The Washington times., 1921-11-27
With Alan Dale at
NeW York TheaterS
CONTINUED from Page g.

pressed, that Chicago Is not as
screamingly droll as every city
outside of New York should be-
and is! Time was when Chicago
feet. as worn by women. was a
fertile topic in vaudeville and mu-
siIal comedy. 1t was done almost
to death. Today one never listens
to this dear old Jest. 1t has been
discarded. perhaps from fright.
The most popular figure in plays
dealing with London and Paris is
the lone American who is yearning
for New York. When he Is piled
with the delicacies of foreign CAPT.
tails all he has to say IL, ooh, how
I'd love some Of mommer's fried
chicken" to secure torrents of
laughter. There is no hesitancy
about this brand Of laughter. No
coaxing Is necessary. 1t just bulb
bles and brims over. 1t is due to
self-satisfaction. It is prompted by
the ide4 that New York must b
the real thing. because WE BE-
long to New York New York u
emphadSed because It II the g1ort
fIcation Of Ua We adore It for
that distinct and occasionally par.
donabas reason. We cannot brook
humor anyNhsrs elsa. We are
Jealous. We are sxacting. We are
out for the honors We believe that
our town deserves because It IL
OUR town. Nowhere else in the
world II there such municipal
snobbishness- London, Paris, Ber-
lin, Vienna, Madrid-all have their
little weaknesses Of course, but In
no city 10 there such lofty self
oomplaoency a. in New York. The
playwright realizes that the con-
trast between New York and other
capitals must be instituted in favor
Of New York. and II he cares for
his box office-as he naturally
must do-hs will sec to It that
Now York gets all kinds Of oppor-
tunities to laugh ut every other
Understanding at Philadelphia
and working its way West. I forgot
Pittsburgh. New York adores Pitts
burgh as q source Of humor, and
Pittsburgh rarely misses . laugh
here.
Precisely what visitors from
other cities think Of us We neither
know nor care. AZ no theatrical
productions are made elsewhere
with q few exceptions-nobody
over laughs at Now York. Nobody
would dare to do 90. But occa~
sionally the Inhabitants Of less
favored cities must laugh at our
pet weaknesses and our municipal
impertinence.
VIZ HEN. in our society dramas,
" We want to introduce vul-
gar dowaeers into our
drawing room scenes. or brash
youths into our smoking room cpl
sodss. they always come from the
West. They arc labeled "Chicaxo"
or Dubuque" or Sioux City"-never
New York" No playwright would
dare to suggest that New Workers.
could be nouveaux riches or vulSar
interlopers. That would BE- q GRIM
ind suggestion. We love to be-
neve that in our midst all IL re-
fined and delicate and high-bred,
and everything outside is-just the
contrary. 1t IL our obession. We
are not quite Sane on tho subjects.
All mfrth at-let mo say-a Mala-
propian dowager would be QueIled
If she were a New Yorker. but Just
let her hale from Peoria. Ill, or
Scranton. Pa. and all is well. You
may laugh. You may revel. You
may enjoy yourself. This idea never
varies. It Is never topsy-turvied.
New York. like all DULLES, is very
sensitive 1t may laugh at every
body and everything. but once let
everybody and everything laugh at
New York and all the fat Is in tho
fire.
And when you analyse New York
audiences and listen to their prattle
between acts. in the Hobbies or the
smoking rooms you cannot quito
understand this pertinacious self
satisfaction. Tho people who have
roared with. laughter at illusions to
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh. and Peoria
seem scarcely entitled to do so. At
least their Conversation" hardly
seems quite 50 to the mark Of such
lordly personages. But It Is the
fad! Oh, It is moro than the fad. It
m IL n,rnr, ha nallad n h..a4ti.. Ill.