New Technique for Stage Door Pickups Given By Actors Appearing in "Pride and Prejudice"

"Harvard boys seem to have acquired an ability to do gracefully that which they should not ," smilingly observed Eugenia Rawis as she observed several exam-worm specimens toying with cooling refreshments in the Ritz bar last night. "They are just too, too . . . ." but the Jane of "Pride and Prejudice" current at the Colonial left that up to the imagination and became more serious.

Feeling that the traditional stage door "Johnnies" are a thing of the past, Miss Rawls went on to add that "there are, of course, always a number of hangers-on around the doors of a musical show, but the legitimate stage has become terribly proper." It seems that picking up is now done by appointment, with introductions, letters, and complete formality. "One must bear in mind," she continued, "That acting on the legitimate stage is every bit as serious work as writing a paper." As a matter of corroborative detail she recounted in experience she once had during a run in Chicago. At a cocktail party a dowager under full sail bore down on her, snorting, "How things have changed. A few years ago it was the theatre and we . . . . ." then swept on her stately way, leaving Miss Rawls to draw her own conclusions.

Responding to questioning, "Jane" explained for the benefit of those who want a career on the stage, that in this, times have also changed. The all-year stock companies in which, formerly, the budding actor and actress got their experience has practically disappeared and in their place are the summer stock companies. In the eyes of the producer these are all right in their way, but they don't carry much weight.