New-York tribune., 1918-05-16
Drama
Grant Mitchell and the
Quality of Authority
in Acting
By Haywood Broun

Anybody who is in doubt as to the
meaning of the rather overworked
authority" in reference TO actinp
might we'll observe Grant Mitchell in
A Tailor Made Man" Authority NAV
exist in conjunction with charm. but
1T IS distinct. 1t is the quality of
seeming important, and many p]avs
nave been wrecked for lack of it. We
remember an interesting play which
the Provlncetown Players gave recent
", IN which Pericles was the hero. m,
part was we'll drawn and the actor
VINO VINO prayed 1T intelligent, but he was
spotlessly pure of authority. His read
ing was generally correct, and vet il
was impossible for moment to ac-
s,ept hlm as Pericles simply because
ne tid not suggest greatness.
NOW IN "A Tailor Made Man" Mitch
ell Is called upon to play the part of
an assistant in shop who borrows "A
aress SUIT which has been sent in for
pressing By virtue of the borrowed
garments garments W gains admission to a
favor of financial king. In a snbsn.
quent act we find the young tailor's
assistant making successful love to an
helress. running the publicity of n
huge corporation and settling an i'm
pending strike. In some phases of this
activity the playwright gave the actor
declslve support but other scenes are
earned largely by the absolute con-
Hoehce ana assurance of the actor
l. 1snt enough for the playwright
" 'eli ms audience that certain per-
son Is man of remarkable power. The
character may be allowed to convince
every associate on t.,c stage of his
greatness. He may thwart schemes
ana upset conspiracies; he NAV make
mons jump through hoops. but all this
VIII avail him nothing if he cannot
makG m4a inc audience jump, too. Grant
Mltchei! does. 1t is entirely possible
.l,t .ha. otner actors could have brought
.nis par'icular play to success. 1t has
much IN it taat is fresh and original /,
and the old tricks WHICH it EMPLOYS are
used at the proper moments, and vet
we would not like to have the task Of
fndlng Mr.. Mitchell's substitute o..
SUBSTITUTES for his particular role.
"A Tallor-Made Man" is one Of the
Pig successes Of the season and it. earns
ITS popularity in spite Of occasional
lapses into claptrap. Yet the play illus
;ra.es ;.I:,: once more the almost universal
inability of American playwrichts to
devise comedy without recourse '1 now w
and again to farce. In some plays the
1arce 1nterludes may be more valuable
.han the originally premeditated form.
Dut TINS is not the case with "a Tailor
Made Man" 1t is far better comedy
than farce The author was fortunate
IN slipping into farce at the moments
when 1T would do him least harm. The
weaAest s. portions come Immediately
after the best bits. After an audience
has had enough frst-class lines and
situations it will laugh at sccond-class
ones. In other words, momentum will
cover many lapse, and "a Tailor
Made Man" has pace in plenty.
The Grand Guignol in Paris special
lzes IN horrors, but one night few
weeks ago it gained an effect far be-
yond its previous records. In fact this
particular thrill was just bit too
strong: for the comfort of the audience.
The piece was a dramatization of ssTha
Fall of the House Of Usher," and it
was we'll on toward the moment when
the corpse comes back.
"Hark, said the man who held the
stage, what is that terrifying sound p,
And at that precise moment the long
drawn wall Of the air raid siren
sounded from an engine just outside
the theatre. The actors finished "The
tall of the House of Usher" green
lights and shrouded figure and ali. but
Then the company decided to call it an
evening. They felt that finishing up a
Dill of horrors on that particular
evening would be no great service to
the preservation of morale.
One reason why we mourn the de-
cline in the number of films ahont
cowboys is that the pictures which re-
place the wild west ones usually con-
tain a scene in which the young per-
so son ny who has has, married for money says
only to meet the response from her
husband. "J'll say goodnight to YOU
later" And then the lady shudders.
An interesting fact disclosed by "The
Kiss Burglar" is that foreign ladies of
rank go to bed in ball costumes or at
tend dances in pajamas. We could not
decide which was correct when Miss
Fay Banter entered her boudoir. took
Oft an evening wrap and went to bed.
We are waiting to get an official rul-
ing on the status of dramatic critic.