Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-09
LEAVES SPELL
OF HAVINCBEEN
With LINCOLN
Audience Thrilled by Frank
McGlynn's Presentation
of Drinkwater Play.
Ry PEPYS

1t is with humble ana reNerent pen
that one undertakes to talk about John
Drinkwater's Abraham Lincoln, ="
which gave a n~ear-capacity audience at
the Grand Thursday night probably
the greatest presentation of the strong
est drama which is on the American
stage today.
Superlatives are dangerous and us
ually Intellectual descriptive tools. SO
often are they employed that the the
ater-goer is wary. The cry of wolf,
wolff has gone forth too often. In
this case one casts about in vain for
some adequate means of expressing the
value of a spiritual dramatic monument.
To John Drinkwater. an Englishman.
this country owes a debt of gratitude
for a conception of the greatest Amer
lean which preserves the best tradi-
tons of this country. To Frank Nc
| Glynn this country owes an equal debt
of gratitude for lifting the great
Emancipator from the ashes of 81
years and portraying him with a power
which is overwhelming.
In Lincoln's Presence.
McGlynn is Abraham Lincoln. It is a
curious fact that one cannot sit
through the play without a feeling that
amounts to conviction that he has been
in the presence of the martyred pres
ident. All of us have u W on
cepts of Abraham Lincoln. Depending
on what we may have read. and
which of his portraits or statues we
may have seen, that impression varies.
So it is not at all strange that Nc
Glynn's initial appearance calls to in
dividual attention a slight l~ncongruity
of dress here, a minor difference of
cnn acb nr opnooronno thora h,f tho
wondrous thing is how magically these
li~ttlenesses just dissolve into thin air.
and Abraham Lincoln is resurrected
without a flaw to carry US through the
episode story of a great mans triumph.
Living the Part
1t is not mere acting. for that is
done, and done well by all the remain
ing characters. 1t is living the part to
such an extent that the Lincoln power
is manifest at every turn. Through
tionaries, the bitterness of critics, the
selfish motives of politicians, the strife
and hatred stirred by the conflict
still through the whole seething mass
shines the steadfast purposes Of Lin
coin to preserve the union and abolish
the evil of slavery, these actuated by
his inspired vision.
Just as faithfully has Drinkwater
written and does McGlynn interpret
that part of Lincoln's character which
endears him to all Americans. Those
little human outcroppings, homely bits
Of philosophy, and quaint bits of wit
and humor. A president who could
open o cabinet meeting at one of the
most dangerous crises of American
history with a heading of humorous
Artemus Ward anecdote! And the
same president, a few minutes later,
magnificent in shaming those Of his
official family who allowed their poll
principles.
Arnold Benefits Comment
There is a spell about the whole play
which is well expressed by Arnold
Bennett in an Introductory note to
on edition of the written drama. In
it he says:
III curtain goes w on a highly
commonplace little parlor, and a few
ordinary people chatting in a highly
commonplace manner. They keep on
chatting. The audience thinks to it
self: I've been done! What is this
interminable small talkT And it wants
to call out a protest: Ill., You fellows
on the stage! Have you forgotten
tnat there Is an audience on the other
side of the footlightS, waiting for
something to happen? Truly the
ordinary people in the psrlor do seem
to be ava of the existence of
any audience.
But, wait audience! Already the
author is winding his chains about
you. Though you may not suspect it,
you are already bound.
The Spell Persists
AT the end of the first scene the
audience. vaguely feeling the spell.
wonders what OF earth the nature of
the spell is. At the end of the play
it is perhaps still wondering What
precisely the nature of the spell is. .
-. But it fully and rapturously ad-
mits the reality Of the spell. In
deed after the fall of the curtain, the
spell persists; the audience somehow
cannot leave it's seats, and the thought
of the worry of the journey home and
of the last 'busses and trains is ban
ished. Strange phenomenon. 1t oe-
ours every night"
abraham Lincoln" will play the
second and closing night of its Great !
Falls engagement at the Grand to-
night. 1t is a shame that every Ameri-
can cannot see it. Anyone who is
unable to. has missed something ire |
mendously worth while. !