The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-03-20
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY z. HOUSE
tFrom Philadelphia Public LedgerJ

We trust we shall not be accused of
initiating Ring Lardner if we subscribe
to and, in our weak way, attempt to
buttress his agendi concerning the late
Bert Williams Mr.. Lardner, stung 10
the quick of his artistic soul by the
casual manner in which the cognos-
cent? of the dramatic writers dismissed
the surprising achievements of Will
liams. gives indignant testimony TO
! the fact that the latter was a great
comedian, a great dancer and a singer
| OF unusual quality
The trouble is. that the Broadway
gentlemen who damned williams with
faint praise never saw him. One OF
them fixed the apogee of his achieve
ments in his earlier days with THE
FoIlies" Williams was smothered in
THE Follies" and in the revues with
which he subsequently was identified.
The time to have seen Williams was in
the days when he teamed with Nash
Walker-from about 1898 on until
Walker broke" physically and men
/ tally. Surrounded by. company OF
the happy. care-free. melodic children
! of his own race and with the scin-
tillant and flashing Walker to feed
him, he was a great comedian, a great
dancer and. if not great singer, one
Williams after he became headliner
on Broadway saw only the shadow of
a performer of surprising merit
AS we have indicated, we trust we
shall not again be accused Of initiating
Lardner. 1t was, we believe, in 1902
that we first endowed Williams with
the qualities with which Mr.. Lardner
now crowns his memory.
We recur to IF Winter Comes in
order that we may discuss a chatty
letter recently received from its Amer
-. biz
lean publishers; We might. since tnls
is a dull day. have required to it In
any event. ITO analyze the success
of If Winter Comes write the pub
fishers, sis a rather difficult task. es-
pecially in comparison with the first
years sales of his previous novels.
For instance, the first years sale OF
Once Aboard the Lugger' was APP
proximately 5000 copies: the first
years sale of The Happy Warrior
was approximately $4,000 copies: the
approximately 1 3 900. while the sale OF
IF Winter Comes in the first six
months was approximately 100000.
Can you account for the radical diff
ference in the figures as shown
above ?"
Frankly. and in view of the fact
that Harold Bell Wright is our own
best seller, We cannot account for it.
On broad, general grounds we'd say
IF Winter Comes ran away from
the other Hutchinson novels because
it is a surprising piece of work. The
others are not. And while they may
hold an allure for the British reader,
they are not keyed to the American
mind.
Mr.. Hutchinson's earlier books are
pitched too high for the public which
laps up" Harold Bell Wright. Their
humor, psychology, phraseology and
Technology are too complex for those
who want something little better.
GO to your favorite motion picture
theater,'' writes P. H. land witness
the picture entitled Saturday Night
and see for yourself a fire started by
a discarded cigarette
We endeavor to oblige, but p. II.
asks too much. If by so doing we
believed We could give pleasure to
readers of this department. we'd float
down the Mackenzie river, climb
Mount Mckinley or do a Russian
dance with Pavlowa; but we wouldn't
go into a motion-picture theater for
anybody.
At the same time and with the
same movement, we resent to the
limit of our capacity for resentment
the insinuation of NJ. A. X. The
natives of the Friendly Islands know
as much about the subsequent adj
ventures of Merton of the Movies
as we know. We shan't know the
exact manner IN which the Montague
girl rescues Clifford Armitage from
his extreme poverty of inspiration and
resource until some time Thursday
forenoon.
The fear that gnaws at our heart is
that the Montague sister is going to
throw herself away on Merton. That
gal deserves a better fate.
1t may not be worth while to re-
member it, but had it not been for his 1
facility as a. liar Ananias would have Z
been forgotten long ago.
''He is the sort of fellow" said Eph |
Wiley yesterday in describing one of |
his neighbors, who INDUCES in light |