Booklist

The theatre's history is varied and bizarre, and scholars are forever trying to isolate or define the many theatrical values of the past and present. To this task, four recent books contribute:

> George Freedley & John A. Reeves's A History of the Theatre (Crown; $3), a fat review of what has happened from Egypt's Pyramid Texts of 4000-3200 B.C. to Manhattan's Panama Hattie of 1941 A.D.

> Mordecai Gorelik's New Theatres for Old (Samuel French; $4.50), an elaborate discussion of the historical ways of staging scripts, with many suggestions as to future possibilities.

> The Stage in Action by Samuel Selden (Crofts; $2.75), a learned study of the function of rhythmics in theatrical movement, sound, design.

> In It's A Great Life (Dial; $3) veteran actor-director-playwright John Charles Nugent tells the warm, homely story of his trouping life from shabby road shows to Hollywood, draws his own technical conclusions from the wings rather than from the study, vents an oldtimer's distrust of directors who pronounce it "theatah" or, more especially, "thawtaw."

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