Broadway Scrapbook:

By Dr. Laurence Raw on October 31, 2014 Brooks Atkinson was the theater critic of the NEW YORK TIMES for decades - from 1925 to 1960, in fact. A man of pronounced tastes, he championed the cause of new writing in the mid-twentieth century American theater, especially that of Eugene O'Neill. Part of a phalanx of critics whose notices could make or break a production, he was responsible for the collapse, for example, of a comedy RETURN ENGAGEMENT (1940), which closed after only eight performances, despite the author's previous effort having run over five hundred performances. BROADWAY SCRAPBOOK comprises a personal selection of reviews between 1935 and the end of 1947. There are some notable first night comments on seminal plays such as YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, OF MICE AND MEN, OUR TOWN, THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE, LIFE WITH FATHER, WATCH ON THE RHINE, SKIN OF OUR TEETH, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and ALL MY SONS. There are also notices on famous revivals such as THE COUNTRY WIFE with Ruth Gordon, Maurice Evans in HAMLET, Barry Fitzgerald in JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, Katharine Cornell in CANDIDA and John Gielgud's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, as well as essay-length articles on Chinese drama, Charlie Chaplin and Atkinson's fellow-reviewer H. T. Parker.