On April 15, News drama critic John Chapman decried the decision of the New York Drama Critics Circle not to present a "Best Play" award that year. After a series of votes, the critics were deadlocked between “State of the Union,” which later won the Pulitzer Prize, and “Born Yesterday.” A bloc of four reviewers voted "No Award," preventing a resolution. Chapman's first ballot choice was "Home of the Brave," a drama about a Jewish soldier in wartime written by Arthur Laurents that had run for only 69 performances. Other early round contenders included “A Sound of Hunting” and “Dream Girl.” When his choice faltered in the voting, Chapman switched to "State of the Union," which he felt was a better-written play than "Born Yesterday," which he thought depended largely on the strong performances of the cast. Chapman agreed that the year was light on "important dramas," but every year he felt had a “Best Play.” He listed a number of previous winners that did not stand the test of time. He noted that the bloc of four had given favorable reviews to most of the contenders. This was not the first time that no award was presented. In 1939 the Critics Circle was also unable to make a decision, being evenly split between "The Little Foxes" and "Abe Lincoln in Illinois."
Broadway columnist Robert Sylvester offered his notes on the theater scene.
Joe E. Brown, touring in "Harvey," got a wire from Fally Marcus offering him two weeks in Jersey if he added a trampoline and real rabbit to the act. Marcus was a famed agent of last resort for down-and-out vaudevillians, a sort of real life "Broadway Danny Rose," who often booked onenight desperation stands.
John Cecil Holm ("Three Men on a Horse," "Best Foot Forward") and Charles Peck Jr. were finalizing a musical "The Filly from Flatbush," about a woman pitcher signed by the Dodgers. [The play never made it to Broadway].
Mary Martin commuted from her home in New Canaan, Conn., to the Plymouth Theatre, where she was starring in "Lute Song," five days a week, logging about 400 miles and more than 11 hours of travel.
Eddie McHugh, longtime stage manager for the Barrymores and currently for "The Magnificent Yankee," discovered that a prop manuscript in the current play was one he had written and stapled for Lionel Barrymore in "The Claw," some 25 years before.
Stage and screen funnyman Gil Lamb now owned a restaurant on 47th Street, a theatrical prop shop, a patented barbecue sauce and a Hollywood restaurant to open in the fall.
Theater men were groaning that both Holy Week and the Jewish holidays were arriving this week. Sylvester repeated an old vaudeville gag that the worst weeks in show business were Christmas Week, Holy Week and Youngstown, Ohio.
Albert Camus was in America for a series of lectures under the auspices of the French Ministry of Education. Harold Bromley, on terminal leave from the Army, had bought the rights to Camus's drama "Caligula," which had played in Paris for a year, and intended to produce and star in the play on Broadway. [The play was not produced on Broadway until 1960 and was a flop]. Camus’ new novel "The Stranger" had been published in the US the week before.
The Golden Dozen, the six musicals and six straight plays that had been running the longest, was a weekly feature. On April 14 they were:
DRAMAS AND COMEDIES
Life With Father - 2,704 performances. Nostalgic comedy about a New York stockbroker and his family at the end of the 19th century.
The Voice of the Turtle - 843- Three-character romantic comedy set in wartime Manhattan.
Anna Lucasta - 811- African-American prostitute tries to go straight.
I Remember Mama -626- Nostalgic look at a Norwegian-American family in San Francisco at the turn-of-the century.
Harvey -621- Mild-mannered man and his imaginary companion, a giant rabbit.
Dear Ruth- 563- Romantic comedy about a young girl who writes pen pal letters to servicemen in her engaged older sister's name.
MUSICALS
Oklahoma -1,315- The seminal Rodgers & Hammerstein classic.
Hats Off to Ice -865- An ice revue produced by Sonja Henie.
Follow the Girls -852- A burlesque revue with a plot of sorts.
Song of Norway -791- The imaginary biography of composer Edvard Grieg.
Bloomer Girl - 635 - An emancipated woman before the Civil War.
Carousel -415- Rodgers & Hammerstein's follow-up to "Oklahoma!"