New-York tribune., 1920-05-16
musement News and Stage Door Chat for the Playgoer
''Open Mind' Needed
Toward Psychics, Says
Actress i'm Spirit PLAY

She drew herself into the tiniest
space possible--which is quite a tiny
space, indeed-did Miss Lola Fisher, the
pretty young woman appearing in the
new Anne Crawford Flexner play. "All
Souls Eve" at the Maxine Elliott
Theater, at the suggestion that she was
"firm believer" in the ouija board
She registered something between
"creepiness" and outright disgust. and
replied something about there being
too much taken for granted by the
American theatergoin., public.
Miss Fishers new part in this Amer
ican play, which opened on Wednesday
night, has much to do with the return
Of those who have died, but she is
eager to have it known that the nav
ltseif Is the first really serious effort
that has been made by an Ame rican
playwright to present evidence both
ror and against the actual return in
spirit of those who have gone beyond.
."Ours,' she said, "is one of the few
plays which try to present in beau-
tlful and interesting way a mans re-
generation when his lost one is brought
PACK TO him in a manner that actually
cries out against stage trickery which
Tor so long has infested scenes of a
conventlonal ending and methods here
tofore employed by wheezy sentimen
talists instead of the more noble SEN
timents which are the rightful heritage
OF the human heart"
She added that the very plausibilitv
OF the plot Of the new play marked
1t as the first venture along serious
ilnes OF playwrighting in the psychic
realm of thought.
1T being founded upon the we'll es-
tablished legends of both Ireland and
Hawaii that when lightning comes sud
denly out Of the skies the soul NAV re-
turn for brief moment to earthly
spheres,' she said, zone may readily
realize that it is not the ouija
board type of production and does not
attempt to belittle nor to further belief
In the effectiveness o. this much dis.
cussed method of communication with
those who have passed into the be.
yond"
MISS Fisher admits that she has
studIed. the claims Of those who believe
firmly in the feats which the strange
little board is said to perform, and
adds that when Sir Oliver Lodge came
to Am erica she heard him in his lee
lures as often as was possible.
"Although | did not think by any
cnance 1t could assist me in my work, ~
she said, II felt then, as 1 do now
that, whatever may be ones calling, he
or she should learn as much about
every matter of interest as is possible
When men Of such mental car acity and
educational standing as Sir Oliver
Lodge and all the others who are
preaching the possibility of the return
to this world of those who have died
have message to deliver, every man
woman and child old enough to under
stand should hear and should accept
the information with an unbiased
mind"
The play is being presented by John
d. Williams. and the scenic effects and
mechanical devices were studied out
to the last detail after an exhaustive
investigation of the subject in hand
taking into account all Of the outstand-
ing arguments both in favor of and op-
posing the plausibility of the return
to this earth of loved ones. Miss Fisher
says that throughout her experiences
on the stage she has not observed such
rigid sincerity on the part Of theatrical
producers.
"The subject demands it'll" is her sx-
planation.