The New York herald., 1922-12-10
MY DEAR SIR:

Washing 0ton Post of January ~, 1908.
When run across blazing good piece
of prose. particularly when 1t apper-
tains to the theater, l like TO pass 1t
along. Here she is
I'VE must have dramatic critics In
New York and elsewhere, and the pres
ent collection Is certainly an interest
ing one. We have the incipient and
sapient, the witty and the witless. and
that there may be all sorts for all kinds
we have some who make the judicious
joyous and others who cause the mer-
curial TO be miserable. The judicious
faculty as represented by the critic. and
the creative faculty as represented by
the author. the manager and actor act
ing as buffers, and often treated as
buffers, are in constant conflict, and
to remain 80 everlastingly. The critic
Is in exactly the same position as the
judge Of a baby show. To the mother
of the child awarded the first prize he
Is a saccharine darling. and to all the
other mothers he Is sulphurous demon.
So you can imagine what an agreeable
pastime II Is being a New York dra-
matte critic But hope hops high busi-
pess Is splendid; theatrical babies
judged ornery and homely by the critics
are petted and pampercd by the public,
while other infants proclaimed buxom
and beauteous are shunted and Stunned
by the theatergoer So II rs that New
York Electrically may be said to be
bursting with golden butterine and blaz-
ing with gladsome blowziness. The
critics are the only ones connected In
the remotest way with New York tneat-
rically who are not getting comfortably
rich. so they may be mercifully allowed
l.,- 81 al 80 90 ~ In
with them or without them, so wnat is
the use OF complaining?
William Winter, with the unmelted
SHOWS of three-score or more OF years
nesting on his brow. is seen on first
nights as of yore. and is writing with
the same scintillating and archaic splen-
dor as OF old. He Is the grand old
Roman OF them all. But how beautifully
Huneker of THE SUN. who has peen
called the master OF the purple phrase,
writes. But why not, since he has
skinned tho cream from thousand
classic volumes. his brain the vat which
holds it all sweet and pure? When the
splasher in his mental churn gets
a-working he turns out lovely metaphor
cal custard or delicious rhetorical ice
cream. James ia literary Maillard !
Then Hillary the Apollo Bclvidere OF
the critics. what mellow. mellifluous
style is his His Waterman scars like
a clayless spirit to cmpyrean shores
beyond the chartered flight of mind
leaps through the blue crystalline sphere
and feets II right out into the unsur-
veyed inflnityl Hillary is n rhetorical
Humboldt. DaIc's wit cracks like shelled
peanuts when tnodden on upon a hard
sidewalk. or. I may say, like the guns
Of Buffalo Bills cowboys when pursu-
ing the fleeing savages who have just
held up the careering stage coach. When
he bitches up 10 his literary carte
blanche--the liveliest literary femlnlne
trotter a-going-he makes the sparks and
sometimes the stars flyl He can lift
his critical eye full on the blaze OF any
dramatic deity. and never once will this
past master In the noble art OF grid
ironing blink Criticism. In the case Of
John Corbin OF the Times, moves along
with scholastic tread with Acton Davies
II sl1ips and capcrs. while with william
| Winter II scars I"
This screed was signed "F. J. w"
Can II be possible these are the initials
OF tho wllstach fellow who made the
Dictionary OF Similcs?" +. r. r.
] Brooklyn. Dec. 4, 1922.