New-York tribune., 1919-04-01
Drama
First Night Audience Enjoys
''39 East" at Broadhurst
Theatre
By Haywood Broun

hurst Thertre yesterday enjoyed "39
East" enormously. Judged by every in
dication, the play seems certain to be
I. marked success.
Having said so much out Of defer
ence to our reportorial function in the
theatre, we feel it only fair to lambaste
the show a little on our own account,
because we found it to our liking in
few respects. In part our distaste for
it lies in q prejudice 1t is a vehement
ly sentimental play and the heroine
is held up as an adorable person be-
cause she is naive, coy and refined.
We think these are terrible qualities
even in a young girl. Moreover, the
playwright takes no pains to conceal
the fact that the heroine knows she is
naive, coy and refined.
We are not so prejudiced against
sentimental plays as to be unable to
enjoy any specimen of the school
cept sentimental play if it represents
the actual beliefs of the author. The
sincerity of such play is apt to sweep
away our inhibitious. We are by no
means certain that the sentimental in
terpretation Of life is fundamentally
false. 1t may be that at Judgment Day
all the harps will be given to sentimen-
talists. But the fault which we find
in "39 East" is that we are far from
being convinced that it in any way
represents the actual beliefs of it's
author Miss Rachel Crothers. The big
moment of the play comes when the
hero finds that the heroine has slipped
away from his care to take part in
theatrical performance and he is moved
to exclai mthat he must find her be-
fore 1t is too late because "a good girl
is the most helpless thing in the
world"
Miss Crothers herself is a success
full playwright and an efficient execu-
tive in the affairs of the Stage Wom-
ans War Relief and we will bet the
profits of "39 East" for the next ten
seasons against 10 cents that she does
not believe for an instant that the
most admirable and adorable quality
IN womanhood is helplessness. We
venture the assertion that when Miss
Crothers finds a helpless actress in
one OF her plays she lets her out and
| gets better one, and we feel still
more certain that the committees of
the Stage Woman's War Relief are not
picked with the idea of bringing out
any such quality.
However, even if Miss Crothers
should by some miraculous quirk of
mind admire helplessness, we would
seems to us that there is nothing in
teresting in the defenseless female, if
there are any. 1t also seems to US a
moderately monstrous theory of life to
hold that the best women are those
who are best protected. Beyand all
that we are irritated by the seeming
bellet Of ninety nine playwrights out
OF hundred the only tragedy which
car can occur to woman is loss of
virtue. They even seem TO hold that
1T IS little short of tragic shat anv
woman should be so much as exposed
to temptation. AgalM and again we see
plays in which heroines who have set
their hearts on some career or other
bllthey give it up in the last act
because of the dangers which surround
1T and marry some good man. THIS
is called q happy ending.
AS for the pitfalls of the stage which
are dwelt upon so much in plays, one
lncongruous factor impairs our eniov
ment. We can't quite comprehend how
an audience grows Sc enthusiastic over
the fresh charm and wholesomeness of
some actress who is playing the part of
a women who is saved from perdition
only by being snatched away from the
theatre.
There are some skilful comedy scenes
IN "Ihlrty-nine East" but they are
neither novel or searching Most of
the play occurs in boarding house in
which whole set of types has been
gathered. We think it more than pos
slble that the true tragedy, and the
true comedy, for that matter, of board
ing houses lies in the sameness of all
their folk. Some day play Will be
written for landladies in which we will
be asked to sympathize with the woman
VINO cannot collect her rent rather than
the one who cannot pay it. The point
of view of the heroine was puzzling.
She had no apparent compunction about
paying her rent, but she felt disgraced
when she was asked for it.
But the incident in the play which
puzzled and worried US most was a
scene in which everybody took it for
granted that the hcroine's innocence
was in dire danger because the
atrcal manager had paid her a weeks
salary in advance. When we drew
our June pay from The Tribune q few
weeks ago we had no idea that we were
Jeopardlzing our moral character We
suppose nothing can be done about it
now
,"Thirty-n nine East" tells the story
of a young man who falls in love
with friendless young girl in a
boarding house. He is rich and She
isn't. She wants to be great singer.
but Is forced to find her start in the
chorus. The course of true love does
not run smoothly for the gossip of
the boarders all but wrecks the love
affair. In the end the hero convinccs
the girl of his sincere and honorable
lntentlons and when the final curtain
tel there was very reason to believe
that they would be married shortly.
The rather slight plot serves as a
frame upon which to hang some of the
humors of boarding house life as it is
Familiarity seen on the stage. The
best of these scenes is in the first act.
which pictures breakfast at the board
ing house. There is at least one rood
character sketch, that Of an elderly
and flirtatious gentlewoman from the
South. This is admirably PLAYED bv
Lucia Moore. Many of the lines arc
amusing, although tho comedy scheme
IS the comparatively simple one Of
allowing the characters to exchange
rude remarks. Henry Hull as the hero
gives an exceedingly interesting and
charming performance in a part which
is not distinctively characterized bv
the playwright. Alison Skipworth as
the landlady also plays with great