The Washington herald., 1919-07-29
Belasee-sTAe Red Dawu.s
BY EARLE DORSEY.

II mornings-after brought no saner
viewpoints, no cooling of midnight
enthusiasm. no modification Of fren-
zied. enthusiastic fervor. we should
mount our trusty L C. Smith at this
wee sma' hour and feed fat our type
writer ribbon with praise of Thomas
ixon's Socialistic antidote. THE Red
| Dawn" which. at this hour seems
nothing short of a smashing hit
We should indulge In q iather OF
adulation. We should call II a melo-
drama with message. a play with q
purpose, a drama with a destiny but
alas. our nocturnal enthusiasm have
cooled Aforetime and we shall prac-
/ tice restraint with an iron hand. Just
the same, THE Red Dawn" to our
way of thinking. 10 one of those plays
| they call Knockout. The Belasco
audience which watched 1t develop
last night grew tenser and more tense
as situation mounted on situation. as
the thesis developed. as the play drew
to final, triumphant curtain and
when the asbestos was rung down on
final scene. the applause was like
the applause that greeted that Griffith
Nation" The audience pounded its
refused to depart and finally 1t began
to call for the author.
Author Dixon was on hand. He
told them he has written a play on
Bolshevism because he regarded
American liberty. that he believed
the theater was a pulpit to preach
from and that he held the doctrine
! that only through being forewarned
could the American people be fore
armed. And. as an additional mark
! of unusual applause. a Belasco audi
ence actually cheered his words.
'"The Red Dawn" is frankly school,
masterish. 1t teaches the doctrine
that in an age of great unrest
America holds out an example TO
the world in government. and II
/ furthermore espouses the idea that
so long as labor remains watchfui
and vigilant and not given to the
| needing of false promises and vows.
America and her liberty Will na
fear Bolshevism. Mr.. Dixon, how
ever, takes care to sound the warn
ing that Bolshevism knows this and
| is approaching with stealthy and
subtle footsteps. 1t Is doctrine
that seeps through the story. II
|
be no doubt that II adheres above
all else in the auditors mind.
There is no question that The
Red Dawn" leans heavily upon the
popular prejudice against left wing
radicalism. There were many lines
and situations that wave the Ameri-
can flag almost as brazenly as
Cohan used to do. but the flag i:
never waved until the right mo-
ment. until 1t seems just the proper
thing to wave. and until a little
fag-waving seems the only anti
dote for the issues.
But aside from all that, The
Red Dawn" is a juicy. mellow melo'
drama OF the old school. with its
incorruptible hero. its lustful
scheming. vaunting villain, its
sweet young ingenue in distress, Its
fair and sad lady who~is loved BY
the ex-convict whose only creed is
sacrifice and who turns out to be a
secret service man. Its appeal Is
! the appeal of via Wireless" of The
Virginian." of all the host of sue
cessful melodramas of past and
present history. 1t is the triumph
of virtue and right thinking and
/ lONe over VICE anu
old fashioned lust. But with all
its melodrama. 1t is a straight
from the shoulder bit of playwrit-
| ing. with a few inpro Ia biiities or
absurdities and it gets under the
skin. It's just the proper sort of a
| dramatic clothes-line on which to
hang a great big message to the
great big masses; and four our little
! corner of the universe, we believe
Mr.. Dixon has done it and If we
knew him well enough. we'd pat
him on the back.
Dixon has based his plot on an is.
land in the Pacific. It's 100 miles of
the California coast. it's much toe
tropical for that geography. but thai
doesn't matter, really.
There group of serious thinkers
have established a model Socialist re,
public. with everybody keeping what
they earn. with half the island dis.
satisfied at the other half and with
John Duncan. a nice young loca
| Frank Merriwell, in general charge
| Richard Stanton is a red leader who
receives orders from the Central Rus.
! sian Soviet to put Bolshevism into
practice. and when it is revealed that
John Duncan loves Stanton's foster.
child and that Stanton wants his
foster child for his own lustfuI prop,
erty as soon as red rule is established
the mellow ground work Of the melo,
| drama Is established
Averill Harris, as the young So
cialist dreamer who. with his CO.