New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-04-14

save the author from the charge Of
Mr.. Kennedy isn't afraid to discuss
the nature Of God in n play with great
freedom and at great length. Perhaps
The latter fact is one OF the handicaps
under which the Kennedy plays labor.
Still. they tell us about Heaven and He'll
and Immortality and faith and other
absorbing subjects in an age i'll which
plays almost invariably deal with tri-
fes. Theatrical people sometimes Won
der why Billy Sunday can attract more
folk to his meetings than the theatres
which endeavor to compete with him.
The explanation may lie i'll the fact
that while he is talking about such 4
big topic as eternity they are laying
or suchlike. Billy's He'll, for instance, is
twice as smoky as the biggest battle
scene ever put on the stage and his
Heaven may be said to exceed in SPLEEN
dor even the biggest of iippodrome
spectacles.
Curiously enough, The Army With
Banners" is aimed very largely at Billy
Sunday, although he is in many re-
spects Ram Kennedy'S sort of man.
They differ about He'll and the nature
of the Deity and a few other mat
ters of theology, bat their approach
to the presentation of religion is
ca, IL lor i,+
in revolt against religious formalty.
Both insist on treating God as live
issue. Both are intensely partisan.
He is more than their Deity. He is
their candidate. In other words, they
are electioneering for the Kingdom of
God. 1t does not matter much that
they praise the Lord for different
reasons or in different tongues. They
are bringing religion out into the open
and setting it again on the street cor
ncrs and the soap-boxes.
There is new life in this for the
drama, we think. The stage needs
something Of the revival spirit. Il
needs more emotion, more ecstasy In
these days great novelists like Wells
are turning to religion as a fresh and
vital subject, and it will be even more
vital for the stage. For the moment
life has become such a little thing that
the playwrghts must seek their plots
in larger visions.
Dramatic criticism to day makes do
mands which were unknown twenty
years ago. William Winter knew a
good deal about the character Of Por-
tia. but he hadn't the slightest idea of
how far six-inch howitzer could
,hoot ~ how many rounds might be
fred from Browning automatic in
sixty seconds. In the Sunday dramatic
leader of THE New York Times" last
week, fer instance, we read:
"Ten months ago .ho American peo-
pic appropriated for airplanes $780,
COO 600, sum which would build eigh-
ty-tvo dreadnoughts, sister ships Of
the California. Yet the most respon-
sible official promise is that in July,
trlEtScn months dlLel Lnc dppIOBIld-
ton, We shall have some eighty comb bat
oirplanes.'
And ye. Mr.. Metcalf complained in
:; recent ISSUE of "The Atlantic Month
ly" that there was no longer any such
thing as technical dramatic criticism.
In looking over our programmes of
the week we find that we forgot to
mention the excellent performance of
Violet Eng!efeld as Gussic Pope in
Fancy Free"
Arthur Hopkins is of the opinion that
play is team effort in which no in
dividual should stand out in his own
right. We trust, then, that he will have
some skilled camoufage artist put
green, white and black stripes upon
Nazimova in the next 1bsen production.
For our part we are tired Of hearing
that such and such a moving picture is
"the biggest" thing yet done. Some
. day movie men Will realize that after
all bigness is very little.
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