New-York tribune., 1910-09-06
THE DRAMA
John Drew in Maugham's Play
Smith" at Empire Theatre.

on Sundays the deficient teaching of the
churches with the superior instruction Of
the theatres he should produce at his
principal playhouse a comedy which he
seems to include in the list Of those phil
osophio and elevating works designed to
improve the mind and morals Of the com
nunity. # there is to be a Sunday drama
in New York. as there are Sunday 'vaude
vile" shows. sacred concerts and NOV
ing picture exhibitions. il may a. least he
/ hoped that it viii display pieces OF merit
which Mr- Somerset Maugham's Smith
does not possess. For there is no reason
other than q commercial cne why Smith
should be performed on Sundays. Not that
there is anything objectionable about
Smith. L is quite harmless. as far as
that goes but it is merely stage entertain
ment Of quite ordinary quality, and the
churches are unlikely TO suffer by its com
petition for public favor. even if 1r- Froh-
man succeeds in obtaining a modification
Of the state law which prohibits dramatic
productions on Sunday
Smith Is a success, no doubt And that
is saying good deal for any play which
came before q New York audience in the
distressing temperature of last evening. It
IS saying a good deal. too. for the popular
itv of John Drew that a theatre could be
filed on such a boiling night. But filled II
was. and the audience was pleased. al
though the principal part is scarcely what
IS known as "a John Drew part The
principal part is not ''Sn1ith''-it Is Thomas
Freeman a returned colonial Tom. &C
cording to his lines was husky fellow
from Rhodesia After eight years of
pioneering he visits London. where he was
of old time a prosperous stock broker and
a person Of fashion. He is in quest of
wife Rhodesia has made a man of him
II Is carefully explained that he was for
uerlv gentleman" Anyhow. ne is now a
farmer and his honest soul revolts at the
shauowness and sel7shress of the smart
set" II which he spends his six weeks
holiday. And so he falls in love with
Smith, Smith being a pretty parlormaid in
his sisters household.
The smart society depicted in Mr.
NIaugham's engaging work does not rise
above stockholders and lawyers. London
playwrights seem to make a business Of
having it in" for the stockholders, and,
when these figures fail them. the lawyers
But that is as it may be Every man and
woman II Mr.. Maugham's latest play a
confding public has seen before Some Of
them have been seen in The School for
Scandal" some of them in Pinero's Mid
Channel" For in the first act they play
with regulations, and in all the acts there
is tame cat a cOmplaisant husband, a
bored Wife. and so on. The tame cat in
Smith IS the worst that ever was, one
Algerron Peppercorn skiIfulIy played by
AIr Hassard short But he IS q creature
Of sheer tmpossibiltty- No being so openly
selfish. caddish and bloodIess would be
tolerated for TWO days by any pleasing
woman. however bored she might be
Shorts average term seemed to be two
years. And a real farmer from Rhodesia
would have pitched him down stairs The
John Drew-AIaugham Rhodesian merely
talks about It, and you know he doesn't
mean il
The pleasing society to which Tom Free
man returns on his London visit is bridge
mad One Of the women. Mrs Otto Rosen-
berg. neglects her SIx-Weeks-Old baby for
the pastine Of losing money at bridge. She
IS at a game with all the other pleasing
persons when she receives the news that
her child IS dead. OF course she is stricken
10 sadness and presently converted to
holier ways This. presumably. is where
the Sunday element comes in. But the
spectator is far from being convinced Mr.
Vaughan merely stops joking for while.
b. =. J
can do with sentiment" He Iugs it in.
lugs in d bale Of it And then the play
begins TO shake with the weight of the
overload. but II manages to reach an end
ing without serious damage. Tom Freeman
r7arries Smith That was inevitable. be
cause Smith, besides being very pretty, is
pretty deep. She Is like the milIer's daugh-
ter who lived beside the mill; still and
deem rq n rHe urarEr but she was deeper
STILL Smith knows her market value.
The play Is not 10 be taken seriously as
a contribution to the thought and talk OF
the day on matrimony, maternity. brother
hood ard the moral uplift Its philosophy
IS Tupperian- its colorlng is pumped on with
a hose. But in the first two acts il is a
good bit of work, and there its lines have
sparkle and fair wit As whole. though.
the play IS too Maushamish. Almost any
one viii know what that means The play
ers are well fitted with their parts and
that is an unusual condition of things.
They look. walk and talk Ike the persons
they pretend to be that IS with the ex-
c=ption of John Drew who is simply not
colonial farmer but for all that is de-
ughtfuI because he is John Drew. For
once he wears ready-made clothes. Bat
even so, he does not delude with the notion
that ne is q husky Rhodesian with a tlst
and that seven wears ago he was baggage
boy IN the biggest hotel in Johannesburg.
He is John Drew. And John Drew is the
most popular actor IN America That ex-
plains a good deal about the success this
MauEham play VIII have Colonial or Pic
cadHlian. what matters it? Everybody
wishes to see John Drew. A ".