Years Ago

Years Ago (1946), a comedy by Ruth Gordon. [Mansfield Theatre, 199 perf.] After watching Hazel Dawn in The Pink Lady, Ruth Jones (Patricia Kirkland) decides to become an actress. To the consternation of her father, Clinton (Fredric March), she rejects his plan for her to become a physical education teacher and also rejects the suit of Harvard student Fred Whitmarsh (Richard Simon). At first only Mrs. Jones (Florence Eldridge) encourages her. But when Clinton, an ex‐seaman, comes to recognize his daughter's determination, he pawns his prize telescope to help pay her way. Originally written with a contemporary setting and tried out as Miss Jones, this semiautobiographical comedy was rewritten, recast, retitled, and presented by Max Gordon. Of its Broadway version, Ward Morehouse wrote in the Sun, “The play has atmosphere and character. It has been written with an understandable affection.”