The New York herald., 1921-10-25
The Six-Fnty's'
Thrills Get Near
to Eternal Verities
New Play at Hudson Runs
Gamut From Farce to
Tragedy.

In the successful promotion of "The
Broken Wing and perhaps It was the
effective crash of tie airplane in that
play that led him to decide to present
Tho Six-Fifty' at the Hudson Theatre
last night. for this comedy drama re-
ceived its primary force from a railroad
wreck. in which a train overturned
itself and the lives in a farm house,
hold. But Kate McLaurin the authoress.
saw At to do her locomotive smashup
in the classic Greek manner, as Sopho-
cles might have dramatized railroad
disaster-off stage.
Those who go to the theatre attracted
by the undeniably praiseworthy quail
ties of this piece. but fearful of the
tumult and the shouting OF the wreck
and hoping to have 1t over with as soon
as possible, need not be apprehensive
unless they dread much kissing. footing
and 5angling Of chains in the wings.
This Is one of the meiodramatic epi-
sodes in three acts that pushed their
way vigorously and with quite irresis-
tible force at times through the gamut
of comedy, drama, melodrama and hint
of tragedy and of farce--so that the
play ought to suit every taste. 1t opens
in the kitchen of bleak New Hampshire
farm with an IbsenesQue atmosphere Of
realism. in which the Theatre Guild
ing with unwearied vivacity on the stove
and the roller towel with the unmistak-
able Bertillon evidence that there was q
family around.
Yearns for outer World.
Here a young wife unbosoms herself
of the aching longing for the pulsing
life of the outer world. typified for her
by the $50 train every evening. as an
escape from the seven years drudgery
that has made her old before her time
and that makes chance copy of a the
atrical magazine more thrilling to her
than the latest extra on the world series
Her hardheaded, honest but not al
ways comprehendlng young husband
listens to her wlrnour much evident
sympathy for her romantic ina agination
he is embittered. too, at being turned
from civil engineer into a farmer
while Grandpa, already SO years old,
babbles about stretching his senie
"reminiscences of the civil war out until
he is 100. 1t is the feminine side of
Beyond the Horizon" with the wreck
coming just when the wife is wishing
hardest for something to happen and
save her from a Eugene O'Neill finish.
In the next scene the spectator is
switched to the dining car of the 6 so
Just before the accident and Is treated
to high comedy episode. a perfect gem
of its kind, with a most authentic dining
car setting that may alone be worth
seeing as a rarity II the strike comes.
Here meet the wealthy man with
dyspepsia, who is ludicrously sending all
his dishes back and who is driven wild
by the reckless orders of two skilfully
depicted flappers, n famous prima donna
and the young philanderer who broke
her heart but made her. career. Just
when the conversation is becoming in
teresting the act is discreetly broken up
by the wreck like a serial story.
Works out Her Destiny.
In the following acts at the farm.
where the shaken passengers go. the wife
works out her destiny, her Imagination
fired by the philanderer's offer to show
her the delights of the world, but with
those fires banked by the diva, who
knows her ex-lover--as prima donnas
often do. The humanizing and revolu-
tionary effects of train crashes have been
the subject OF plays before. but scarcely
with such convincing force. for it's
simply crammed with human stuff. All
the world doesn't have such cataclysms
to solve the humdrum, but this piece,
with It's occasional philosophy gets
nearer to the eternal varities than most
of the plays of this year, for which it
deserves three toots of its own whistle.
The characters have been faithfully
and brightly drawn, with dialogue In
which Miss McLaurin shows her histri-
onic training in theatrically effective
speech. and all the cast---Reginald Bar
low as Grarnp, Leonard Wiley as the
husband, Lillian Albertson as the wife,
William T. Hays as the dyspeptic. Lolita
Robertson as the diva, Lillian Ross,
Hazel Tlrney, John Merkyl and E. Max
well Selzer-seem to have harnessed
themselves to their parts.
There are no stars, but every one
helps The Six-Ffty" make good time.
Through 1t every one eats unflaggingly---
It is the eatingest play in town--while
the spectator is thankful at least this
season over getting a piece into which
he can set his teeth. 1t will be a cause
of joy and of sorrow for the company.
for with a probably long run they will
not relish eating roast pork night after
night.