New-York tribune., 1919-10-16

curiously distant and muftied voice and
though everybody looked about, it was
impossible to determine whence it
came. But again came the cry, Let
me out"
where are you?" asked somebody.
"l'm under the scenery" replied the
voice.
Immediately everybody set to work
with will. The first five tons were
much the hardest After that Mr..
Urban's heaviest pieces flew this way
and that until the body of the little
victim was revealed. He was a fragile
fantasy. According to the city news
bulletins, he had Sustained a broken
hip, dislocated shoulder, severe
abrasion above the right eye, possible
internal injuries and numerous con-
tusions." But he was still alive. 1t
is such an unusual thing to find live
fantasy on the stage Of a New York
theatre that we were disposed to say,
"Hooray!"
Don't cheer said a bystander,
'the poor fellow is dying
That remains to be seen, but we
been more robust fantasy if Urban
had not buried him under the scenery.
John T. Mclntyre's new fantastic
comedy, "A Young Mans Fancy"
which was produced at the Playhouse
last night, is slight, sentimental and
somewhat maudlin little play, but there
are moments which are pleasantly i'm
aginative. 1t has at its best a quality
which is rare and charming. The three
act play calls for no less than twelve
scenes, one of which was impulsively
omitted last night, and the pleasure
of the performance was gravely marred
by the fact that there were inter
minable waits during almost every
change Of scene. This was destructive
OF the illusion which the author sought
to convey. It is almost certain that
the breaks will not be SO long when the
play has settled down, but at best 1t
is hard to see how the transitions can
be made quickly enough not to cut
again and again into the thread Of
interest.
The story deals with q young man
who falls in love with q Wa lady i-i
the window of q drygoods store and
manages to bring her to life in his
fancy. The structure of the play &c
CURES that the young man shall be al
one moment outside the window look
ing at the figure and in the next
standing beside the animate lady OF his
dreams Last night they were not
moments. 1t is traditional in the
theatre that all dreams come true,
and in the end the young man finds
that the wa lady is actually modelled
after flesh-and-b blood young person
to whom he transfers his affections
without much effort.
The play also follows the traditional
stage conception Of picturing a poet
as a mild and gentle detective It's
curious how this delusion persists.
publisher once told us that he never
had any difficulty in cheating hi:
novehsts, his essayists and his hin
torians little. bat that it was practi
cauy impossible to put anything ovel
on the authors Of uplift books or poets
TO our mind poets as Il class don
begin to be as visionary and i'm
practical as managers Of the com
mercial theatre Consider for in
stance, George Tvler. who produced "A
Young Mans Fancy We would no
Ike tc have Mir. Iylor any less vision
airy. because his absolute indifference
TO commercial considerations has re
suited in some Of the best productions
which America has known. In fact, /
is a little more than Indifference. Ar
assistant of Mr.. Iyler's once said t
US: Nov. we can do this particula
scene in two WAYS. | think my way i!
a little better. but Tyler won't have
it. because M way costs only & thou
sand dollars and he can spend tw'
thousand Il nr ao it his way
1t ma b. moored that it wa
+ Mf. Ty'' pqt ON the beautiful
"Garder a.adise," which wa
/ swamped j. rNan's scenery, and tina
/ on another occasion he presented
play which ran for SIX hours at tn,
opening performance, and that on ar
( other occasion he sent a play on th'
road for which il was necessary TO in
stall in every theatre machine t.
blow Sand in the faces of all the specta
tors in the first six rows. And it wa
/ Mr Tyler who did the unusual "NeV
SIN" which failed. and the unusua
+ "Clarence,' which has succeeded mag
niticently. Now whether Mr.. Tyler hal
succeeded or failed, he has again dom
something unusual u "A Young Man =.
/ Fancy" Probably d hundred person'
told Mr.. Tyler before the play was pro
duced that it was impossible to com
pete with the motion pictures in put
tiny on any story which required
numerous and sudden shifts of scenery
But to tell Mr.. Tyler that a thing il
} impossible is only to whet his eager
ness to do it, And having done it, h
not infrequently proves that the warn
ings were III founded. 1t may be so IL
the case Of "a Young Mans Fancy.
There IS a. least one scene in the thir'
act. rather delicate burlesquc Of th'
punch act in a play of compromise
which seemed to rs utterly charming.
We found Philip Nerivaie always de
nehtfu in The play even though We
aro always little afraid that he II
going to carry his mannerism Of carry
ng MS weight on the back of his heel
10 point where he will fall over back
vard Still he never falls at all. o.
he contrary, he plays with rare ski
md finish. Jeanne Earels we also liked
Though to us hers is not q voice q
earry illusion. J. NJ. kerfgan's delight
vi voice and brogue were also pleasan
even though his part was small.
Most the urban sets are handsome
and the bedroom scene is among thu
Nnest stage plctures which we hay,