Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-10-04
"SPANISH LOVE- HAS
ODD STAGE EFFECTS
Ranting Men and Women Rush
Down Aisles and Act on
Special Fore-Stage

Lyric-The audience that filed out, np-
plaudng but half bewildered, when the
final curtain Of Spanish Love- de-
scended last night could scarcely have
been able to give n concise account OF
their feelings in regard to the show.
What is more. few of them could
have told just what kind Of show TINS
was that Mary Roberts Rinehart ana
Avery Hopwood adapted from the orig
innl Spanish.
Tho thoughts that most every one
carried away were of gayly clad seno-
ritas and fiery gentlemen with peculiar
hats who picked quiet moments to 90
tearing down the aisles shouting at the
tops Of their voices.
Or If their thoughts did not turn to
these intimacies between audience and
actors, they probably remembered most
favorably the remarkable dancing OF
Los Caritos in the second act.
Just how great an impression the
actual story of frenzied Spanish feud
would have made freed of all these in
genious trappings can hardly be esti-
mated, since those trappings played so
large part in the unfolding. The tnal
result was, however. that the play
seemed to please all tastes. and the full
house applauded the high pitched act
ing in the emotional scenes with as
much cordiality as it did the castanet
accompaniment to the nimble dancers.
The plot of the play, which in its
original was the work of Jose Felin
Codina, followed fairly closely after
approved patterns of hot Spanish love
stories, but finally broke away from
conventional shackles TO rather stun
ming climax on dimly lit stage. That
scene is masterfil. On the peculiarly
arranged fore stage (huilt over the
orchestra pitt Spanish father is told
by doctor that his son is dying. In
nsmuch as that father had been the
only one throughout the play who had
modulated his voice. his grief ond agony
were doubly impressive. Behind him
the son hears the verdict. 1t means
to him the foregoing OF a, duel with his
hated rival and the relin1ulshing OF
his beloved. He falls silently to the
silently. off stage. This scene is fol-
act Of rcnurcation in which he sends
his rival and the girl off to safety and
falls prone on the shndowed floor.
The events that led up to that finale
were sometimes gripping, often full of
atmosphere, hut just as often dull and
fiat. The dancing intcrlude was all
that saved that second net.
Just why that fatncss existed would
be hard to say. 4 theory would be
that the entire cast pitched their acting
on too high key. Most Of the charac-
ters shrieked loud and often; they
talked in unnecessarily loud tones in
ordinary conversations so that their big
scenes failed to be impressive.
William II. Powell missed that error.
In the hard role of the gasping, cough
ing, dying man. he shone surely and
consistently. and wnS accorded a real
ovation at the end. The veteran Edwin
Mordaunt made the fathers part stand
out. and Cahill Wilson. as the hero.
though he spoke too fast. rose to his
big scenes. Tho girl. Zola 1alnn
worked faithfully and sincerely. She
was one of those who pitched hcr part
too high. At the present rate she might
exhaust her voice inside Of six months.
Thomas Coffin Cooke was funny, if
very un-Spansh, father Of the heroine.
who added the Winter Garden touch
that was the final ingredient of the
play.
The staging was adequate, but not
distinctive. except for the oddity of
the fore stage.