The Washington herald., 1919-12-01

peared the Lincoln. characterization
and Mrs. lincoln dropped of into
ooscurity. Some playwright. some
Gay. will look into the life of Mrs.
Abraham Lincoln and perhaps place
'her on q historical par with-shall
We say-Caesar's wife?
One hesitates to subject the Drink
water characterization Of Lincoln him
self to loo great an analysis. The
characterization Is difficult from q
physical standpoint to begin with.
This. however. has been attained with
skill that Is not at all equalied by
the actors revelation Of the Lincoln
personality. Frank McGlynn-a stock
actor, we are told-has assumed q
startling facial and physical re-
semoiance to Lincoln, but he dismally
fails to convey the impression Of de-
lloerate force. of quiet, almost DIFF
fident philosophy, Of the Lincolnian
capacity for pity. or even to make
himself. in moment Of great stress, q
figure Of pathos anywhere near as
sublime as the real Lincoln.
The play then moves on into Its
different episodes. all of which were
preceded by a spoken episode that.
for pedantic verbosity. exceeded our
experience. We see him fighting the
ambition Of Stanton and Hook, neither
OF whom gave any special sincerity
TO roles not particularly difficult,
though the scene is one Of the best
OF the play. affording. as 1t does, an
Illuminating insight into the forces
within at work against Lincoln's hu-
manity and principle. 1t demonstrates
also In this episode a general adher-
ence to political conditions Of the time
and II points Lincoln's policy toward
the South in the phrase addressed 10
two Southern ENJOYS: You can have
no war unless you are the aggressors.
The third episode probably con-
denses the third-rate dramaturgy of
the piece into the smallest possible
compass. 1t presents the picture OF
an altogether inane Mrs. Lincoln
serving tea to two women, one q
mother with a dead son, the other
tne wne OF a war profiteer. Into
thls atmosphere strides Lincoln and
Tor the next fifteen minutes he spouts
phrases, aphorisms, proverbs and die
tum with all the off-hand yerbosity
OF an oil well. The dramatic conyen-
Ton that seeks to present at one and
the same time q picture of WASH
1ngton society Of the period, a room
In the White House In the furnish
ings OF the time, two types of war
women and. fourthly, Abraham Lin
coin over the tea cups, results in a
picture that calls for ones sympathy.
1t presents not the Lincoln that his
tory reveals but veritabIe unrainly
Reginald Montressor spanking a lady
hguratively upon the wrist for GER
tain statesments that she nor no
sther woman under heaven would
ever utter unless the playwright
forced her to. The lines that lead
up to heroic Lincolnisms are planted
too badly and patiently for any stage
use and although Mr.. Drinkwater did
apologize afterward for his freedom
with history, he did not apologize
Ior tne pad craftsmanship Of this
episode
The play. then, runs through
scene at Grants headquarters be-
tore Appomattox. where, Mr.. Drink
water would have US believe, Lin
coin spent the night sleeping in a
chair just prior to Lees surrender
and then hurried away lust in time
10 miss the fireworks; and, finally.
we have the assassination scene
where Mr.. Lincoln does such things
as repeat his GettysSlrg Address
from a box at Fords on the night
OF the shooting. and where the as
sassin cries sic semper tyrannis,"
without fulfilling the historic ver-
ity Of first leaping to the stage
The members OF LincoIn's Cabinet.
represented by q number Of merely
lay figures. had little of the breath
OF life or realism in them. winfred
Hanley does as much with Mrs. Lin
coin as the part allowed her, which
wasn't much. Florence Johns was
particularly acceptable as Lincoln's
maid who couldn't learn to call him
Mr.. President. Albert Phillips gave
fairly representative Interpretation
OF Grant, though Griffith went Drink
water far better in this field, as he
did with the Lee characterization
which James Durkin made particu-
larly wax-flgurelike. The rest Of the
cast, which is really numerous, were
not outstanding.
As an er-thought, there is a scene
between a negro preacher and the
Lincoln maid that was particularly out
OF key. The negro. in those times Of
negro servility. assumed q pose like
spartacus. the Gladiator. and lent ad-
ditional pessimlsm to the search for
really good negro stage characters.
Abraham Lincoln" may be a riot in
London. but in America-well, we
wonder what England would think of
some Of our English plays.
Beiasco-'SThe Unknown Purple,
The Unknown Purple" the melo-
drama that sent its first mystical
shivers up and down the spines of
Washington audiences some time last
season. returns to the Belasco Theater
this week after a year or so of play
ing with susceptible nerves on Broad