... When Byron Wooed Melbournes Wife A Tragic Episode Refold by Lord David Cecil in His Story of the Early Life of a Great Victorian Statesman Reviewed by VERNON FANE THERE was never a man whose life fell into two such sharply contrasted halves as William Lamb, later to become Lord Melbourne and Queen Victoria's most respected adviser. In his youth he spent his time in brilliant and cultured ...

... D rama o f the eek Kathleen O Regan as a TF oman w ho R inns her Life Tin ough Self Torture French Humour at its Best in the Film Skylark BY PRINCESS PAUL TROU BET ZKO Y WHEN a child is utterly and furiously frustrated in its heart's desire, there is often the perfectly normal, sulky remark, You'd be sorry if I was dead! The child, confident of the love of the adult whom temporarily it ...

... Drama AND FILMS: By Philip Page Much Ado About Little at the Adelphi Arthur Margetson in The Laughing Cavalier Val Gielgud's Satire Misfires in Punch and Judy WHO was the original of Franz Hals' picture which we call (though he did not) The Laughing Cavalier? That is a mystery no one will ever solve, though not the least reason why we should be grateful for the play of this name at the ...

... Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE Belisha Beacons and Christmas Pantomimes Cinderella at Drury Lane, Dick Whittinglon at the Lyceum Garbo Returns in The Painted Veil The Film Version of a Somerset Maugham Story It is a Belisha Beacon pantomime season, and their unanimity is wonderful. In my extreme youth I was taken to pantomimes when the Trilby boom was on, when every other comedian sang of Trilby ...

... Frederick Lonsdale's First Play for Three Years A Visit to Tovarich A Midsummer Night's Dream in Regent's Park By PHILIP PAGE FOR the time being dramatic happenings seem to be placed anywhere but in London, which has had to be content with Little Maud (Jubilee Essay) Mason and the saxophonic wedding of a jazz-band conductor. One has visited--that is to say some did, but I did not--Salzburg ...

... Reviewed by Vernon Fane IN HIS TITLE, IN ALL COUNTRIES (Constable. 7s. 6d.), Mr. John dos Passos makes a challenge, for the book is a record of what the author has seen and heard in Spain, in Mexico, in Russia, and in the United States. Pre sumably Mr. dos Passos would have us believe, in the words of the Cockney song, that It's the same the 'ole world over. Yes, and we can step on a line ...

... Books By C E C I L ROBERTS Mr. Harold Nicolson's Vivid Picture of Post -War Politics Julius Caesar in the Light of Modern Research When I picked up Peacemaking, by Harold Nicolson (Con stable. 18s.), I feared that he was going to be wise after the event, that with Olympian detachment he would castigate the follies of statesmen, and take off their patent shoes to reveal the clay feet that ac ...

... : By PRINCESS PAUL TROUBETZKOY Well Acted Plays that have Failed to Stay the Course Cornelius a Theatrical Event in a Dull Week Colman as Clive PLAYS in the London theatres, at the present moment, seem to be far more inclined to come off than on! About two or three months ago managers, backers, authors, producers, and actors were tearing their garments and wailing, with metaphorical ashes ...

... The World of Books Neil Bells lour de rorce en tertaining Trivialities from E. A 1. Delafield The Portrait Draw ings of Sir William Rothenstein By VERNON FANE MR. NEIL BELL'S books have a quality of their own. They seem, for one thing, to be written in a slower tempo than the one to which most of us are accustomed, and that differ ence is a grateful one. His story-telling is deliberate, but it ...

... Reviews by VERNON FANE THE second or complementary half of the historical fiction begun by Mr. Robert Graves in I, Claudius, is now published under the title of CLAUDIUS THE GOD (Barker. 10s. 6d.). We finished I, Claudius with the spectacle of the bewildered and unwilling cripple being acclaimed Emperor by the Imperial Guards after the murder of Caligula. Still telling the story in the words ...

... Since this letter was written the blockade has heen raised by the Japanese. Hong Kong, September 11. THE roads near the frontier just now present a pathetic sight. Dozens of tired and bewildered peasants, carrying their babies on their backs and all their household possessions on either side of bamboo poles balanced across their shoulders, straggle along in aimless fashion. Here and there a ...

... : Queer Cards in Chase the Ace at Daly s An Importation from Paris at the Gaiety Evergreen Marie Tempest Celebrates her Jubilee on the Stage Reviewed by Philip Page MR. ANTHONY KIMMINS, author of one of the most successful farces of modern times, has now exercised his ingenuity on a play of murders and thrills. The only cards in Chase the Ace at Daly's are queer cards, and the ace is used in ...