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EW YORK. Feb. 20.—The first-ghtera wereVsled111u z -in-franklySever a stances of the TiredBusiness Man yawned. Many people. uncls-a conglomeration of stupidity shouldhave been offered by such an artistic producer as Mr. Ames, who is oftenspoken of as the “hope of the American stage.’*“The Morris Dance” was based uponsonsifled, in the audience jcoughed that very annoying and infectiouscough that we know\ The play, atithe novel by Robert Louis Steve land Lloyd Osbourne, called “The | Wrong Box,” and I dare say that my readers are familiar with the story. The play is incredibly amateurish, clumsy, and cheap. Mr. Granville Barker, studying the American stage,too wi .ft •-Maxine Elliott's thea tr*\ was by Gilbert Kseems to have been impressed with the deplorable fondness of our modern playwrights for profanity. Hehas probably noticed that when real humor is lacking, the “cuss” word is( hcsterton,Tt had a Duke's “prelude” in young treesvvac 11 e dlt; •1C.iMMthree short acts in drawing-room, and a plantation of thinintroduced and“ready laughDancesort itherepitifulnever fails to So in “Theis a good dealget the Morris♦Originally produced in England, it had proved to be one of those affairs for which managers do not clamor. There was no suggestion of the dollar mark in any of its episodes. in fact, it was scarcely a play, but lather an exposition of the ideas of one of the really brainy men of the day—“Chesterton of the splendid vocabulary the Shavian outlook, and the rebellious mind. Popularity could never approach this so-called miracle play, with its unusual theme and itsunt heatrical treatment.The dangerous subject of spiritualism is broached in “Magic,” but quiteunsensationally* Chesterton takes forhis central character a psychic, who deplores his own powers, which hecannot help admitting. He calls himself a conjurer, because men enjoy tricks when they can be easily explained. This psychic is taunted by a particularly “fresh” young man, who thinks he knows everything Apicture on the wall moves; a chair advances without visible cause. A red light in the garden changes to a green light. This is all so terrifying to theyouth, that he promptly loses his reason. In the end, he is restored to_ | of thathing. In Mr, Ames’ elegant and delightful Little theatre, it seemed horribly out of place. That such a highbrow (forgive the odiousLi tshouldexpression!) as Mr. Bark« have descended to such depths is remarkable, but the •lure” of the box office may have been responsible. There was scarcely one genuine laugh in The Morris Dance,” and a magnificent audience seemed to be daxed The cast included such people as Ferdinand Gottschalk. John L. Shine, Elisabeth Risdon, Richard Bennett-— who was admirable—Herbert Yost, Ethelbert Hales, and Gerald Olivet-Smith. It was the strangest play thatos has ever offered. Perhaps ie” of Mr. Barker, and his were Mr Ames' excuse. Poor lt;or suffered from bad ad-or The Morris Dance” should lv been produced. And that time-worn idea of a conversation between a man in the audience and one on the stage, was actually dragged in, and used for all it was not worth.• • »3 submarine has reached New ork. via the Winter Garden, where a little sketch called Sub-M r Athe 4*prest iM rviseihnot hhealth by the conjurer who teli* him marine F-7” was introduced into the' . -:JtL dfc'L'r - •L ■' ’.it., w. m » /jib’.'.ag., '/SSk.. -;VNBmL/a . a.- '■» S. ,cthat it was hW a trick There ie acapital scene between the psychic and a minister. Th- former turns upon the latter and renda him. He declares that the minister willing to admit miracles in the past that him very cloth depends upon that belief. Yet today, he looks upon the idea with horror. This is an old reproach of spiritualists who profess inability to understand why religious people who believe in the Bible are »o averse to miracles apart from that book This i* just u -line of Magic Thelittle play is so odd and so truthful, so earriest and so wistfully sincere that those who are tired of the inanity and the familiarity of the modern theatre must turn to it in relief.It has not the faintes tchanee ofwhat we call a “run.” yet those who miss it are to be pitied. It is an argument in favor of psychical research, and it is a portrayal of human foibles Mr Chesterton alludes to thesupernatural Probably he means the supernormal O F Heggie, one of the finest actors on the stage today, was excellent as the psychic, and Miss athleer Nesbitt delightful asthe little girl who believed In fairiesShow of Wonders.” It proved to bea pleasant thriller but it ended happily—for the sake of the Tired Busi-] ness Man. who is very fond of theI Winter Garden, and not very fond of ! unhappy endings. You see the deck of the submarine, and the reflector ofthe periscope, across which drift thepictures of the sea. The submarine | comes to grief, and her engine room is flooded The crew gradually realizes that the worst ie about to happen and that all escape is cut off. The agonj is piled on, Efforts are made to save two men, who are married but 'the efforts are unsuccessful So thev all decide to die game, and with the immediate prospect of death, thev!Ll*rt , to *3ng My Country ’Tie of Thee Suddenly by means of the indicator. they perceive that the upper air has been reached, and the submarine is saved. Curtain. It was Henri De Vries who invented this I idea and it certainly appeared to appeal to the audience. Tt was proceeded and succeeded by the usual array of Winter Garden girls- -and ) don’t believe that any submarinewould daunt themTHERE w« another novelty on thisMil, a one-act play by John Galsworthy entitled “The Little Man “ This w~m* one of those rather mean-ftngless trifles that from an unknown pen. would reach the discard. The 1 author f nott is amusing: “Sinceitisjust possible that someone may think ‘The Little Man has a deep J dark reference to the war. it mav be• • •NPER the classic and alluring title of Johnny Get Your Gun, Mr Cort produced a farce by Edmund Laurence Burke, revised by Dorothy Donnelly at the Criterion theatre Itwell to state that this whimsev wasj written in October. 1913. Perhapswas a whimaev” but I failed tc s discoter it. A peasant in an Austrian railroad station, helps a woman who | has a baby and various bundles on to , the train. He gets on first with the ; baby and before the woman can join him. the train starts ami he is leftwith the child The child is suspected of having typhua. and the people on the train are panic-stricken. Galsworthy shows how the different nationalities travelling or the train be-hsve themselves under the difficult circumstances. That is all there is to the whimsev ” Mr Heggie is also seen in this playlet. The American” traveller played by Walter F Jones, is one of those very impossible Americans whom the European writer loves to depict. Nothing like him has ever been seen on this side of the ocean It does seem a pity that this type should be so irrevocably bound up in the annala of theatredom. Even American playwrights affect him. Still, in such a trifle as The Little Man” he was harmlessTalented MuTHE erudite Mr Granville Barker* has made a very pernicious study of American taste in The MorrisDance, produced by Mr Ames at the Little theatreWinthrepThe Amu?.
Newspaper Details
Salt Lake City Deseret Evening News
Salt Lake City, Utah, US
Sat, Feb 24, 1917
Page 18
Full Page
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GB 20 Dec 2018
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