The Washington herald., 1922-10-22

lNI that referred to ceiumbr.sr a,s. voyaEs
- to the New World Ths sirtskss 20
may recall. almost always streEssd celurotGS
belief that the presence Of no.lizG tropAeA
flora meant he vas approaching t-y Ane-- n
curious fashion. ths histories s>szi un.siDsus
point. l. O.. that Columbus wss spproasA-
ing not merely land but dry lana
The point of all this lies In tia fAot ehnt
J. c. and Elliott Nugsnt the actor-psxyvrtgAfs.
who gave "Kempy." 70 ths New York seAGs I'm
season. are convinced that Columbus tho1Gh4 o
Earret-ful when he thought r vaS try lad -
nearing. and while Il took some 500 yssgs
to demonstrate the real sridity Of his New wer16.
the Nugents assert that subsequent events provo
Columbus was a great political prophet ven
discoverer Of parts-
This In the IDEA that apparently sctuseO
the Nugents play. "A Clean Town. which
opens at the Gsrrick tomorrow night whns
the title seems somewhat sphemsral and tenn
porary. the plays one sample Of humor premises
much, indeed. Under such circumstances. ons
approaches "A Clean Town with vastly more
confidence than h customary this season.
The work Of the NugsntA evidenced In
the earlier play. Kenny 10 chars~tsrtssd by
q freshness OF viewpoint that New York critics
seems predicsted on tdselogy, rather than
the mere manuscript demands Of ths thssssrl
The Garrick has already greatly suffered this
season from tnnux Of plays written for the
most psrt-to quote Charming Poi1eok,s phrass-
because q play had 70 be written"
Certainly nothing could better sxylasn shs
trivialty of the musical comedy thaa entered ths
Garrick last week-'springtims Of Youth" ms
story was q triumph Of hacknsysd tnnitativsnsss.
while its sole claims 20 entsrtsinmsnt esntsrsd
about Rombergs passabis score and the
promising but Immature wtnsensnss q Hsanss
Griffith.
moned the courage 10 charge ts5o . ssst nd
sulenly blamed the consequent lack Of
tendance the only two criticisms Of ybs
piece that failed 70 lapse into rhapsedie prab&
THE older the average tramsks sHss
grows, the more bootless seems his taSk.
II Testing, tapping and anaiysfnE the
u drama from autumn 20 spring. he fire.
quently conceives his Job be dreary and his
only audience q disgruntled array OF actors and
managers whose productions have lacked merit
in his eyes
This attituds, Of course, q an wrong. rSs
more see OF the thsster, the more convinced
I become that 81 out OF every 100 theatsr-
goers surround the reviewers function with
an sureate glamour and secretly yearn TO rufer
the critical passion. In brief. am convinced
that for every deiicatessen dealer VINO
ycsrns to become . playwright there are at
least two others who yearn 70 become critics.
Carrying the idea a step further. no lonEsr
can believe that the constant threat OF
censorship held over the stage ana the pictures
is due 70 a high and exalted desire to eradicate
the evil that possibly In them lies Rather DO
believe that much Of the agitation fer censor
ship is aimed st the creation Of sn audience By
critical desire. without status authority
as critics of drama per ss they easily scouirs
both authority and status the moment they iift
clamor against the alleged indecsncies e
the theater.
All this. admittedly may be very eyfl and
unjust. but doubt H. It 10 hard nnd any
other logical basis for the efforts. for instancs,
Of MI John A Quinn. the president Of the
Better Pictures Association Of America TO create
an audience who viii devoutly follow his
critical moral findings and which audience
furthermore. viii shun . pestlence these
productions which fail to elicit the critical sp-
provd OF this gentleman and his mates.
The whole idea would be monumentaily
absurd were it not for Mr.. ouinn's cunning
In lining up the clergy. The clergy with
out doubt. always create such audience.
consisting mainly Of devout souls who hold it
heresy to argue with the psrson. but the clergy.
of hate has been rather reluctant to fall in with
plans Ike this. So frequently II amounts to
a waste of moral suasion.
Even with clerical support. the Quinn idea
seems highly Impractical Even Mr.. Quinn must
realize the basic folly OF attempting 10 persuade
a public .patronize a highly moral and prob
ably stupid show in block and TO ignore
fascinating though possibly highly spiced