The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-05-12

power TO PLEASE
Husband" Does Not Suggest
the Possibilities of a Wide
Success
Effort to Solve the Race Suicide
Problem Might Be Motive
of Play
by WALTER ANTHONY


day afternoon suffered in the hands of
q cast not physically suited TO the roles
but assembled to present a very differ
ent character Of play, the fact remains
that the production Of John Corbin's
comedy does not suggest q wide sue
cess. Though the players We're gath
cred 10 interpret a Woman's Way
and not Husband" and so were at odds
with their representations. physically
and temperamentany, the comedy itself
lacks the power 10 please.
RACE SUICIDE PROBLEM
II is an uncompleted attempt, an am
bilious effort TO solve the race suicide
problem tardily introduced as the mo-
tive Of a play which runs more than
half its length before the issue is
sQuarely placed Meantime and Up to
The end OF the second act it has the plot
Of a prize fight; there is plenty of I'M
certainly but no logical conclusion
You wonder who will win the wife, the
husband or the lover, with odds evenly
divided and the denouement not a Gull
lnination of the logic of events, but
tortuitOus. Indeed, the dialogue-at
least that which won the applause
was all in favor of the wife abandon
ing her husband, who neglected her
and going 10 her lover, who was more
attentive.
Each speech that Mrs. Anthony
Wayne made against the matrimonial
ties that bound her was applauded
loudly, and the remark that it would be
more the part of virtue to fee TO the
given kiss of her lord lover than to
accept the compelled embraces of her
husband was accepted as the best line
in the play, and the language was
palmer than ] quote. It was the Ian
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problem plays, though out of joint with
The requirements Of comedy. Indeed.
HUSBAND is not a comedy at all The
funniest part of it is the conclusion
which, as I have suggested, grows not
out OF action at all, nor is suggested
save by the fact that the play be-
ing dubbed comedy il must end hap
PLY.
FAILS OF INTENDED EFFECT
II is this feeling of insecurity which
pervades the auditor that robs the
comedy OF its intended effect. It is not
the uncertainty Of suspense. but the
insecurity that follows when you are
NOT sure that the author is certain of
his whereabouts
The first act develops the fact that
Tony Hayne and his wife are estraneed
through her love of society or devotion
10 H. ana his ambitions in law and
politics lie is Z reformer. II also de-
NeiOps the fact that she loves him very
dearly and is merely unhappy at his
neglect few minutes after this ad-
L-isslon she falls into the arms of the
ardent English lord ard accepts his
KISS and his line. Love me or I'll
crush the life cut OF you"
ID the next act she tells her husband
aopIt hen intideiity, but he refuses TO
o-lieFe T. then believes and tries 10
t-Iotl-e her, then relents and reads her
q --onlllE on feminine intellect and
gives her some advice about the books
s-e mas been reading. After that The
lord arrives and then her husband fS
persuaded his wife is unfaithfIll ia him
ana puts them both out Of the house.
- week later, on the night of the
ciectlon which il TO determine whether
AoAH = 10 be prosecuting attorney
-4is- w ayne is discovered a. the apart
I-eEls OF her sister whittier she went
Ietalng her trip to South Dakota.
4S ~ IN The tower is to tell of Navne's
success or defeat. Her scandal with
LHe lord has been taken advantage of
by MS political rivals and published
Dioaocast The assumption is en-
couraged that he is 10 be defeated.
Mhl-e the news is pending the lord
comes 10 call on Mrs. Wayne to dis
cuss Jnelr plans for the future and
10 tell her that his nearest of Kim
nave suddenly died leaving him to be
an ear and millionaire They viii
20 10 england In the dialogue that
ensues II is disclosed now that sba
doesn't love the Englishman at All
nor never has, but has loved her hus-
pand ali the time-a puerile conclusion
III We" OF the kisses and embracings.
QUARREL OF LOVERS
The lovers quarrel Lord (but now
earD IHley indicates that in England
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makes Mrs Wayne very mad. indeed
and interrupts her regrets at having
ruined the career of her husband Like
wise II dawns on her that she is about
10 ruin her lovers career, too. because
the scandal viii keep him out of poll
tics and he never can be a prime min
lister.
All at once she conceives a tremen-
oous admiration for men who do things
IN the world, and the realization comes
mat she has been in her husbands
path, blocking his way; and that She
should have had some children. Then
the truth comes out. It was her yearn-
ing for motherhood that made her cross
win wayne and unhappy all the time.
besides being responsible for her clever
speeches about Roosevelt and storks
and Things Now she thinks differently
ano when the red light on distant
tower appears, telling her of Wavne's
oefear, she melts and sends the moor
lord about his business.
Wayne arrives then. and as the two
are getting closer and closer together
the red light goes out and the white /
light shines, showing that after all
Wayne wins. With this as a che he
RECEIVERS his wife. who left him for no
reason that the play satisfactorily adj
5usts- 1t is an attempt at staging
woman's whim and making three ACT
fantasy out of II. Naturally. II wo,,ld |
not go around 1t was too intangible |
Whatever reason Mrs Wayne had for
leaving her husband exists when the
curtain falls as il die when the curtain |
went up; she merely sUccumbs in favor
OF the nursery, which, it seems, she has
always yearned for heartily.
NEEDS PRUNING
surprising lack Of taste is shown |
IN the dialogue, which drags into the
society patter jokes of tenderloin
character The bon mot about Iff5ev |
pelng wonder in massage parlor is
an Illustration. II can not have been
an accidental line dropped in without 1
rejection, because il crops up again
later on In the play The dialogue
needs pruning Of its excrescences of |
slang
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