New-York tribune., 1921-10-06

D.. i
AIRS. S-ovVhod, ............. Helen Cromwell
ltsA Sorensol.. .......... o.. Hilda Nelstrons
Those who feared that "Main Street"
would emerge from its covers TO the
stage a hick melodrama. chcapening
sinclair LcwiS's clear thinking, sor-
douic huwor and hopeless propaganda.
nay be treasured In its theater YER
SION by Miss Harriet Ford and Harvey
.elHiggins the essence of its idea and
he materials Of its story arc pretty
we'll preserved. and il. as play, it is
rot the epic that it is as a novel. it is
It least considerably more than a
good show" The dramatists have OBJ
served a sAilful reverence in transfer
ing it to the stage. and the actors
n,iraculousy, understand and are able
20 project the qualities of the charac-
ters suspect that "Main Street" is
entertainments for the many who have
read the book and liked it; for the
many who have read it and liked 1t
not, and for the few who know Of it
only by hearsay
* X !.
Incredible difficulties confronted the
foot-lirhters OF "Main Street As
book it is long and careful. com
posite of massed and sometimes un-
important detail, slow and labored a
labor of love. Nothing could be less
theatric. Its sordid small town sur
face. its ANALYSIS and relentless dis
section Of the ineXorably common
place. offer few points into which the
popular pavmaker may put his teeth.
Vet. in the performance at the Ma
jional there is theatre. Characterization
and a theme. Under the circumstances
i may be regarded, think as wonder
work Of condensation, d1lutlon ana
selection Of incidents to be hlgh
lighted. :.
The play begins with rather bad
scenic counterfeit OF Gopher Prairle's
Main Street on the afternoon upon
which Carol Kennicott, the small big
town idealist makes her advent as
Doc kennicott's bride. The act is
~nurious with aborcd endeavors to
establish an atmosphere, and after 1t
IS over there is in the foyer a con-
tented chorus of ''i-rold-you-s but
Yhe second act has heft, though that
r9rt o. it which shows Carols attempt
% redeem the community by reclta-
lions from the works OF stephen Phil
Inns is bit forced. The dramatists
here amend Carols pitiablc Little 1 ne
eter adventure. so that 1t occurs IN the
course OF a Gopher Prairie card party;
and it ends tragicallv. with the gophers
making cruel fun of it.
In the second scene, however. after the
Kennicotts have had their bitter argu-
nent in the bedroom, the play realizes
+he values of the novel. That episode,
nc most striking in the book. think,
wherein the Doc amputates the far .
eY's arm. is approxmated in an incl
dent upon the telephone with far9l-
er's wife calling for Kennicott to go
eiehteen miles through Minnesota
blizzard, to surgeon her husband. BY
the admirable acting Of Mckay Mort Is
< Kennicott and the believabe writ
ing of the dramatists, the incident is
endowed with fine dramatic strength
The good looks and fevers of Miss
Alma Tell as Carol in the scene help 1t
lot.
One Of the things that the play dis
covers for you, if you did not discover
it yourself in the book, is that Carrot
Kennicott, the aspiring missioner OF
culture to the small town, is more OF
a bonehead in her way than the resi-
dents of Main Street are in theirs.
Reading the novel you have sympathy
Tor her as she casts her phony pearls
before the swine of the sprawlng ugly,
self-rightcous hamlet. She is an appeal
ing study in Illustrations in the book
as she treads the via dolorosa, rend-
ing her vague ideals, her unsated
nomanticism, her groping aspirations
for sweetness and light. She is, you
feel, ''scarlet tanager on an ice foe, y
and she defects you as you leave her
It the end. the docile mistress Of a
country doctors household, her yearn-
ings baffled and subdued. In the play,
however, she is relentlessly exposed
IS an eager and honest, though some
What shallow little fool.
x =
The romantic tailor boy Of the book
q changed in the play to village
electrician with longings "to ride on
Al elephants back into a rajah's
palace and 70 install therein tele-
phone, as ne tells Carol on Main Street,
=. few minutes after she has arrived
here. This character seems to be
more plausible in the dranatization
han it is in the story, where it is
one Of the perturbing unreaities.
Main Street" transported to the the
afer. is considerably more than tale
Of which you read page or two, then
..p .~euty. It includes many of the
<ssertiais o. the novel and it is unex-
ertedly satisfying. even II YOU do
miss now and then the colored lights
the drug store windows and o,hcr
pe~uil'ng minutae OF Mr.. Snciair's