New-York tribune., 1920-08-20
By Haywood Broun

She was ike tender 1loWer, fragrant
with the dew Of dawn, and he "couldn't
do such cause he loved her too much"
But we can hardly add that he 'learned
about women from her." because Feodor
Masimoff was distinctly a post-gradu-
ate. He was wise in all the informa-
tive sayings, which begin, Every
woman. The things he knew
about them werc positively uncanny
He knew just when to twist their
wrists and when to step on their feet,
when to cajole and when to command
He never had to say "Go!" more than
twice or "Come" more than once His
discipline was positively up to mill
tary standards. And at that there were
no conscripts. They were all volun-
teers
Personally we are very fond of plays
IN which some dominating male with a
steely voice and an iron heart orders
all the women characters about and
they obey him. 1t is said that the sue
cess of any play depends upon the
people in the audience identifying
themselves with some character on the
stage, and for at least an hour we were
completely under the spell of "The
Checkerboard," which was produced at
the Thirty ninth Street Theater last
night
1t was only by great effort that we
refralned, on our way down to the
office, from seizing somebody, anybody,
in fact, around the neck and saying in
cold, toneless voice: "Kiss me, you
fool But we remembered Feodor and
his great sacrifice. He went out into
the night alone, and likewise WE
allghted at Park Place with nothing
to \ ~;
sharply to a subway guard.
The new comedy by Frederic and
Fanny Hatton is a pretty good dime
novel, but it is bit thick that anybody
above the age Of fourteen should be
expected to take it seriously. That,
however, is the intent, we believe. To
be sure, there is much low comedy re-
lief, but there was every indication both
in the writing and the playing that the
audience was intended to sigh just bit
for Feodor Masimoff and his broken
heart. He was the only son of a Rus
sian prince, but his mother was only a
dancer and not even a wife. His in
stincts were NOBLE but his practices
were base, and he lent himself to the
services of a schemer who passed him
ing American millionaire, who wished
to get into society. The deftness and
delicacy Of the satire may we'll be in
dicated by the fact that the millionaire
had made his money in ashcans and
was known as the Ashcan King. The
American theater is progressing. At
this time last season we had a play
about a Garbage King.
But though the satire of the Hattons
in "The Checkerboard" is of the broad
est, some Of it is amusing, particularly
when Kate Mayhem is on theS stage.
She made a real and humorous figure of
a person who seemed hardly more than
burlesque in the writing. The play
swiftly, and this atones in part for the
crudty and stageiness Of the tale.
Masimoff, the fake prince, falls in love
with the young daughter of the million
alre, and then decides to spare her in
favor of her boyhood sweetheart, whom
she must have cared for in her heart
of hearts, since she said in her girlish
way: when you aren't drunk you're
the dearest boy alive!"
Feodor killed her love by allowing
her to find him in the arms of another
woman, woman who was nothing to
him but plaything, phonograph rec
ord to be turned on and then cast aside
like an old glove or withered violet
or yesterdays baseball extra. She was
nothing to him, but how could little
unsophisticated Susanna know that?
AS matter of fact, she didn't, and she
allowed Feodor and his broken heart
to go away forever
Jose Ruben was Feodor, and he plaved
the part with the same finish which he
has put into exactly the same role a
score of times. Only once or twice was
he unconvincing. When he seized