Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-05
"ANNA CHRISTIE" HAS :
TANG OF THE SEA
Eugene o'Neilrs Powerful
Drama Of Lives Gone Wrong
Opens at Walnut

Walnut-Philadelphia is at last priv.
ileged to sce a drama by Eugene
O'Neill In which the sweep Of the story
keeps full pace with the boundlcss reach
Of this man's Imagination and keen
sense Of the atmospheric.
"Anna Christie" with its opening
net in the bleak and murky shadows
of, Johnny the. Priests saloon in the
New York waterfront. its second act
aboard a coal barge in Provincctown
harbor, hemmed in by n ghostly fog.
and its constantly repeated illusions to
"That ol davil sea-" must have been
accounted a play Of atmosphere and
picturesque setting first Of all. II II had
had substance one whit less absorbing.
Here, however, is a case Of logical dra.
matte development, normal conflict OF
character, substantial characterizn.
tions--all substituted for the vnporings
and elf.conscious gesticulnticns OF the
two other O'Ncill plays shown here.
"Anna Christie" can bc called many
things; we would prefer TO- call II 2
drama Of false pretenses and shattcred
illusions. O'Ncill has set out 10 show
TINT even the hotsam and jetsari ot the
waterfront may have illusions; that
even the most besotted visitors at
Johnny the Priests try to live up 10
standards that seem to Ill consort WITH
their sor,lid lives.
Old Chris Christophcrson. befuddled
and sodden, il still anxious to assume
a virtue that he has not when he learns
his daughter Is coming from the west;
J that snme daughter. fresh from Two
ycnrs of evil living, meckly submits to
n drink Of sarsapnrilla instead OF her
favorite whisky highball in her en-.
deavor to appear pure and innocent DC;
fore her rough, old, "square'head
father.
Even more does she strive to conceal
the reality of those two years she spent
in St. Paul from the young irish sailor
who crawls aboard her fathers coal
barge one foggy night and promptly
falls in love with Anna. ONeill does
not specifically state that Mat Burke,
the nfore. mentioned sailor. was pre-
tending to be anything he was nor: OF
was trying to live UP to any ideal ctncr
than his own law Of the power OF the
fist, but We imagine h" was.
The basis of each OF tn" four acts
(perhaps less in the sccond) IL this
conflict Of prctcnses and false hopes.
So does O'Nell get down to the con.
crete, and create Il drama rather thah
n monologue in an exotic case or
stump speech in the guise of play.
Miss Pauline Lord. as Anna. not only
gives one of the finest charnct cterizatiOn:
seen here this season. but does one OF
the most vivid things Of her career.
Strident, In turn mocking and dehnnt,
then sad.cyed and frightened. she makes
this daughter Of old Chris an unforget-
table figure, and she achieves her great
effect BY the quietest Of methods. George
Marion. playing the role Of the father.
Is almost as fine. His part is the lenst
changed from "Chris." the original Of
the present day. His hatred OF the ser
and his love for his daughter dominate
his rugged and intensely human per-
sonality. Frank shannon. as Nat. Is
excellent with the exception OF his one
high pitched climatic scene.
The Inst net Of Gamma Christie" has
been called it's weakest, but the reason
for this charge is apparently that
O'Ncil side stepped definite tragedy.
lie chose instead to make his finale
surcharged with cynicism--father and
lover both going off again on that "old
davil sea- and Anna waiting for them.
shaken and afraid. in Boston or New
York. If the last net Is weak it is be-
cause O'Neill has not sharpened his
dialogue. In fact, there are several
times in "Anna Christie" when wordi.
ners appears. This and tn eprescnce
Of the worst hammered audience that
has attended first night here this sea-
son robbed some Of the scenes of much
of their effect.
The settings Of Robert Edmund Jones
especially that remarkable saloon
, scene-are exceptionally fine. "Anna
Christie" is n thought provoking and
| NJ tho sono tina vividlv Cnlnrful RI mn