The New York herald., 1922-01-15


enc will in spite of what the autho
mountebank may stand for life--the
life Of the worldly and scheming, the
life which was so brutal to the man
who sought oblivion and derision in
the sphere of the saltimbancos. There
is too much of him as a stage charac-
ter, however effective he may have
been to those who have found it possi-
BILE to read the play. His philosophy
by any character.
What is meant by the return of the
man who took away the wife of the
clown and presumably plagiarized his
writing, to judge by an allusion to his
works? In more than one of the
scenes there is always some such un-
certainty, some unclarified obscurity,
some thought of the author that eludes
the spectator in representation.
Play Ought to Prosper.
"He Who Gets Slapped" ought to
prosper in the repertoire of the
Theater Guild however exotic it might
seem under other powers The di-
rectors have lost no merit of the play
in their careful performance. Some
of the actors cannot be readily under
stood in the tasks that have been al
lotted to them. lust what is the
significance, for instance. of Jackson,
the head clown in the distribution at
the Garrick Theater. is not compre-
hensible.
There are some inevitable msfits.
but the whole attains an uncommonly
high artistic level. Mr.. Simonson has
made rather an incomprehensibly
massive building of the circus, but
that seems his tendency. He designed
for the first two acts of "Heartbreak
House" the cabin of q ship as ornate
and heavy as the most luxurious liner
in prewar days could have boasted.
Tho colors are artistically gaudy, how
ever. and the Indispensable circus at
nosphere is well maintained. HE Who
Gets Slapped" is one of the years
plays that must be seen by the in
tellgensia of the theater.
Two Kinds of Acting.
There have been several oppor-
actors who have been under the in
fiuence of the cinema methods for a
more or less extended period, at all
events long enough for these special
devices to have an influence on their
manner of expression. Three come to
the mind. three who have devoted
much time lately to camera acting.
OF two il seems easy TO say that they
would not now do this or that in the
way they are in the habit of making
their effects to-day were 1t not for the
time they were influenced by other
standards than those of the spoken
stage.
1t is, moreover, the latest method
cinema acting which has worked
change in the dramatic department of
Conway Tearle and Henry Warner.
The slow gait affected by so many
stage managers who now proudly
write themselves down as producers"
at the head of every program mas
been accepted as the correct tempo for
the movies. Heroes suddenly appear.
slowly, solemnly and maybe naturally.
The other qualities. however, they
are certain to exhibit. The actors of
the screen are just as deliberate as
thoge recently employed by pro-
ducing manager to appear with one of
his stars. They were all instructed to
count six before they spoke the lines
of certain scene. Just as slow is
The action of the cinema actor to-day.
Fire. impetuosity. even natural
vivacity, arc forbidsc2 ~ the directors
who would be modern.
When he acted in "rhe Mad Dog"
one of the Comedy Theater's brief dis
asters. Mr.. Tearle showed none of the
fire and spirit which might readily
have been the attribute of his char
acter. He spoke In the repressed and
subdued manner of muscle bound
hero Of the frozen North who had
not thawed out even In the desert. Mr..
Tearle was even on the speaking stage
usually repressed, undemonstrative in
the matter of gesture and pose. But
he was never quite so immobile as In
this particular play. Mr.. Tearlc was
more constrained, however, after his
long period of activity before the
screen than he had ever been.
While his admirers were wonder
ing at his extreme self-control in a
role which might so effectively have
been treated in another mood, III. B.