New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-28
BY HAYWOOD BROUN.

Henry Arthur Jones contends that
when a man kisses a girl. though he
do it ever so discreetly, at least three
persons will see him. In the second
act the news has spread TO twenty OF
more, and BIZ the time the third act Is
reached the matter has become inter
national. With no more material thar
the mere squeezing of a hand, Mr.
Jones can make as much trouble for Q
character as the average dramstis'
could heap upon one of his folk with
a bountiful brood of illegitimate chill
dren.
Cock o. the Walk" which was pro
duced at the Cohan Theatre last night
much resembles THE Liars" in the
manner in which the playwright has
devised complications from simple
source. Such a method tends to con
vey a sense of artifciality, but it may
not be denied that il is technically
sound. "Othello," which is woven into
the text of the present play, required
no more than handkerchief TO brlnl
about the death of Desdemona, but
Shakespeare sbsolved himself from the
burden of causing the complications by
creating consummate villain. Since
there is no lago in Cock o the Walk
MIR. Jones is often overburdened by
the necessity Of making things un
pleasant for the gentleman who kissed
the lady and lived to rue 1t.
In so far as it is comedy OF in
trigue Cock o. the Walk" is much less
skilful than 1.-THE Liars" because th'
dramatist practically has left his chic
character out of the first two acts OF
the play. Antony Bellchamber must b'
the chief character. Not only is NJ
played by Otis Skinner, but he is BY
FAR the best drawn character and i'm
measurably the most interesting. 1t II
true that Bellchamber comes on early
in the first act and has a good deal Z
say, interesting matter at that, anC
much to do, but he is not in the leas
concerned with the kisses which set thu
play to moving. He neither gives mol
receives them. He merely sees them.
Late in the play BellchamOer does
make the matter his business by ap
pearing as a witness for the kisser anC
clearing him from the natural censur'
due a man for such deed. Eventually
il Is discovered that the kisses and the
complications which grew out of them
were merely the ingredients in the sub
plot. The real story concerns the man
ner in which Bellchamber, a broken
down actor, came to play the part OF
Othello in the great Shakespearian re
vival.
Briefly. Sir Augustus Conyers, a dis
tinguished English actormanager
kisses a matinee girl, and gets into nc
end of trouble about il. He is saved
from a scandal only through the effort:
OF Bellchamber, who lies in his behalf
and is accordingly rewarded By being
allowed to play Othello. We think thai
Cock O. the Walk" is one Of the leas
skillfully plotted plays which Henry Ar
thur Jones has written in recent years
And yet ii is an interesting play
Like all ill-plotted plays, it has its dul
moments-some of them are minutes
but it has other periods when it is de
lightful. These delights come from tive
sources. In Antony Bellchamber Mr.
Jones has devised a character Of rar'
dramatic charm, and that part falls t
Otis Skinner, VINO plays II with grea
skill. Mr.. Skinner depends on the al
for more than breath. He can fondle !
TO good purpose with outstretched ant
resticulating hand. He can fashion |
also into rare sounds. Here is an acto
who is able to make an audience love
line for its own sake without regard Z
the question OF whether or no it speed
the play upon its way. We would rattle