Another Language

Another Language (1932), a play by Rose Franken. [Booth Theatre, 348 perf.] Mrs. Hallam ( Margaret Wycherly) has dominated her four sons. Only Stella ( Dorothy Stickney), the wife of the youngest son Victor ( Glenn Anders), has the courage to object to this domination. Stella's battle requires her to use many ploys, such as insisting that the family's traditional Tuesday night dinners not always take place at Mama's. But Stella brings matters to a head when she has an affair with Mrs. Hallam's oldest grandson and her own nephew, Jerry ( John Beal). Disclosure of the affair sets off a furious confrontation, but at the same time succeeds in revealing to Victor how blindly clannish he has been. At least he and Jerry will no longer be under Mrs. Hallam's thumb. Gilbert Gabriel of the American found the play “steadfastly authentic . . . constantly wise and interesting.” Opening with no advance sale, the play turned into a hit with good reviews and fine word‐of‐mouth. The Texas‐born Rose FRANKEN [née Lewin] (1894–1988) was also the author of Claudia (1941) as well as such less‐successful plays as Outrageous Fortune (1943), Soldier's Wife (1944), and The Hallams (1947). Sometimes dismissed as women's plays meant only for the matinee crowd, Franken's domestic dramas are unsentimental and sometimes brutal examinations of family life. Autobiography: When All Is Said and Done, 1963.