Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-08
TWO INCOMING. ATTRACTIONS NEXT WEEh
THE PL4YCOER'S
WEEKLY TALK
Dissertations on Plays and
Photoplays Of Interest
to Philadelphidns

TTyHE Playgoer would rather see a play
i like "Moliere' produced than
tragedy by Shakespeare revived, and
prefers. just now. this play about
Moliere to representation of comedy
by him. Not that The Playgoer hap
pens 10 prefer Philip Moeller to Shakes
peare or Noliere as constructive play.
wright or a dramatist Of the emouons
OF humanity. No. The expression OF
preference is neither iconoclasm nor IN
sanity. It is the considered view Of
what Mr.. Moeller's interesting and en-
pertaining play at the Broad means TO
the American stage OF today. He has
not only written serious play. but he
has written tragedy. Badly as the
~ard has Jared in these days OF maids
! irth-and.melody entertainment, serious
slaywriting has Jared even worse.
= Shakespeare we have as permanent
artistic possession. the prompt books al
ways at hand for an opportune revival
The froth Of farce and the nun and
frivol of musical shows OF course only
transiently, with their vogue. affect
Shakespearean drama. But they simply
overvhelm serious contemporary drama.
: Writing OF such pieces as that OF Mr.
-Moeller is almost a lost art. AZ an
earnest that playwrights can still COM
pose real drama, even though the
aspiration reaches an altitude loftier
than the achievement, and as an evil
dence that there are considerable and
sppreciative audiences for such a play.
"Moliere" just now is preferable to
revival of classic drama.
NOR years producers OF musical com.
II edy labored under the delusion that
in order for a show TO be amusing and
lively Il was necessary to inject an ele-
ment of the risQue or on-color. Ihe
taste OF the tired business man, they
figured. was so jaded and blase that II
required a touch Of vulgaritY to extract
a laugh from his oVerworked system.
The Princess Theatre management about
sye years ago decided TO prove the fall
lacy of this assumption--to show that
performance could he entirely whole
some and yet lose nothing in the way
of entertainment.
In none Of their productions have
they been quite so successful in this re-
spect as they are i'm "Oh. Look now
at the Shubert. In Very Good Eddie"
II may be remembered prudish person
might have taken exception to the farci.
cally incongruous situation of the mis-.
mated newly wed couples In "Oh,
Boy" some over careful critic might
have objected to the situation of Jackie
Saunders masquerading in the brides
pajamas. In "Oh Lady Lady" also the
scene of the discarded paramour"
might have displeased some persons.
Wholesomeness characterlzes the per.
formance And the show loses not one
bit Of pep or zest, not one sparkle. by
reason Of its 100 per cent purity.
There Is not a line or situation that
the most scrupulous daughter Of the
up-to-date school would wish to conceal
from her old-fashioned mother.
LENGTH of a run is frequently the
IL barometer that registers the sue.
cess of a play. Theatregoers are accus-
1 toned TO seeing displayed in electric
lights. on billboards. in newspaper ad-
vertisements and. in fact. in every con-
ceivable and inconceivable form that
this or that play has reached its 200th
performance in New York. or comes TO
this or that city after having play-I 2j0
times on Broadway.
without exception are changed weekly.
and the exceptions are when some act,
having scored heavier than usual, is held
over for a second week.
The case Of Belle Baker, singer Of
character and dialect songs. who comes
10 Keiths Monday for two weeks, there
fore is unusual. Miss Baker has to her
credit a record OF 252 consecutive per-
formances in New York. This means
that she played eighteen consecutive
weeks. OF course. this was not done in
a single theatre, but nevertheless it is
an achievement worthy OF mention. Miss
Baker played two to four weeks at each
!, one OF Gothams vaudeville theatres and
moved from one to the other without a
break.
And now fortnight for Philly.
HDE YOUR own dramatist," says
ID Mary Ryan. mo, / am not jok-
ing mean IT, When 7 am not playing
] live In the theatre. II is my greatest
enjoyment and the pleasure ! get out
OF the plays is not so much what the
author has written or what l see and
hear on the stage as what l weave in
my own Imagination OF what the lives
Of the characters were before the play
started and what their lives are going
10 be after the play on the stage is
ended.
.'For instance. when / first read the
manuscript OF The Little Teacher the
thing that impressed me most was the
life of Emily West before we see her at
Goshen Hollow in the play. Whenever
see an act in a play that is human
could go on dramatizing it forever.
'Try IL for yourself some time. You
will find II great enjoyment and fine
mental training. II makes going to the
theatre something more than just going
10 n show"
Miss Ryan, who is going to keep
school next week at the GarrlclS. is right
Imaginative participation in the proceed
ings on the stage adds immeasursbly to
the enjoyment and edficatlon OF the su.
dience.
GT WONDER" remarked Lew Fields
i in his dressing room at the Adel-
phi the other evening, 'if the many
friends I have made in Philadelphia
SINCE Friendly Enemies opened here
would pardon me II considered myself
q pioneer In a unique class of theatrical
entertainment"
The Playgoer, who has laughed at
many of the sprightly burlesques that
Mr. Fields and AR. Weber used 10 pro.
duce in the old days, followed by road
tours. had recalled the never.to-be-for-
rotten Weber and Fields Music Hall.
and naturally the talk drifted back 10
the days when the old music hall on
Broadway was the most famous institu.
ton of its kind in the world.
sit is a great satisfaction" continued
Mr.. Fields. ito recall the stars. many OF
-. all