New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-21
THE CAST.
BY HAYWOOD BROUN.

Retribution fell upon war last night
when "Moloch" was produced at the
New Amsterdam Theatre. Every play
of battle from Secret Service" 10
Under Fire" has used war as a romp-
ing ground for heroes and heroines
who say fine words and do brave deeds.
but Beulah Dix paints q war which is
cruel, useless and In all things de-
testable. Hers is a war which kills
character as well as body. Not one
thing can come from conflict but tina.
which is evil, is the lesson of "Mo-
loch.'
"Moloch" is strangely impersonal
play. The author has chosen to desig-
nate her characters as "a Man--Rob
ert," His Wife Katherine" and so
on, and the contending armies are "the
foreigners" and "our men" Although
there is much true talk in the play,
end although Holbrook Blinn's com
pany in the main is very fine, the i'm
personality of the drama hurts it i'm
measurably. The most theatrical cap
tain Of dragons set down for US as a
parsonage bound within a Christian
snd surname and definitely assigned
to the army of France, or England, or
Germany would clutch more at the In
terest Of an audience than much
more finely drawn character who is
merely a man of some nameless nation.
"Moloch" does not tell US for what
the contendng armies are struggling.
We only hear that "Moloch is hungry
This nameess war is all wars and "a
Man" His Wife, and the rest are the
people of all nations. The play is peace
propaganda from a feminine viewpoint,
which is so irritating that it blinded us
TO many merits in drama which con-
tains much which is altogether fine.
The war Of Beulah Dix is the war
which Jane Adams conceived when
she declared that the soldiers OF the
Great War went TO battle rum-riddeD.
Moloch is the devil himself. In the
nav of the monster go life and honor
as well. "A Man-Robert," the kindly
father of the prologue, is a beast on
the firing line who tortures a captured
foe 1t was in this scene that the
woman's hand was thrust out Of the
play and into our face. Robert, having
tortured his prisoner, comes TO the
climax of the act by shooting one of
his men who will not fight We longed
then for the spectacles of the author.
Somehow or other these two things
were linked in her mind. To shoot
whimpering mutineer must have
seemed to her all of a piece with the
torturing of a prisoner. In our view
one thing was decidedly mot cricket
while the other was something which
any one of hundred men of our &C
duaintance would do and not dream OF
either.
1t is hard 70 oppose the propaganda
Of a sentimentalist. He or she, more
often she, is equipped with seven
league boots. While an opponent is
clambering over a fact the sentimental
ist has leaped it and a dozen others.
Truth is a coral island built of mems
bones, but sentimentalist can come
bubbling to the surface from any depth
of his own momentum. When he gains
the surface he shouts that war is
wrong, or some such thing, and dives
again.
We wonder whether Beulah Dix
thinks that Buchanan was greater
man than Lincoln, and we wonder
whether she believes II was wrong for
Belgium to choose blood rather than
TO say pass through" We wonder how
ANYBODY can watch the Great War ana
see fat vices fry away in the fire and
still think that no good can come from
conflict. When "Moloch" draws its in
dictment against war it draws an in
dictment too, we think. against cour-
age. against sacrifice and against patri-
otism. Freedom from Moloch lies
through Moloch and beyond.
Holbrook Blinn, fine actor that he is,
has part slight in length. but TO such
an actor length or opportunity Is moth
ing. Blinn makes his own opportunl-
ties. Lillian Albertson had the chief
female role, and did it well, save for
the fact that she bad difficulty in max
ing herself heard Mrs. Thomas Whit
fen was an admirable old woman, and
Creighton Hale dashing young
soldier. Rosina Henley and Gareth
Hughes made bits stand out. The bat
tie scene contains some wonderful me-
chanical effects.
II you feel about war as Beulah
Dix does you will probably like her
play. We hate her viewpoint, but we
/ have much admiration for her work