The Washington herald., 1916-01-02

a collection of individuals who meet
every few weeks in some ones front
parior and simultaneously have
plate of ice cream and cake and an
ambition TO improve the drama The
majority OF these congresses refer to
themselves by the name of stage So
cieties.| Things have come to the
point. indeed, where one of these stage
societies is as much part of the life
Of an American village as a framed
sepia hthograph of the Coliseum.
phonograph record of Tostrs Good
bye" and the belief that Mary Pick
ford makes 100000 a year.
Not to fall behind such. metropoli as
ogruntz Falls and AppeIgate Corners,
New York has also come to the front
with stage society. And this par
deular stage society has, in turn. now
come TO the front with a production
upon the electric-iighted promontory
OF the Gatety Theater OF a play by
Mr.. Daniel Garretson called The. Soul
Machine In just what manner New
York Stage Society Lodge MMDcxI
believes to uplift or otherwise Inn
prove the native platform with such
a play as The Soul Machine" Is some
what uneasy Of appreciation. That is,
OF course. granting this to be the pur-
pose of the organization In point. 1t
may DC Llhl view IOIh oldHc oO-
ciety has no such notion in its con-
stitution. 1t may. in faith, be merely
a Joy club or a dance-yerein, a gath
ering OF congenisI souls out for high
old time who ehanced accidentally to
call themselves a stage society for
want of a catcher name. But, isot
being privy to other purposes. 1t re-
mains only to take the organization
literally and. so taking II. to approach
its public manifestations with a pro-
fessional theatrical eye.
The Soul Machine" though credit
ed upon the play bill to the male
named above, is-at least according to
Broadway bookmakers who have laid
odds of one hundred to one on the
dark horse-a product of the pen of
Augustus Thomas. Whether or not
Mr. Thomas Is actually the chef of
the composition, one cannot with fur
ther defnitsness say. Yet so many
are the typical Thomaseries of the
play. so seemingly obvious the give
aways, that the prevalent belief as
TO the fathering of the piece may be
Endorsed with some conviction. Basic
ally, the play echoes the scientific de-
tective fctions begun some hfteen
years ago in the Strand Magazine by a
couple OF cleverly minded Englishmen
and since pursued, five or six years back
by Balmer and McHarg in Hampton's
and, currently, in divers journals by Ar
thur B. Reeve. The natures OF these fic-
tons, the most recent of which reflect
the classroom addresses Of such profess
sorS OF the occult as Herr Munsterberg,
of Harvard. Is familiar to nv flock
Some one, 50 goes the recipe, is suspected
Of something. The regular mfniors of
the law are baffled. Comes then into the
case one Rupert the Wise. a fellow Of
science. Rupert attaches to the nose of
the suspect a malodorometer, which Is to
mixture Of cRrbolic acid Port Salut
cheese. perforated Bermuda onions and
Jockey Club perfume, The suspect, in
huenced psychOlogically by the compound
and unable to resist the metaphysical
power Of its fumes. thereupon betrays his
guilt by twitchlng his left ek,
Garnishing scientific triumph of this
species with deal of muddy Iecturing on
allied subjects, the author Of the Stage
Society's exhibit has given birth to
melodrsma that reveals little else than
hand skilled in the externals of play
making. The affair Is filed with much
opaque bosh and its rostrum anirnadver-
sions upon various phases Of hypnotism
and such like amUsements are to say the
least, suspiciously spoofish. For example,
the play divulges an instance of long
distance hypnotism that tickIes the ribs
even more wholesomely than the you-
an't-pull-that-trigger whimsy OF The
Witching Hour Certainly, this was not
meant seriously by the author. Indeed,
there are several points in the play that
Increase the conviction that the compost
ton was intended as an experiment upon
the public, an effort to determine for once
and all just how much hocus-pocus IL
would stand
There is one scene in the piece that
contains good melodrama material Of the
patent kind, this the scene wherein the
Soul Machine or so-called psycho-
meter, Is demonstrated. The flicker of
the instruments light in a darkened
room as gradually it betrays the villains
unwilling reaction to certain guilt-fasten-
ing words messages the average spine
with the proper degree Of impressiyeness.
But the balance of the script is merely
windy. Among the feats performed by
the cast, In addition to the long-distance
hypnotsm coup already alluded to, is the
dreaming by a mans sister Of the fell
lows death at the very moment he has
breathed his last. to say nothing of a
side dish to the dream In which the
psychic baggage enjoys a vision of the
murderer whom CFeat No D she later
recognizes on the streets Of New York.
The brother CFeat No. %, having been
done TO death in Milwaukee. Besides
these juicy specimens OF the imagination,
there is succulent ado over arras, male
and female.
One cannot, to repeat, mistake the
Thomas touch or influence. There fs in
the piece all the empty profundity, the
obscure dialectic, the poutsr-pigeon
learning, to which we have grown &C
eustomed in the later works Of this mis-
guided dramatist-a dramatist of so keen
skill in bodybuilding that it is some
thing Of pity he has not contented
himself with aiming merely to compose
agreeable theatrical pastimes in lieu of
these dramas in whose theses he is in
sufficiently learned and practiced The
cast which presented The Soul Ma
chine included Vincent serrano, Eu-
gene O'Brien, Bennett southard, Helen
robertson, Edith Luckett and Jane Har-
ourg- The physical II not the psychical,
phases OF the production were managed
with a sufficient measure OF adroitness
IL these Stage Societies desire 10 accom-
plish anything for the native theatsr,
however, let them have done with the
promulgation Of such stuffs as "The
soul Machine" and dig down into the
trunks or such neglected and talented
writer's for the theater as Tom Barry,
Zoe Atkins and the pke Maaftnz a,