The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-31
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY e. HOUSE.
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger1

To our unscphisticated mind the
super-villainy attained in Nellie. the
Beautiful Cloak Model" has always
been the high-water mark OF the
the first act of Nellie" saw the hero
inc tied to u railroad track directly in
the pathway of an oncoming express
train. In the second she was locked
in a room in a building which, sub
sequentIy, was saturated with kerosene
and set on fire. In the third she was
blown up by dynamite and in the
fourth tossed carelessly from the
Brooklyn bridge TO the dark waters
beneath. But having read the scenario
OF Theda Bara's new spoken drama.
we reach the conclusion that ''Nellie"
was an amateur and mediocre EXPOSE
ton OF immortality and crime.
In fact. the list of Miss Bara's in
discretions in her new vehicle is such
that it seems worth while to enumer-
ate them. Among others she uses CO.
caine, instigates the theft of an emers
aid, murders an unfortunate young
gentleman, takes money from a male
person otRer than her husband. lies
10 burglar, breaks a young girls
heart, refuses to see a stricken mother,
visits a Chinese merchant after mid
night, gives her latchkey to a rounder
and smokes a cigaret. In addition.
Miss Bara is credited by the New Z ork
critics with doing considerable vio-
lence to histrionic art
AS to our purview OF the matter, IL
is that Miss Bara doesn't need to act.
me audience probably wouldn't get
1t If she did. We the people do not
know much about acting, but we can
always grasp and appreciate the cerise
accessories of the primitive emotion.
Leonard Wood" says the esteemed
New York Trib in commenting on the
news from Minnesota. leads the poll"
We oeprecate the Trib's strained note
OF formality. Stiffness seems out OF
place IN a democracy. Nearly every
! body else speaks of him as General
! Wood
That is to say. nearly everybody ex-
cept General Woods publicity com
nittee.
1T is great joy to me- writes Mrs.
John Curran, Ito have freed myself of
me me oulJa board. which have always
felt was entirely without intrinsic
value and was a bar to the proper ac-
ceptance of the work. The fact that
IT has been connected with semi-conic
parlor amusement, fortune-telling
games which, have a serious aspect
when embraced by shallow minds,
from all Of which I have faithfully
tried to dNest myself for the sake of
| the wonderful words OF Patience
Worth has given me a positive aver
sion to it,
We congratulate Mrs. Curran on
having slipped her shackles but what
J is this work of which she speaks so
highly? So far as we have observed
Mrs. Curran's manifestations. she
hasn't pointed the way to a single lost
article nor Strengthened a matrimonial
tangle.
For the moment Mrs. Curran may
! have considerable vogue. We say
she may have. But we warn her now
that the people will not long stand for
spirit messages which throw no light
upon their troubles and hold no ad-
vice as to whether the oil stock which
they contemplate buying will prove a
profitable investment.
Buck kilby says you can't make him
believe Solomon was wise. Solomon
says Mr.. Kilby, whose marital misad-
ventures have had publicity in the
column, Solomon had 800 wives"
We are frank to admit that the ex-
element over the situation in Ger
many has not as yet communicated
itself to the column. We stopped
worrying about Germany on Novem-
Der IL. 1918.
We are no diagnostician but. II you
are willing to leave it to us. that
wasn't what was the matter with Gro
yer Cleveland Bergdell.
We try to keep personal matters out
OF the column, but a good many will
appreciate and understand the gratui-
tous insult recently flung at US by n
western newspaper, which printed
story about IAN old man nearly fifty
years of age"
We are seldom able to designate
the direction in which the country is
headed: all we know is that 1t makes
progress. That whichS twenty-five
years ago was regarded as sin is now
considered light entertainment for the
masses.