New-York tribune., 1919-11-30

Cpsar's Wife was sitting In her
dressing room mildly tanning herself
.fter settling her destiny by renounc-
;ng youthful lover in favor OF
middle-aged husband. Somehow the
curtain had come down on the new play
at the Liberty Theatcr, leaving one
With the uncomfortable feeling that
things had not ended properly ana
that sooner or later Casar-in other
words. Sir Arthur Little-and his very
Young wife were going to meet snip
wreck on the rocks SO IL was reassur-
inc 10 hunt up Billie Burke behind the
scenes and hear her declare emphati-
caIly that she was sure everything was
going TO turn out all right. being
Casar's Wife, she ought to know
"We have tried so nard to demon
stratc TO our audiences that we are
nutting the right kind Of solution OF a
complex problem before them insthiSS
NAV" she said. at ran awfully wei
in England, but we had a good deal OF
trepidation about putting 1t on IN Ne"
York because it is on such an even keel
Personally, I was afraid it didn't nave
enought punch to go here.
Immediately one recalled the extreme
british restraint of the production; the
impression of still waters that ran
dangerously deep; the passiyity or ,ne
characters; their fatalism; the ODD III,
tie physical things they did to hide ano
repress primitive emotions. inrough.
out the play there was the feeling Una,
the air would have been cleared and
avery one would have felt better II
Casar had chewed the rag or even
sworn a little, when he found the wife
be dated on was madly in love with a
cub secretary. The really unusual
things about W. Somerset Vaughan
creation are the frankness with whicn
the lovely young wife tells generous,
and austere husband all about it, and
tho extraordinary way in which ne re
ceives the confession. In fact, one felt
oui.e strongly that Cesar could only
have existed in the time Of the knights
of the Round Table or the Crusaders
Not 40 Billie Burke. She thinks thf'
men like Cesar, so we'll portrayed py
Norman Trevor, are not only possible
but are extant.
"Do YOU really believe there is a
man who could listen to his wife
through fervid declarations of love
for another man and at the end OF them
simply clasp his hands behind his back
and tell her he does not blame her a
bit and he'll trust her with the other
fellow and will not be surprised II
thew break because he, personally, IS
nothing but a middle-aged, dull old
chap who is trying to dispense justice
in Egypt for the British government
Miss Burke rather gasped when al
this was shot at her pretty, curly mead
She tilted it meditatively on one side
opened her big blue eyes little WIDER
and proceeded to give her views on hus-
bands in general and Caesar IN par
ticular:
"I don't doubt for a moment there
are such men," she opined. "And it's
quite natural that the petted wife grew
strong enough to renounce her lover
because men of Casar's type pull the
people around them up to their level
Caesars are rare, of course. lhey
aren't the common garden variety OF
husband. But you find them once IN
a while. Personally, | think Maugham
has treated the whole subject IN the
most sensible fashion, and married peo-
pie have lot to learn from the play
/ The public is tired of the eternal melo-
drama of domestic strife, the weak,
erring husband and the vituperative
wife or vice versa. Some novelty
in the treatment of the eternal triangle
is relief. And you must admit 1t
/ is something new for husband to
save his wife from shipwreck by
steadying her rudder, but telling her
TO steer her own course. 10 my NINA
the key to the situation is the reaction
created in Violet's mind when she iinds
her husband taking what she considers