Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-29
TITANIC WRECK
MADE BASIS Of
APLAY IN PARIS
Alan Dale Graphically Describes
Thrilling, Though Morbid,
Production.
BY ALAN DALE.
iai Cable to The American.


PARIS, June 2S.-New York's lit
tie Princess Theater could take
every one of the six playettes now
running at its step-sister theater,
the Grand Gulgnol. in this metrop-
oils. AMI make every kind of hit
with them. Honestly ] feel rather
ashamed of my morbidity when 1
get to the Grand Guignol, for I'm
so hungry for horrors. A dreadful
appetite for the unusual takes pos
session Of me. | lose my aesthetic
sense, my perspective. by idea Of
proportion. / want something hOr-
Tible, gripping and overwhelming!
Well they've got a little play
there in two sCeneS by Charles
Muller and Maurice Level. called
IS. Q. S. which is nothing more
nor less than dramatized Titanic
disaster, which you'd think would
be rather difficult to get over the
footlights grippingly Trust the
Partisan producer to see to all that
Rely on him. He knows his morbid
human nature, and-yOu needn't
worry.
Titanic Is Not Named.
1t Is the night Of a dance on
board (the Titanic is. of course,
not named in the play), and the
scene is laid in the smoking room.
They are playing cards and indulg-
ing in the usual desultory pastimes
of shipboard life. Dolly Barnay
drifts in. Her husband is on board.
but during the crossing she has
found--an affinity! He loves her
(and shipboard love is very swift,
while she has qualms and scruples,
and all the rest Of it. Still, after
he has Coazcd and cajOled. she de-
cides to meet him i'm a little room
adjoining the smoke-rOom, and you
see them 20 in.
The ship hits an iceberg. You
see the shock-slight, but unmis-
taxable. The scenery Zig-2ags--it
lifts-it falls The players in the
smoke-room pause for moment,
then continue to play The inter
ruption was imperceptible. The
captain enters and tells them that
something has happened. They
must continue to play their game.
so that the passengers will not
suspect an event Of sinister inn
port. on they come chatteriug and
wondering, to be treasured and
filled with false confidence.
EiqntS Out IN MOI
The worst is about to happen.
The lights go out, and lanterns are
brought on Dolly's husband PUSHES
on in search Of his wife Where
can she be- He has hunted for her
high and low, impossible TO dis
cover her. Tumult begins to reign
There are six feet of water in the
stateroom Passengers are for
fThaVr
rampage. Riot is in the air. Al
ready the semblance Of polite hui
manity has departed. Men and
women alike lose their equanimtty.
The husband still hunts his wife.
Where is she2 The smoke-room
darkens and darkens. You culver
a bit at the scene. 1t grows hor-
ribly realistic.
Dolly and her lover drift in from
the adjoining room, unaware that
a catastrophe has happened. She
is in her ball dress. The impend-
ing horror dawns upon her and
upon him. He pushes her back into
the room, just in time to prevent a
meeting with her husband There,
in the deepening gloom, with the
ship on the verge. the two men
have the inevitable understanding
The husband guesses the truth.
The man has been alone in that
room with his wife and he can
not deny it. It is vivid gripping.
awful.
Rush For Life Boats.
Save the women!" A sailor
PUSHES in, distraught An official
refuses to obey orders. He is shot
dead and falls PROSTATE. The crowd
yells. jostles, eXpostulates Then
there is a grand rush for the life
boats, and the smoke room is de-
serted except for Dolly, who crawls
from her hiding place, and her
wretChed husband. Her lover has
deserted her to save his own life.
The husband turns on her with
accusations and invective. There
is a tense and dramatic scene be-
tween them. The ship is sinking.
In a few minutes II will have
skirled into the depth. With a
blood -curdling cry he pushes the
guilty woman from him and PUSHES
away. She shrieks, Save me!
Save mel Save me-" and as the
final curtain falls she is writing
on the floor Of the smOke-rOOm
alone, deserted by lover and hus-
band, abiect.
The little play brought home the
horror Of the Titanic business more
pOignantly than any Survivors
story or eye witness nara
tive" 1t gave me the blues. If I
had seen it on the eve Of sailing
I'd have cancelled my passage. Of
course, / was at the Grand Guig-
no! for a sensation, and certainly
l got one.
One Other Horror.
There was one other horror. II
was by Jean Lailler and was called
lie Croissant Noir." 1t was an
episode Of the Balkan war and
dealt with cholera! A patriotic Turk,
resenting the indignities to which
his people We're subjected, cheerful
~ spread cholera germs among the
soldiers. and the entire army is i'm
pregnated. He is shot dead by the
irate cholera lied ones and the play
ends without further parley. This
IS a bit obvious triflr too much
like horror for horrors sake one
detects the labor of the thing.
Tho four afbar ,eT4yr- t,r4ra