New-York tribune., 1922-11-19

FROM MORN TO MIDNIGHT. BY Georg
Kaiser. Brentanos-
DEAR BRUTus. BY J. NJ Barrie. Charles
Scribner's Sons.
| and Francis r. Reliamy. stewart-Kidd.
BODY AND SOUL. By Arnold Bennett.
Doran.
GOAT ALLEY. BY ernest Howard Gull
bertson. Stewart-Kidd
THE STICK-UP. by Pierre Loving.
Stewart-Kidd.
A FAN AND TWO cANpnHssTIcKs By
Mary Macmillan. Stewart-Kidd.
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH BY serafn
and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero. Stewart
THE WALTZ OF THE DOGS. BY Leonid
Andreyev. Macmillan.
PASSION for the theater may
~ well reduce one to such state
a of devotion that he would rather
a. -Asee bad play than to see no
play at all, but the theory
could be hardly expected to apply to
plays in book form A very poor
play prettily dressed up, charmingly
acted, may prove good entertainment.
An Ina Claire, a Helen Menken,
barrymore, a Simonson setting, can
dazzle and delight the audience of
bad piece of play-rnaking, SO that it
walks out exclaiming, "a wonderful
play!"
The play between boards instead Of
OF them is standing strictly on it's own
merits, 1t can count on nothing more
! brilliant than the Imagination of it's
reader to give it luster which NAV
not inhere in it. Memory may come to
the rescue, if the reader has seen the
play produced, and the shade of Madge
Bellamy or Helen Hayes will animate
again the might-have- been daughter.
But on the whole a play in book is
on the defensive. 1t may be scruti-
nized, turned inside-out to see what
makes its wheels go round, bits may
be re-read for unkind purposes. And
all this only if it is lucky enough to be
read at all. IL
For between a play and a novel to
read should certainly choose the lat
ter. There is the possibility, If no
more, of finding in novel an illusion
OF reality. What chance has reality
in a world where men and women do
such unnatural deeds as "slouches to-
ward left center" "enters, upper right;
where parlor maids exit and walters
take coats, ETC." None the less, plavs
are being read as we'll as written and
played.
The list herewith is an indication
that plays are being read. some, of
course, with an eye to their possible
use by amateurs and little theaters
Others are frankly out to be used in
the privacy of the home. 1t may be
that the present quantity of PUBLISH ed
plays is being consumed by the army
of people writing plays. If the ice
man and the man who reads the gas
meter are playwrights in their leisure
moments they may carry an opus of
one of their masters to read while tbey
stroll from door to door.
The Barrie play "Dear Brutus" is
uniform with the seven Other published
} Barrie plays in more than binding. II
is Barrie. Very Barrie. And it records
the stage directions, which are no more
part Of reality than "exit" and "enter.
!, but are much better than reality. The
: several ladies in Lob's drawing re ON
are described indirectly each by her.
self, surely a gallant proceeding. and
Barrie is politely pleased that each one
makes a favorable estimate of herself
Each ones mirror says to her: "Here
Is woman who has seen and felt far
more than her reticent nature readily
petfays; she sometimes smiles, but be-
hind that concession. controlling il in
Ifa manner hardly less than adorable
turks the sigh called Knowledge; a
strangely interesting face, rnyste rious /:
line for her tombstone might be: III
l had been a man what adventures
could have had with her who lies
here"
LOB does not "enter" his drawing
room: He arrives" Even the butler
who is not stage butler, but Barrie
butler, never aenters." He "apnears. ],
or sis revealed" and once he even ain.
trudes." When his presence is mo
longer desired in the drawing-roon,
ne resumes friendly relations with
the pantry
4 Lovely Margaret. the daughter that
never was on land or sea, is perfect as
ever. beW1tehing and bewitched. she
knows that things that are too beauti
full can't last, that to be very eay is
near to being very sad, that fame il
not everything. Fame is rot and daugh-
ters are the thing. This daughter CLEANS
You may not know now just what she
Goes when she CLEANS, but when Bar
RE says she does, you know quite we'll.
That's the trouble with talking about
Margaret and the rest. The words may
be the same, bat they don't sound
right. Nobody but Barrie ought to be
allowed to talk about his characters.
Arnold's Bennett's Body and Soul.
should net be talked about either. but
for q different reason. Its people viii
stand rougher handling than am pre-
pared TO give them. They may be
safely picked up, inspected and set
down again without danger of rubbing
OF gold powder. 1t is the plot that
vent bear talking about--except by
/ 5 Mr. bennett, who manages 1t nicely.
/ Ihere Is 10 much plot 10 the square
inch that nothing less thar rrhs :