manu/mldr-zoomed-100char-total-queries-documents

chunk_id stringlengths 3 9	chunk stringlengths 1 100
136_26	time J. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times wrote of her, “Mary Newcomb returning from what seems
136_27	to have been a retirement of some minor sort makes an unusually sympathetic and appealing character
136_28	of the wife, a part which is with truth from beginning to end.” She also appeared in “Sign on the
136_29	Door in by Robert R. Mill in March of 1928. In May of 1928 the Higginson’s apartment was robbed.
136_30	Thieves got away with jewelry, clothes, and furs.
136_31	In December of 1928 Mary and Alex went to London where Mary appeared at the Fortune Theater
136_32	opposite Crane Wilber in “Jealousy”, a two character play adapted by Eugene Walter from a French
136_33	play by Louis Verneuil. It was a great success and Mary was acclaimed by the critics. In April
136_34	1929 she appeared opposite Leslie Banks in “The Infinite Shoeblack” by Norman McGowan at the Arts
136_35	Theatre Club, and in September she appeared as Lady Hamilton in ”Emma Hamilton”, a play by
136_36	E. Temple Thurston at the New Theatre. The critics were less approving of her next play “Healthy,
136_37	Wealthy, and Wise”, a comedy by Eleanor Chilton and Herbert Agar, at the New Theatre about spoiled
136_38	wealthy New York socialites.
136_39	Around that time Alex and Mary decided to stay in England permanently. They signed a 40-year lease
136_40	on Stinsford House (the Dower House of the Duchess of Ilford) in Stinsford near Dorchester, Dorset.
136_41	There Alex became heavily involved in Fox Hunting and served for many years as Master of the
136_42	Cattistock Hunt. Eventually he also became Master of the South Dorset Hunt. They kept a flat in
136_43	Mayfair in London so that Mary could continue her career on the London Stage.
136_44	Among Mary and Alex's good friends and riding partners were Lord and Lady Digby who lived at nearby
136_45	Minton Magna. Their daughter Pamela, who was then a teenager, later married Winston Churchill's son
136_46	Randolph. She eventually went on to marry the American producer, Leland Hayward, and finally,
136_47	Averill Harriman. In his biography of Pamela, Christopher Ogden said that Pamela's favorite
136_48	visitors were Alex and Mary Higginson, who were the first Americans she ever met. He wrote that
136_49	Mary was the most glamorous and fashionable woman Pamela had ever encountered. “She could sit for
136_50	hours, her mouth agape, listening to Mary’s stories and her devastating mimicry.”
136_51	In 1930 Mary appeared again in “Jealously” opposite the young actor John Wyse for five nights from
136_52	June 25 to June 29 at the Arts Theatre Club on Newport Street to favorable reviews. The play then
136_53	moved to the Little Theatre for several weeks. In August she appeared in “John O’ Dreams”, a
136_54	comedy in three acts, opposite José G. Levy, again at the Little Theatre. Mary's next appearance
136_55	came in December opposite Brian Aherne in “A Marriage Has Been Disarranged” at the Royalty Theatre.
136_56	In 1931 Mary starred in another comedy “Supply and Demand”, by Philip and Amiee Stuart at The
136_57	Theatre Royal, Haymarket. The cast included Clive Morton, Nigel Bruce, and Marjorie Clark. Later
136_58	that year Mary appeared in “Behold the Bridegroom” by George Kelly.
136_59	Mary then changed course. She starred in her first British film entitled “Frail Women” under
136_60	Maurice Elvery's direction at Twickingham Studios. Upon viewing a day's filming Philip Slessor,
136_61	Film Weekly's Studio Correspondent, described her as mature and dignified, a soigné and
136_62	sophisticate, who could take a story of average intelligence and dramatic power and bring to bear
136_63	upon it a consummate knowledge of stage craft. He said of her, “With a millionaire husband she has
136_64	no need to act for a living; she acts because she must. Her personality, and the public, demand
136_65	that she should.” After “Frail Women”, Julius Hagan signed Mary to a three-year film contract,
136_66	saying “In my opinion, there is no one of her type to touch her in either England or Hollywood. She
136_67	has either studied film technique or is a born screen actress.”
136_68	Mary went on to star opposite George Barrard in the film “Women Who Play” which was based on the
136_69	successful stage production in of “Spring Cleaning”. That film was followed by “The Marriage Bond”
136_70	which included Guy Newall. Many scenes from “The Marriage Bond” were filmed in and around Mary and
136_71	Alex's home at Stinsford in Dorset.
136_72	In 1932 Mary's career took another important turn when she appeared in her first play by William
136_73	Shakespeare. She played Portia in “The Merchant of Venice” at the St. James Theatre opposite Ernest
136_74	Milton who played Shylock. Reviewers described their performances as a triumph.
136_75	In June 1933 Mary appeared in a new play “When Ladies Meet” by Rachel Carothers at the Lyric
136_76	Theatre. The plot revolves around a love triangle, and the cast included Mary, Marie Tempest, Owen
136_77	Nares, and Ann Todd. Later that year Mary did something very unusual. Because her entrance in “When
136_78	Ladies Meet” did not come until the second act, she was able to take on a one act play at another
136_79	theatre. “La Voix Humaine” by Jean Cocteau was a twenty five minute telephone monologue preceding
136_80	another play at the Ambassadors Theatre. In it Mary presented an abandoned lover's anguish with
136_81	great emotion. It was described by one reviewer as a tour de force. In December 1933 Mary opened as
136_82	the lead in an adaptation by R.G. Trevelyan of “Angel”, a play written by the Hungarian dramatist
136_83	Melchior Lengyel. In it she played a highly successful married woman who asserts her right to find
136_84	romantic satisfaction outside her marriage, as many men do. In April 1934 Mary appeared in “There’s
136_85	Always Tomorrow” a new play by Lionel Brown at the Shaftesbury Theatre.
136_86	In September of that year Mary began the first of five plays in the 1934-1935 Season at the Old
136_87	Vic. On opening night she played Cleopatra in Shakespeare's “Antony and Cleopatra” while Wilfred
136_88	Lawson played Antony. In his review W.A. Darlingtion wrote, “Her performance took her straight into
136_89	the hearts of the “bardolaters” of Waterloo Road. She is now one of their idols forever.” Next in
136_90	November Mary took the role of Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing” opposite Cecil Trouncer who
136_91	played Leonato while Nancy Hornsby played Leonato's daughter Hero. In late November and into
136_92	December Mary continued at the Old Vic in George Bernard Shaw's “St. Joan”. Mr. Shaw himself
136_93	directed the production. And while previously Joan had been portrayed by others as resolute and
136_94	severe, Shaw encouraged Mary to portray Joan as a sentimental, sweet young woman. This she did and
136_95	was met with great approval by the audience. As one reviewer summed it up, “It was in that
136_96	magnificent lonely speech in Rheims Cathedral that Miss Newcomb found her triumph, though in the
136_97	Inquisition she lost nothing.” In January Mary played Emilia in Shakespeare's Othello and in
136_98	February she was Phaedra in Hippolytus. In March she was Barbara in Bernard Shaw's “Major Barbara”
136_99	opposite Maurice Evans as Adolphus Cusins while Cecil Trouncer played Andrew Undershaft.
136_100	1936 began with Mary playing Judith Coventry in “The Prickly Pear” at the Q Theatre. In April Mary
136_101	replaced Irene Brown as Stella Harringway in “Children to Bless You” at the Duke of York's Theatre
136_102	with Marjorie Mars as Audrey. The critic Sydney Carroll extolled Mary's ability to take over the
136_103	noted actress’ part. “It was no slavish imitation; a different woman came on the scene without in
136_104	the slightest destroying the structure of the comedy or even affecting its texture, except, perhaps
136_105	for the better.” In November she appeared in “Storm Over Europe” by Douglas Jerrold, a play about
136_106	the restoration of a monarch in an unnamed European country. She played Princess Dolores opposite
136_107	George Hayes who played President Ruysdael.
136_108	Post-Theater Life
136_109	In 1937 Mary's focus shifted away from the theater so that she could devote time to her husband and
136_110	her extended family. Her young niece, Mary Gilman, spent a year with Mary and Alex at Stinsford,
136_111	returning home to America just before the outbreak of World War II.
136_112	In September 1939 Mary launched The Mary Newcomb Players, a theater troop that traveled through the
136_113	South of England and later in Europe to support the war effort by producing plays to entertain the
136_114	troops. Her troupe included actors from London and other places, and whenever possible Mary
136_115	recruited soldiers who were stationed at various bases to take parts in her productions. In her
136_116	later years Mary described driving at night during the blackout without headlights down country
136_117	roads in Southern England to put on performances at obscure bases. In an account of the Players’
136_118	first performance of “In the Zone” by Eugene O’Neill, featuring several young soldiers and
136_119	presented before 500 of their fellow soldiers, Mary wrote, “In my Prompt Corner I trembled and
136_120	paled and doubted that one line would ever be spoken, much less heard. But I was wrong. Utterly
136_121	sincere and unselfconscious, the boys had their audience quiet and listening in two minutes, and
136_122	held them so – with the help of Mr. O’Neill – for forty.” Among the Players’ other productions were
136_123	“The Man With A Load Of Mischief”, “French Leave”, “Gas Light”, and “Jealousy”. In 1943 Mary took
136_124	her Players to London to raise money to support the troupe's efforts by performing several benefit
136_125	plays including “A Man With A Load Of Mischief” and Eugene O’Neill's “Days Without End.” After the

136_26

time J. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times wrote of her, “Mary Newcomb returning from what seems

136_27

to have been a retirement of some minor sort makes an unusually sympathetic and appealing character

136_28

of the wife, a part which is with truth from beginning to end.” She also appeared in “Sign on the

136_29

Door in by Robert R. Mill in March of 1928. In May of 1928 the Higginson’s apartment was robbed.

136_30

Thieves got away with jewelry, clothes, and furs.

136_31

In December of 1928 Mary and Alex went to London where Mary appeared at the Fortune Theater

136_32

opposite Crane Wilber in “Jealousy”, a two character play adapted by Eugene Walter from a French

136_33

play by Louis Verneuil. It was a great success and Mary was acclaimed by the critics. In April

136_34

1929 she appeared opposite Leslie Banks in “The Infinite Shoeblack” by Norman McGowan at the Arts

136_35

Theatre Club, and in September she appeared as Lady Hamilton in ”Emma Hamilton”, a play by

136_36

E. Temple Thurston at the New Theatre. The critics were less approving of her next play “Healthy,

136_37

Wealthy, and Wise”, a comedy by Eleanor Chilton and Herbert Agar, at the New Theatre about spoiled

136_38

wealthy New York socialites.

136_39

Around that time Alex and Mary decided to stay in England permanently. They signed a 40-year lease

136_40

on Stinsford House (the Dower House of the Duchess of Ilford) in Stinsford near Dorchester, Dorset.

136_41

There Alex became heavily involved in Fox Hunting and served for many years as Master of the

136_42

Cattistock Hunt. Eventually he also became Master of the South Dorset Hunt. They kept a flat in

136_43

Mayfair in London so that Mary could continue her career on the London Stage.

136_44

Among Mary and Alex's good friends and riding partners were Lord and Lady Digby who lived at nearby

136_45

Minton Magna. Their daughter Pamela, who was then a teenager, later married Winston Churchill's son

136_46

Randolph. She eventually went on to marry the American producer, Leland Hayward, and finally,

136_47

Averill Harriman. In his biography of Pamela, Christopher Ogden said that Pamela's favorite

136_48

visitors were Alex and Mary Higginson, who were the first Americans she ever met. He wrote that

136_49

Mary was the most glamorous and fashionable woman Pamela had ever encountered. “She could sit for

136_50

hours, her mouth agape, listening to Mary’s stories and her devastating mimicry.”

136_51

In 1930 Mary appeared again in “Jealously” opposite the young actor John Wyse for five nights from

136_52

June 25 to June 29 at the Arts Theatre Club on Newport Street to favorable reviews. The play then

136_53

moved to the Little Theatre for several weeks. In August she appeared in “John O’ Dreams”, a

136_54

comedy in three acts, opposite José G. Levy, again at the Little Theatre. Mary's next appearance

136_55

came in December opposite Brian Aherne in “A Marriage Has Been Disarranged” at the Royalty Theatre.

136_56

In 1931 Mary starred in another comedy “Supply and Demand”, by Philip and Amiee Stuart at The

136_57

Theatre Royal, Haymarket. The cast included Clive Morton, Nigel Bruce, and Marjorie Clark. Later

136_58

that year Mary appeared in “Behold the Bridegroom” by George Kelly.

136_59

Mary then changed course. She starred in her first British film entitled “Frail Women” under

136_60

Maurice Elvery's direction at Twickingham Studios. Upon viewing a day's filming Philip Slessor,

136_61

Film Weekly's Studio Correspondent, described her as mature and dignified, a soigné and

136_62

sophisticate, who could take a story of average intelligence and dramatic power and bring to bear

136_63

upon it a consummate knowledge of stage craft. He said of her, “With a millionaire husband she has

136_64

no need to act for a living; she acts because she must. Her personality, and the public, demand

136_65

that she should.” After “Frail Women”, Julius Hagan signed Mary to a three-year film contract,

136_66

saying “In my opinion, there is no one of her type to touch her in either England or Hollywood. She

136_67

has either studied film technique or is a born screen actress.”

136_68

Mary went on to star opposite George Barrard in the film “Women Who Play” which was based on the

136_69

successful stage production in of “Spring Cleaning”. That film was followed by “The Marriage Bond”

136_70

which included Guy Newall. Many scenes from “The Marriage Bond” were filmed in and around Mary and

136_71

Alex's home at Stinsford in Dorset.

136_72

In 1932 Mary's career took another important turn when she appeared in her first play by William

136_73

Shakespeare. She played Portia in “The Merchant of Venice” at the St. James Theatre opposite Ernest

136_74

Milton who played Shylock. Reviewers described their performances as a triumph.

136_75

In June 1933 Mary appeared in a new play “When Ladies Meet” by Rachel Carothers at the Lyric

136_76

Theatre. The plot revolves around a love triangle, and the cast included Mary, Marie Tempest, Owen

136_77

Nares, and Ann Todd. Later that year Mary did something very unusual. Because her entrance in “When

136_78

Ladies Meet” did not come until the second act, she was able to take on a one act play at another

136_79

theatre. “La Voix Humaine” by Jean Cocteau was a twenty five minute telephone monologue preceding

136_80

another play at the Ambassadors Theatre. In it Mary presented an abandoned lover's anguish with

136_81

great emotion. It was described by one reviewer as a tour de force. In December 1933 Mary opened as

136_82

the lead in an adaptation by R.G. Trevelyan of “Angel”, a play written by the Hungarian dramatist

136_83

Melchior Lengyel. In it she played a highly successful married woman who asserts her right to find

136_84

romantic satisfaction outside her marriage, as many men do. In April 1934 Mary appeared in “There’s

136_85

Always Tomorrow” a new play by Lionel Brown at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

136_86

In September of that year Mary began the first of five plays in the 1934-1935 Season at the Old

136_87

Vic. On opening night she played Cleopatra in Shakespeare's “Antony and Cleopatra” while Wilfred

136_88

Lawson played Antony. In his review W.A. Darlingtion wrote, “Her performance took her straight into

136_89

the hearts of the “bardolaters” of Waterloo Road. She is now one of their idols forever.” Next in

136_90

November Mary took the role of Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing” opposite Cecil Trouncer who

136_91

played Leonato while Nancy Hornsby played Leonato's daughter Hero. In late November and into

136_92

December Mary continued at the Old Vic in George Bernard Shaw's “St. Joan”. Mr. Shaw himself

136_93

directed the production. And while previously Joan had been portrayed by others as resolute and

136_94

severe, Shaw encouraged Mary to portray Joan as a sentimental, sweet young woman. This she did and

136_95

was met with great approval by the audience. As one reviewer summed it up, “It was in that

136_96

magnificent lonely speech in Rheims Cathedral that Miss Newcomb found her triumph, though in the

136_97

Inquisition she lost nothing.” In January Mary played Emilia in Shakespeare's Othello and in

136_98

February she was Phaedra in Hippolytus. In March she was Barbara in Bernard Shaw's “Major Barbara”

136_99

opposite Maurice Evans as Adolphus Cusins while Cecil Trouncer played Andrew Undershaft.

136_100

1936 began with Mary playing Judith Coventry in “The Prickly Pear” at the Q Theatre. In April Mary

136_101

replaced Irene Brown as Stella Harringway in “Children to Bless You” at the Duke of York's Theatre

136_102

with Marjorie Mars as Audrey. The critic Sydney Carroll extolled Mary's ability to take over the

136_103

noted actress’ part. “It was no slavish imitation; a different woman came on the scene without in

136_104

the slightest destroying the structure of the comedy or even affecting its texture, except, perhaps

136_105

for the better.” In November she appeared in “Storm Over Europe” by Douglas Jerrold, a play about

136_106

the restoration of a monarch in an unnamed European country. She played Princess Dolores opposite

136_107

George Hayes who played President Ruysdael.

136_108

Post-Theater Life

136_109

In 1937 Mary's focus shifted away from the theater so that she could devote time to her husband and

136_110

her extended family. Her young niece, Mary Gilman, spent a year with Mary and Alex at Stinsford,

136_111

returning home to America just before the outbreak of World War II.

136_112

In September 1939 Mary launched The Mary Newcomb Players, a theater troop that traveled through the

136_113

South of England and later in Europe to support the war effort by producing plays to entertain the

136_114

troops. Her troupe included actors from London and other places, and whenever possible Mary

136_115

recruited soldiers who were stationed at various bases to take parts in her productions. In her

136_116

later years Mary described driving at night during the blackout without headlights down country

136_117

roads in Southern England to put on performances at obscure bases. In an account of the Players’

136_118

first performance of “In the Zone” by Eugene O’Neill, featuring several young soldiers and

136_119

presented before 500 of their fellow soldiers, Mary wrote, “In my Prompt Corner I trembled and

136_120

paled and doubted that one line would ever be spoken, much less heard. But I was wrong. Utterly

136_121

sincere and unselfconscious, the boys had their audience quiet and listening in two minutes, and

136_122

held them so – with the help of Mr. O’Neill – for forty.” Among the Players’ other productions were

136_123

“The Man With A Load Of Mischief”, “French Leave”, “Gas Light”, and “Jealousy”. In 1943 Mary took

136_124

her Players to London to raise money to support the troupe's efforts by performing several benefit

136_125

plays including “A Man With A Load Of Mischief” and Eugene O’Neill's “Days Without End.” After the