Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-14

when il arrived was well worth see
ing 1t is a reversion to first princi-
niles In dramatic writing; an assurance
that there are certain elementary QUANTITIES
whose appeal to public interest is absolute
" certain. The conquering of the stubborn
spirit Of an old man by his sons sweet
heart Is an old-time theme-one which
harks away back into the earliest hours of
English comedy. Yet the vivacious cam
paign by which the heroine scores her In
eVitable Conquest-it is recognized as in
evitable from the moment the purport OF
the plot is fully disclosed, was never fol-
lowed with more interest than it is now.
Theatrical writers have strayed far afield
in their search for novelties. They have
beaten the bushes where the realms of fact
and fancy meet in the horderland of the
bizarre The Sunken H." Peter PAN
and Peer Gynt" have all had their fol-
lowing in greater or less numbers and en-
thusiasm; but in the face of these Haunting
fantasies come Mr. Kleins two plays, The
Music Master" and the Lion and the
Mouse" with a success that leaves no
question that the public still Graves the sub
stantial-
THE Lion and the Mouse" does not pur-
port to be an absolutely truthful picture
of society Only the problem play makes
these claims of utter candor which, on the
play bill as In private conversation, usually
form the prelude To some disagreeable re-
minder The conventional drama proceeds
according to certain fixed laws. Virtue Is
always rewarded. and a courageous young
woman is always more than a match for
the most powerful and relentless foe. The
manner in which the girl invades the pri-
waite Office of the most ferOcious of fnan-
ciers abuses him to his face and compels
him to fall in love with her 10 the extent
of wanting her for a daUghter-ln-IaW Is
deiightfulIy ingenious. Only The energetic
and sincere acting of Mr.. Breese keeps
some OF the situations from bordering on
the absurd. But it all works out according
TO the approved principles of romance ana
svupathy with the characters becomes So
strong that a close analysis of motive ana
probability is impossible. Mr.. Breese por-
travail is the kind of man that the lmasi-
nation depicts as the ideal financier; a
giant. a steam engine, a Maxim gun UNI
errinp and relentless; yet a dashing per-
sonage with no small sense of the PIC
turesaue. fascinating because of the hoer-
alitv with which he scatters wealth no less
than because of his skill in gathering -
II has been said that the character Is
drawn from life. Perhaps But the proto-
type is not easily located. 1t is surely not
the golf-playing Mr. rockefeller, nor the
philanthropic philologist, Mr.. Carnegie; nor
the ardent litterateur. Mr.. Tom Lawson; nor
the race-track plunger, Mr.. Gates; nor the
art enthusiast Mr.. Morgan nor the acutely
economical Mr. Hill, nor the phlegmatcally
humorous Mr. Hartman. This magnate OF
the footlights is none of these. He is the
creature of the authors own imagination.
Yet he is convincing, not because of any
impression of minute accuracy, but be-
cause of the discreet emphasis employed.
He is perhaps composite picture, with
certain general characteristics exaggerated
until they stand forth distinct and recog-
nizable 1t is something of the same art
that Dickens displayed. Whenever char
acter is drawn with strength rather than
minute delCacy a comparison to Dickens
inevitably suggests itself Nobody ever saw
a man who exactly resembled Micawber.
But everybody has known many lovable
chaps who in one way or another, suggest
him. So it is with Ryder in the play. He is
not a distinct portraiture, but an idealized,
"a vastly localized. generalization.
Little Johnny Jones' and "On Parole
both demonstrated their competency to sus-
tain interest in return engagements. And
the purely emotional drama has an expo
nent in Miss Kathryn Purneu at the Ma
jestic. The fearful drama has its place, and
the regular season has not been so frequent
in opportunities for lachrymal enjoyment
that Miss Purnelrs delineations of ladies in
heart distress are likely to f~il of appre-
citation. There is always room for all kinds
of plays except bad plays And even they
occasionally manage to secure unaccounta-
BILE consideration.
Baltimore is coming to the front as a
producing center. Hail, Baltimore! 1t is
high time that city's advantage as
place for first occasions were recognized
The first production there of ''Noah's Ark
tomorrow night sets a desirable precedent.
Some narrowing experiences would have
been spared Washington had the precau-
ton of a previous production in some near
by community been taken. Washington
cannot. of course, be expected to shirk the
entire burden of try-out experiences But 1t
is simple fairness that Baltimore were sub
tected 10 share of the ordeals Besides,
the dignity of being a great producing CEN
ter should be diffused. Scranton, Pa, and
New Haven. Conn, have too long enjoyed
a comparative monopoly of eastern first
nights outside the capital city Jealous,
Not bit of It.
This week Sees a plenitude of problem
plays. A problem play is one TO which
there is no answer: or if one were discov-
eSed 1t would not be polite to tell it. The
main attraction of performances of this
kind does not lie so much in the problems
themselves-as a rule they are little more
than reconstructiOns OF time-tried plots-as
IN the character studies they introduce and
the striking conversational passages in
Guided Fortunately problem plays are sus-
ceptible of infinite variation. All of them
are not Sphinx-like and somber after the
manner of THE Kreutzer Sonata" Some
like Man and Superman," are as merry as
anything that ever came out of riddle
book. PHILANDER JOHNSON,
A YIDDISH PLAYWRIGHT.-Ja Cor
din. the author of the play. The Kreutzer
Sonata" in which Nine. Bertha Kalich ap-
pears at the Belasco Theater this week is