New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-19
Glancing Behind Screen
at Girl Who Became
a Japanese.
TRACING A JOKE
TO IT'S SOURCE
Latest Example of German
Frightfulness Defended by
Friend of Emanuel Reicher.
By HAYWOOD BROUN.

WAS this the face that launch
thousand ships and burnt the topless
towers Of Ilium," seid DR.. Faustus right
of like that when he met Helen OF
Troy. That was the way We felt, only
more so. as We shook hands with Mary
Pickford. For her lliums are built and
razed in every reel. Not all the kings
horses. though they were wooden ones,
nor all the kings men could garrison
for a single evening the theatres where
Miss Piekford smiles and loves and
dies.
An angry din Of iron against iron
preceded the release Of Helen, but an
immeasurebly greater iangle Of silver,
copper and lead has followed every re-
lease OF Mary. Troy and Paris knew
Helen, but our Mary is famed in Utica,
Syracuse, Rome and Eimira as well.
And yet Mary Pickford is not pretty
until she smiles. No, not even then,
for with that smile she becomes beauti-
ful. Undoubtedly Miss Pickford gets
az least 500, 900 OF her weekly salary on
account OF her smile, while the rest OF
Il may be attributed 20 her eyes and
wonderfully expressive pair OF hands.
She is great artist, however, because
Of a quality which does not register
on the screen.
"Did you cry when you watched
Madame Butterfly" we asked MISE
Pickford.
Eyes, cried she said. 81 cried be-
cause I saw things that | could do bet
ter II could do them over again.
Writers Of farce and vaudeville
sketches dig deep for their material.
Late in the second volume OF BoswelPs
johnson the Scotchman tells how he
accompanied the great photographer TO
an entertainment where young lady
played an intricate piece upon the
piano. Boswell remarked that the feat
was difficult, whereupon Dr.. Johnson
replied. Would that IL were impossl-
BILE" And that Joke, or some variation
Of il, Is still running.
Strangely enough. there are few
who deprecite the acting OF Leo d.
trichstein in THE Great Lover" because
they say the part has been made to his
measure. We can see no substance IN
such a criticism. The best results are
obtained by writing with a particular
person In view. Shakespeare, Moliere
and CLYDE Fitch did il. Hamlet was
created as fat as Burbage. and Mollere,
falling 20 cure q cough, dramatized II.
Ditrichstein feels a disinclination to
play parts calling for great depth Of
emotional feeling, and so he has de
vised for himself character whose
heart is worn on the sleeve. IL IS
easier and more artistic 10 lose a char
acter In the actor than for the actor TO
lose himself IN character
Every night. now, we pray for the
commercial managers. We would have
a buffer Of business men between the
stage and such productions as depths
OF Purity" and when the Young VINE
Blooms" Percival Wilde, who has
written some one-act plays which Mr..
Reicher is to produce, explains In an
interview that Bjornson is the Nor
wegian Shakespeare" and that therefore
the American public should flock TO see
when the Young Vine Blooms"
Under the circumstances" ne says,
shall we say that the thing Tor the
American people TO do is 70 soon al
chance to see one Of this great drama
lists productions? Even II 1t has no
appeal 20 our emotions, 1t ought TO m
terest our mental equipment at least
TO the extent Of giving us view OF
directions III WHICH the VI anna nos w
veloped in environments other than our
own"
Mr.. Wilde's words seem based on the
belief that III it's by great author
It's a great play" Any time Titus
Andronicus" or "Troilus and Cressida"
is played Mr.. Wilde can have our seats
even il the plays in question were
written by the author Of Hamlet" and
Macbeth"
On the second count any play which
has mo appeal 10 our emotions" has no
right on the stage. Such story, II 1t
belongs anywhere at all, should be set
down in q novel.
Mr.. Reichers whole venture seems
to be somewhat ill-judged. The the
atre Of Germany is remarkable thea
ire. but il is not a universal theatre.
and an attempt TO found an American
peoples theatre with a repertory which
is almost wholly scandinavian or Ger
manic is shortsighted.