The important things to note about John Golden's presentation of William Gillette in "Three Wise Fools" are relatively few and divertingly simple. The primary fact, of course, is that the very eminent Mr. Gillette again treads the boards with vigor and histrionic skill which have for so long made him a favorite and which are now filling the Shubert Theatre to the doors. It's rather hard, after all these years, to think of Mr. Gillette without the pipe and double peaked cap which accompanied his Sherlock Holmesing, but it appears that Mr. Gillette has versatility and can ably portray characters other than the Doyle hero.

"There Wise Fools" is not a new play--it was presented in Boston and elsewhere a respectable number of years ago--but it still has a gentle comedy and a steady if somewhat pedestrian flow. It tells the story of three old bachelors whose moribund routine is upset by the will of their former sweetheart leaving them the care of her offspring who proves to be a very pretty girl and a good one even if she does have some shadowy connections with the underworld. Fundamentally it is one of those things which the playwrighting Spewacks diagnose as "Boy meets Girl; boy loses girl; boy gets girl"; wholesome, mild and quite safe. The humor is light and fairly well paced. It's nice quiet reassuring amusement with a mellowness apparently aimed straight at the maiden aunt section of the audience, which must be considerable.