The Washington herald., 1919-04-29

New York, April 2s-The Barry
mores are indeed a talented parcel of
folk. There is. for instance, John.
with his drawing-room manners; and
Miss Ethel. than whom there are few
SO charIningiy lovely-and just now
the two Barrymore brothers. John and
Lionel, have taken the town quite by
storm In the new play. The JEST
Edward Sheldon Is the American
dramatist who took The Jest from
the italian and was too modest to
have his name figure in the advertis-
but SO fine that few realize 1t as the
plot unfolds. When the play scored q
hit, the playwright. was on q Doctors
cot FAR away from the Broadway
world.
People see in the success OF the play
a new Hamlet In John Barrymore.
with Lionel Barrymore for the King
and perhaps Miss Ethel as Ophelia-
| The Barrymore brothers have proved
themselves to be the surprise OF the
theatrical world once again.
Sem Benelli. the young Italian who
wrote the play in its original form, Is
only Is years of age. He served his
country with distinction in the war
and is still in uniform. He has grasped
great theme and breathed into it the
breath of life in a skillful. mastery
way.
The flrst-night audience to see the
Barrymores was composed of the
usual hardened death watch" The
sneering crowd that comes to gloat
over the martyrdom of a young play
wright.
From the rising of the curtain the
| audience sat as in q trance. John
Barrymore-the frail-a striking figure
in his full-length tights, the suffering
OF doomed thing in his eyes. held
them breathless and sobbing. Then
came Lionel as the beastly. the tor
turer of cats and cripples. a bully and
brute-an ugly. twisted soul set in
| q beefy, muscled frame.
In the last act the audience saw him
grow gentle with his women. and
again become roaring. dull-wltted
Samson. who would uproot the pillars
OF his dungeon. And lastly as a de-
feated Othello. rambling in mind as
the slayer of his own brother, a pa
thetic child-yet a child women would
still want to mother.
No audience has ever in the history
OF the Rialto been so affected. 1t
wandered out into Broadway after the
performance as IL In a trance. Some
in motors left them at the curb and
found themselves several blocks away
/ just walking and thinking.
There is only one time when Baxter
street is safe for the pedestrian, and
| that is on Saturday afternoon. Bax-
ter street is the street OF secondhand
clothes stores and sidewalk statesmen.
Tho statesmen have no compunction
about pulling you into the shops they
represent If you don't like-well, you
can fight 1t out. But the Mosaic Sab
bath Is potent enough to quiet the ac-
tivities on Saturday. The street is
deserted. Junk shops and tiny dry
goods stores have been squeezing their
way into the highways once given
over to the secondhand dealers, but
the business is not dead.
The snappy persons with the knobby
style Of dress are drifting in from
Atlantic City and Palm Beach, and it
is easy to tell them. They wear yell
low sunglasses while on the avenue.
When a person wears sunglasses in
the sun for a week or two and then
uisCOnllnueS tnem the nuSh or health
appears On all parts OF the face. save
the optic sections cut of from the
sun. the eyes grow pale and look as
IL they had been made up with a coat
ing of kalsomine. But people don't
mind 1t. 1t proves that they have
been lettering around ocean beaches.
and to some minds in New York that
! means something.
Several back flares of old gang
feuds have broken out on the East
Side recently. Three men have been
pistoled on crowded East Side streets.
Always the gun user escapes. The
dark Railways, fire escapes and mar
row Little passageways make capture
almost impossible unless the police
are right on the scene. Some of the
gang fights of recent vintage are due
to men returning from war taking up
new lines of work and cutting in on
some of the established statesmen The
way to stop competition. according to
the East SIDE gang verdict. is just a
plain case of murder. The way is
easy in crowded district.