Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome (1936), a play by Owen Davis and Donald Davis. [National Theatre, 120 perf.] When Mattie Silver (Ruth Gordon) comes to live with her cousin, Zenobia Frome (Pauline Lord), and Zenobia's husband, Ethan (Raymond Massey), Ethan and Mattie fall in love. Zenobia orders Mattie from the house. On the way to the station, Ethan and Mattie attempt suicide but are instead crippled for life, leaving the slatternly, bitter Zenobia to care for them. This dramatization of Edith Wharton's short novel was enhanced by producer Max Gordon's production featuring Jo Mielziner's superb settings, Guthrie McClintic's brilliant staging, but most of all by the luminous performances of its three stars.