Hotel Universe

Hotel Universe (1930), a play by Philip Barry. [Martin Beck Theatre, 81 perf.] Ann Field (Katherine Alexander) has invited a variety of guests to her Riviera estate, including her old beau Pat Farley (Glenn Anders); the actress Lily Malone (Ruth Gordon); publisher Tom Ames (Franchot Tone) and his wife, Hope (Phyllis Povah); the rich Jew Norman Rose (Earle Larimore); Alice Kendall (Ruthelma Stevens), who is in love with Norman; and Ann's strange old father, Stephen (Morris Carnovsky). The guests have all found their promising beginnings somehow thwarted. Moreover, they have been unnerved by odd stories about the house and by the suicide of a young friend. Stephen's probing questions and incisive remarks force them to examine their past and exorcise the demons that have bedeviled them. They leave filled with new hope, but unaware that Stephen has quietly died while sitting in his chair. Although the Theatre Guild offering baffled most critics and was rejected by playgoers, it remains one of Barry's more interesting excursions away from his high comedy forte, yet is filled with his typically witty lines and trenchant observations.