New-York tribune., 1919-01-18
Drama
Amusing Performance of ''The
Climax" Given at. the
Comedy Theatre
By Haywood Broun

a' the Comedy Theatre last night with
substantial success. 1t has kept it's
shape 1t Is true that thee are one or
'~o moments OF posturing in which
characters look at large pictures on
'he wall and talk respectfully Of per-
SON. sons dead and gone. and there are
lew banal speeches beginning Love
is - But such things are not
unknown ON the American stage in
the year 1919
The play possesses unimpaired an
interesting and appealing story. 1t
was one of the first small cast dramas,
Tor the play is worked out with no
more than four characters and in a
single, simple set. The manifest tech
meal difficulties presented by any such
Scheme are worked out shrewdly and
with sufficient skill to seem no prob
lens at all Anybody would be hard
put to 1t to name half dozen Ameri-
can plays of the vintage of "Thc
Climax" which have worn equally
we'll
And yet the play is distinctly dated
by one development of the last dozen
years which is not a matter of stage
craft or stage fashions. The plot of
he Climax presents a yardstick by
which the progres of the feminist
movement may be measured. We think
that 1T contains enough internal evil
dcnce to convince the most casual
theatre goer that it was written in the
DAYS before New York had made the
DECISION that women were people.
The play, it may be remembered. is
the story of girls voice. The heroine
has shown such great talent that her
operate success seems certain She
lives in the home of her old music
teacher, who is distant relative. His
son, young composer, who loves her
devotedly, Is also a member of the
household
The fourth person concerned in the
story is a young physician who comes
from the girls home town in central
Ohio. He is a selfish prig, who dis
approves Of the girls ambitions for a
career on the operate stage. He tries
in vain to dissuade her from her aim
in life by Offering marriage and Il home
in the small town in central Ohio. His
opportunity comes when an operation
is performed on the girls throat. The
surgeon has said that there is only
one chance in a thousand that the
operation will impair her voice, but
the young doctor, who is left to com
plete the case. manages to break down
her confidence by mental suggestion
and when she finally tries to sing she
is complete. She even attempts sui
eide, but at length thinks a little bet
ter of it and decides to marry the
doctor.
On the eve of her wedding she is
left alone for few minutes with her
old music teacher, and finds, quite by
chance, that her voice is not gone, but
is better than ever. Confronted by this
evidence, the young doctor confesses
E., h,
which objection may be raised, but
then the plot becomes poisonous. The
doctor explains that he did it all be-
cause he loved the girl so much that
he wanted to rescue her from life of
operate shame. After brief fareup
all the other characters in the play,
except the composer, accept his eX-
PLANTATION as at least a debatable ques-
ton of ethics. Indeed, the cid teacher
tells the girl that she should forgive
the young man. Love, he assures her,
is the greatest thing in the world be-
side which everything else is as moth
ing. Fortunately, the playwright does
not 90 the entire journey. The girl
decides that she will postpone a dc
cision and will not marry the doctor
until she has shown him that life on
the stage is not necessarily q crime.
The play, however, contains the dis
him to a brief probationary period the
girl Will forgive her young man and
settle down with him in the small town
in central Ohio.
The play could hardly have been
written in just that way except in the
days when we were told so often that
woman's place was in the home Now
and again newspaper and magazine
articles still crop up in which some
body or other maintains the PROPOSE
ton that no matter what the genius
of woman may be all thoughts of a
career must be cast aside as merely
secondary things if she has an oppor-'
tunity to make some good man happy.
The rather doubtful nature of the final
trend of "The Climax" was emphasized
by the fact that Roy Walling, who
played the part of the doctor, was able
TO contribute nothing attractive to
most thankless part. The other NOM
bers of the cast were excellent.
Eleanor Painter, who is featured in
the play, is we'll known as a musical
one on ordinary occasions, but last
night she acted much better than she
sang. That was help rather than
otherwise. 1t kept the play from being
used as a mere display of vocal talent.
In her lighter moments Miss Painter
ranged only from not so good to we'll
enough. She was too hammered; but
in the second act she took the long and
interesting emotional scene with fine
power. She made it enormously appeal
ing. In this scene Miss Painter was
admirably simple in her methods.
There does not seem to be much doubt
that she has decided talent for the
legitimate stage
Efiiingham Pinto, who was a member
of the original company, gives de-
lightful and highly efficient perform
ance as the young composer. His skill
at the piano is factor in the success
of the play We should, by the way,
make some exceptions in favor Of Miss
Painters talents for light comedy. for
the scenes in which she and Pinto dis
ported themselves round the piano
were admirably done. Walter Wilson
as the old teacher did not always sug-
gest an Italian, but his performance
was warm, rich and human, for all that,
Even though the final philosophy of
"Thc Climax" is a bit irritating the
play deserves cordial recommends
ton. 1t is good fun, and also Genu-