The New York herald., 1922-10-01

tude OF players because of the repu-
tation he or she has previously made.
(. 1t is at least protection to the
manager that he can refer to the
Seminence Of his artists, even IL they
5do not happen to fit the particular
task for which he has selected them
They are at all events well known.
How often does this fame alone ac-
count for the actors that are to be
seen at uncongenial tasks in some of
the most important of the New York
tneaters? Take, for instance, Alfred
Lunt in the play which Clare Kum-
mer has made out of "Banco." The
young Count de Lalssac is dashing
sportsman Of type more common
abroad than here. He is passionate
gambler. So the first act finds him
seated at the gaming table for eighty
1bur hours, pushing, as it were, the
run Of luck which is his.
In the same spirit he prevents his
wife from her marriage with the man
who had rescued her from the gam
ing rooms when her husband refused
to depart. He is always the inpeni-
tent sportsman. taking long chances
on winning everything he may want
in life, however hazardous his stake
may be. Such is the young aristocrat
of the French play.
Anybody who has ever seen Alfred
Lunt's artistic performance in "Clar-
ence" knows just how closely he re-
sembles such a parsonage. 1t is en-
tirely possible to conceive of Mr.. Lunt
playing solitaire passonately. He
might even lose himself completely in
chess. But his Is not a dashing per-
lsonality. AS a reckless. headstrong
gamester, taking all sorts of chances,
whatever the hazard may be, he is
difficult to realize. But it is just such
a man he must be in "Banco."
! All who know Mr.. Lunts profess
sional expedients can see him opening
and shutting his eyes part of the time
and during the rest staring at the
characters through half closed lids.
Laura Hope Crews. now a charming
comedienne, used to have this same
popularity of method. II seemed i'm
possible for her to act unless she
looked like a baby. freshly spanked,
wrinkling up its nose for a supple
mentary cry. For years Miss Crews
indulged in this decided mannerism
with no protest from her admirers.
Finally the inappropriateness of the
symbol to ordinary human life must
have impressed itself on the lady, and
she discontinued anything so unnat-
ural. II may be that Mr.. Lunt, who
IS now so highly praised for this pc
culiarity, may come to realize how In
effective II is, for instance. in the por-
trayal of sporting young French aris-
tocrats.
A Literary JekyIl and Hyde.
w. Somerset Maugham is a literary
lJekyu and Hyde. Or maybe he is
more like the little girl who had the
1 little curl right in the middle of her
"forrid" At all events, his works
vary widely In quality. "The Circle"
was about the nearest approach 70
high comedy that the English stage,
which excels in this special depart
ment of the drama, has brought forth
in years. "Our Betters" was n fin
1shed essay in satLical comedy. Too
Many Husbands" was not only expert,
but rather fine kind OF farce.
In comparison with these plays the
inept caroline" The Explorer" and
70 many OF their predecessors fall con-
siderably below the first rank. Yet not
even the best OF the dramas seem by
any conceivable chance the work of
the man who wrote "Of Human Bond
aga" or 1.-THE Moon and Sixpence."
such are the heights and depths Of
Mr.. Maughams achievements
Now there comes from his pen, for
A III. Woods, a melodrsma of life in
China. The literary quality OF the
works already mentioned may have
varied, yet It was always present in
some degree. But there Is no sugges-
ton OF that phase of the playwright's
skill In East Of Suez." He has made
his work profoundly interesting In the
manner of melodrama. He has made
OF the play the only kind Of melodrama
that the cinema has left TO the theater.
Daredevil, breakneck, hair raising.
physical incidents are no longer pos
sibis In ths spoken drama. They can