Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-02-19


Sam shew sing S.. "', 'u'.'" Nief NNiSfSTg5nS ionS
Waiter ''''''''''''''' Hsnnstt southard
Elrst GIri ;.,,.............. Edna Davies
Second Girl ,.,....,...,, Virginia fluppert
First 9Sn'q room IN the tR,ePr9Se So%c
OF Thomas Potter. New York city,
ers. San FrsTSiscoi six months later ere'K
Third Eplsode--Sam Shew Sings opium
'0F6 Fourth ye PSpss os% "s
near Honolulu; one year later.
Firth Eplsode--'rhe Potter breakfast room
in New YORK city; seven months later
None can gainsay the popular appeal
and financial success of play which
enjoys years run on Broadway and al
most half a year In Chicago. In the
face of these incontrovertible facts. It
seems shockingly old-fsshioned 70 prate
Of artistic qualities and their lack. to
urge that even melodrama spiced for the
most jaded appetite may still be tricked
ont in the garb of plausibllity, or to
comes too maudlin IL is more apt to pro-
woke unintended laughter than tears
Before the great, golden. glittering tide
OF public approval. such considerations
are squelched beneath the dust Of desue-
'tudc. and il is on the crest of the boy
office tide that THE Man Who Came
Back" reaches us in its race for mara
thon laurels.
II Is easy to understand why "The
Man Who Came Back" has come back
with such unusual footlight vitality II
"a 1n1r ,ia in, a1a ,,,l
not to say elementary qualities. which
make unfaillngly for wide popularity.
1t displays the love of father for son,
II deals with the regeneration of man
and of woman, too--whose souls
come unsoiled and unspoiled through the
degradation Of n Shanghai opium den
and 1t Is fairly pyrotechnic with the
mutual love OF a man and a woman that
, is so strong IL needs must reyel in the
mre to prove it's strength. with this
Gibraltar basis of familiar fundamentals
the play combines an element of novelty
The novelty lies in the relation which
the dialogue and character drawing bcaI
to the conduct and speech of flesh.
| and-blood people.
IL Is generous journey. both in time
and mileage. that Ia provided in this
progress of the play. The five episodes
OF which II consists take place success
sireiy in New York. Say Francisco
Shanghai. Honolulu aud New York
Totaiing the months and distances list
ed with meticuous care in the program
one learns that the evenings eXcursio,
occupies l9.46O miles and the space o
thirty months And that Is something
In this day of restricted travel, Will,
| the variety OF tile scenes would gratif,
the most Unsuitable Cooks tourist
From the millionaire home OH Fiftl
avenue, where the wayward son Il
spurned by his gruff father to Sar
Francisco, where he finds his great pas
sion in cabaret dancer, thence {,
the eerie opium den in Shanghai
where he and the dancer plumb tn.
depths of existence. and then back (,
| their idyl OF regeneration In Hawaii
and finally to the ail-around reconcilia
tion in the dear old ancestral home OF
\ Manhattan Island-through all thes,
scenes the play holds the dramatic mir
ror up to human conduct with a degre,
OF fidelity and interpretative insIgh
worthy of the united efforts OF Eleano
III. Porter the early Verdi librettist
and the Smith brothers
The cast for the most part played th,
| various roles In spirit thorough,
suited TO the character of the piece
Nociferation is strong and nourishn,
milk for marasmic lines, as the player
were astutely aware.
! In the San Francisco episode Mar,
Nash achieved genuine If fleeting charm
and presented gracious picture to tn
eye, while, as in the opium den scene. sh
was shuddersomely realistic in her por
trayal of utter moral abandon Th
contrast was startlingly effective
No reasonable person asks that
play with a punch" reveal any regar.
for the art OF the etcher There i
{. plenty of "punch' in "The Man VIII,
| Came Back" L. r. NJ.