The New York herald., 1922-02-19

irresistible laughter. Luckily theH
spectators of Bulldog Drummond"
pass it safely. None of them ever
enters. Such way out would be
fatal.
The terrors of The Cat and the
this kind of drama than they are to
the more reasonable shocks of "The
Bat" The action of ''The Bat" passes
in an entirely plausible country
house. John Wizards mysteries at
the National Theater are to be ex-
perienced in an old home that has
been all but closed to the world for
twenty years. Its walls are more.
over provided, not only in the library
but in the sleeping rooms, with
swinging panels. No architecture
suited more exactly to the needs of
the playwright could be conceived.
The English melodrama has it's most
exciting scenes in a madhouse. The
authors of both these plays have
taken, it will easily be seen, the fullest
license to pile on the agony. In other
words they have created arbitrarily
the machinery of their shockers. In
using as the foundation for THE Bat"
Mrs. Rinehart's novel "The Circular
Staircase" one of the best American
detective stories since "The Leaven-
worth Case" the adapter, Avery Hop
wood, has been compelled to maintain
a annrnyipn a In M IN
ity.
But the public is not analytical 1t
is most readily susceptible to any con-
fusion the theater may offer. There is
little or no Missouri about it's attitude
in the presence of an invitation to be-
wilderment. An audience puts itself
docilely at the disposition of the play
wright to be manipulated as he will.
Luckily for this popular form of di-
version, the two new mystery plays do
the trick admirably.
Duse I'm Fedora Role.
correspondent writes to ask when
Eleonora Duse acted the title role of
Sardou's Fedora in this city. The
performance, according to available
statistics took place at the Fifth Ave-
nue. Theater during that memorable
first visit of the great italian actress.
Then she acted a number OF roles In
her French repertoire which she never
repeated She finally ceased to act any
French play but La Dame aux Ca
melias" She played Sardou's Mus
covite princess at the Fifth Avenue
Theater in 1898. Other rare joys of
4. tta ItnIt In
actresses playing of Cyprfenne in "Di-
vorcons," Toscd and Fernando.
Brander Matthews told Prof. George
Odcll OF Columbia University that 1t
took the acting of Signora Duse to
show how shallow as play Fedora"
really was. She acted with her convinc-
,rgly natural manner in a play which
had been treated In the past with the
fiery emotionalism of Nine. Bern
harGt's dramatic method. He might
ms we'll have said that the divine Sarah
demonstrated how poor as n play was
"Magda" by acting with her incor-
rightly romantic manner such drao
study OF middle class German life. IL
Is quite true, however. that Eleonora
Duse never possessed any special pa
tience with the feverish emotionalism
OF French drama, although her changes
I'm La Princesse Georges" were COM
mended even by Dumas himself
The performance OF an old time best
seller OF the footlights like Fedora"
always exercises salutary effect II
k quite possible to acquire admiration
for the technical perfection of some
stones without binding the spectator
to the superiority of the dramatic
products Of the day. Even In the con-
tracted version made by Louis N.
Parker, or whoever was responsible
for the more or less mutilated form
OF the drama used by Miss Lohr, it is
possible to become deeply interested
in the exposition of the opening scene.