New-York tribune., 1918-09-11
THE CAST
By Haywood Broun

Stuart Walker, author. has allowed
dcllrlum to muddle one act of his new
play, Jonathan Makes WISH" but
! Stuart Walker, producer has kept his
/ wits about him throughout the evening.
No production this season has been as
Theatre and few casts have been as
competent. In fact, when it comes to
building bricks Walker can do almost
anything except find the straw.
There is some pleasant writing in
Jonathan Makes Wish.' Not little
of the dialogue is graceful and at least
one of the characters is sharply and
amuslngiy drawn. Unfortunately this
character is not tho chief figure of the
play. although an important one. We
found ourself much more interested
in the wishes of Hank, the tramp, than
in those Of Jonathan, the boy about
whom the play is written.
This play of Stuart Walkers is
rather short and rather fragile, but of
pleasant texture in its beginning and
its end. The layer is quite awful. 1t
is here that the boys delirium is staged.
Dreams and fevers and such like afford
q dramatist convenient license. Such
passages are sometimes regarded as
beyond the scope Of criticism.
"Why, that is all rubbish, it doesn't
make any serse," you cxclaim, and the
dramatist replies pityingly, "Why don't
you get it? The poor little fellows
asleep"
Or he taps his forehead and explains,
"You don't understand It's the fever.
He's raving."
That is all very we'll, but it is our
contention that if people in a play
want to rave or dream they should do
so on their own time. Ii anybody can
rave an amusing rave or dream an in
teresting dream, let him have a whole
scene, whole act or an entire play,
but if his fancies are dull and lnco-
herent it makes little difference to us
whether he is sick or sleeping No
playwright has right merely to snore
scene for his patrons and pass it off
as fantasy. Form Of one kind or an
other is needed in The most fanciful
flight Even WITNESSES must have legs.
cngagingy to tell the story of boy
who plays with toy threatre in the
carriage house and bitterly rescnts the
interference of an uncle who wants to
send him away TO a school where he is
TO learn engineering.
It is in this act, also, that the tramp
appears. He is Walkers best char
acterization, and the part is delight
fully played by Edgar Stehli. His well
cone was rapturous last night, and de-
servedly so. Induced in part by the
tramp and in part by his Uncle
Nathaniel, who was played to perfec-
ton by George Gaul and a little more
by the harsh treatment of another
uncle. the boy decides to run away
In climbing down a ladder he falls
and is badly hurt. In the next act his
delirlum is acted out. He has become
a hHnchback. and not a very happy one
lie wandcrs about meeting the various
people he used to know, and none of
them recognizes him. 1t was not very
interesting at The time, and later we
found that it had nothing in particular
to 90 with the theme of the play. There
are Two scenes in the delirious act, and
in The second the boy has found his
way to high mountain and makes a
speech to all the boys of the world.
Here the play reaches it's lowest cbb.
tor about minute and half it is
Just hlghfalutin nonsense.
with the third act there is marked
recovery by boy and play The story
slips back into its pleasant, easy man
rer The sympathetic uncle comes to
thc rescue OF the boy, who wants to
write plays, and away they go together
after some admirable fooing. Gregory
Kelly plays the boy with sympathy, but
with none of the distinction which he
brought to Seventeen" Edgar Stehli
and George Gaul give splendid per-
tormances as the tramp and as Uncle
Nathaniel. This has been said before.
but 1t is worth stressng. Margaret
Mower shows great improvement in her
acting in the part Of young French
woman, and makes a lovely picture.
She does little dance in the second
act which is delightful. We forgot to
concede this pleasant interude in the
delirium. Elizabeth Patterson, for
mer member OF the Washington Square
Players, appears to advantage in an
part, and there is a good bit by
a boy actor named John Talbot. The
three sets are exceedingly attractive.
Frank j. Zimmerer did those for the
first and third acts, and the second act
set is by j. Blandng Sloan. Herbert E. |
hyde has composed some excellent in
cidcntal music
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