The Washington herald., 1922-01-22
LONDON LIKES
STAGE THRILLS,
NOT PHILOSOPHY
Buckets of Blood" of
Shakespeare Give Way to
Buckets Of DishonOr."

LONDON, Jan. 81. - In the old
days when shakespeare wanted to
wiring out a. few thrills he just
killed of bunch of dukes or kings.
Nowadays. instead of buckets OF
blood, we have buckets Of dishonor.
In The Thing That Matters" :"
which has Just opened here, a sue
cessful business man, the soul of
honor, who has been created a baro-
net and established a wide reputa-
tion for honesty. finds his son has
forged a check that strips the fam
lily of their entire fortune: the eld-
est daughter is not living with her
husband, is in need of money for
gambling debts. and Is being paid
attentions by villainous peer: and
the fiance OF his second daughter.
just after the engagement Is an
nounced, meets his former wife,
whom he thought dead.
Plays OF this intense sort. with
little evidence of any desire to
teach, to spread new ideasor change
any customs, are coming into popu-
larity. The London public. IL seems.
Is tired of powerful philosophy. and
either wants to shake its shoulders
or have an absorbing, care-free
weep which at the proper time will
turn to laughter.
Turn of the Tide.
That's what THE Thing That
Matters" assures. Just as the old
man-whose part Arthur Boucher
plays, welcomes up for the third
time and sees nothing but more
trouble ahead, the tide turns. The
worm happens to be represented by
the supposedly dead wife of the sec
ond daughters fiance. The villain
Gus peer has pressed her just too
far. Her turning leaves the play an
ordinary comedy-drama.
If she had not turned there would
have been the opportunity for some
really intense acting. The son had
forged a check. The head of the
bank to which il was presented was
a personal friend of the fathers
and brought it to him. The father
asked to keep 1t for a while and
promised to return il. Later the
son. in frenzy, tore up the check
That would Nhave left the loss to
fall on the shareholders of the
bank: but the old man had given
his word. and he wrote his own
check to replace the forged one. II
will take all the family fortunes to
honor the check. and the wife re-
fuses to sacrifice hers. The wife
has the son forge his fathers name
to a note to the friend asking to
see the check again, and she gets
back both the check and that note
Now the old man. by breaking the
word given in his name, can save
his fortune. What will he do?
vindIcation of Right.
But here the tide turned. Right
Is vindicated and wrong is con.
quered. And nobody knows what
is The Think That Matters"
At the Grand Guignol audiences
are literally raised out Of their
seats nightly. The plays are usually
short, not more than one or two
short acts. Several of them go in
one program. first a light one and
then heavy and light alternating. A
jealous husband pretends to be
keeping his wife from scandal bS
throwing out the window a mar
who had died from heart failure in
her room. The man was her lover
She had tried to save him. The
bloodhounds in the yard below
trained to be ferocious for hunting
could be heard attacking the body
"Oh," screamed the woman. "ht
wasn't dead. He had only tainted.
Yes" said her husband. 81 knew
Between the Grand Guignol. The
Thing That Matters" and Bull Dos
Drummond' London Is we'll supplie6
with thrills.