The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-10


 Is tipsy scenes; SO when Russian nobleman in "on the Eve" was found to be drunkard. Harry was secured for the role; and the people laugh duly at his inebriety. There Is pass age of pathos further along In the role. however. and hc gets through 1t very well; but he has started laugh ter by drunkenness at @ joilihcation, and he can't stop 1t, strive as ne may with lament over a son banished to Siberia.
 You see. this dire Russian melo- drama of assassination is scant or run. Its only spell of mirth is in resort of students where an orgy brings out showgirls who teaze a young Russian army oflcer--a French coauette who shrugEs her shoulders and says oh la-la-la. German who waggies her hips and says. "Du fiber Gott! ana an English girl who puts her arms akim- bo and says My eawd, but I'd like to turn this fixz-water into alf-an' 'aif!
 Enthusiasm in the theatre Is not rare; but 1t Is extraordinary to come upon 1t unmixed with disapproval or at least. disregard. Therefore the reception of Johnston Forbes-Ropert- son on the occasion of his re-entry upon the American stage--the univer- sal recognition of him as great ana dominant actor of the age-is notabie. But it leaves no room for discussion, where as opinions vary as to the es- act artistic worth of The Passing or the Third Floor Back" It Is py Jerome K. Jermoe and was produced in London at about the same time as The Servant in the House. was re- vealed in New York. In both Christ- like stranger Is an humble lodger Tn a house of hypocrisy. dissension ana petty vice. and in each his gentle pre- sence exerts a reformatory influence.
 The likeness of the two plays has been wiiely and emphatically dis cussed. Let us, rather. look at the positive differences. In the Kennedy playNthe stranger is indicated absolute ly as Christ upon earth. even as 10 face and garb, whereas Forbes-hoDert- son presents no such suggestion. MT Jerome's people are everyday folk. not the thinly-veiled symbolic figures or the other drama: the lesson of The Third Floor Back" Is universal. while MT Kennedy confined himself very closely to religion as viewed through Church of England eyes. But [" me the most important difference Is that '"The Servant in the House" drove Tn it's lesson by admonishing the badness  by illustrating the vein of good Tn every one.
 "The Third Floor Back" Is, in fact more similar to "The Devil" Just as in that great drama mysterious stranger came among a mortal group. linked to the ear of each, and aWoke dormant temptations. thus chaning tae whole course of their lives, so does the unknown visitor rekindle smolder- ing fires rather than work his influence from without The one famed Into flame the bad in mankind. the ether the good-that is all.
 Mir. Jerome, with the sure hani of art, does not show us household Tn lower middle class London. but makes us one of it. We get our intimate view of the lodgers through that most intimate peephoie, the open fire place. They sit before us with their feet on the fender and talk with frank intimacy Even more actuly can We the unconsidered coals--see into their souls as they sit silent, the glow on their faces revealing to us un. spoken thoughts. This fender, to ex. plain more clearly stands down near the footlights, facing toward the actors as though we were indeed seeing the whole play through the opening In the mantel And 1t Is a mean lot we see "a cheating landlady, an iiltempered slatternly slavey and household ot snops nd backbiters, when not actu- ally rogues. Only the poor room on the third floor. at the back. Is un- tenanted. Contrary to the landiadys more conservative wishes the slavey puts a room to let sign over the door. Later, when she goes to an- swer the bell. the girl starts back in surprise. Why" she exclaims, as she eazes at the unfamiliar beams of light falling through the glass; why it's the sun"
 The quiet stranger who takes the room never obtrudes himself upon his fellow lodgers. never once censures or admonishes But to each he shows the forgotten good in self: the hap piness resulting from small sacrifices and mutual considerations; the helpfnl- ness of cheer and selfrespect. TO rehearse the petty vices that we see disappear beneath the gently rising tide of better effort would be to cheapen the graceful fancy. the human humor and delicate artistry of Jerome. In a sense, the play Is not play at all. No conflict is involved no plat Is worked out: and were one to judge 1t by usual standards. the construc- ton is clumsy. But as we'll measure "Everyman" by the technical laws Of Pinere or Sardou. The play simply Is an illustrated sermon-a morality-ot Bloomsbury. And 1t Is to be admitted that in hands less skilled than Forbes Robertsons, and his excellent com pany, there might be stretches of tedi- ousness.
 The play Is in prologue one act and an epilogue. The first, with ricn humor, exposes the small meanness of the little households: the second, almost wholly in series of flreside chats with the stranger, reveals the