South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-01-21
''PYGMALION' AS
PLAY NOT A HIT
Audience Fails to Follow Line
OF Talk But Likes Mrs.
Patrick Campbell.

George Bernard Shaw is admitted
10 be among the worlds great play
wrights and writer's.
Mrs. Patrick Campbell is noted as
being one OF the worlds great act
resses.
The work Of the two was shown
AZ the oliver theater In "PygmaliOn'
and judging from the amount Of APP
plause. the play did not appeal
strongly 10 the South Bend audi
ence. There were curtain calls at
tain calls were not for George
Bernard Shaw. They were for Mrs.
Patrick Campbell. the actress.
Shaw's plot. the teaching OF a
London flower girl the tricks of "a
lady" consumes five acts in the
telling. There are "a number of the
well known British type OF charac-
tiers introduced and I'm the first act
there is mucn talk. but quite
number Of the audience failed to ap-
preciate It. or understand what it
all meant
Plot Livens Up.
In the third act. when Henry
Higgins. as played 10y J. Austin,
burst forth with eve were inter
rupted. damn IT," the plot livened
up for few minutes Then for a
time there was a rapid flow OF wit.
mostly OF a sarcastic nature. but the
high tension did not hold and the
play was hardly interesting. al
though amusing in spots here and
there.
But the play was by Shaw and
there are number Of followers OF
Shaw. and their waiting was re-
warded by occasional chances for
smiles and even laughter. Women.
;he marriage relation and a few
other ordinary things one sometimes
holds as sacred. came in for their
usual Shawsian dig.
Sprinkled here and there were
damns." In fact. quite a few of
them were used during the play.
They tended 20 give emphasis to
certain speeches and il must be adj
mitted were quite effective.
The play deals with Eliza d 30
little. who sells flowers in London
streets She has a language that
only those I'm her class are able TO
understand. Prof. Henry Higgins,
a teacher Of phonetics. wagers he
en- make a lady Of her in six
months He accomplishes the task.
hut he is a man Of no manners,
gives little consideration to his pu-
pill other than to correct her pro-
nunciation and she ends by fleeing
10 his mothers home. but in the
final act agrees to go back and the
two Of them. with Col Pickering,
live as three bachelors"
Laughs Seem Wanting.
Measured in laughs. as all come
dies are to be measured. "Pyg-
malion" did not score here. 1t has
several incorporated in the main
body. while a few are introduced
through the medium OF stage eff
fects." the handling Of the hands
etc But 10 Shaw belongs one hon
or. In "Pygmalion,' in a part Of il
al least. he has his character speak
ing English and pronouncing each
syllable so distinctly that not
word is lost 10 the audience.
There is some clever acting i'm
"Pygmalion Mrs. Campbell does
her share of it, Then George Fred
erick. as Alfred DoOlittle. her
father. scored. while Freddy gyms
ford-ill, as the titteri1g only son.
had a part and carried It out in
f,anner that was amusing
PickerirS. H Conway Wingfeld;
p bystander. George Walton: an
other one. G.. Gatenby Bell: Mrs
Eynsford-HilL Lillian Brennard:
Miss Eynsford-TIin. Esther Evans:
Airs. Higgins. Madeline Meredith:
Mrs Pearce. Beatrice Irwin May:
fcotman. Stewart Halliday.