New-York tribune., 1918-07-23
THE CAST
By Haywood Broun

By Haywood Broun
IT there were no such quality as sin
cerlty Friendly Enemies" would be an
excellent play. 1t is an interesting play
and thrilling one, but it is not pro-
foundly amusing. After all, a joke
doesn't mean much unless the teller
believes 1t. All of us cry now and again
with strangers and second cousins, but
we laugh only with those we know we'll.
There is practically no such thing as
synthetic humor True humor must be
ardent and passionate. When a man
sits down and says: Nov I'm going to
be funny" he doesn't get there. AS
matter Of fact, there was any amount
of laughter at the Hudson Theatre last
night, but it did not come from CON
viction None of it got much below
the chest.
Although humor cannot be attained
by cool skill, other theatrical effects
are we'll within the reach of any dis
interested man who knows his bust
ness. Mr.. Shipman and Mr.. Hoffman
have turned out play which is we'll
planned. The story is not profound,
but 1T gains momentum and arouses
interest," The authors are also able,
now and again, to touch the emotions
Of the audience. 1t is done rather cold
bloodedly, but the playwrights have
the tremendous advantage just now Of
dealing with audiences who are in emo
tional moods. How, for instance, can
any playwright of reasonable skill and
taste fail to move any gathering of
,1o - i H. l.
in which a mother says goodby to
her boy who is about to sail for
France? This scene is handled with
taste and skill in "Friendly Enemies"
And so are others of the same sort.
They deserve their success. After all,
such scenes might bite bit too deep
for comfort if anybody did SAVIOR them
with his soul
Least Of all is sincerity needed for
tales of plots and plotters. Practically
all the adventure stories Of the world
were written by men who never took
tongue out of cheek. 1t would be an
believe in the German spies of popu-
lar drama in order to create them. The
one last night, for instance, called up
on the telephone to tell man that he
had just succeeded in blowing up an
American transport.
We like the spies Of the drama very
well because they are so reassuring.
Even low comedians can catch them.
But for all that we never fail to take
keen interest in the chases up to the
very moment when the villain says, 81
did it for the fatherland," and marches
out with the two fat Secret Service
supers.
The theme Of "Friendly Enemies" de-
serves rather more research than it re-
ceived last night. The play deals with
the psychology of the German-Ameri-
can. 1t has not much time for sub
tletes. One German is loyal to Amer
ica and the other gives his love to
the land in which he was born. The
son of the disloyal hyphenate enlists
in the American army. After a violent
scene with his father he sails for
France, but his transport is blown up
two miles out of New York. Eplosives
had been placed on board by a spy.
This spy had been financed by the boys
father, who thought that his money
was to be used strictly in propaganda
work. The incident serves to ALLEVIATE
him from the Kaiser's cause and he
joins with the loyal German-American
in catching the spy. The soldier son
gets back just in time to make the
arrest.
The logic of the plot is not with
out its weak spots, but the story moves
along smoothly and undoubtedly holds
the interest. The scene between the
boy and his father, just before the
sailing of the transport, is written
with good spirit. 1t has true dra-
matte vigor. This is the only scene
which makes any true study of the
psychology of the disloyal father. He
and his friend discuss their divergent
vii hut 70 oHn Thn
problems of the German Americans are
treated in the dialect and the meth
DDS Of Weber and Fields. In fact the
dialogue between the two men is lit
tie more than series of setups which
all end in snappy retorts. And when
it comes to snappy retorts the loyal
GermanAmerican is allowed to bat
about .999. The authors have made it
up to Louis Mann by giving him al
most all the emotional scenes.
First night nervousness undoubtedly
marred the acting last night. Mathilde
Cottrely gave beautiful performance,
but the others were not so successful
Louis Mann overacted all his comedy
scenes atrociously. This was not en-
tirely his fault. 1t is difficult to do
we'll with built-up comic scene. We
hated to see anybody work so hard as
Mr.. Mann did on such a night. Later
we nope 10 Nnd MIN more SparlnS OF
the falsetto which he used so fire.
quently for comic effect. One or twice
he was impressive in his serious scenes,
but he fell often into bad mannerisms,
such as rolling his eyes.
Sam Bernard was more amusing. His
work was broad and he depended on
many of his musical comedy tricks,
such as complete revolutions and the
like, but he perspired bit less than
his partner. Miss Cottrelly, as we
said, was superb, and Felix Krembs
gave an easy, attractive performance.
Richard Barbee had his moments, but
he, too. had spells when he seemed
to be thinking about the anti-loafing
law. The play was enthusiastically
received.
Fete for French Orphans
To Be Given at Wood Manse