New Plays in Manhattan

The Jade God. When John Millicent stole a jade figurine out of a Hindoo temple, its baleful influence followed him to Sussex where, one evening, he was discovered lying across his desk, his throat slit. The figurine had disappeared as well as a Malay kriss which he used for a paper weight. Then Jack Derrick, who loved daughter Jean Millicent, set out to find the murderer of her father. During the process people peered through doors and curtains, a wall panel opened emitting smoke and a greenish glow, girls shrieked, the figurine shone and spoke in the darkness. Even the portrait of the late Millicent found a spectral voice.

Audience refuses to be horrified, insists on laughing. Margaret Wycherly plays the part of a red-headed servant who knows more than she tells.

Pansy, a Negro revue, lasted just three hissful performances. Said Dramacritic J. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times: ''Purely for purposes of historical record let this bema announce that the worst show of all time was . . . produced . . . last evening."