The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1920-11-20
CRITICS ACCLAIM coLoRED
ACTOR.
In Title Role of New Play GiIpin is
Again Attracting Attention.
Metropolitan DaiIies Vie in Paying
Tribute to Ability of the Accom-
pIished Charlie.

Metropolitan DaiIies Vie in Paying
Tribute to Ability of the Accom-
pished Charlie.
Slowly but surely the wedge is be-
ing driven home to the minds of those
who control the destinies of the actor
in America that we have among us
Colored men who can measure up to
the est produced by the white race
when we are given a chance. For the
past week or so the metropolitan pa
pers have BEEN acclaiming Chas. S.
Gilpin as the pivot around which Eu-
gene O'Neill has placed some wonder
full characters, characters which can
not or do not measure up to the noted
Colored actor. Until Mr.. Gilpin ap-
peared in Abraham Lincoln the
white world would not accept serious
ly anything dramatic from the Negro.
! Personally we believe that "the great
American play" when it comes will
have to include the Negro, for we are
part of this Republic and a part
which cannot be denied in spite of the
many obstacles being daily placed in
our way.
AS a pioneer no better representa-
tive could have been sent to the fore
than the well-known Charlie Gilpin,
and as we glance over the accounts
written by some of the most widely
/ known American critics of the drama
we are inclined to believe that Gilpin
will within the next few years be
/ civ .La
pearing on Broadway as the star of
one of the big productions. On No
vember 1st he opened with the Prov
incetown Players, in "The Emperor
JONES'" and so we'll does the versatile
Colored artist handle his part we hear
Kenneth MacGowan, in the Globe of
November 4th, saying: Without the
fine playing of Chas. S. Gilpin, the
Negro actor, as Emperor Jones, the
, whole play would fall to the ground,
and the most striking of the silhou-
ette scenes come to nothing. Gilpin's
is sustained and splendid piece of
acting" ETC., etc.
In the New York Tribune of the
same day Haywood Broun writes an
entire column on the play in his most
brilliant style, and tells us that The
Emperor is played by a Negro actor
named Chas. S. Gilpin, who gives the
most thrilling performance We have
seen any place this season. He sus-
tains the succession Of scenes in mo-
nologue not only because his voice is
one of a gorgeous natural quality, but
because he knows just what to do
with it, All the notes are there, and
he has also an extraordinary facility
for being in the right place at the
right time. Generally he seems fairly
painted into the scenic design One
performance is not enough to entitled
| player to the word great even from
not too careful critic, but there can
be no question whatever that in "The
Emperor Jones" Gilpin is great, 1t
is a performance of heroic stature.
1t is so good that the fact that it is
enormously skillful seems only Incl
dantal"
The New York Times of Sunday
says that Gilpin's acting in many re
spects is unsurpassed this season in
New York, and when the Times tells
us 'in New York" we'll might it have
said in America. That day when
Broadway proclaims him as one OF
Americas greatest exponents of the
art dramatic we are certain will mean
much not only for Gilpin, but for his
brothers, as he will not become alien
ated from this struggling race of
which he has so long been a member,
and being of a complexion which
leaves no doubt as TO which side of
the fence he belongs, there need be
no fear that the clai of a preponder-
ance of white blood makes possible
the wonderful work of the genial
Charlie"