"Gertie" is not, as the title might suggest, the latest in the interminable line of sugar-coated whimseys dealing with precocious teen-agers. It is, rather, a sophisticated comedy of modern manners, more reminiscent of Noel Coward than of Corliss Archer. Enid Bagnold's dry English wit rescues her new comedy-drama from the pitfalls of its situation and deftly transforms an apparently standard British household into a group of extraordinarily unstandard living people.

First in line is Gertie herself, the youngest member of the family, who has decided that her vocation in life is Sex, and is determined to make the most of it. The remainder of the Ritchie family are equally gifted, but in intellectual fields (where their qualities are less likely to earn a living). Gertie finally gets her opportunity for success in life by the simple expedient of seducing an American movie producer. Glynis Johns plays the part to perfection; she is alternately naive and ingenuously frank, and it is not till the end of the play that one realizes her immense superiority to the rest of the family.

The play revolves around the arrival of a stuffy, beminked career woman and her mysterious male friend into the household. Miss Bagnold skillfully weaves their characters until they both develop differently from what was expected. The subtle relationships which arise between the various different personalities form the most important aspect of the play.

Mr. Ritchie, living off his capital in order to pursue a treatise on the magnetic powers of crystals, is amusingly handled by Alan Napier. James and Sarah, who have both inherited their father's sovereign contempt for details, are well played by Robert Duke and Patricia Wheel, though the parts are largely foils for Miss Johns.

The one set by William and Jean Eckart is conventional, but it effectively catches the spirit of the rambling English country manor; Herman Shumlin's direction is perceptive and crisp, but there are a couple of wordy spots in the first act where the action drags.