New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-05-04
By Haywood Broun

Satire must be called something else
if it is to interest American theatrical
audiences. 1t seldom comes to oui
stage even in disguised form. That is
one of the reasons why William lie
Baron's 81 Love You" is @ welcome adj
dition to the plays of the season. I'm
doubtedly the authors chief impulse to
write the play lay in his desire to poke
fun at the idle and uneducat ted rich and
to show their inferiority to their SER
wants. This theme, in q slightly diff
ferent form, as may be remembered,
formed the basis of Barries "The Adj
mirable Crichton." Comedy is the
natural medium for satire, but gen
orally it is not considered gaudy enough
in its qualities to afford sufficient dis
guise. and so we get satirical musical
comedies such as George Cohan's "The
Royal Vagabond," and satirical farces
such as lie Baron's II Love You" The
comic antics and the tuneful music of
the Conan piece and the rapid play of
fun in the farce serve to deceive good
many theatregoers. They do not rebel
at satire because they do not realize
that they are seeing it,
Shaw, who is one of the great satir-
lists Of our day, frequently adopts the
expedient of carrying satire close to
the mood of burlesque in order to make
it palatable. By this device he in
creases the drawing capacity of his
plays, but he suffers just the same, be-
cause thousands of playgoers regard
his scenes of most serious intent as
merely pleasant butfoonery. "Andro-
cles and the Lion" for instance, is not
foolery but a very searching satire of
orthodox Christianity.
In America George AIDE is perhaps
the leading dramatic satirist, although
he has not contributed to the stage re-
Gently. His position is still secure by
virtue of his college satire, "The Col
lege Widow; his political satire, "The
County Chairman" and his imperialist
satire, "The Sultan of Sulu." Philip
Moeller is another playwright of to-
day who has broken pen or two in the
cause Of satire, although it is at least
open to question whether his field Is
not more properly burlesque. How
ever, Madame Sand was Of satiric
intent, although it may have moved into
broader mood at times. Susan Glas-
pell has distinct gift for satire, as
shown in "a Woman's Honor" and to
lesser extent in Suppressed Desires"
which might be set down as burlesoue.
Our belief that Eugene ONeill has
very unusual talent for the theatre
has been confirmed by reading his
plays in their published form. Seven
of his sea pieces have been collected
In volume called 1.-THE Moon of the
Caribbees," which is published by Boni
IL Liveright.. Most people who know
the speech of common men thoroughly
and accurately have not the skill to
employ it in writing, and those who
have the skill do not know the Ian
guage. ONeill gives an overwhelming
impression Of authenticity in the talk
which he gives to his sailors
Moreover, he is able TO select and COM
bine common phrases in such a way as
to give the Tilt of romance without
sacrificing the spirit of true talk.
Although two of the plays in the
present volume are among the best
American short plays which we know,
O'Neill has not yet attained his full
dramatic stature. Here and there we
find gesture cramped by growing
pains. O'Neill is willing, for instance,
10 let his play "Ile" slip Off into the
merely mad, which Is one of the favor
tic devices of every young writer for
solving knotty problem which will
not work out in any other way. "The
Long Voyage Home" also may be set
down as immature In it's crude con-
trasting Of mother theme with the
heavy realism Of sailors dive.
As we remember, the play which had
the greatest success on the stage was
I'm the Zone" which was played by
the Washington Square Players q few
seasons ago. 1t is not the best of thu
collection, IN our opinion. This play is
~hrewdly constructed. 10 be sure, but
ns ingenuity 10 rather apparent It Is
more ingenious than plausible or true.
Bound East for Cardiff" is our ia
yorite. In this play the theme and the
treatment are admirably simple. The
play tells the story of q sailor who
dies at sea wishing that his last night
might not have been one Of dirty
weather II would have been easier to
20 IL he could have been on deck under
the stars and the moon instead of down
In the forecastic with the damned
whistle BLOWN and people snorin' all
around" Much more elaborate but
also very good IL the psychic meIo-
drama, where the Cross IL Made"
which was played very effectively by
the Provincctown Players this season.