Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-12-20

\ CyHAKESPEARE has been the source
! ~ OF Inspiration in the past for Barrie.
A few seasons ago Maude Adams ap-
peared in topsy turvy version of The
Tanning of the Shrew.' In it Petru
chic did none of the tanning, but was
forced to bend the knee to the shrewish
Katherine. Barrie called the play "The
Ladies Shakespeare, meaning, Of
course, Shakespeare as the feminists
would have it. Dear Brutus," Bar
ffe's newest comedy, in which we are to
zee William Gillette next week, was very
obviously suggested by "a Midsummer
Nights Dream" Its action takes place
on Midsummer Eve, and one of its
Important characters is named Lob,
who is the host of the other figures in
is ons of the aliases Of that tricksy
spirit, Puck, or Robin Goodfellow.
Barrie gives credit to the line in 'Julius
Caesar" for the title of the play, "The
fault, Dear Brutus, Is not in our stars,
but in ourselves, that we are under
1ings." However, it is a surety, he
smiled whimsically, when he did so, for
sDear Brutus" is capable of being
translated to read Dear Audience"
EVERYTHING moves in cycles.
~ William Gillette, who is TO play in
Barrie's Dear Brutus," will also be
recalled as the original butler In male
and Female" now being exhibited To-
eally and pronounced one of the great
est screen successes of the day. Cecil
DE Mile fashioned the silent drama
from Barrie's comedy, ''The Admirable
Crichton."
LtRANCES STARR was good enough
a the other day to discuss Sally. the
: cook k-lady, which is the character she
1mpersonates in the widely discussed
Knoblock ''sex play
Sally Is very interesting GIRL"
said Miss Starr. ~ have never played
( a. character of her type before. The
girl in The Easiest Way was the near
est thing to it, but she was of another
type. II is not strange that the member
OF Parliament should have fallen in love
with Sally, even if she was a cook.
But remember that he did not know she
was cook until later, and then he
quarreled with her. The appealing
thing about Sally was her brightness
well educated, but she was intelligent
and talked well.
In saying that two people are united
only by the force of physical attraction,
4 think the critics have missed the point
Of the last act. After two years spent
together they quarrel. and he goes to
the war. Then he sums up the whole
story by the little poem that clearly
shows there was a spiritual bond be-
tween them, and it was not solely a
matter OF physical attraction.
When o play deals with sex hon
estiy and frankly, and there is no giId-
ing vice, it is play worth while. The
thing to consider is that if the audience
leaves the theatre believing that vice
pays, then you have done wrong; but If
the audience is sent away with the con-
viction that vice does not pay you have
done honestly and wisely.
III playwrights were not to write
about men and women there would be
no drama. We all know that there are
fratlties in human nature, and the most
Interesting characters on the stage are
not those that are perfect. The public
Mt large, in my opinion, takes a very
common sense view of these things.
We in the dramatic profession at
times underrate the intelligence of
audiences, but I have observed that
( they have great deal of intelligence"
And SO has Miss Starr, il the Playgoer
may presume to speak as one molecule
of an audience.
SeTERHAPs It may seem gratuitous
y for me to praise the dramatiza-
fion that Mr.. Toler has made of The
Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come "
H-dd J. j. Owens, who has the role of
Joel Turner, when he arrived in
cast 2 the other day, "but / am familiar
ssI,s Kentucky and / know that the
piia osphere' has been admirably caught
tantame playwright. He has been adept
tax ratecting the proper material from
4. - ohm Fox novel for this play, but
- uii'o that Is to be expected, for Mr..
conner is an actor of experience and he
ueqs also q playwright who has shown
} himself on several occasions to be most
{ Rficient.
am not easily convinced as to the
verify of play for am keen about
Sidelity to type and to locale. When
was in Under Southern Skies had
occasion to study southern types and /
discovered characteristics that escape
the casual observer. Fox understood
perfectly the men and women of the
south and although he placed his story
OF the Valley of Kingdom Come In the
time OF the War of the Rebellion, the
Eoutherners of that day did not greatly
diner from those contemporary with
the author. OF course there was the
Btrvnger feelng engendered by the con-
fRpversy over state rights and on the
subject of slavery. But the type per-
Sisted and continues to persist no less In
South Carolina than in Kentucky. Fox
nnderstood those people = the hardy
mcuntaineers. He showed that in his
Hrhe Trail Of the Lonesome Pine and,
Just as convincingly in The Little
Shepherd Of Kingdom Come They are
people of strong convictions and Of
pturdy manhood. Honesty is a shib-
bcleth with them and yet they have
Opinions that to Northerners seem al
most like fanatic adherence to fancied
rights.
ssThere is one thing that is especially
eommendable, believe, in bringing to
the Htage such plays as this and that is
tie wholesomeness of the effort. 1t is a
satisfaction TO the earnest actor to be In
play of this type. We have had a sur
4alt of the sex drama and now, with
tho moral fiber Of the world strength
ened by the scarifying of the war, it
81 a good influence TO have the stage
afre attention to drama that is with
oet olfense."
"A UDIENCES do not realize that
"A there IS another performance going
0n behind the scenes, and that it ig not
olplike the one they are witnessing.
IrAe, the players do not go through ali
al tho business, nor do they talk with
ana another. Rather, the many PARTS
hrf played secretly and silently by
ff'f'k every, member OF the company,
" |. a. AZ ~ n, r. .ff ,,ti,. {.