New-York tribune., 1921-04-24

he stood there covered by the guns Of
the police.
curious compound of realism and
fantasy is "Liliom." We can recall no
other play which has captured quite
the same spirit of being of the earth
and yet always on tiptoe to be up and
away to rarer regions. Molnar has
managed to show that true and real
things are whimsical He has not been
obliged to bury his head in the sand
in order to be a quaint fellow Not
only dreams and the shadows of life,
he seems to say, are fantastic, but sub
stance itself assumes queer shapes. He
digs down into the earth to find sly
humor instead of leaping into the air
| to catch it.
| Again Molnar-is significantly success
full in finding romance where few
playwrights would have the sense to
seek it. A good many with Liliom
on their hands would insist on giving
him speeches about sunset on the top
of the Andes Mountains and moonlight
bathing in the Nile. Molnar makes the
symbol of romance for Lilom some
thing as simple and as close to home as
a merry go-round.
A fine play has found fine cast.
God seems to attend to this. Eva LIE
Gallienne gives perhaps the most fin
ished performance. 1t is difficult to
see how her work could be bettered.
She tears the very heart out Of you
without ever raising her voice or put
ting a hand above her shoulder 1t
is work marvelously sure and vigor-
Gus, without single false move Jo-
seph Schildkraut is not quite as good
as that. He makes some errors. He
does a little too much. His exit to the
kingdom of purifying fire, for instance,
4 magnificent moment, is marred be-
cause he hammers it just little. But
If he does little too much he should
also be roundly praised for the enor-
NOUS vitality and inventiveness of his
performance. He is extraordinarily
resourceful physically. He knows some
thing to do with his body every mo-
mcnt and generally something which
impresses you as soundly right the
moment it is done. He brings great
strength and grace to the role. We
i like his swagger and the gesture Of
his hands and the manner in which he
shoves people around. An actor might
play great. many years just to learn
the same sudden manner in which
Schildkraut slaps the hard of the child
in the last act Having said after
"Pagans" that Schildkraut was an actor
of little promise we are obliged to take
that back. Still he was pretty we'll
concealed by bad mannerisms in that
play. Perhaps Frank Reicher has
something to do with the marvellous
difference which is evident between
the Schildkraut of "Pagans" and the
Schildkraut of "Liliom." Perhaps not.
1t does not matter Reicher has enough
to his credit for the production with
out inventing honors for him.
The program explains that "Liliom"
means "thc tough" but any one who
has seen the play must realize that
the word is hardly strong enough Now
the guild has hit upon "Thc Rough
neck" which is probably pretty close
to what Molnar had in mind, although
we think "The Tough Egg" might be
even closer. And, by the way, in
salaaming to the various persons who
were concerned in the success of
"Liliom" we neglected until this mo-
ment to include Benjamin F. Glszer,
whose translation seems unusually
F., spirited.
When the present season is over
and done with we may anticipate no
great amount of trouble in forgetting
it. But we will not be able to forget
the scene between Liliom and Julie on
the mark bench, nor yet the scene un-
der the railroad bridge. These seem
to us the highest spots the theatcr has
reached this year.
We find one reviewer venturing the
on;nion that the performance OF
| walter Hampden in Macbeth" marks