A FREE SOUL

   Willard Mack's crime melodrama based upon Adela Rogers St. John's novel of the same title opened at the Playhouse Theatre on 12 January 1928 for a run of 100 performances. George Cukor directed Lester Lonergan as a hard-drinking attorney with unsavory connections whose daughter marries a gambler (Melvyn Douglas's* New York debut role). Producer William A. Brady moved into Lonergan's role during the run and played the big courtroom scene with theatrical flair.