Middle of the Night, which is billed as "a love story," is the tale of a widower, aged 53, who falls in love with a blonde, aged 24. Mr. Chayesfsky has written it in a minor key, deliberately holding down the emotion and laying emphasis on the homeliness of the material. Everyone is intentionally average - that manufacturer and his daughter and sister; the blonde and her mother, sister and impulsive husband. The reactions to a love affair between a middle-aged man and a girl who is younger than his daughter are average, and the dialogue is composed of average talk. Toward his material Mr. Chayefsky has a kind of O. Henry sense of familiarity. Apparently it is part of his design to underwrite the plot. -- from page 3.