The Washington times., 1922-06-04
With Alan Dale
at N. Y. Theaters
Continued from Page s.)

"oHlinucu iiUtn Th8o oD
Vile. The pictures can only fol.
low suit in sub-titles. The pictures
can really get over" the charm Of
the race without dialect. And they
do It.
THE Hebrews themselves are
largely to blame for the preva-
lence Of the stage type. They
laugh at It. and enjoy the knowi-
edge of their own superiority. They
are gently amused at jargon, be.
cause they have thrown it into the
discard. They have been educated
out of 1t, but they like to see stage
types that haven't thus been edu.
Gated. suppose that the popu.
larity Of the stage Hebrew with
Hebrews is largely accounted for
by the sentiment of superiority
that is cherished.
Treat seriously all these Gues-
tions that "go" in dialect AMI the
public is simply mortified. There
was a Hebrew play written by
Samuel Shipman that made n brave
effort to place the stage Hebrew
on a high level. Parts Of this play
were classically beautiful. II was
an almost instantaneous failure.
1t was a distinctly regrettable fail
ure. Had some Of its characters
been vaudevillized 1t would possibly
be alive today. Had it enclosed a
few epigrams anent ham sand.
wiches. fire insurance, and cloak
and suit business the public would
have hailed it. When I saw the
public l mean that special public
enjoying that particular brar' ~
play. And that special pu - IA,
Of course, the Hebrew public The
non-Hebrew public does not @ppre.
ciate these comedies of race The
non-Hebrew public can probably
be neglected in this city as II could
never be in London.
RUT illiteracy on the STAGE ts
not confined to the hehraw
type. Dear old mother in plays
and pictures MUST be illite
The sweet old lady is a gluttoN tor
double negatives. The playw gh.
feeds them to her and she 'et>
them up. 1t is so cute! 1t ls g.
dear! 1t is so human! The ole Ian
running to the stove to see 4 the
pie is burning Gt always is, re-
turns to say lovely things to h'r
son in abject grammar. h'NE
that there would be an uprisirs' =
any playwright attempted to make
dear old mother, in the rura lis
tricts. speak grammatical English.
This would be regarded as a dis.
tinct slap at maternity. The play
wright would be accused Of scoff-
ing at maternity II he dared to
make dear old mother say you
were" instead of You was" The
heart Of the public goes out to her
when she murmurs: You always
was nv boy." 1t would be a horrid
prank IL she remarked: You al
ways were my boy" I can under
stand illiteracy being used to tndi'
cate humor-for what Is more
amusing don't you love Mrs. Mala-
prop?ebut for pathos I can't see
il. I refuse to shed one tear when
old Ma says "Ain't IT," I might
possibly weep II she murmured
Isn't it?" Most of the pictures
bidding for pathos love to show old
Ma in a perfect rash of double neg
atives being kicked downstairs by
ungrateful children. OF course. II
is very sad. 1t is unbelievably pa.
thetic. But the melancholy would
be much more profound. to my
mind. IL the old lady spoke cur.
rectly. What IS there in untidy
speech that playwrights and mana
gers find so alluring? I admit that
ask for information. Instead OF
idealizing types. the stage un.ideal,
ICES them. The stage holds them
up to ridicule for the sake Of cheap
laughter. Has the stage the right
to do this?
The play at the Fulton caters to
all the dialect idiosyncrasies Of the
day. Old Solomon Levy Is dialect
to the core and so are the types
played by Mathilde Cottrelly and
others. We are treated to similar
splurges of dialect in The Bronx
Express" and In Partners Again"
The stage is indulging In an epilep-
tic fit Of dialect. We have grown
out OF the dialect theater. for years
maintained by Weber and Fields
even though they were dialecti'
clans copiousiy. never forgot that
dialect was not sufficient. Their
theater had many other attrae.
tions.