The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-31

late Charles Frohman, to send him
report on a play acted on the Board
walk.
1.-THE first act was fine" Mr.. Dilling-
ham wrote, 'but after that the piece
settled down into a Bijou Theatre tri-
umph."
Departed UnmOurned.
Well, Youth" was one Of these tri-
umphs, and departed unmourned. Its
fate was not, however, different from
that of other plays which after a great
sxvccess In Germany flashed in the pan
when they were given here in the ver-
nacular. OF course Herman Suder-
mann's 'Die Ehre," which is the corner
stone of his reputation as a playwright,
had an unfortunate experience here.
Augustin DAILY bought the American
rights to the play, Intending 1t for the
use OF his company, with Ada Rehan az
the girlish heroine. After a while the
absurdity of the idea impressed even
Mr.. DAILY, who was at times more or
less strabismic as to what did or did
not suit the star of his troup. Ulti-
mately he surrendered the rights of
the drama, but not until there had been
legal measures necessary to compel
him 1t was eventually given in alto
BtLutI lfldQGQudlc AdolllOAl AOilE dAhNA eHc
freshness and point of the piece were
lost. Yet it's fate in London was about
the same.
Other German masterpieces with their
strongly sexual tendencies have alto
gether failed to repeat here any of the
triumph they achieved abroad. The
sad matinee at the Thirty-ninth Street
Theatre when Wedekind's 1.-THE Awak-
ening of Spring. was performed, is fad
ing but slowly from the memory of
those who were present. Like Youth"
It is impossible to discover in the work
any of the uplifting qualities which
have been claimed for these pieces on
their native heath. They seem just as
direct in their appeal to the passions
as for instance, THE Blindness of
Virtue which, masked as an educa-
tional enterprise in dramatic form by
Cosmo Hamilton, toured the hinter-
land with great financial success and
equivalent stimulation to its audiences.
Once they have been removed from the
language which originally developed
their ideas nothing remains in these
German pieces but the offensive residue
which makes them so unsavory on our
stage.
Youth" came TO the German theatre
in the wake of the Ibsen plays. But
more interesting than it's exegesis, is It's
prophetic nature. Ii foreshadowed the
sexual character which preponderated in
German art for the next score of years.
Whether II was In drama or music. bal
let or the graphic arts, a note of de-
cadence was the dominating influence
This tendency. which ultimately over
whelmed the art of the Central Empires
was just making It's young influence felt
when Max Halbe gave his much over
rated play to the world. It seems in
deed a dramatic derelict stuck " the
sandy places of Sheridan Square
Novel Trick In Direction.
The artistic direction of Basil Dean
OF which much was said before the pro-
duction OF Galsworthy's THE Skin
Game" at the Bljou Theatre, shows itself
most strikingly in one particular. His
people in the play take most human
and absorbing interest in what they say
20 one another. Every character listens
with an intentness rare on the New
York stage TO what the other has TO say
The effect Of this demeanor is not 20 be
denied. The spectators find themselves
quite as much engrossed in most OF the
play as the actors are made to appear
90 be by this simple expedlent
Rarely is this trick thought by our
own directors of plays 70 be worth their
time. There are other specimens Of Mr.
B Dean's methods which show him less TO
admire. Yet II must be admitted that he
10 working with material that would
often puzzle any director. The effect
OF many of the best Of Mr.. .Galsworthy's
scenes is lessened by repetition. He
has as n playwright suddenly grown self
conscious I'm his methods. There are
indeed I'm THE Skin Game" indications
that no may be struggling with the
"well made" play In mind. Formerly he
ala no more than take his pcn--so far
az his works revealed his method--ano
, set down what was In his mind with no
thought of the building that used 20
OCCUPY the energies of the playwright
But he has come TO think now OF ways
and means just as n playwright might
and not novelist telling his story ia
dialogue.
So one sees him in THE Skin Game"
reiterating a point 20 impress II on the
audience, often within such a brief space
OF time that tho incident is scarcely
finished before another with the same
nienilcance s begun More than once
a scene IL logically at an end, but rather