[In the following review of Stage Door, the critic applauds all aspects of the production, but notes that the characters are "mere types."]

Stage Door, though it is not George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber at their best, is an amusing, well acted and skilfully staged little comedy. It has to do with the rivalry between stage and screen, and the brave fight made by Terry Randall to become a legitimate actress. Terry sees her pretty but brainless roommate become a successful Hollywood star, and her chance comes only at the end, when her roommate has failed in rehearsals for a Broadway play, and Terry gets the opportunity to take her place. But it is not the story that counts in Stage Door; it is the local color of the Footlights Club for girls, Mr. Kaufman's wisecracks, his direction, and the acting. We might wish that the characters were less mere types and the story had a little more importance, because we know what Mr. Kaufman and Miss Ferber accomplished in The Royal Family and in Dinner at Eight; but there is no doubt that as a good show Stage Door rings the bell. And the Kaufman touch in the direction is everywhere apparent. Who but Mr. Kaufman would ever have invented that delicious scene in the girls' bedroom, when they put black masks over their eyes, and then turning out the light, the room is alternately dark and brightly illuminated by an electric sign which flashes across the street? And the Kaufman wisecracks are as gay and as mordant as ever.

The acting is equally good. Miss Margaret Sullavan returns from Hollywood to play Terry, and plays it with charm, grace and naturalness. Fortunately for the stage Miss Sullavan is apparently not one of those young women we hear about during the action of Stage Door who sign seven-year contracts with the movies without the hope of ever getting back to Broadway! Now that she is back may her returns be frequent. Of the host of young women in the play special mention should go to Lee Patrick for her utterance of Mr. Kaufman's more bitter reflections, to Catherine Laughlin for the girl who gets married, to Jane Buchanan and to Frances Fuller. Of the men Onslow Stevens is attractive as the movie agent, and Priestly Morrison as a human country doctor. The rest act with color and celerity. In short, Stage Door, despite its local mood, will probably appeal to most of the theatregoing public, and because of Miss Sullavan to many patrons of the movies.