The New Yorker called Small Miracle "a very satisfactory melodrama with Joseph Spurin-Calleia as the pleasantest murderer you ever saw."[8]
"George Abbott's talent for accuracy of detail has given this tabloid tale of Times Square passions an uncanny, cumulative fascination," wrote drama critic Brooks AtkinsonofThe New York Times. Praising Boris Aronson's set design and the performances of Ilka Chase, Myron McCormick, Elspeth Eric, Joseph King and Robert Middlemass, he reserved his highest praise for the featured actor: "Joseph Spurin-Calleia as the prisoner plays with such keen authenticity and such sensitive understatement of emotion that his scenes are enormously moving. Type casting becomes an art when an actor can draw so much pulsing truth out of a character."[7]
The Stage magazine wrote that "there have been few gangsters of the heartbreaking calibre of Joseph Spurin-Calleia's Tony Mako. To this excellent, rather quiet melodrama with its paucity of dead bodies, he gives a sure feeling of impending catastrophe."[9]
Photographs of the original Broadway production of Small Miracle appeared in the November 1934 issue of The Stage magazine.
Set in the lounge of a Broadway theatre, the drama centers around a condemned prisoner (Joseph Calleia) and a cop (Joseph King) who have missed their train and have four hours to kill.
Nobody notices the handcuffs under the overcoat during the intermission at the 43rd Street Theatre.
A hat-check boy (Myron McCormick) is questioned about some missing jewelry belonging to a theatre patron (Ilka Chase).
A squealer is grilled by the police captain (Robert Middlemass), who suspects him of aiding the prisoner's escape.
In the big scene the small miracle happens: The killer gets his man and his death.
^"Small Miracle". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
^"Small Miracle". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
^"News of the Stage". The New York Times. February 8, 1935. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
^Hart, Enid (February 15, 1935). "Theatrical Chi-Chat". The San Marino Tribune. Mr. Spurin-Calleia justifies the advance news of his ability. The rest of the cast also is first class. Small Miracle should have a record run.
^Soanes, Wood (February 22, 1935). "Curtain Calls". Oakland Tribune. Spurin-Calleia … has started a run for Henry Duffy at El Capitan in his original role in Small Miracle.
