Susan and God

Susan and God (1937), a play by Rachel Crothers. [Plymouth Theatre, 288 perf.] Selfish, vain Susan Trexel ( Gertrude Lawrence) becomes a convert to the Oxford movement and sets about to reform the world. She arrives as a guest at the home of Irene Burroughs ( Vera Allen), promptly crimping Irene's affair with Michael O'Hara ( Douglas Gilmore). She then sets to work on her own alcoholic husband, Barrie ( Paul McGrath,) and her “girl scout gone wrong” daughter, Blossom ( Nancy Kelly). For a time Susan does succeed in keeping Barrie on the wagon, but when she accuses him of having an affair with another woman, he slips off. Susan is made to recognize that being meddlesome is not being religious and that real faith comes from within. Although many critics felt there was not sufficient story line and that Lawrence was left to carry the play, Richard Lockridge wrote in the Evening Sun, “It doesn't need proving that Miss Crothers, theme or no theme, can write dialogue that humor glints on, and handle her situations and characters with a suave dexterity enchanting to watch.” The author returned to the theatre for this, her last play, after five years of writing for films.