New-York tribune., 1914-03-31


80 one who ventured Yesterday to folio"'
@-s @-su, carly afternoon, the theatrical CLOCK
"Y' o.s, the quaint and gently pathetic
s.,bsn relic. Thomas Haywoods
z, vor,an Killed with Kindness was
=. ,l.ved I'm the evening Miss AnSllh
,.y,yed % brilliantly and with the complete
.,rroyal OF a large audience that l%no-
-'arl Of quite another STAGE ana t'ine'
- Uilde's witty and well-made Lady
.,,,.5or,,ere's Fan" And between these
.ro ,be stage Society presented one
y. ,,ov bv A young American poet-a
1,sma in the lives OF three southern
a.cro women Of our own country ana
time played by the three black women
,,.rnsslyes. completely from the negro
point OF view.
n, the three. the latter, Mr. Ridgeley
rcrrence's Granny Maumee," was IN
,be matter Of what might be called IN
,sllsetusl news the most significant. MT
Terrence is a young writer. poet by
Inclination and preference. whose artis-
ac sincerity and modesty would, in them
selves. set his work somewhat apart from
the business OF competitive advertising
which so generally passes for authorship
in New York.
And the play shown yesterday-pieseh'.
irr as II does. through the characters OF
,brse ignorant Southern negroes, situa-
ton as Indigenous in its psychology as IN
rs scene and speech-has qualities OF
Imagination and of freshness; a general
Intellectual novelty. in short. much more
than usually interesting.
Both Mr. Torrence's play and the old
Elizabethan relic-so surprisingly not old
in some ways-invite comment OF a more
lsislrely sort than the moment affords
They Willie c-nsidered more at length IN
io-morrow's Tribune.
Miss Anglin's revival Of the Oscar Wide
plsy was altogether delight since
Lady Windermere' Fan" was first pro-
dsced in London, at ST. James's Theatre
IN 1872. It has been played many times
in this country and in England, and 's
TOO familiar to require any extended COM
ment II belongs 10 "A time very different
from our own-those latter days in the
Victorian era when Whistler and wide
were cutting epigrams and everybody was
irving 70 he clever There was a cult OIL
cleverress and cyn.cism abroad in the
English-speaking world then-a taste Tor
greer carnations and so ON; you will find
traces Of il even I'm the stories that Amer
team Undergraduates wrote in those days
Tor their college magazines. Such play
as LADY Windermeres Fan is the fine
flower Of such an atmosphere. or at least
much Of il is-much Of it mere authors
wit epigrams as pertinent out of the
play as in IL.
There are two ira gedies In life. One Is
not to get what YOU want. The other is
to get IT,"
How long could you go on loving
woman who didn't love you?'
"An my lie. The trouble is. can't
find one"
How conceited YOU are. Cecil
That was not conceit speaking. II as
regret"
This sort Of smooth. heartless chatter
dravled OF bv two languid young men in
exquisite evening clothes. was much IN
vogue then. and. OF course. Wide coulH
do il 10 the queen taste. II, and all the
once DARING naradoxes and attempts to
siartle by saying the clever unexpected
thing and seeming 10 prove that two and
two DO not make four, sound a bit quaint
and sophomoric now. Ibsen has since
cone into tine theatre with lines that blt
into the spectators very marrow, YET
we're positively rustic i'm their simplicity
and lack Of pretence. Mr.. Shaw has been
Just as witty and just as paradOXical, yet
With q wit that had science and humanity
behind IT, that was not the cleverness
o. detached asthete but the logic Of
serious man who appeared TO have lived
he and got 1T some Of its truth.
Yet for this very reason the wit of
such q play az Lady Windermere's Fan
Is. in way ali the more entertaining
i has lost its bitter sung-no lorger
hurts. The cpigram2 20 off IKE hre-
works and leave no trace behind. And
We have the pleasure. rather rare in these
controversial days, Of see
Ing society play" Of the oid-tashioned
kind play that is 10 say. at when we
can NatM cxpcnsiyclv dressed people
moving gracefully about In elaoorateiy
furnished rooms. and saying all the clever
things which are 50 mournfully lacking
10 society" Itself
Added 20 this. Of course. is the fact that
Lady Windcrmcre' Fan ~ deftly mace
Rith careful working up Of interest ana
suspense and ali tine other things "hlch
ihe new natumiistc play writers are
Sometimes inclined rather 10 forget
Nis Ang.lu. as Mrs Erlynne. was at
1er comedy bcg-a radiant. really beauti-
NJ picture. and always authoritative ana
'sle. so les successful WAS Miss Mar
gerry Msude ~ Lady Windermerc-younS'
freshly serious. snl TO the manner born
~ De Cordoba. as Lord Windermere'
sno Nr Arthur Byron. as Lord Darling
'h played With excellent finish and feel
hs' and SIR Sarah CoWell Le Moyne
brought her r.pe shu 10 the dcliciously
mphihH part " thc Duchess Of Berwick.
'orman Tharp and Wallace Widdecombe
Ffrt excellent ~ the twO exquisite young
''n Cecil and Ouuby. ana the others Of
'N's unusual company an capable. The IN
~ .pfs we're rich and tacifully lighted and
hf 1hoie Performance. indeed. thoroughly
@Nlh heeing .Miss Angliu viii present
"' pay Tor ihe nctl4wO weeks