The New York herald., 1922-02-12
Miss Marie Lohr
Likes Playing to
Audiences Here
English Actress on Her First
Visit and Enjoying the
Experience.

IN actr-ss 'manaseress" that one
- had to go away to another
country! That is thc r,.uation which
faces Miss Marie Lohr. handsome
English actress, who has Just made
| hen debut in this country, and who
was brought to these shores only be-
cause she was making money In her
own London theater. That paradox
sounds like a warm application of
Chesterton to the drama, but It's truer
than many a. press agents straight
| forward announcement
Miss Lohr had not originally planned
to come to the United States, but had
simply aimed to conduct nanking
movement on this country by acting
for five months In Canada. However,
she had picked winner for her own
playhouse. the Globe, in the vehicle
whercwith Irene Vanbrugh has been
keeping the curtain raiser busy at
that London theater. So Miss Lohr
was kept out OF her own home by her
astuteness. and was forced to turn to
this country for shelter. Now she's
glad she came-she admits It freely.
1.-THE air here Is SO invigorating," she
said at the Hudson Theater the other
night "I'd heard It's virtues advertised.
but never realized them till l came.
It's about the only sign OF champagne
In evidence here. In London-well. the
weather is the kind that people get
used to- 1t isn't unhealthy, and we've
been having fewer fogs than ever the
past year. but 1t doesn't make you want
to sing. Here no matter how late you
stay up at night you wake up the next
morning feeling refreshed, and you
have conviction you've never had
days illness in your life. Your weather
is the best brand obtainable
THE audiences here are as good as
the atmosphere. They're keenly appre-
ciative and they're quiet-a London ac-
tress appreciates that. You're not both
cred here as we are in London by late
parties coming into the theater and
doing their own rustling and whisper
ing performance. Audiences in London
are affected, of course, by fogs and
inclement weather. but you get so you
live that down too.
American and English.
"On the other hand, English audiences
are much more ready to let a play
build up its success slowly. and even
a-failure runs twice as long over there
i
seen enough TO be positive in my judg-
ment, I should say that you have to
seize the popular mind in the first couple
of weeks or the days OF your run are
numbered. In London they let the play
ers catch their breath. For instance,
in Fedora my first production here,
| was out of the cast right after IL
was presented in London and didn't
return for long time. yet the play con-
tinued and kept on picking up in at
natural thing for a star to slip in and
tendance Just as though 1t were the
out OF a company.
while I've heard the American public
worships women stars. but pays less
attention to the men stars, an actress
here, no matter how strong her hold
upon the public. can't keep poor play
on the stage for more than a fortnight
not even by the sheer strength OF he
personal charm. And revivals, as you
seem to have had emphasized here
recently, don't go so we'll in this countr.
as they do in England. where time doe'
not cripple a good play in the eyes OF
the public You have no such fixture'
here as Peter Pam while In London
| that play seems likely to go on forever
| and outwear any number of casts.
Every chance I've had since I arrived
| I've gone to see your leading actresses
and 1 expect to get further acquainted
with them--from the spectators side OF
the footlghts. They all seem very fine
particularly Miss Elsie Ferguson, who
occupied this theater recently and J
whose footsteps you might say I'm fol
lowing. What astonishes me is tina
with all these splendid stars, you have
no ctress-manageresses- scarcely
seem to have thought of that owe
| here.
Many Bad Plays Always.
"You have. notice. been overcom
with many bad plays here. just as We
have been In England-in fact, the
seem TO have been suffering from tha'
complaint all over the world this sea-
SON. It seems to me that IL is tn
aftermath of the war: nobody did any
writing during that period and nobody
has had a chance to get started since
them
| 1t looked for long time as IL Miss
Lohr would never test the effect OF
any other climate but that of England
on her complexion. Fifteen years ago sh'
made her first pronounced hit in comedy
called MY Wife," and since the.
she says she has never played anywher
but in London, and has never gone aw'
except FOR five weeks on my honey
moon"-which of course even devote
public must permit to one of its idols
| Looking at her one would scarcely
imagine that she had been prominently
before the theatrical world for half
generation, for her face has those
perennially youthful features that
ocean voyage can't wear off. But wher
one hears her speak her firm tones are
far from those of flapper. and on
realizes that this Is a we'll poised woman
OF the world who has shaken off tn