The New York herald., 1921-09-11

Nobody is in the least excited dur
ing the third act of "The Wheel"
Grateful as the public may be to him
for good work in the past. the fault
here must lie at the door of the play
wright. Something is wrong in his
preparation for the climax of this
scene or the effect which he devised
weuld not so utterly flash in the pan.
The writer of this comment would
never attempt to explain what that
fault may be when SO expert play
wright as Mr.. Smith has failed to detect
it in the making OF his play. Possibly
the audience has been kept in too
complete ignorance of the wife's plan.
Some preparation by the appearance
of the wife earlier in the scene so that
even If her husband were ignorant of
her plot the spectators at least knew
something If not all about it-maybe
some such expedient might have
tended to interest the audience more
in her appearance. On the other hand,
this way of getting the woman into
the minds of the spectators may have
failed completely. In any case. 1t Is
grossly presumptuous to give advice
to any writer who has proven that he
knows the theatre as well as Mr..
Smith does.
The fact, nevertheless, remains that
what was evidently meant to be the
most dramatic minute in the play
makes no such impression on the pub
lie.
Miss Hurst's Little situation.
1t also Is in the third act of Back
Pay" that the gifted authoress gently
bat firmly places her dainty foot on
the pedal marked Dramatic" and
presses down hard with the toe Of herr
ladies' and misses AA. The gold dig
gers are feasting. One OF them. who
has been enjoying liquid feast OF
several days duration. reads from a
newspaper OF the arrival in New York
Of a wounded soldier supposed to be
dead. He is the old home town lover
octhe hostess. So. leaving her guests.
sfx learns the location of the hos
pital and in her cloth Of gold dinner
gown (marked up to $1,000 for gold
diggers) she sets out to find him.
There are still the sounds of feast
inElfrom behind the doors of the din
Ing room. In vain has the protector
fb,otested that his beloved shall not
20 away. In vain, too. her friends
ciy after her. She goes out to search
for the old love from Demopolis, Ohio.
Miss Hurst has painted in this con-
tfAst of licentious indulgence and true
love a genuinely dramatic background
---firamstic that is for a novel. 1t is
INIT in the least dramatic in a play.
GIN her black cloak covering the
cloth of gold gown, the heroine creeps
yasyay Not a soul is thrilled by the
Fight. Not pulse beats bit more
uiiicl<ly from the effect of this "situa-
tton" which Mrs. Hurst has built up.
Yet she doubtless counted on immense
theatrical effectiveness from the de-
parture of the heroine under such con-
ditions. Certainly the mise -en-scene
htfd been elaborately prepared.
But the touch of the playwright In
building the episode was lacking. Miss
Hurst had neglected no step to insure
it's effectiveness on the printed page.
How great the difference is between
cha medium and the other. the least
experienced playwright does not have
ia. he told.
At all events Miss Hurst has in
Back Pay" done everything to make
her situation" telling. Unfortunately
she has evidently not worked with
The means of the dramatist. Else the
heroine would not depart from the
scene of so much tainted luxury and
vicious gayety to the austere walls OF
a Brooklyn base hospital and leave
no more impression on the minds OF
the spectators than IL she were creep
ing out surreptitiously to get another
pound of butter from Otto Kalbsmaul,
the delicatessen dealer on the corner.
This Is another situation in the
current drama which with all the
Imagination expended In creating ii
accomplishes none of the purposes for
which IL was devised. III a situation
does not thrill or move or amuse or
sadden. what is the use of it? Wise
inoeed are the dramatists OF the day
I'm discarding such mechanical old
device. They are especially wise IL