Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-12-10


NAV be n favorable or an unfavorable
attribute; It. may be love or hatred.
generosity or miserliness. cowardice or
bravery, vice or virtue. Whichever Il
Is, 1t must be big and the tragedy must
De the inevitable outcome of this at
tribute.
Juan Gallardo lacks this. He is
merely petty, vain. selfish, lustful
animal. He Is the small time type that
arouses neither great sympathy nor
great repugnance In an audience. They
don't like him, but he isn't big enough
Tor them really to hate. Consequently,
they aren't particularly interested in
what becomes Of him. Therefore, his
heath to them Is merely an incident
ana not at all n tragedy.
The one really big feature of that
maj scene falls to the role Of the faith.
ful and loving wife. As Gallardo's ewes
glaze In death and she leans over him.
he thinks 1t Is the beautiful Dona Sol.
ana ne Is happy in the thought that she
mas returned to him. And the wife,
still sacrificing her all for his happi-
ness, carries out the deceit. though her
heart Is breaking, and let's him die in
the blissful impression that IL is the
other woman whose arms are around
him. "'
The trouble is that this Bit Of rea,
tragedy comes so suddenly and ouietlv
and unexpectedly that its true SIG.
nlhcance Is lost on half the audience.
Inc Idea should have been "planted''
s some time before. There should be a
nlnt tnat Gallardo would be perfectly
satsned TO die IL only Dona Sol were
there. His fear of death is "planted'
IN a dozen places earlier in the play.
it should be- coupled with the Dona Sol
idea TO get that final scene across with
the fuil force that Is possible to It.
Naturally this would strengtben +ha
part Of the wife perhaps at some expense
10 the star. But Madeline Delmar
SHOWS herself fully capable of handling
Dig situation; in fact, she is the
outstanding artist of the cast, with all
due respect to Mr.. Skinner. And, in
any event. the role Of Gallardo as writ.
ten shows man whose very nature
Keeps MIN from being the central figure
OF tragedy. He is only the contribu-
tory cause of the real tragedy-which
Is the wite's.
Mr.. Skinner does some skillful bits
of acting in his thankless role. Two
quiet scenes-in the first net where hc
is being dressed for the bull frbt and nj
u,
children surreptitiously remove tbo
bandages from his injured leg--orc
worthy to rank with the best c6orac.
terizatiOns Of the contcmporary stage
mus Iona ooi mas cast MIN aside for
greot huIl on tbo Ii' wnII onS r,1 fn neau OF tne
1olver ~ ~ IN toton oe tu ~ "Les h.n iiS re-
contemnt for tho wboia @ hm,, "t.,bo t.ibu anu anu
tbe bull r,na with I,s nootina t aiaD oiaDs aad J
ito fnnio ria,,Sita AZ" e .h hns Slory anu
less crowds rises y 70 ' y aeIy Sne 5s,nbt Ietre q,
functional 1',ort, ~ ""' "eis"' VI
On the night l saw the play l did
not nave time TO read the program
Detore the second act. But as 1t went
on l became impressed with a small bit
p.ayta oy an attractive roung woman
right across t the % footlishts t 'S"i and she ts'
themselves provocative of even n smile
She showed such genuine comedy IN .
stinct that as soon MS the lights wen,
nm I consulted the program to see who
she was. The name was Cornelia Otis
Skinner.
I'm glad I didn't see It before the
act began. II gave me a chance Ia
form an unbiased estimate of her with
out the influence of her famous fathers
name. I'm a rooter for Cornelia from
now on.
,ur = up.u ~ n
IHH s1'o'e' Na'' 10y D'am-
mond, at fhe Gdrr,Gk, added to the
triumph OF he Adeiph' Thriller, seems to
poinf "dD ont V 1ne present hedtr-
cat stump; ~ IS; ,ortie gooa mefo-
drama: uooa meoa'ama nag nad a
ponerJ"f appeG ever SINCE Adam nas
pup. ~ wu' oe appea'"e phen tn,s
ga ear" oJo'' aonm ynJ UNI pePI,es 70
J9a" ..R.m m ill., no, "aond', @ ~ desea o"a'es. y.
that isn't taken pith quite erceptiona!
ability.
DROBABLY every audience which
l. sees Oscar Straus' operetta, "Tbe
Inst Waltz" which begins its last
week Monday night
Nelson's Fail Mt the Shubert,
In "Lasf Waltz" wonders about tbnt
NOT Accidental fall that Eddie Mel
son, the principal
fun maker, takes into the orchestra pit.
On all sides you can hear comments
such as "I'n bet that was uninten
tional" or "Wonder II he does that
every night"
We'll. as a matter of fact. that is all
mart of the comedians business" and
lid lid not even originate in "The Last
Walt" through an accident. Nelson,
7 understand brought It over from
vaudeville with him. At any rate,
lanes Barton, who played the role