The Washington herald., 1920-09-12

agent.
Concerning "One."
Now that Mr.. Belasco's production
of One" has quilted these quiet
and temperate pastures TO face, with
what courage il may, the concen-
trated kidding of the metropolis, it
is interesting to ponder and specu-
late on the causes that led Edward
hnoblOCk to write and Mr.. Belasco
to produce such a play as one"
If rumor be fact, Mr.. BelascO's
motive is probably personal. Mr..
Belasco is credited with an abiding
interest in the subject of spiritism
and the supernatural; and If such
be true, il is not difficult to see that
his own appreciation and compre-
hensiOn and faith in the Lodge cult
may easily have blinded him to the
heavy percentage of twaddle that
constituted its theme and its dra-
matte development.
For once in his harassed lifetime,
Mr.. Belasco must be absoIved from
any blame accruing 10 his own
handiwork in the production. With
the exception of an oversight. where
the heroine in New York at 5 in
the afternoon walks to a sunlit win
dow to face London, the BelascC
fair for realism has been exercised
to the utmost and his manipulation
of lighting effects was really
triumph, even for BelasCo. The di-
reCtiOn, Furthermore, was downright
splendid, so upoT the shoulders of
Mr.. knOblock must fall the respon-
stbility for writing a play that is
difficult to classify as even a sin
cere effort.
The Royalty Lure.
Mr.. KnOblock is far too finished
craftsman to be in ignorance, per-
sonally, of Ones" total lack Of
logic and conviction. 1t is dificuit
to believe that knoblOck. the au-
thor of two such Starr roles as
Marie OdiIe" and Tiger. Tiger"
could have believed in a play like
One" For my part, one" seems
to fit most aptly into the category
of plays that Claiming Pollock ex.
plains as having been written be.
cause play had to be written.
So far, there has been heard NJ
still, small voice disclaiming for Mr..
knOblOCk the lure of American roy
altlcs. Having achieved a lucrative
market with Marie OdilC" and Til
ger! Tiger" and doubtless aware of
Miss Starts need for a new vehicle,
there Is a suspiCion-a bare suspi-
ciOn. mind you!-that Mr.. Knoblock
hurriedly gathered together his
tools, sCrapcd the bottom of the
idea-bin and dragged forth the mem
taI-Rucleus of the play that Wash
ington saw as One"
1t is also diHcuIt to give Mr..
KnoblOck his due by assuming that
two ladies may be born into the
world win but one human soul be
tween them. 1t is a fantastic, base
less idea at best and presuppOses, at
the very outset, the urgent neces-
sity of explaining the process of in
vesting a human body with a soul;
its exact location in the human body
and the definite substance that con-
stitutes a soul. The theologian,
more wise than Mr.. Knoblock, never
grows too avid in his attempt to
isolate the soul He assumes that
the human body has a soul but
deeminG the task of isolating it an
impossible one from a material
viewpoint, he never monkeys with
the buzz saw by wondering whether
a particular human being has two
souls or only half a one.
Twin-Soals and Halves.
The average human takes his cue
from the theologian. He believes in
his soul but he's willing to let il
go at that. He doesn't attempt to
discover its location or ascertain
whether it remains stationary or
merely circuIates He also follows
the dictates of theology and never
attempts to put his soul on ma
terial basis. Being thus minded
about the soul he is supposed to pos
sess, he becomes doubly skepticaI
when some playwright comes along
and begins to discuss twin-souls
and half-sOuls.
The very introduction of One"
then. becomes twaddle in the eyes
of the healthy human animal of
normal mentality. He would much
prefer to have dramatic or other
assurance of the existence of his
own conventional soul. And then,
when Mr.. Knoblock attempts to
juggle such a spiritual quality
about as though it were a monkey
gland or a vermifOrm appendix he
grows a bit baffled and rightly so.
However, one must give KnOblock
credit for some very wOrkmanlike
writing. even with such terribly
poor material. He brought forth a
acterization-that of a broken,
disappointed physician who dabbled
in spiritism-that stands. as Mr..
Bell pointed out in the Post, very
close to the plane occupied by
Frank BacOn's 'Lightnin' Bill
Jones" There was an authority to
the dialogue that belied its theme
One will see many a play of vastly
better material this season done not
half so well as KnoblOck has done
One"
Collisions Newest Hit"
Wilson Collision. whose ventures
into the drama are. usually marked
by a shocking departure from the
ordinary standards of convention,
seems determined to go himself one
better every time he shifts his type
writer. The New York Clipper
prints the following dispatch from
Atlantic City that clearly speaks
for itself:
Come Up in the Haymow." given
its out of town premiere here by
Al Woods, is all that the name
might suggest and then some. 1t
is divertingly naughty. risque to
the extreme, but at the same time
contains naught to command the
blue pencil of the censor.
Wilson Collision, the author, has
inserted such cOlOrful scenes as a
girl, young and pretty, standing in
haymOw, attired in a birthday
suit and a horse blanket. and he
gets away with it. To top this off.
the young lady speaks such lines