New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-04
Something About Seeing
Things in Our New
York Theatres.
WALL STREET AS
PICTURED ON STAGE.
Joseph Urban and His Position
in the Movement Away from
Nature and Back TO Art.
BY HEYWOOD BROUN.

Electrically speaking. seeing is be-
lioving. This is unassailable. in spite
Of the practice Of some playwrights. In
Potash and Perlmutter" Abe says that
his wife Rosie is "a rotten pinochle
player" The point is not essential to
the plot, and the line which contains
the remark about the proves of Rosie
is an amusing one. Yet. even in such
a minor matter, the deed is more eff
receive than the word. ABE and Nav
russ shows us Rosie playing pinochle
badly, and the scene is worth any num-
Der Of lines. though they be ever so
clever
The difference between the method Of
the dramatist and the undramatist is
even more clearly shown in "Hobsons
Choice" and "Our Mrs. McChesney."
Mr.. Brighouse wants the audience TO
know that Maggie Hobson Is clever
business woman. He wastes not a line
In boesting Of her proves. Instead, he
provides that young man shall enter
the shop for the purpose Of making
love 70 Maggie's sister and remain to
| buy a pair Of shoes which he does not
want. The audience cannot possibly
doubt the acumen of Maggie. 1t sees
her sell the shoes.
Mrs. McChesney is also a business
woman. You know that If you have
read the stories in the magazines. but
you do not learn It by watching the
play Mr.. Hobart and Miss Fcrber en-
power a number Of their characters TO
tell you that Mrs. McChesney is
great saleswoman. You are informed
that she could sell pretzels in London"
but you must take it all on trust. All
Emma's selling is done off the stage.
Any time we have a commodity TO
market our travelling representative
will not be the famous Mrs. McChesney,
but the obscure Miss Hobson.
After seeing the Lasky Carmen" sec
ond time we are more firmly convinced
than ever that it is a remarkably fine
film drama, but we wish that Wallace
Reid had seen his way clear TO playing
Don Jose without unfastening the first,
second, third and fourth buttons Of his
sport shirt.
The merits Of Around the Map" at
the New Amsterdam Theatre are nu-
merous. Yet IT should suffice to char
acterize the performance completely to
say that there is not a single joke about
cheese, and that not once in three acts
of musical comedy does any member
of the cast speak of a woman as a
Chicken"
Formerly persons in plays invariably
went TO smach in Amalgamated. Since
that stock has been merged with Ana
conda, Reading usually brings ruin in
the third act. Once upon a time there
was play in which a hero retrieved
his fortune by speculation in a silver
mine, but we can recall no other drama
in which a character made money in
the market. Stage fortunes are
amassed by putting the bankroll OF an
obscure horse against which the odds
are 100 to J. Wall Street is too risky
for playwrights.
Next to Wall Street the most unsafe
thing with which person in play can
dabble is a check. Whenever a character
writes out a call on his bank the odds
are about ten 10 one that the piece of
paper will come back in the next act
marked mo funds"
( The best check Of the season is
passed in "Our Mrs McChesney." 1t
calls for 5000, but before il was raised
it was bona fde $50 draft. Ten per
cent of the market value is a high rate
for stage checks.
"The Morning Telegraph" in a
U rrnnGnu aAtsnrfa1 rnfove 70 ~ "a
young Sir Galahad who is dramatic
critic of our most esteemed contem
| porary, The Tribune. Still, while
I that Round Table mood was on they
might have called us Sir Bors.
| A good many persons have not yet
awakened to the fact that the painter
| is in the theatre. They look at the
man who designs the scenery as a
I sort of glorifed paperhanger and cas-
/ ually turn 10 the programme, per-
/ haps, to note whether he is mentioned
along with boots by" But this painter
! has grown so hugely in Importance
| that soon the playwright may enter
| the theatre only by his sufferance.
| Drama may be done with a brush just
rs readily as pen.
Since number of the best plays
Of the season have endeavored to get
| as close 10 life as possible it is in
! evitable that there should be a grow
/ ing reaction from nature TO art, and
/ il is not remarkable that such a move
ment should be led by a painter. or
more exactly decorator, rather than
a playwright.
Joseph Urban, we think, is the
! leader Of the movement in the the
atre away from realism. Nothing as
! tonishes US more than the fact the
( public takes Urban so calmly. 1t is
/ friendly TO be sure, but great talent
/ demands more passionate recognition
| than that. Somebody ought to rise up
/ and holler about Urban. We would
/ if we had the lung power.