The fact that "Tobacco Road" is now running for its eighth year does little credit to the taste of the theater-going public, for during those eight years the play has steadily lost its force and meaning until in its last two performances in Boston it has become a worthless burlesque. The actors, led by John Barton as Jeeter, have lost all understanding of their play and have adopted the technique of the Old Howard comedians. The play is no longer shocking through its representation of the squalid conditions of the southern share cropper, as the message is lost in an orgy of vulgarity presented in a manner that reeks of barbequed ham.

When John Kirkland wrote the play back in 1934, its topic was one of importance and even though the critics claimed that it was too sordid to succeed on Broadway, the play caught on and was a sensational sociological drama. Since that time, however, the same topic has received fresher treatment and, at the moment, has lost its significance in the face of greater problems. Yet "Tobacco Road" still hangs on, playing to large audiences who have come mostly to be shocked by the fifth of the play. The present production is aimed just at gratifying this part of the audience.

It is a great shame that the phenomenal run of this play can be traced only to sex. The actors and producers have forgotten that this was only a part of the original play. Granted that the play was poorly written, it nevertheless told a poignant story which had tremendous force. In unmeasured terms it depicted the revolting conditions then prevalent throughout the South and honestly portrayed the bestiality that such a way of life produces in human beings. It is a sad commentary on the present production that these conditions--still all too common today--should now produce only titters of smutty laughter.