The Washington herald., 1919-03-20

New York, March l9.-The Rialto is
being smothered with mother love"
plays. 1t was the playwright's slant
on the after-war theme, but In two
weeks 1t has been worked to death.
The public. It seems. has nothing
against mothers. They average as
high as fathers and a little above sec
ond cousins
Maternal affection is a powerful and
tenacious emotion but II is irritating
to see play after play founded on the
theory that the one moving force in
the world is mother love-" 1t is
hardly fair to steam, or hunger, or
hate or mothers -in-law or dynamite.
To be more specific words are a
pretty poor medium for the express
sion of the most profound emotions OF
life, because the emotions came first
and language has never. quite caught
up.
Miss Marjorie Rambeau is one of
Americas most talented actress. I
admire her histrionic ability and her
disposition for / once stepped on her
feet while dancing-and she smiled.
But even Miss Rambeau's ability nor
her personality can quite overcome
the handicap OF her latest mother
love- play. 1t is called THE Fortune
Teller"
She plays the part of a mother and
she tells everybody how much she
loves her son, and now and then she
resorts to the phrase You've never
been a mother" Speaking for myself.
there Is no answer. I can only admit
the impeachment and take the con-
sequences.
The play also introduces a new
playwright to Broadway in Leighton
Graves Osmun., He seems to have
never, however, grasped the full emo
tional possibilities OF the subject con-
corning which he writes but, of
course, he has never been a mother.
There is a playwright now who is
working on a play which centers
about a mans affection for his dog
and the dog for the master, There
will be no cheap heroics. squirting of
pallid platitudes or harping upon the
various emotions. 1t Is going to tell
a good clean story-a story that could
happen in real life 1t has a love
theme and a mystery. 1t is my pre-
diction that 1t viii run longer than
some OF the tawdry emotional plays
now suffocating the public.
Mrs. Alice NJ. Williamson, OF the
well-known literary Arm of c. N.
and A. NJ. Williamson. is in New
York for the frst time since before
the war. Mrs. Williamson was born
near Cambridge. Mass. She went to
London when young girl and got
a Job writing for Lord Northcliffe's
papers. She used to grind out 100.-
000 fal rn
those publications. Perhaps an idea
can be illustrated by the fact that
Booth Harrington turns out a novel
about every year and a half The
average novel runs. $4,000 words.
Mrs. Williamson's husband Is an
Englishman. He has never been in
this country.
Another ship load OF singing
black boys got into New York last
week from their triumphs abroad.
One OF the officers told that nobody
in France was unkind enough or
thoughtless enough to use the Of
fensive "nigger," while the word
''mulatto" was apparently unknown.
Some of them" said the officer. :.
the girls described as beaucoup de
chocolat. while the others were cafe
au lait."
Two curb brokers were talking
along the curb on Broad street. One
Is fond of romancing. He said: "I
think I'll take a run down to my
shooting box this afternoon"
Where does the crap game take
placer was the reply.