to the wisdom of what I was undertaking. could I justify my temerity in following so brilliant a performance? and if I did succeed, was it wise to play such a "character" part? Would I ever again be allowed to play anything else? But despite all this vacillating I agreed to be ready in ten days' time.

On the day I was to enter the cast an early run through the lines with the stage manager went smoothly. At 3 p.m. I went up to the studio of Madame Daykarkhanova, a Russian actress who knows everything there is to know about makeup. I had not the slightest notion of how my aquiline features and rather deep-set eyes could be turned into an apple-cheeked old face which would seem to belong to the fat, rolling body beneath it. I watched her fingers work a miracle. It took two hours, but, by clever high-lighting and shadowing she painted out my face and in its place created little pig eyes, double chins and full brick-red cheeks. but on my return to the theatre for a final line rehearsal with Jimmy Vincent, the stage manager, I suddenly found that I could not remember a single consecutive speech. terror gripped me. I tried again. It was no use. Jimmy looked helpless and counseled that I go up to the dressing room "to rest" until the performance. "You knew it perfectly this morning. Please don't worry," he said. I stretched a blanket on the floor and as I lay there, trying to muster courage to ask for a second postponement (knowing full well I wouldn't do that) Maminka's remark came back to me: "You're nervous when you don't work; you're nervous when you do. What do you get out of it?" ...

Half hour was called, fifteen minutes. Horrible premonitions swept over me: I would "dry up" and one couldn't fake Shakespeare. I would ruin Kit's beautiful performance as well as my own future. Why had I ever imagined I could do such a part? My woolen robes were less heavy than my heart as I went down to sit on the darkened stage to await my cue. I came. I began to speak. I heard a cracked old voice (my own, incredibly changed) calling:

"What, lamb! what, ladybird!—God forbid!—Where's this girl? What, Juliet!" And before I knew it I was launched on the long garrulous nurse's speech. In a moment or two I heard that loveliest of sounds, laughter! My heart lifted. Again that ripple out front; a few lines later still again. It was the sweetest of music to my ears. Terror evaporated like mist before the sun. the scene went beautifully; the lines rolled out as though I had been speaking them for weeks. the mental mechanism released from stage-fright by the first ripple of laughter, functioned without a halt. As I came offstage, Jimmy Vincent hugged me and Kit squeezed my hand; the swift change of scenes allowed time for nothing more.

The lovely play went on to its more lyric beauties; again, in the garden scene, heart-warming laughter. The rope-ladder scene, with it s keening [wailing in grief] and tears, held no terrors for me; Guthrie's moist eyes at rehearsal had reassured me about that.

At last the performance was over. Back in my dressing room where only a few hours ago I had lain on the floor stricken with foreboding, I doffed the huge skirts and the heavy padding. A few swift smears of cold cream and I saw my own face emerge, greasy but happy. There's no sense to it all, such depths of fear, such heights of relief, but I've never been able to keep a sensible middle path between the two; those who can are lucky! ...

After my fears and apprehensions it was very warming to see Burns Mantle's review of my performance:

John Mason Brown, who admitted that he had had his doubts as to how I would fill Dame Edith Evans' shoes, concluded his Two on the Aisle column, entitled, "Blanche Yurka's Excellent Performance of the Nurse in Miss Cornell's 'Romeo and Juliet'" by writing:

Description of Basil as Romeo:

Romeo and Juliet continued its New York run for nine more weeks. Katharine's triumph was complete and her warm joy in it was infectious. I, for one, had been charmed and moved by Basil Rathbone's Romeo. Some of the critics had been of a different opinion, but watching it repeatedly from the wings, my first impression was, if anything, intensified. In certain scenes I thought him the best of the six Romeo's I had seen. Especially in the bedroom scene his tender, muted reading was so convincing, so touching, that I never grew tired of listening to it. Some Romeos, in this scene, use sufficient voice to rouse the Capulet household a dozen times. As for the balcony scene, it is usually done in a key which would ensure the "death, of any of my kinsmen find thee here" of which Juliet was apprehensive. Not so with Basil Rathbone. He played the whole scene in a muted voice which nevertheless carried perfectly. He was very moving, too, in the scene in Mantua, when word is brought to him of Juliet's death.

The whole performance was one which could be watched night after night with pleasure. Brian Aherne's Mercutio was brilliant both in voice and appearance. Only Katharine's desire to play a series of other parts that season prompted her to terminate the run while business was still good. I said goodbye to her and "honey nurse" with a heavy heart.

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(1934) Stage Play: Romeo and Juliet. Tragedy (revival). Written by William Shakespeare. Choreographed by Martha Graham. Scenic Design by Jo Mielziner. Directed by Guthrie McClintic. Martin Beck Theatre: 20 Dec 1934- Feb 1935 (closing date unknown/77 performances). Cast: Brian Aherne (as "Mercutio, kinsman to the prince and friend to Romeo"), Edith Allaire, Gilmore Bush, Robert Champlain, Arthur Chatterton, Katharine Cornell (as "Juliet, daughter to Capulet"), Margaret Craven, Jacqueline DeWit, Angus Duncan, John Emery (as "Benvolio, nephew to Montague and friend to Romeo"), Edith Evans (as "Nurse to Juliet"), Reynolds Evans (as "Escalus, Prince of Verona"), Brenda Forbes (as "Lady Montague, wife to Montague"), John Gordon Gage, Franklin Gray, William Hopper, Lois Jameson, Agnete Johannson, Paul Julian, George Macready (as "Paris, a young nobleman, kinsman to the prince"), Ruth March, Irby Marshall (as "Lady Capulet"), Albert McCleery, John Miltern (as "Montague"), Irving Morrow, Ralph Nelson, Moroni Olsen (as "Capulet"), Basil Rathbone (as "Romeo, son of Montague"), Pamela Simpson, Charles R. Thorne, David Vivian, Charles Waldron, Orson Welles (as "Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet/Chorus") [Broadway debut]. Produced by Katharine Cornell.

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Theatre Arts Monthly, February 1935

For more than a year New York had been waiting to welcome Katharine Cornell back. The country had already seen her in Romeo and Juliet (it was in her repertory on tour last year). But this was a new production, a re-studying of the play itself, staged by Guthrie McClintic, with new designs by Jo Mielziner, and to a considerable extent with a new casting. Basil Rathbone was still playing Romeo as he had last year, but Brian Aherne, as Mercutio, was making his first appearance in a Shakespeare part, and Edith Evans had come across the sea to play the rich part of the Nurse, towards which her imagination had long hankered.

Of all the world's great love stories there is none more tender than Romeo and Juliet.  But tradition has let it come down to us as a star's play, or, at best, a play for two stars. And in a theatre that makes haste from big scene to big scene something of the continuity is always lost. For years players and actor managers, making their cuts in Shakespeare's lines to suit their persons, have skimped the transitions needed to keep the line of the story clear. the events that are the pulse of the story have often been dispensed with to save time. Saving time, the method has squandered attention and belief.

In Romeo and Juliet, as much as in any of his plays, Shakespear develops his characters out of the happenings of the story. When the play begins Juliet is a child. She seems a woman, fully grown, with a lifetime of suffering behind her when, only a little later, she follows Romeo to death. The feud that divides their families, the chance meeting and the hurried marriage, the street brawl that sends Juliet's cousin to the grave at Romeo's hands and banishes Romeo, the sleeping potion that Friar Laurence gives, the dread of the tomb, the miscarried letter — all of these facts the poetry needs to build a play for a poet's people.

In this Cornell version every detail of the story is clear. that is its first advantage. the responsibility for bringing the play within an evening's theatre hours is put where it belongs, on the pace of the playing and the right adjustment of the material surroundings. Jo Mielziner's settings are deft and serviceable as well as full of color, and true to the play's feeling. they make the path for the action easy and the scenes flow one into another as smoothly as if the mind were leading them. The speech is quickened beyond the usual speed of Shakespearean reading, to the advantage of the lines. Its quicker flow focuses the attention and quickens the memory, and over and over again a listener finishes, before it is spoken, a line he did not know he knew. this is partly, too, because what the reading lacks in ponderousness it gains in lyric value and strangely enough (except in a few notable spots) in precision. Although all of the playing is not in one method, the elements are knit closely into a single pattern. Even the minor parts — like Reynolds Evans' Prince of Verona, George Macready's Paris, the Montague and Capulet of John Miltern and Moroni Olsen, the Lady Montague and Lady Capulet of Brenda Forbes and Irby Marshal, the Tybalt of Orson Welles — have their own completion and authority. The players that carry the major burden of the action are splendidly measured for their parts. Charles Waldron, as Friar Laurence, is a fountain of human understanding and of sympathy. Brian Aherne is a noble and dashing Mercutio, so much alive, so handsome and vigorous that all the puzzlement of young death comes out in his sudden dying. Edith Evans, the record says, has played the part of the Nurse before, but not in professional performance. She makes of this kind, shrewd, loving old friend to Juliet one of the theatre's rare portraits, a character wholly created out of an actor's gifts and yet made wholly from the stuff the poet gave her. There is the same onslaught in her humor as in her person, the same melody in her speech as in her gait.

Romeo is a difficult part and Basil Rathbone does it the honor to recognize the difficulties and to change the habit and style of his playing to suit the necessities. He is not the ideal player for Shakespeare's romantic hero, but he plays the part freely, graciously, without weakness or hysteria. Sometimes the low tone which is one of the marked virtues of his conception dulls the edge of the character and often it leads him astray in his speech, losing the lines for the audience altogether. But he makes a fine presence and it always a good foil for the other players.

And so to Juliet. It is good for once to speak without reservation and to say quite simply that Katharine Cornell in her performance has wiped out the memory of other Juliets. where, in the rich maturity of her experience. she kept the mystery of a youth so loving and so lovely there is no knowing. But here she is, a beautiful and noble girl, not quite fourteen, suddenly one of a pair of star-crossed lovers.

Little by little, through the play, as she pours out the glowing lines without missing the color or the quality of a single phrase, she seems to build up out of the poet's words the burden of a new life, a too great love and joy and a far too mighty sorrow. She give back to every scene the whole of what is in it, the full romance with Romeo, the full jest with the nurse, the questioning and the faith with Friar Laurence, the bewilderment and aloneness of the phial scene and the final peace and acceptance in the tomb. Of the whole performance there is no more to say than that it is the East and Juliet is the sun!

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THE NEW YORKER

In reviewing an excellent Shakespearean production, like Katharine Cornell's "Romeo and Juliet," there is no way for the reviewer to keep from sounding pompous and dull. If he can't find fault, there is nothing left for him to do but stroke his beard and try to think up different ways of saying "swell." If he could say "swell" and let it go at that, it would make better reading.

So, in case you are not going to go through with this, you coward, let's say right at the start that I enjoyed Miss Cornell's production of "Romeo and Juliet" more than any other I have ever seen. In fact, for the first time I had a feeling of watching a real play.

This was due, I think, first to Miss Cornell's portrayal of Juliet, concerning which I am inadequately equipped with literate phrases to write at length; secondly to the deft rearrangement of the text and to Guthrie McClintic's direction, combing to make it a living story acted by real people; and thirdly to the costumes and settings designed by Jo Mielziner, which gave the eye that stimulation so necessary in any Shakespearean production if the blood is to be kept in circulation. As an added delight, I would cit the Nurse of Miss Edith Evans.

There, in short, you have my feeling about Katharine Cornell's "Romeo and Juliet." I could go on to say that, for the first time, I believed in Juliet as a maiden lover (I believed in Julia Marlowe as an actress for whom I would lay down my life, but this time I believed in Juliet as a character), that Basil Rathbone is not an ideal choice for Romeo, but after all, Romeo is probably not Mr. Rathbone's ideal choice for a part, that Brian Aherne, after he stopped leaping and slapping his friends on the back in the early scenes, made Mercutio the sterling fellow and memorable character that Shakespeare put into the lines, and that Charles Waldron, as Friar Laurence (I must get over thinking of this amiable bluderer as Friar Tuck. It makes for illiteracy) was just the sort of person one would go to when in trouble, with the assurance that more trouble would be the result.

I could also go into the fact that several of the minor characters, such as Montague and Capulet as played by John Miltern and Moroni Olsen, Tybalt in the hands of Orson Welles (I would like to see him play Richard the Third), and the Paris of George Macready, all helped to further the effect of real people in real parts. And then, again, I could mention the Nurse of Edith Evans, a really remarkable characterization in any play.

But all this would only make for a stodgy review of a production which was anything but stodgy, thanks again to the handling of the text, the beauty of the coloring, and--in the last (I promise you) analysis--to Miss Cornell.

Robert Benchley

December 29, 1934, p. 28

A fine production, with K.C. at her best, of an old play which here takes on new life. K.C.'s own version of the play.

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From TIME, Dec. 31, 1934.

For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

Katharine Cornell maintained, even while she was performing them, that her rich rôles in The Green Hat, The Barretts of Wimpole Street and Lucrece were only part of her apprenticeship as an actress. When she had thoroughly prepared her self, said she, she was going to stand the supreme dramatic test of Shakespeare's Juliet. In Manhattan last week she presented herself in the tragedy that has brought more woe to more ambitious actresses than any other single play. To the satisfaction of critics and public alike, Katharine Cornell proved herself, once & for all, the First Lady of the U. S. Stage.

From the moment she appeared, long chestnut locks falling on a sweeping Renaissance gown designed by artful Jo Mielziner, Miss Cornell handled her part with definite authority. She seemed a little less awed by Shakespeare's rich verse than such predecessors in the rôle as Jane Cowl and Eva Le Gallienne. Her technical resource was never strained as she ran the gamut of shy girlishness in the opening scenes, mischievous eroticism on the star lit balcony, near-delirium when about to take Friar Laurence's potion. Newspaper reviewers sent up a praiseful paean to the adjectival accompaniment of: "Lovely! Exquisite! Extraordinary! Marvelous! Thrilling! Exciting! Radiant! True magnificence! Superlative!" Burns Mantle of the Daily News: "The potion scene, I venture, has never been as tellingly read as Miss Cornell gave it last night, simply, without affected hysteria, or hair-tearing.'' Brooks Atkinson of the Times: "This is an occasion. All a reviewer can say is 'Bravo!' " High praise, too, was due Miss Cornell's excellent supporting company. Particularly good was Edith Evans as the Nurse. Miss Evans speaks lines which are usually expurgated with a wholesome bawdry which somehow manages to dodge the usual tiresome vulgarity of the part. Brian Aherne, in a curly red wig, is an ebullient Mercutio, gay as May in the Queen Mab speech, bitter as gall when he dies cursing "both your houses." Capable but less distinguished as Romeo is Basil Rathbone, whose virtuosity appears to stop just this side of eloquence. His pausing, prosy delivery is perhaps better suited to modern evening dress than to 16th Century tights.

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info from article in The Family Circle, December 21, 1934 (vol. 5 No. 25) p. 14-15

Katherine Cornell talked about the tour of the plays. "I loved trouping. People were so kind everywhere. There has been so little legitimate theatre through the country that they seem hungry for real plays. Sometimes there wasn't even an old 'opera house' to perform in, but somehow we always managed to get along."

"What was the biggest thrill you got on the road?" asked the interviewer. "In Seattle--Guthrie's hometown," she replied. "They held the curtain till one o'clock in the morning when the train was late."

"And the audience waited?"

"Yes, everybody stayed. You see, there was a terrible storm--the train was hours and hours behind schedule. We wired to ask if the curtain could possibly be held till 10 o'clock. Then the storm got worse and we lost touch entirely with the theatre. We had no remote idea of going on that night, for it was past midnight when the train finally pulled into the station. But the manager of the theatre greeted us on the platform with word that the audience was still waiting. We jumped into cabs and hurried over to the dressing rooms and were ready for the curtain to go up at one. It went down at four o'clock that morning to a full house." (page 14)

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https://blog.mcny.org/2013/10/29/romeo-and-juliet-a-love-story-in-pictures/

It has been called the greatest love story of all time.  Even those who disagree can acknowledge that in the over 400 years since it was first performed, Romeo and Juliet has become one of the most well-known love stories in the world. Indeed, the tragic tale of forbidden love wasn’t original when William Shakespeare first put quill to page. The Bard borrowed liberally from classical stories and contemporary poems. Yet, it is his version that endures. The play was a Broadway staple in the early half of the 20th century, but a new production this fall is the first in over 25 years. 

It begins like any love story could today, at a party. (Technically the play begins with a brawl, and when we first see Romeo, he’s mooning over someone else. Scholars be warned, I gloss over some bits.) Romeo Montague and his friends sneak into a party thrown by his family’s sworn enemy, the Capulets. Love strikes Romeo when he sees Juliet Capulet across a crowded room. Not knowing who she is, he proceeds to woo her.

Juliet is won by the wooing, but very soon after they each discover who the other is. What comes next is Act II, scene ii, a.k.a. the “balcony scene.” It is later that same night when Juliet daydreams out loud on her balcony about the object of her infatuation. Romeo, overhearing her, reveals himself and they both profess their love. 

Juliet is called in from her balcony but promises to send a messenger to Romeo the next day. Romeo meets with his friend Friar Laurence to tell of his love and arrange to marry Juliet.  Juliet’s nurse, her messenger, finds Romeo later that day, and after a bawdy encounter with Romeo’s friend Mercutio, is able to have a heart-to-heart with him.

When her nurse returns, Juliet is able to coax the message out of her. The scene is played for comedy with the old nurse complaining about the wear and tear of the journey and the youthful Juliet impatient for news.

First comes love, then comes marriage. Juliet meets Romeo at Friar Laurence’s cell to be shrived and married.

Their bliss is short lived. Before the sun sets on their marriage, Romeo’s friend Mercutio gets into a fight with Juliet’s cousin Tybalt with tragic consequences.

Romeo comes between them, but in doing so allows Tybalt to deliver a death blow to his friend. After Mercutio dies, an incensed Romeo chases after Tybalt. .

Romeo slays Tybalt and is banished from the city. He and Juliet are able to spend one night as husband and wife before he leaves.

Acting on advice from Friar Laurence, the couple decide to wait an interval before announcing the marriage and bringing Romeo back. The Capulets throw a wrench in the works in the form of Paris, an eligible young bachelor. Faced with impending marriage to Paris and bigamy, Juliet looks to Friar Laurence for rescue. He devises a simple plan. Juliet will drink a potion to appear dead, the Friar will send for Romeo who, once he arrives, will awaken Juliet and they can live happily ever after. Easy, right?

And of course, everything goes terribly wrong. Friar Laurence’s messenger is too late, Romeo thinks Juliet is really dead. He arrives at her tomb, drinks a potion and actually kills himself. Juliet awakens, sees Romeo dead and uses his dagger to stab herself. Terribly, terribly wrong.

The image that Shakespeare leaves us with is the reconciling of the two families.  The Montagues and Capulets hear the full tale of their children’s love and resolve to end their feud. For never was there a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

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Another letter:

Notes from BU Archives:

Telegram from “Norma” (Norma Shearer?) dated JAN 23 1934

Biltmore Theatre LOSA (Los Angeles?)

DEAR BASIL IRVING AND I WANT TO TELL YOU HOW REALLY FINE YOUR PERFORMANCE WAS LAST NIGHT YOU WERE A JOY TO THE EYE AND EAR WHAT A PERFECT ROMEO LOVE TO YOU AND OUIDA

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Letter from Stuart Walker:

February 16, 1934

My dear Basil,

I’ve been waiting for my new stationery so that I might be able to dazzle you, both with what I shall say and on what I say it. But the paper has not come and I must get word to you that I saw and loved ROMEO & JULIET.

My ankle was badly sprained the day before, rarely escaping a bad break, but I defied orders and betook myself to the Biltmore. I like the play better than ever before. Perhaps it is because so many years have elapsed out here since I had heard any poety. The performance pleased me mightily, especially from the balcony scene onward. You negotiated the Friar Lawrence scenes beautifully and that is no mean feat even for a natural romatic like yourself. Romeo has never been an easy character to play because he seems to suffer from lack of initiative; but you made him so very human and young that I quite forgotr my old theory that the vitality of Verona died with mercutio.

But to me your bigger achievement was your Morell. I know that will probably enrage you or disappoint you until I explain myself. Morell is at best a difficult part even for a good actor who is physically and mentally suited to the part. For you who are neither like Morell in type nor in sympathy with Morell as a part the perforamce ordinarily should have been impossible. It was not. It was a good as the best Morell I have ever seen if not better. Your characterization was as sharp as an etching and your readings were delightful. It was altogether a real tour de force.

We are sorry not to have seen something of you and La Rathbone, but I suppose you had your time filled with visitings and conferrings. I hear you are talking over a contract with a major studio. Talk high!

Our affectionate greetings to you and Ouida,

Stuart Walker

Handwritten letter from someone. Stationery says 41 West 12th Street, NY

Dear Basil,

Thanks for a treat this afternoon. A heart-breaking Romeo you made; I wanted to die, too, after that poignant last scene. Those dear young leads (?) dying together in such peace and beauty seemed fitting after the pure beauty of your performance and Miss Cornell’s. I suppose lovliness (?) to too moving for real enjoyment, and I was a [?]arry wreck after his play this afternoon. But you must know all this appreciation with which you are renomided (?).

Most sincerely,

[can’t read name]

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Letter on letterhead from Victor Wittengenstein:

Dearest Basil,

Let me say this: that I sincerely indose (?) every word of Blanche’s letter, but let me add, that a true artist must know the value of his work and the sheer beauty of the Romeo which I so thoroughly enjoyed tonight was wrought by a master of his craft, an idealist and a lyricist of the highest rank. Be happy dear Basil in your achievement and be grateful that you possess that power to achieve. In my own humble way I think I know artistic beauty when I see it, and your performance was just that. Turn deaf ear to the “wreck” called critics and wear the royal mantile of Romeo, which is your rightful heritage, with pride.

Always yours and Ouida’s

Devoted Vickie.

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NEWSPAPER REVIEWS OF ROMEO & JULIET

(see if Nan can find)

New York Evening Journal, Tuesday, June 12, 1934

Photo of OR, BR and Moritz as they arrived in the US from Europe on the Europa (name of ship) [undated newspaper clipping]

Milwaukee Journal [undated clippings]

Underlined parts:

“Her Production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Catches Spirit of the Great Author” by Irving Ramsdell

Her Romeo, BR, is a player of much Shakespearan experience, as handsome as the word “Romeo” implies, quite as romantic as doublets, hose and flowing velvet capes can make him, and quite as full of the poetic passons as any Montague can be. The role of Romeo, owing tro the recent restrained fashion in wooing, is quite the hardest of the well known Shakespearean parts to sell to a modern audience. But Mr. Rathbone sells it. He has his big moment in Friar Laurence’s cell when the news is brought to him that he has been banished from Verona for skewering Juliet’s obnoxious cousin Tybalt.

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“Cornell Infuses Passion Into Role of Juliet”

By Harriet Pettibone Clinton

Mr. Rathbone’s Romeo is no less the youth consumed by his last love. As with all youth, the last love but one becomes as nothing. Though he had developed the same symptoms the week before over the beauty of another, the jibes of his companions are futile either in dispelling his gloom or restoring him to objectivity. It would be unfair to Mr. Rathbone to discuss the performance of Miss Cornell separately.

Because it is predominantly their work together which is superb. To the conception of Miss Cornell—that Juliet is ripe woman, not mooning child—Mr. Rathbone gives perfect complement. He plays with the depth demanded by such a conception.

. . .

My belief is that to act Shakespear well is to act as one would act to paly anything well. This means, if it means anything, to act the thoughts and not the words of Shakespeare. Which seems to be exactly what the Cornell troupe accomplished last night at the Davidson. The accomplishment did not sacrifice melodic beauties but reduced them to their proper proportion.

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“Miss Cornell Plays Juliet and the Pale Tragedy Takes on New Luster and Life”

By Richard S. Davis

Basil Rathbone is the present Romeo. His interpretation, also, is a departure from the staple. He, too, is less concerned with cadences and sonorities and nicely adjusted accents than with presenting a luckless young man in the throes of passonate devotion. Mr. Rathbone does not ignore the classic rules to swagger and eloquence and goes not cheat the eye of its supposed delight in elegance of costume, but he offers a Romeo with blood as well as phrases stored within him.

MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL [partial date: 16, 1933

“Miss Cornell Scores Again”

By Merle Potter

The Romeo Mr. Rathbone gives us is a studied, invigorating and masterful characterization. Performances of other members of the company vary from competent to less than passable. Pronouncement of some of the most beautiful poetic passages in the play are rather badly mangled.

THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR [undated]

“Miss Cornell In Superb Performance Of Juliet”

By Carol Brooks

[Nothing specific about BR here, but a favorable review]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Another Minneapolis paper, I’m guessing. No date.

“Katherine Cornell’s Juliet Lauded as Ardent, Youthful, Believable”

By James Gray

Mr. Rathbone gives substance and eloquence to the essential spirit of the Elizabethan hero. His Romeo is full of hardihood and manliness. He has impetuosity and dash, is ready with his tongue, ready with a sword. He feels a real exuberance that goes out to meet experience. He is sportive and violent and gracious, and all of these varied characteristics are woven together into an emotional pattern that is fine and moving. Everything is gracefully done from the tactful approach of the balcony scene to the end which blends Elizabethan sensibility with Eliz ferocity, making both meaningful and appealing. It is a complete evocation of the romantic mood.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

REVIEWS OF THE BARRETTS

THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 1933

“Barrett” Play Is Superlative

By Richard S. Davis

BR plays the man and makes a handsome job of it. The drama’s scant allotment of humor is largely in his hands and the various quick points are deftly made. Altogether Mr. R. is immensely an asset, for he enlivens the pace, give vigor tot eh somewhat still and sultry mood of the piece and contributes, through his poet, the health that it so sorely needs.

Review from another Milwaukee paper, undated

By Earl N. Pomeroy

Mr. R plays Browning with the dash of youth and the vigor of a man enamoured. He matches the delicacy of Miss Cornell’s romantic touch with an ardor which, though given proper restraints, implies a fine and straight forward impetuousness.

Review from another Milwaukee paper, undated

As for the role of “Robert Browning,” it was played as Browning himself perhaps would have played it. It had all the characteristics of the poet—“singularly expressive eyes, a sensitive, mobile mouth, a musical voice and an alertness of manner so that he was like a quivering high-bred animal.” BR, the distinguished English actor, play the part with an exuberant vitality and was in almost every sense the poet biographers have described.

MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL [undated]

“Barretts Live Again in Play”

By Merle Potter

No less gratifying is the performance of BR as Browning. He is energetic, vital, sensitive and thoroughly engaging as an impetuous suitor who will permit no such trifles as paternal objections, ill health of the object of his suit or other hazard to divert him from his main purpose. There are very few love scenes more effectively acted than the first meeting of Miss Barrett and Browning in this play.

MINNEAPOLIS STAR [undated]

“Katherine Cornell Gives Vivid Portrayal of Poetess”

By John K. Sherman

BR is the impulsive, sharply intelligent, generous Browning who comes into Elizabeth’s room like a gust of fresh, sun-lit air. He plays the part with remarkable aplomb, and a sincerity that is not marred by his hyperbolic speech and gesture.

ST PAUL newspaper clipping [undated]

By James Gray

BR as Robert Browning is exuberant and buoyant, yet poised and plausible. I like his performance infinitely better than that of Brian Aherne who was with Miss Cornell in NY. Mr. Aherne’s interpretation seemed to me too conventionalized. Mr. R’s is as warm and likeable as it should be.

Seattle newspaper clipping about how the performance was delayed because the train carrying the cast was delayed 12 or 14 hours

“Better Late Than . . .” Met Audience Waits 3 Hours for Noted Star” by Mike Foster

[undated]

PORTLAND

“Katherine Cornell Enthralls Audience”

By Fred M. White, Drama Editor, The Oregonian

Rathbone work skillful.

Miss Cornell has surrounded herself with a splendidly capable and shrewdly chosen supporting cast. BR, who, as Robert Browning, shares with Miss C the vibrant and beautiful love story of Wimpolie street, naturally shares the major interest of the audience.

He accomplishes with apparently buoyant ease the difficult assignment of portraying genius on the stage and making it convincing. It is his task to make the audience believe that there before their eyes is Robert Brownign, bring to Eliz Barrett the potent love that lifts her existence from oppression and drab invalidism into the full joy of life, and this Mr. R does.

Another Portland paper? [undated]

“Barretts of Wimpole” Splendidly Presented

By Larry Warren

BR gives a flawless portrayal second only to the great Cornell. His diction, delivery and gestures leave nothing to be desired. It is a fine compliment to the immortal poet.

THREE CLIPPINGS FROM SAN FRANCISCO PAPERS (no article titles or dates. Names of papers unknown0

By Wood Soanes:

Rathbone’s Browning is a fine impersonation, better in many respects than the original of Brian Aherne. Browning was 34 at the time of his romance and marriage, a person of enormous vitality and full of the joy of living. Elizx Barret was 40, an invalid and despondent over life due to her illness and family conditions.

The Aherne Browning was a youth, since Aherne is a youth, and as such it was a fine portrayal, vivacious, interesting and decorative. The Rathbone Browning has these qualifications, too, but it possesses in addition a maturity of will and a more manly and dominant outlook on life. Thus Rathbone’s performance became less a picturesque show and more a sincere portrayal of character.

The two interpretation are worthy of more study tan this review permits, but whether or not Rathbone has the color tha Aheerne lacked few will quarrel with the statement that his is more a well rounded performance, dramatic invigorating and carefully attuned to Miss Cornell’s Eliz. They made not only a graceful team last evening but an interesting one.

By George C. Warren:

Mr. R is a different Browning from his predecessor; a more polished poet without losing anything of the fire that makes him alive and tremendous in his power of will. He wears the dress of the fifties gallantly and is a delight to ear, eye and intellect. He and Miss C are glorious foils for each other.

By Lloyd S. Thompson:

BR stepped compellingly into the role of Browning, a part in which we formerly saw Brian Aherne. Rathbone’s Browning had all the vigor and exuberance of Aherne’s, plus a gratifyingly deeper note of sincerity. He gave his browning all the external swank and flash recorded by the biographers and at the same time revealed the inner man, the sensitive and reflective soul who could write “Grow Old Along with Me.”

S.F. NEWS [undated]

Superb Performance of “The Barretts” Rounds Out Cornell Repertory

By Claude A. LaBelle

There was no question. Mr. R was a grand Browning. Without any detraction from Brian Aherne’s performance, which will always remain a highlight to those who saw it, I think Mr. R’s performance was marked with greater depth than that of his predecessor. Mr. Aherne’s playing was romance in the highest degree. His love fairly swirled about his lady. Mr R is no whit less romantic, but his love swept around the poetess like a deep and mighty current.

Katherine Cornell Superb in “Barretts of Wimpole St.” [undated, paper unknown]

By Fred Johnson

Aside from Miss Cornell’s performance, attention was centered upon the portrait of Robert browning offered by BR, who succeeded Brian A in the role, to be accorded an ovation that was second only to that given the star.

. . .

BR invests Browning with a vehement, masterful and intensely hhuman quality that dominates the academic in his love-making. He was heavily applauded after his principal scenes for a portrayal of sincerity and power.

From a Dallas, Texas paper [undated]

By John Rosenfeld Jr.

As written by Besier, the role of the English poetess combines characteristics and moods for s distinctive theatrical type. She is maiden and woman, blue stocking and a nursery child, invalid and heroine. A lesser-known Robert Browning is introduced as her lover. He is not the bearded attic poet of The Golden Treasury, but an overwhelmingly vital handsome beau of his youth. He takes the gloomy Barrett prison by storm. His comical forthrightness and assurance overcome the handicaps of “Ba’s” illness, the tangle of her Victorian scruples, and even the villainous opposition of her father. In this role the hitherto placid Mr. R came to life. Romeo does not suit him and he has called Shaw, after Joe Penner, “a nawsty man.” But his Browning was a portrayal con amore. It was vigorous enough for all heroics, handsome enough for all romantics, fervent enough for the candid biological blueprint of the story. Mr. R’s dash and eloquence were the life of the proceedings and endeared the actor at last to his public.

TWO CLIPPING FROM NEW ORLEANS NEWSPPAPERS [undated]

Miss Cornell Draws Rare Ovation in Tulane Play

By F. Edw. Hebert

And no less splendid was BR as Robert Browning. It had been my privilege to see Mr. R before, in “The Command to Love,” in which he played the diplomat. It was all the more reason to appreciate his magnificent performance as the rather bombastic, overwhelming, impetuous writer of verse. If Miss C is the mistress of the situation, then Mr. R is the master. His every move, his every gesture is perfection. There isn’t a motion of the head, hand or foot that doesn’t mean something to Rathbone. He deftly paints his character was would an artist with paint and brush. Give full credit to Mr. R for his assistance in making Miss C’s appearance a triumph behind the footlights.

Cornell Scores: Crowds Pack Theatre

By Mel Washburn

BR, star of the London Stage, and later star of American movies, plays the male lead as you would expect him to play it, but so strong are several of the characters that one or two come near overshadowing him. He has a Barrymore profile and lost no opportunity to keep you mindful of the fact. No performer could be more forceful physically or in oratorical persuasion, but the real merit of the man is proved by his restraint when it would have been so easy at times for him to overpose or bluster.

From a Toronto paper {no name, no date}

Mr. R is superb. He invests the part of Robert Browning with a sparkling flow of vitality which literally crackles across the footlights. A finished artist, he is sure and competent in an effortless fashion that bespeaks his London technique.

BUFFALO TIMES, May 16

Hearts Still Throb to Cornell Poetess

By Ardis Smith

I avoided the Barretts the last time it was in Buffalo because I didn’t want a cherished recollection of Brian Ahern’s Browning diluted or unfocused by BR, the excessively respiring Romeo. What was my surprise and confusion to discover then, last evening, that Mr. R has in his equipment a poet just as strapping, vociferous and unquenchable as Aherne, a poet, moreover, who is a darned sight more poetic.

R has not, like one young mommer in the Barretts’ cast, exactly copied the impersonation of a predecessor. He gives the shining knight whose lances of confidence and helath and love pierce one by one the goblins of Elizabeths’ fear, misgiving, fragility and subjugation to her awful parent, an air of some calculation and calm not apparent in the boisterous Aherne performance.

I believe he gets going sooner and I think Miss C has never played love scenes with any actor in any play that were quite as right and affecting as these.

. . .

[About Flush getting laughs]: So drowsy and lackadaisical was he throughout that when the poetess said: “Take his away, he becomes so excited when there are many visitors,” the audience, having all evening observed his complete indifference to the whole proceedings, giggled a bit and then roared.

[The play opened in Buffalo November 29, so that must be the reference to “the last time it was in Buffalo.”]

REVIEWS OF CANDIDA

SAN FRANCISCO

Small Cast Paints Vivid Characters

By Claude A. La Belle (drama editor)

BR is a new type of James Mavor Morell. The part, usually cast with a hearty and blustering actor, is played with the limit of sincerity by R. There is a restraint that is pleasing even in the scenes where his temper rises to the throttling point. He elicits sympathy without pitying himself.

Katherine Cornell Superb in Bernard Shaw’s “Candida”

By Fred Johnson

BR makes of the Rev. Morell a more likeable chap than Shaw probably intended, and his outward conduct is quite admirable enough to draw his wife back to him, however weak and in need of her ministrations she might believe him to be. His portrayal is meticulous without being strained and altogether delightful to witness.

Miss Cornell Triumphs in Shaw Comedy

By George C. Warren

BR, seemingly recovered from the illness of Monday night, is the Morrell. He makes the part believable. One understands how it is that all women have “Prossy’s complaint”—they fall in love with him; also why the splendid Candida loves him, and his power over audiences. There is the suggestion of eloquence in this Morrell.

CLIPPINGS FROM TORONTO PAPERS

Katherine Cornell Portrays Candida

By Rollin Palmer

And the Rev. Mr. Morrell, as played by BR, is no conventional clod who is shocked at the erstwhile advanced views of Marchbanks. He reacts to them rather conventionally, but Mr. R so splendidly portrays him as a gentleman trying to be rational under a variety of harassments that all sympathy is with him. When he seizes the poet’s throat in the first act doubtless many would wish him success in his enterprise were it not so early in the play. When eventually Candida decides in his favor, the choice meets with general satisfaction.

Cornell’s “Candida” Glorious Portrayal

BR Excels in Role of Shaw’s Cleric

By Pearl McCarthy

Miss C, making luminous the womanhood and love of Candida, and BR playing the role of the clergyman to what seemed absolute perfection, were a glorious pair. Fortunately, there was a large audience.

There would not be unanimous vote on the casting of Orson Welles as Marchbanks. Mr. W played intelligently, but his poet could never be a match for the clergyman created by Mr. R, and Shaw wrote the parts so as to keep a fairly good poetic justice between their differneces. It is well known that when cultivation, breeding idealism and kindness are combined in a clerical character you get a very elegant sample of human material, and BR’s refined clergymen are done to a turn.

BUFFALO

Best Shaw Play Gets Its Finest Candida

By Ardis Smith

You can depend upon the Cornell-McClintic family to give a play fresh implications. In this case they have done it with Rathbone’s Morell who is twice as reticent, sensitive, lenient and appealing as most Morells. I don’t know that this is wholly wise for the attractiveness of the R and C scenes played in intimate proximity surely takes the shine off the tender and pathetic passages between Candida and the lad.

. . .

Mr. R is in his very top form, exactly as full of bafflement and painfully curbed excitement as a young British cleric with a major domestic problem on his hands all of a sudden.

TOUR NOTES

a seven-month country-wide tour

It took them to cities such as Milwaukee, Seattle, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, San Antonio, New Orleans, Houston, Savannah, and back up the east coast to New England. Because movies had so completely taken over from live theater, there were major areas of the country closed off to the tour. Many of the smaller cities hadn't seen live theater since the First World War, or ever. Nonetheless, box office records were set in most cities and towns. "Variety" reported that the tour gave 225 performances and played to 500,000 people.

Oklahoma City, which theater, when?

Buffalo, Erlanger theatre, 4 days beginning Wed, Nov. 29, 1933 (Romeo: Wed, Thurs, Fri nights and Sat matinee; Barretts: Sat night only, Dec. 2)

Seattle, Metropolitan Theatre, one week beg. Dec. 25, 1933 (Barretts: Mon, Wed, Thurs, and Fri nights, and Wed. matinee. Romeo: Tues night and Sat. matinee. Candida: Sat night only)

San Francisco, Columbia Th., 2 wks beg. Jan 8, 1934 (all 3 plays performed)

Los Angeles, Biltmore Th., 2 wks beg Jan 22, 1934.

Kansas city, MO -- Shubert Theatre, one week, beginning March 5, 1934
Romeo and Juliet, March 5, 9, 10
Barretts, March 7
Candida, March 6, 8, 10

Toledo, Ohio, Paramount theater, March 26, 1934

Princeton, NJ, McCarter Th., May 5, 1934 (One night engagement of Barretts?)

Ithaca, NY, Strand Th., May 10, 1934  (One night engagement of Barretts)

New Haven, CT, Shubert Th., May 24, 1934 (3 perfs of Barretts, one perf of Candida)

Boston, Boston Opera House, 3 nights beg. June 7, 1934 (Three night engagement of Barretts)

Brooklyn, NY, Academy of Music, June 18, 19, 20 (Three night engagement of Barretts)

Detroit, Cass Theatre, One week beginning Monday, Dec. 3, 1934

Cleveland, OH, Hanna Th., One week beginning Dec. 10, 1934 (Romeo perfs only, no Barretts or Candida)

NYC, Martin Beck Theatre, December 20, 1934,  still there Jan. 26, 1935

May 24th, 1934 program (playbill) from the three-night engagement of the KATHARINE CORNELL production of the RUDOLF BESIER play "THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET" performed in repertory with the GEORGE BERNARD SHAW play "CANDIDA" at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. 

Planned during the height of the Great Depression, many theater experts and actors advised against such an ambitious tour. In fact, this was the first time anyone had tried to take a legitimate Broadway show on an all-country tour, let alone three plays. It took them to cities such as Milwaukee, Seattle, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, San Antonio, New Orleans, Houston, Savannah, and back up the east coast to New England. Because movies had so completely taken over from live theater, there were major areas of the country closed off to the tour. Many of the smaller cities hadn't seen live theater since the First World War, if ever. Nonetheless, box office records were set in most cities and towns. "Variety" reported that the tour gave 225 performances and played to 500,000 people. (Reprinted in part from Wikipedia.) ..... The three performances of "THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET" starred KATHARINE CORNELL and featured BASIL RATHBONE, ORSON WELLES, DAVID GLASSFORD, BRENDA FORBES, HELEN WALPOLE, PAMELA SIMPSON, IRVING MORROW, CHARLES BROKAW, LATHROP MITCHELL, REYNOLDS EVANS, GEORGE MACREADY, CHARLES WALDRON, MARGOT STEVENSON, JOHN HOYSRADT, A. P. KAYE, FRANCIS MORAN and FLUSH ..... CREDITS: Book by RUDOLF BESIER; Sets and Costumes designed by JO MIELZINER; Directed by GUTHRIE McCLINTIC; Produced by KATHARINE CORNELL ..... The one performance of "CANDIDA" starred KATHARINE CORNELL and featured BASIL RATHBONE, BRENDA FORBES, JOHN HOYSRADT, A. P. KAYE and ORSON WELLES ..... CREDITS: Book by GEORGE BERNARD SHAW; Sets and Costumes designed by WOODMAN THOMPSON; Directed by GUTHRIE McCLINTIC; Produced by KATHARINE CORNELL ...

comments from The Baz

Anna Kiss:  Sorry to butt in, Embechtel, but I just have to, in my great Basil fandom I was a bit miffed with Katharine Cornell when I read this book. Admittedly, she publishes it in 1939, so it is not an autobiography as such, more a look at a career that is still going on.
But! On the tour Basil did with her company, he had the lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, Candida and The Barretts of Wimpole Street, yet he does not feature once in the 32 pages of photos. The Romeo photo has Maurice Evans, who took over from Basil in New York. The Barretts photo has Brian Aherne – but that makes sense, he originated the role, Basil writes about this in his autobiography too. Cornell is never negative about Basil, though, she calls him handsome, then excellent, mentions his dog Moritz, the fact that he wore Barrett’s original ring from a museum in one of their performances, mentions how they rehearsed for the tour in Bavaria, how Basil told a colleague complaining about the cold water: “Don’t be effeminate, Charlie!”, minor things like that. At the back, the book carries reviews of their productions and these tend to criticise Basil’s Romeo for being cold. This proved so hard for my fangirl heart that I had to buy Blanche Yurka’s autobiography (she was in R&J and knitting in The Tale of Two Cities), she defends Basil’s interpretation in her book.
Interestingly, Maurice Evans (who was absolutely admired in his role as Romeo by all the critics, he may have surpassed even Katharine Cornell’s sweet Juliet when he came in) played the same role Basil had in the 1951 version of Kind Lady.

embechtel:  Thats ok.Butt in anytime.I partly agree.The critic from New York Post was a little unkind towards Basil,s Romeo.He said Basil “was handsome”,etc.but,”colder than one wished”.I think being from NY he was definately biased towards Kit.He heaped alot of praise on her.I can not say about how well she did or not.I unfortunately did not see it,but,i know this was her first Shake-Speare role.I think she must have not been all that and a bag of chips the first time around.The critics in chicago were also not to kind about the play.Everyone did seem to think highly of Barrets and Candida.I kept in mind Basil was also sick on this tour.perhaps this affected him.Also,he was41 yrs.old more in control than a younger Romeo.Maybe this was misinterpreted as cold.
Miss cornell was very nice about Basil.She did say that the play was slow to catch on but,did not place any blame on any of the cast.Shake-Speare in the midwest at that time would i think be a very hard sell.

Rathbone as Romeo, photo by Hal Phyffe	Katherine Cornell and Rathbone, photo by Edward Steichen
Katherine Cornell and Rathbone	Close-up of above photo
Katherine Cornell and Rathbone	Katherine Cornell and Rathbone