Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-12-24

dark next week the two dark theatres '
wc will have FIVE new legit shows, the I
change of vaudeville bills and a genera
that we will get the usual happy clil
after all.
yrNUIS week has knocked an old
tradition to smithereens. And, by
doing that, It has given a new lease OF
life to the habitual
This Weeks optimism of the
Theatre Rush atrical people;
n.oLo Records Last Saturday in
D'o"' this column we
voiced the general gloomy outlook upon
rho week before Christmas business. 1t
meyer has been good in past years
even in unusually prosperous years.
And so far, this year has not been
prosperous.
So. not expecting amy ticket buyers
o. ;mtcrrupt them. the box office men
all Invested in new decks of cards and
.tudied Uoylc's well-kRown observu Z.
tion.s on the form of address in pinochle
and looked forward to n week in which
tbev could win cigar money from their
And then an astonishing thing hap
ronnI. .as the thriller writer's love TO say.
people began to come in and buy, seats
I'D they continued 10 come. Monday
and Tuesday nights were fine, Wcdnes,
dow and Thursday were better, last
night was excellent. For every snow
except Agar" 1t has been the 1est
week before Christmas business thu'
the local theatres have known IN years.
And the slump, of "Afgar' Is by no
means II reflection on the tastes OF I'hll-
ndclphia thcatregoers; quite the coh :
trary.
NEXT weeks bills certainly give us
~ sufficient variety to choose from
A. tho Forrest we have The Wander
inc low" dramatic spectacle; at the
Walnut "Thc Bad Man. satiric
comrdy at the Garrick, The Famous
Mrs Fair" comedy drama; at the
Iyric. Mcintyre and Heath in musical
comedy: mt the Shubert, The Passing
Show" n typical revue.
The Desmond players. in reopenlng
thc Metropolitan Opera House, Will give
"Zaza" Monday matinee and every eve.
ming and Tess of the Storm Country
every matinee except Monday, while the
OrpLeum gives the first stock production
of Daddy Dumplins." These two
stock organizations. by the way: nave
built up Il most gratifying following
This wear, and the plays they have pre-
sented 50 far would almost constitute Il
fair dramatic education in themselves.
There's no more satisfactory sign of the
theatrical good health of a city than
consistent support of good organiza
tons for stock work. 1t gives the
Younger generations an opportunity to
become familiar with standard works
they would otherwise probably never
see
THERE'S another notable theatrical
I 4 crent on for merit rcck. though IL
: doesn't come IN the regular routine.
p MS performance in Italiap Jy that
fine artistic, Mimi Aguglia, and her
company at the Academy Of Music on
. N0nddy CrCning. T'hc play iS NicOdemt
y "Scamporo" and the performance Is
. tor the benefit of the Sons Of Ifaty
OrphqmQgc at ConcOrdrillc, Pa.
TT Is very evident that the average
L theatrical producer is not good
: Judge of playwriting. | feel tempted
. to go further and
"Decldssee" say that he
? Needs Repairs by knows absolutely
Good Carpenter nothing Of ne
methods by which
story should be told TO gain its great +
est effectiveness behind the footlights
About all he does is to read the manu-
script, sit back and visualize his stal
in the part and, if it looks good. start
to work on it. In other words, he
simply takes chance; he is
gambler.
There have been dozen failures this
season that might have logged along tt
comfortable success II they had only
been put together with half in
tcllgent attention to dramatic prin'
riples. I'm not talking high brow
dramaturgy now; I'm talking about the
plain hatchct and saw form of rougl
carpentry that is necessary to give
play an adequate framework to carry
it in it's final, completed form.
Which leads me to ''Declassee.
7 were not such an Out-and out ad'
mlrer of Ethel Barrymore. ! should no
be so bitterly disappointed in her pres
ont play. The faults of ''Decassee'
are so glaring that every local reviewer
except one adverted to them on Tuesday
and if they stand out so plainly tina
this is done in first night review. tn,
question naturally arises, Why on earu
weren these faults seen ana corre'tS'
before the play was put out before th'
'"T''C TIoro oro two things that corr,
"Derlnssce'' tn success in spite of IT.
faults, First is The irresistible worl
Of the stor second the story is obou
an extremely interesting and unusun
type of woman and her fate SO apnenI
to MS that we orc willing to ovcrIooI
MANY things in order 70 see il through
Tho pitiful part of II il that nn,
fairly intelligent and capable stag
craftsman couIJ hovo tnLon "De