The Washington herald., 1921-05-15
Blissful Fadseuts.

peculiar pointedness For instnce, Partisan
stage fsvorite recently instituted suit against por
trait painter who earicatured her, presumably a.
protest against the widespread practice among his
brothers Of arbitrarily making beautiful in pigment
the homeiy in Aesh Lady Asquith's memoirs are
in a sense analogous; the registering Of irritation
against the whitewashing Of Britans high In the
national counsels by an expose. perhaps overdone,
Of their peccadilloes, stupdities and gaucheries.
In our own country. fuel for the fame Of strife
between artistic sincerity and insncerty, 10 to be
found in literary and dramatic schemata by which
/. the well known happy ending Is so frequently
dragged stumbling into plot which is getting on
very well without il.
& Particularly is this true OF the movies. The
happy ending is not only permissible but unerring
ly indicated in the vast galaxy of photoplays which
never depart further from comedy than to traverse
the stormy realm of melodrapia. But in the adap-
tations from literary successes, the fortui-
tos finale inrudes itself with surprising frequency
il seems strange, for instance. that writer Of
the repute Of Arnold Bennett should allow his
Book of Carotta," under \he title of Sacred and
Profane Love-" to be paraded on stage and screen
with the grim jest of the last page censored by
some producing Pollyanna in order that theatrical
arrangements may "send em away smiling" 1t
seems strange that James NJ Barrie would consent
TO an almost identical excision in the cinema
sion of Sentimental Tommy and Tommy and
Grizel' 1t is positively grotesq4c that the vehicle
which brought to George Arliss one OF his early
stage trumphs to w.t. "The Devil" should be re-
vamped for the movies so that in the denouement
"a woman who has shown signs whatever of
religious nature should be saved by the introduction
of flaming cross from the evil wiles which in the
stage rendition inevitably and logically overwhelm
her.
R. These three films have been in Washing
ton theaters in the past few weeks and seem an
heavy visitation Of the forced happy
ending plague.
Happy, according to the New Standard Diction-
ary refeks to something that comes by good hap"
chance than brings prosperity. benefit or success
The chance of happy eventualites in life using the
word in its ordinary acceptation, certainly cannot
be placed much higher than out Of two save
by unreasoning optimism. Hence, if truth Is what
we are going to have in dramatic art, the glooms
must perforce intrude upon the last act with con-
siderable frequency We do not want them there;
VIC do not want them in real existance, but there
they are, impossible of Punishment in this period
of world development.
1t is a shock to logic and the artistic sense
when the current of the play has sent stronger and
stronger toward the dark shores Of unhappiness to
have it finally and suddenly diverted toward the
law golden isles of meaningless pleasure. If 1t Is
a sermon the production would preach, its point is
lost and its argument made absurd by this spfcious
expedient 1t renders impossible that fatterng alb
sorption on the part of the audience which Is the
tribute given to the play that truly mimics life 1t
implies a public which,, whatever its would-be
panderers believe is possessed of artistic dscrmi-
nation and courage to face disagreeable things i
and sweetly trusting attitude in the
midst Of world where the harsh winds OF DIS
illusion and disaster never still.
All this would be impertinent foment if the
stage and the screen were designed only to amuse.
1t is bad form to prate of bulls while viewing the
beauties Of a china shop or to proclaim the worth
Of blue laws at country club dance. But the halls
If Tbespis set up 10 be considerably more than
Measure palaces. They would be lit always by the
torch of artistic sincerity and they would help man
by self revelation through the entrances exits,
speeches and gestures OF hrs orothefs ana SISTERS
dsd;c,,cd to the drama They would instruct up
I'd a do these thipgs