The Washington herald., 1922-01-22
O'NeilPs Choice
OF Stage Themes
Excites Reaction
Provincetown Hermifs Vogue IN
Theater May Be a Fleet
ing Quantity.
D. EARLE DORSEY.


- . greater sincerity OF purpose, q more i'm
FASHIONED earnestness Of manner or a more
oiynpian ineinsnsnes to the vhininEs Of d.
EroundlinEs than Eugene oNefIL within the
space Of three short years the author of Anna
Christie" The Emperor joiner" and Beyond
the Horizon" has risen from obseuT1ty that
was absolute TO the very top Of the American
plAywriting heap. and today he II crowned By
critical consent the outstanding play
wright Of the nation
None the less, It not only possible but
probable that . sweeping reaction against the
oNeil school Of thought in the theatsr Il liabl.
TO set in At any moment with all his ability
oheifs coronation as Americas nrst playwright
has lacked. from the beginning. anything that
approached popular confirmation. His sturdy
DETERMINATIONS OF purpose and his undsniHble
skill as . workman have endeared him. momen-
tarily, to . large and authoritative element that
was long since nauseated with artince and sham
But even now, with his position determined
oNeill's subject matter is shudderingly endured
for the beauties Of his style and the Bkin Of his
craftsmanship.
Already the nrst faint whisperinrs of tn.
revolt are audible. Samuel ShipmAn, speaking
from the heart has stated what a great many
think: that incorporating realism" 10 not a
theatrical idea Shipman's statement may start
the revolt; again. the movement may be delayed
1t IL difficult to believe, however that America
can ever permanently adopt a drama 90 stark and
relentless o'NeIllE
oNeiirs appearance on the American thestsr
horizon was made at peculiarly auspicious
time A queer indeterminism had seized the
stage art. horde Of monErels infested the
drama The technically-sou but frequently com
nonplaes school OF thought. represented BY Klein
walters, Thomas, Fitch and other1 had already
its
TIE Of roe-stms oHd soecGo-<a had
SoVned A speosoNS Opt'5stST, 0TotesqSs hope
fulSess Gn-perOodiHo PouyonnoGs4 had
climbed tHto the soddIe. TIE mob oAS tostes
sOers po-oSSoSnt and the Happy eHdsn0 o1Ess-
portost.
4 such a time entered the saturnins OMEN
h About IN all Gidea
q groEshopG dispensing their awful and i'm
potent mixtureG- Discerning pSlAtss were fast
disappearing. The taste Of the glucose was abroad
in the land
oFem quietly opened his laboratory. H.
lined up his test-tubes, retorts and 1lembics. He
opened strange vesselA forEoGen since the
Greeks. By some strange formula all his own
he poured and mixed and missd and poured and
then set the stun on the counter.
Manhattan was the hrst to let out q whoop
The serious thinkers had sampled Beyond the
Horizon" and more running taste
Within thirty days o'Nem acclaimed as
the master chemist and his strong. bliEhtinE po-
despair and the inscrutAbIe workings OF destiny
were hailed as the supreme Gntacid for the
national joy-tuice
That was oNeilrs beginning and thus encour-
aged, he brewed stronger and heAdy
sences--The Emperor Jones'" Cold" The
Straw" Anna Christie" the Acrtd gall Of
-DiTrent," the dose that took the hair OF. Som.
complained Of his liquors strength but O'Nenl
never seemed to hear. Those who liked IT drank
steadily and those who didn't went back
their glucose. though oEenl's popularity grew
apace and today his dispensary 10 still in high
favor
Three years have elapsed now since oNenrs
first appearance. He is today the foremost pro-
tagonist Of the realistic" drama and his indif-
ference to popular approval has parAdoxS>AIy
encouraged attention
oNeIH has set the foshIo1 for the 1dtSonaI
fHteH0cHtsio strIr4no elements Of
UncuItWred haze long since taken Their
0'EeiH AND he school hare stoSNo back the pew
dSIuT AVID today pesst~ism u the Only true
drama, chile Fdith, Hope and Charity
rrotOned as streHs
~ UGH is the situation 1T stands but It is
- hard believe it will continue stand.
~ II o'Nem is write he write for
audience hold audience he must charm,
not repel. SteadfRstly. he refuses betrSy
human quality. He clings TO his ivory tower Of
Oympian detachment and writes Of life few
see 1t To him, man is the Conrsdean man
the Dreiserean man, the NietzscheAn man, the
man-cIod Jack London put it-mAn without
hope, without promise, ever at the mercy of the
subtle forces Of destiny always losing. never
winning in the eternal struggle with inScrutable
fate.
On his side oNeiu has the classic authority.
on their side his audiences have the authoritative
shekels and invincble, unconquerable faith,
hope. fallaey-csn It what you wn-that is
immortal and the Captain. in some obscure
fashion, Of his own soul.
In sophisticated sphere-one might
call It a more decadent sphere-ONem would md
a permanent audience. America for all its short
eomings, IL not decadent, and though It lie incor-
rightly boobish. II is incorrigbly hopeful. ideal
of man is little too frequently a godlike ideal.
q seven foot-tttl-collSr-ad ideal, ideal that in
vests its object with an endowment OF virtue in
commensurate with the facts, but in the main,
America 10 apt TO place generic midway be-
tween the olympian omniscience and numbskun
Ignorance. but its ideal lie always an even-brsak
ideall
To all Of this the oNen temperament
vastly opposed, with n opposition nerCe that
not the tremendous skill Of the man
quite amelSorate the, sodden, crushing horror and
hopelsssness of his pictures. On the whole his is
Q tsmperSmentSthst has done a good work, but
temperament that swings too violently 20 the
other extreme of the problem
The tonic air Of the republic calls for neither
the cloyinE saccharinity OF PolIyannA the god
baited madness Of an o'NeiIl tragedy There a
middle ground-a highly speculative, frequently
traRic but always sven-ehance-w ith-fSte mid
die Fround-that makes its most definite appeal