The Washington times., 1915-01-31

Shakespeare experts-those happy
souls who pride themselves on knowing
the bard from cover to cover and make
their friends uncomfortable by constant
ly Haunting their knowledge with apt
Quotation-are q very scarce breed IN
the District Of Columbia on this fair
Sabbath morning! For many years there
have been one or two people WHO made
me feel exceeding small by asking
questions as to my intimacy with this
or that play and piled on the agony py
peare which my ignorance and natural
timidity forbade me to contest or deny.
But now the members Of the amalgama-
ted order Of sufferers from Shakes
Barrie has supplied It, Any time IN the
future one Of these pests approach with
the 'Ive.got-you-know' look in his
eyes; Just ask him this question: .,~.
in Tanning the shrewT'
That will get h.ml
He cannot answer 1t to save his life.
except ey guessing just r. every one
else Is donf E,d The rsaso y ,,;n
before. As Barrie has very nointedly
peare's plays as we have them now.
were mostly reported by some one else:
Shakespeare with plays either author.
lied by the author or actually prepared
for publication by hrfn. But there are
others Of which this IL not true. The
result is that there are numerous di-
vergences in wording in the various
editions: And to be able to tell just
what three words Barrie changed in
making up his Ladies' Shakespeare"
it would be necessary to know what ed d.
for his work and also just how and
when that edition was printed. Hence
1t is practically impossible for the aver
age layrnan to do more than guess.
the world who could but will not tell
what three words Barrie changed. These
are the author and Maude Adams. and
the chances are that Miss Adams
knowingly from between the velvet
curtains before the first scene and " g.
gle her fingers at the audience as she
tells them they must guess And the
CLEANSING Of these three words has as
has developed an amount of ignorance
as to Shakespeare among the SO called
shakespearean scholars that 10 destruc-
tive Of ones faith in, man. EVERYBODY
is entitled TO a guess. And with Percy
hroughly reliable and likeable dramatic
editor Of the Chicago Tribune. bel eve
the words were Tanning the Shrew!"
At any rate, It wasn't the shrew that
Mr. Barrie caused to be tanned. and
those could very easily have been the
words he changed!
! Earle Brown, the all-around pleasant
chap and good actor, who was leading
for the frst ten weeks Of la st summer q
season has one Of the big parts In
THE Miracle Man" at the National this
Week.
While on the matter Of The Miracle
Man." and only separated by a short
paragraph from a discussion Of Shakes
peare, let M us boldly and nc uns.hsmed in,
Cohan. Irwin Cobb declared the other
day in the course of a gabfest in Balti-
hs se but ohsn wave Aaa the Feay dene
flag In the faces Of a patriotic and per-
spring public. he had waved 1t in such
a manner that 1t waited real paper
directly i % into Mr. Mr. ecohan:s. VI And nd p1o man
that displayed this much genius. quoth
Mr.. Cobb. was a man who deserved to
be held considerably above the mob.
more than wave the American Nag in
the face OF the public. Mr.. Cohan has
I'M jected a fresh; free. and altogether
entertaining spirit into the drama. And
some genuine. unadulterated amusement
without tinge or suggestion Of
| nauEhtiness.
| When THE Miracle Man" was first
published In the Munsey Magazine. the
story made a big impression. but no
one ever thought Of dramatizing 1t un-
I'll Cohan saw It. At first Elance 1t
i would seem almost impossible to trans
fer the atmosphere Of the book to the
stage, and It is absolutely essential to get
the atmosphere in order that the play
might have a real purpose. The Georgie
Cohan, who has given to the world 80
many iightsome forms Of entertainment
was the only dramatist who saw = way
Miracle Man." q play that really has
an atmosphere. and which really tells