FIRST NIGHT

Statesmen seems to reach the summit of power only to see for the first time the bottomless valley of oblivion which lies beyond. Realizing that the paths of political glory lead only to the grave, Premier Benito Mussolini has undertaken the task of insuring his immortality in the less transitory world of letters. The world's most famous virtuoso in political showmanship will make his debut as a playwright with and epic to be produced at the Hungarian National Theater in May.

Odds-on bets on the subject of the fiery dictator's drama would probably not disappoint their backer. "Campo di Maggio," Il Duce's brain-child, is being given in Hungary as "The Hundred Days." That Mussolini's favorite hero, the Little Corporal, will hold the center of the stage is not to be doubted. The choice of subject has its advantages. If the artistic merits of the play should prove incapable of raising it above the waters of Lethe, it will at all events be kept above the waves by half a dozen lines in the bibliography of works on Napoleon First.