Private Lives (by Noel Coward; produced by John C. Wilson) was, 17 years ago, a brittle comedy in which Gertrude Lawrence and Noel Coward deftly misbehaved. Last week it became a vehiclea sort of battering ramfor Tallulah Bankhead. Miss Bankhead, with Donald Cook (Claudia, Skylark), puts on quite a show, though few would call it Private Lives.
Coward's tale of a divorced couple who meet again on their second honeymoon, fly their new mates, and let fly (between endearments) at each other, once seemed as faintly decadent as chain-smoking. In the Bankhead version, it is as strenuous as football. Miss Bankhead, between...
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