The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

Darlington CMr. Gtllette). nat ne II Dying
from consumption, whereas he Is on the
point Of recovery. Preposterous as this
is, il ID handled with no little conviction.
The plot originates quite quietly and
coldly In the heart Of a woman who has
loved Darlington and been repelled, and
the jealous lover takes up with II only after
a very liIelike struggle against sense and
honor. Darlington, in the interest as he
thinks OF the girl he loves, breaks on the
match and in despair drinks poison. Here,
too, artificial as Is the deed Of self-sacri-
Ace, the writing, and most OF all Mr.. Gil
lette's acting, are rigidly restrained and
horribly convincing. The drug works 90
long and 80 hard that CGrrinOton seems
beyond the help Of anything except those
remarkable digestive organs which lately
enabled Adrsd 10 make way with her cup
OF cold poison. Women in the audience
grow faint and sick. Not even the atart-
ling denouement-a hypodermjc injection
Of ether from the hand OF the repentant
physician-quite breaks the spell. II the
play had begun In the key OF melodrama
and been maintained thus throughout
IL 10 probable that we should all have been
electrified as We have been In the past.
The fatally disturbing element, l suspect,
Il the excellence Of the first Of the four
acts. This was an idyIio comedy Of the
purcst type. Between IL and the rest OF
the play there was an absolute line OF oleav-
age. There, In spite Of every refinement OF
manner, the insptitudes Of comedy drama
reigned supreme. Here was a bit Of writing,
oonsummately interpreted both by Mr.. Gil
lette and Miss Marie Doro, which vi
conceived and sustained on the highest level.
The story was OF the simplest, without inn
probability or Fictitious complication OF any
sort. Darlington has fallen in love with his
girlish ward, and the endeavor Of her aunt
to separate them, while it tries their o
TO the utmost. ends by uniting them. The
dialogue Ia light, crisp and humorously
tender, the action full Of subtle li~felikeness
and aptly OWNED episode. Mr.. Gillette
has never been moro c~harmingly simple,
never more manfully and g~raoiously i'm
passioned. For one full hour the spectre
OF comedy drama was kept beyond the
gates and high comedy reigned supreme.
Not the least paradox Of this most para
doxical play was the fact that side by sid
with 80 much that wa old and stageworn
was this passage which revealed the play
wright on a plane which he has never be-
fore achieved. Mr.. Gillette has always
worked slowly and developed slowly. Artis-
ito failure though the play is as a whole,
it is quite within the bounds of POSSIBLE
ity that II is the earnest Of q time when its
author will appear before US as finished
and original a writer OF comedy as he has
been Of melodrama.
Messrs. W. G. and Cecil De Mile make
no pretence that their new vehicle for Nat
Goodwin, ~The Genius, b anything but an
old fashioned farce, and the result ie an
uncommon deal OF hearty laughter. Il Is
not safe to conjecture what the occasion
might prove without Mr.. Goodwin. and
it b probable tina even Mr.. Goodwin's
JUNCTION rs in part due to his own personal
experience in the genius line. The farce
Is a burly satire on what Robert Chambers
has called ar-rot; and, having run the gamut
Of Clyde Fitch. Henry Y. Esmond, Augustus
Thomas, and last and least-from this
actors point Of view-William Shakespeare,
Mr.. Goodwin Is no doubt in a frame of mind
TO play horse with current notions OF in
SEPARATION and greatness.
Henry E.. Dixey once hitched his wagon
to the Shakespeartan star and the net result
is a parody Of The Seven Ages Of Man"
WmCh " WOh WOAth bus AuO
you are not likely to hear unless you catch
him late Of a Saturday night, with Anthony
Comstock a remote dot in the sky line.
As for Mr.. Goodwin. here he Is again
a. Pantaloon would say. He has not quite
gone back to first principles. In the hazy,
mellow memories Of youth there Is a picture
Of a big black tomcat on a back fence with
back arched and tail erect confronting a
silhouette Of the quondam Nat in SYM
metrical attitude. There Is nothing quite
a. hilarious in the present play. Mr.. Good
win is a simple minded stock broker who Il
turned down by a modern young girl be-
cause he has no soul. So he too becomes
a soul h~unter-but with a difference. In
a studio in South Washington Square he
finds three starving artists, q painter, a
| sculptor and a musician Of the line OF -Vie
de Boheme," -Trilby" and The Music
Master"-easy types. two OF which arr
oapitally played by Neil O'Brien and Robert
PAXTON Gibbs. He syndicates them, and
for a handsome consideration gives out
the Joint product OF their talents as his
own. The fun centres in his efforts Il
talk soulful. Will you,' he says to hi
affinity, "Oh, will you be a .triche to my
Dante?" How Zangwill would joy in the
line-and how he would bore us with it
In the unpre1ending hands OF the Messrs
De Mile II is screamingly funny.
The critic who has scorned the three il
their own persons lauds them in the form
Of a genius trust. Society iocks to Mr.
Goodwin. The soulful girl throws herself a
his head. But the genius business bores
the soulful maiden p~alls-and Mr.. Goodwin
eye has strayed to a sort of TriIbv artist
model. The farce WAKES fastest and mos
furious when the genius undertakes Il
convince the world that he is after all only
a simple minded stock broker. The failur,
of his efforts drives him distracted, and thu
public only takes this as his madness as tn
final proof Of his genius.
Not aver those who have most severed,
denied that Mr.. Goodwin has genius hav,
ever doubted his exceeding clevernes
and his power OF low comedy. The presen
occasion is one Of real old fashioned roaring
laughter, OF the kind that exercises tn
diaphragm and cleanses the liver. Ant
that is about the only commodity we hav
lost in the generation that has s~uperannuate'
the old farce and the old comedy drama
Meanwhile Mr.. Goodwin is reviving -Whel
W. Wara One at matin6ea. aO Their,