Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-01

most obvious and shabby tsickery Henry
Irving submitted "The Bells" season after
season. Mankind's sensibity for the grim
and terrible is easily stimulated Green
lights atoned for II multitude of technical
sins No such easy means of theatric ef-
fectveness was available for CLIFFORD
Brooke, under whose mastery supervision
Peter Ibbetson' was staged. His problem
was similar to that of the director Of
Jeanne dare" albeit greatly intensified
In both instances benefcent visions were
life to the deyelopmentDof the themes.
1t was entirely natural therefore, Tor
puryeyors of footlight entertainment to seek
material in '"Trilby" long before "lbbet-
son" was ever considered. Both tales were
equally extravagant and impossible But
the unreality of '"Trilby" was unquestion-
ably strengthened for stage purposes by
its sinister aspects. Audiences, even the
most unimagnative, accepted the blood
chilling Svengali in much the same mood
as they had supped the ghastly horrors
of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde" Popular
taste for the terrible Is exceedingly potent
as the success of THE Thirteenth Chair
also amply proves Nurturing the tender
plant of mystical loveliness is quite an
other story.
COUPLED with the demands which
~ Peter Ibbetson" makes on the incest
ment are hStroHic requirements, indiffer-
ence TO VIII c1 would surely have been fatal
As in all Df pu Maurer's writings, this
tale has, properly speaking, no plot. The
dramatic tiol is inevitably a series of cpl
sodes whose appeal is dependent on 'at-
Tnosphcrr" and Il delicate adjustment Of
churactcl values.
In at least two instances the exigent art OF
portraiturc mas been developed to an extent
never realized In "rrilby." Wilton Lack
ayes SVenguli, Burr Mclntoshs Taffy and
Virginia Harneds and Blanche Walsh 3
'"rrilbys" were carefully conceived but all
ways theatric. TOO liberal an application
of that quality to "Ibbetson" would con-
vert the whole play into n lamentabe ex-
hibit of eXtravagant nonsense.
The two Barrymores, John and Lionel,
have avoided that morass with an artistic
authority unsurpassed on the american
stage for many seasons, more poetic
conception of Du Maurier's lovable hero, a
performance more instinct with tender man
liness. with sincerity and winning personal
magnetism than that given by the younger
of the two talented brothers is hardly i'm
aginable.
Tales of the luxuriant expansion of
Jack Barrymore's art have been widely
current for several years. Evidence of this
development was unfortunately not forth
coming in Philadelphia our playgoers re-
called his amusing ,satrical role in Barrie S
-Allce-foll-Dy -lUt-FlTt, HIS TOlllcklng but
rather rougb drollery in "Toddles," his en-
gaging comicalities in "The Fortune
Hunter" These performances proclaimed
him an agreeable young actor well equipped
with personality, but careless In tech
nique and strikingly slovenly in speech
IT was the Broadway production of Arthur
Schnitzer's "Anatol' that revealed the
first, promise of the new Jack Barrymore
But that delicious exhibit of 'love's little
ironies" never reached this city. Neither
did John Galsworthy's Justice" In which
Mr.. Barrymore startled and gratified all
critical Gotham with histrionic display OF
touching pathos and thrilling power.
Denied acquaintance. therefore, with the
progressive stages of his advancement, our
theatre-going public suddenly encounters an
actor artistically reborn Not only In his
sense of dignity electrifylng forcefulness
Annd profound seriousness of histrionic pur-
pose, altogether new here, but the old faults
OF diction are replaced by careful clarity
OF enuncation. hardly inferior to that OF
a Forbes Robertson. SO polished and win
nlngly inctsiye Is Mr.. Barrymore's, speech
IN "Peter tbbetson," that tho hope Of some
day beholding this player IN the Bhakes,
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