The New York herald., 1921-03-01
Miss Doris Keane in Romance
Mr.. PIN Passes By
a Mildly Amusing
Play From London
Theatre Guild Offers Comedy
by A. A. Milne at the
Gar-ick.

The Theatre Guild produced last night
scene OF its achievements. "Mr. PIN
Passes By" comedy In three acts by
A. A. Milne. The author is a British,
very British. humorist who has recently
turned to the theatre as q medium OF
expression. Those familiar with the
quality of his fun in other forms viii
not find It's vein deeper or richer in It's
present manifestation. It Is possible
that even his efforts In the theatre are
family remembered here. Two years
ago Miss Ethel Barrymore acted Be
linda" at the Empire Theatre. 1t was,
like the play seen last night In three
acts. 1t possessed, moreover, other fam
lily resemblances.
Pollteness seems TO be the dominant
note in Mr.. Mines fun. II may be pale
and thin: It Is indeed often not q de-
gree above the ordinary give and take
OF conversation among high grade
morons Of ordinary social traffic But
1T Is invariably polite. Last night many
OF the spectators seemed amused By the
dialogue. II Is dialogue on which Mr.
Milne seems to count for success. IIis
essays In characterization are negligible.
There was a. portrait OF an English arts
tocrat in the play last night and as well
the study Of a young painter and his
afflanced. They were, to be sure.
sketched In lightly enough But the
husband and wife In the play stood for
nothing moro than instruments. for the
publication of the authors wit In speech.
So the others seemed almost Ike char
acters. His model is evidently Haddon
Chambers, who is, however. vastly more
skilful at this kind Of play
Blnnder OF Stranger.
Then Mr.. Chambers is experienced
enough 10 know that there must be some
plausible fouHda ton for even the light
est comedy. But all there was last
night as the cornerstone OF three acts
was the blunder OF n passing stranger.
He gave the wrong name OF Il man who
was mistaken for the horo,nes first
husband. He had other adventures In
idiocy before the play was finished. But
none. Of course. could stand as the basis
of comedy. The most easily persuaded
pls.yeocr could not help feeling that
there should have been a httle bit more
to build on than the shifting sands OF
NJ. PINS word.
And what IL Mr.. PIN Passes By"?
The hero who gives his name to the
play Ii in reality "A very incidental fig
ure. He tells casually that on the way
back from Australia lie met q certain
notorious character. BY name Tell
tooTthp. This is bonibshell. Such was
the name of the first husband OF his ac-
cidental hostess. Husband and wife had
thought him dead long a go III the West
But evidently he has come back 10 Eng
land as disreputaDle a6 when nc LETT il.
There is all the horror that might ensue
from the discovery that the conventional
couple is not married. that the wife
might be compelled TO return to this
first husband and the scandal that these
events might bring 70 the family name
Then Mr. PIN passes by again to say he
had fotgot 10 mention the man had died
on the steamer before tho voyage ended
The Coauettisb Wife.
Tho wife has Mysteries but recovers
to realize that while a legal widow she
IL an Illegal wife. Her husband assures
her that a quiet littlc Ceremony at a
registry will settle all that. But the wife
coquettes. She will not drop SO easily.
She plans TO chasten her husband OF
certain small tyrannies by making him
guess Then Mr.. PIN calls again. I, is
TO say that the family name was really
quite different from that he mentioned,
but he cannot for the life OF him recall
whether tne nrSI name was Henry or
Ernest. He reappears once more TO as
sure the wife that II was Ernest. But
by that time she has already reduced
her husband to domestic submission, and
complete triumph Is hers.
Mr.. Mlnc's play wouli nave been
much more convincing had there been
less casual point Of departure. As Il
was, the actors had to supply as much
Of the plausib.lity as they could. They
were clever enough TO do anything re-
qured by the dramatist, and, indeed. n
great deal more. The acting was quite
brilliant.
Mise Laura Hope Crews played the dis
turbei wife very amusingly. and made
her attack Of Mysteries natural yet ex-
pressive OF the accumulation OF cord-
plex emotions. Dudley DIgges, as the
conventional husband, expressed the con-
fusion appropriate 10 such a domestic
crisis, and Miss Helen Wcstley supplied
picturesque portrait OF the British lady
Of title and conventions who had not had
a scandal in the family for two hundred
years. Phyllis Povak was the en1bodi-
ment OF comely animation. Leonard
Nude and Erskine Sanford were other
natural figures In tho action OF the play.
which passed on n July morning In the
country.
NOTES OF THE THEATRES.