Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-09-03
KEENEY PLAYLET
/ PHILOSOPHIC IDYL
"siIver Threads" Written by
Joseph Noel, Produced at
Popular Playhouse.
BY IRVING r.. BACON.

NOW and then a vaudeville sketch,
IN Its light unpretentious way. puts
forth 4 depth of philosophy as pro-
found as the riddle of life itself and
yet as effervescently lissome as the
pop of a cork from a bottle of cham
payne. Such a sketch is Silver
Threads, which, during the first
three days of this week, was the
greatly admired headline feature at
heeney's Theatre. It's author is Jo-
seph Noel a poet
In an age when the pursuit after
wealth is the paramount question of
the day and the soicitous subject of
meditation of the night, poets are apt
10 be regarded as a sort of intrusion.
We think of rhymes, and relegate
both poets and their rhymes to the
Land of the Has Been"
But the author of Silver Threads
Is not that kind of a poet He is of
the kind who, like kings, are such by
the grace Of Cod
In Greek the word poet" signifies
creator" And that, exactly, is what
the true poet is-a creator. He con-
Jures UP before our astonished gaze
a world which is much more interest
ing than the everyday world we live
in and yet so similar to il that va
wanted the world to be like When
ever we We're a-dreaming of happi-
ness.
Indeed, poets are the real philoso-
Pliers, for they pluck from the heart
Of nature the secrets which are hid
den from the gaze of the vulgar eye
and dress them mp in a way that
makes them visible to all
Nature herself, of course, is the
great teacher, but often she speaks to
us ordinary mortals in a language
which we cannot understand. And
then the poet-the true poet, | mean,
the genius-acts as interpreter and
shows us just what 1t is that Nature
has been trying to tell us. And that
precisely is what Mr.. Noel has done
in "Silver Threads"
The plot? A man has weared of
his wife. She is old-fashioned and
weazen- faced. He feels himself at !
traeted to another. who is handsomer |
and more stylish. He dances attend |
anee upon her and buys her a beau |
tful gown which he desires her to |
wear to Rector's. But, alas, the gown |
is much too small. He had bought !
it of the size which he used to buy for |
his wife in the heyday of his love for |
her.
Force of circumstances brings the |
wife and the other woman together,
and the other woman commiserates
the wife, whose meeknoss and pa
tience are fit companions of her plain
''How old are your asks the stylish
one.
"Thirty-six." is the reply.
why, you chicken" exelaims the
other; Pm close on to fifty"
And yet you are so beautiful"
gushes the wife.
well. here's my beauty" declares
the other, and begins to diyest her
self of all that art has supplied to exc
out the deficiencies of nature. The
blonde wig goes first, then the teeth:
'plumpers'' next, and so on until
what remains is so homely that the
astonished wife can scarcely believe
the evidence of her own eyes. And, |
meanwhile, prompted by the other,
the wife has been putting on the new |
gown and primping herself up gen |
a thing of beauty as radiant as in the |
days when her husbands heart beat |
wildly at her approach
And now the husband enters the |
room prepared to take the one who
Is not his wife to Rector's. But, 10,
his heart, like clocks dial turned
back, reverts again to his Wife.
Hello, sweetheart" he says, offer |
Ing her his arm, while, with his free |
hand he watts a "bye-bye" to the
other and calls out, Goodnight, old |
GAL
The philosophy of it? Two lessons!
One, for wives to keep themselves at |
tractive for their husbands; the other |
for husbands not to be too hasty to |
do what Hamlet chides in his mother, |
ito leave a fair mountain, TO batten |
m a nnnr -