From the Pit

Carrying on the traditions of the past 36 years, the Harvard Dramatic Club and the Radcliffe Idler will present "The Playboy of the Western World" at Brattle Hall this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Founded in 1908 by an ambitious group of undergraduates including H. V. Kaltenborn '09, the Harvard Dramatic Club has had as members a large number of men now famous in the theatre including designers, authors, and producers.

The purpose of the organization is to present premieres of worthy dramas, especially those by undergraduates, or revivals of great works. The latest undergraduate show was "Too Late to Laugh" by Vinton Freedley, Jr. '14, which was produced in 1940.

The Club became world-famous with the presentation of the Miracle Plays at the Germanic Museum in 1922-1932. Actual cathedral backgrounds of the museum were used as scenery to give a realistic impression.

Among the score of Broadway greats who received their first training in the theatre as members of the Club are Robert Benchley '12, author, humorist, and actor, John Mason Brown '23, who now is a top-notch critic, and Leo Simonson '08, a famous designer.

Former members have gone into widely different fields. Richard Aldrich '25 has become a producer; Kenneth Macgowan '11 has tried his hand at script writing for 20th Century Fox; Robert E. Jones '10 has become a well-known designer and designed and lighted the sets for Paul Robeson's "Othello."