The Washington herald., 1922-09-03
EPTEMBER BRINGS NEW DRAMA TO THE WASHINGTON TEATE
THE SEASHORE SENSATION
BY EARLE DORSEY

Y this time Il must be obvious that
tain major differences exist in the thestrt-
~ cal viewpoint Of Atlantic City N j. ana
~ Washington. d. c.-dinerences so vast
apparently that for many months to come, at
least. II shall be a matter of genial and COM
pIete indifference in this quarter as to what
Atlantic City and its critics think Of this. that
or the other drama
Take. for example the case Of Martin
Browns so-caIled comedy The Exciters." at
the Belasco during the past week. Unless the
Selwyns in their advertising do Atlantic City
grave injustice there is more enthusiastic
spot In America Electrically speaking. than
Atlantic City. N. j. for the selwyns were at
particular pains to inform the universe thar
The Exciters," in the opinion Of Atlantic City.
is "a smashing hit"
Well Il may that-one can never ten
these days-but much must depend upon where
the hitting is done. There may be, for In
stance some tonic property in the free and
festive air Of the boardwalk that breeds hne
disdain for the more captious tenets Of theater
production. Given few deep snifters Of this
boardwalk ozone and-who knows?-an hands
hereabout might and classify any old
play as "a smashing hit"
Immersed, however In the more sedative
ether of the lower Potomac Washington brought
to the inspection of Mr. Browns play a more
jaundiced eye and more epicurean taste. In the
course of two hours and thirty minutes
of theater attendance Washington signally
failed to throw a single transport Of delirious
able play.
Under the circumstances, therefore. Il seems
necessary arise. thus early In the season, and
put Atlantic City and its critics in their proper
category Here Is g species Of criticism that
leaves much To be desired species Of theater
analysis that approaches the playhouse with
all the awed. delirious Joy Of little boy ap-
preaching a circus but. like the little boy after
the circus analysis that easily becomes speech
Iess with excitement that can only mutter a
smashing hit" and let thati
a matter Of fact Il Is Just absurd
~ to call q play like Browns "a hit" as
"A IL is call IL q failure. 1t is alto
4 y gether similar to scores Of new plays
like IT which drift Broadway-ward through the
provinces each fall and winter. with the eIcep-
tion Of the fact that The Excite-s," unlike
most such plays in their novitiate cannot quite
decide what to call itself.
The selwyns Of course have called It
comedy, but IL is more q comedy than II is
a satire and it Is a satire than IL is
farce and certainly IL is much q melodrama
any of the three. In short The Exciters'
gives evidence Of being one thing in manuscript
and quite aother thing on the stage. In its
present form it is almost impossible to say Just
what Mr.. Brown intended 1t to be
1t starts out q satire. much on the order
of Rachel Crothers' Nice People" This motif
dominates for half act and then enters
burglar and a hat-fulI Of thrills. There is
motor accident, a half-deao heroine ana a pre-
sumably ante-mortem wedding between the
heroine and any old man, who. in this
happens to be the burglar Then a
second act travesty on the Frances Starr-James
Rennie supper scene in shore Leave while the
third act gives melodrama its meIlowest
with the hero hghting roomful of criminals
with his and the girls life az issue.
Finally a fourth act ensues in which the heroine.
having discovered that her burglarious husband
is really a detective. spurns him completely and
forces him TO invade her boudoir and get rough
Here the play almost runs into sheer farce
and by that time IL was really great won
der that Atlantic City gave up guessing.
plastered the whole works with the Smashing
hit" label and passed it along to Washington.
There is just the possibility. however that
Mr.. Brown, the author, deserves credit
than the stage version accords him. 1t IN barely
possible that The Excters" was written as a
satire, to prove the utter impossibuity Of any
man satisfying. after matrimony or before. the
Freudian, thrill-chasing tendencies of such a
society girl. There is equal possibility that
Edgar Selwyn, realizing the current popularity
of mystery and thrills, banished much of
the satire possible and staged the whole
thing al a melodrama.
II such is the case. Mr.. Browns reputation
as playwright has been rather horribly
mangled.
N n R. BROWNS hrst-act gesture toward