The Washington herald., 1922-08-30

ihinaTy Winuup' oRce mr' MarQuis
has done waving his arms his COM
edy whistles across the heart Of the
plate neatly enough.
In its detail II is not particularly
true to life. Don's pastor ought to
be enormously pleased with the
characterization of the chorus girl
In the play. 1t Is inept enough to
offer convincing testimony of the
fact that Mr.. Marquis has had a
blameless past. Nor Is there much
in the play which jogs the memory
and makes the spectator remember
something quite similar which hap
pened to himself. But this sort OF
accuracy Is entirely secondary. There
is spiritual truth in The Old Soak"
All the things in 1t which are put
forward as serious have little i'm
portance. On the other hand. the
humorous touches, even those which
are broadest. are searching in the
white light which they throw upon
the heart.
The case for rum. a case which
depends in no way upon statistics,
has never been so persuasively pre-.
sented. 1t is hard to see how pro-
hibition could have prevailed II
The Old Soak" had been written
in time. Still. but for prohibition
The Old Soak" never would have
been written at all. From an artis-
tic point of view the Volstead act
has been an enormous factor in the
encouragement and enrichment of
American literature. 1t has given
us memories to play with. But for
prohibition American letters would
lack that wistful quality which is
so difficult to create around a
civilization as new as ours. No
colorful literature can be created
unless there is in the people great
yearning. Mr.. Volstead has reduced
beverages to half of one per cent.
but the missing stimulation may
well fnd its way into American
plays and novels.
We can remember no line In any
American play of recent years so
inspiriting as the remark of Al, the
bootlegger. to the sanctimonious
deacon. The deacon Is the capitalist
in the illegal traffic. but when AL
asks him to have a drink he refuses
sternly and confesses that he Is an
abstainer. 1t Is then that Al asks.
DO you mean to say you bootleg
for money and not out Of any
friendly feeling for liquor?'
In our review of THE Old Soak"
we said that while certain episode.
were amusing enough they were
merely vaudeville" 1--WE misquote
from memory Certainly that is =
silly remark. Why should a play.
or even life. racket along without
digress on to a definite goal? The
r n Mt -
existence of US all are those in
(which we are not headed anywhere
and are just sitting about talking
and frivolling without hint Of pur-
pose. Even a professional critic
should applaud the playwright who
can forget his story completely and
create humor which belongs solely
to the moment and has no relation
to anything which has passed or Is
to come.
We went to a circus once which
described all the events OF the even
ing in great detail upon the pro-
gram. You were told just what the
performers were going TO do, ana
with certain reservations they did
1t. Often these premeditated feats
were almost as interesting and re-
markable as the program promised.
But there was one moment better
than any of this. Upon the printed
slip 1t was dismissed briefly with
the remark. Here the clowns go
crazy"
There are several such momen
in THE Old Soak" There are times
when Mr.. Marquis has been able to
forget completely any obligation to
Aristotle. Tyson or life itself. He
has allowed his fancy to turn cart
wheels and somersaults. And il
seems to us that true love of the
theater seldom comes to a player