The New York herald., 1922-12-05
Listening In
Makes a Bumper
Crop of ThrillerS
Carlyle MoOre's Emotional
Comedy Quite a Shivery
Drama.

Listening In" made the mystery
crop a bumper one last night. Carlyle
Moore's emotional comedy" which was
revealed at the BiJou Theater-as much
as any mystery thriller can be revealed
sought to be different from the usual
run of shad of this type by giving away
the whole bag OF tricks. Since mere
mystery no longer is enough in this
kind of drama the hunt is up for now
city.
The novelty OF this piece lies in that
at bottom It harks back TO the early
form of drama. In which the ST ctator
was let in on the whole show and al
lowed to see the wheels go round. In
TIE prologue in the dismal living room
of Bleeker Hall, somewhere in the coun-
try. the onlooker knows that Mr.. MORT
son, scientist of some kind. was going
TO achieve all manner of things by means
OF convenient switches and wires and
rappngs-all the aides that modern
science has laid at the feet OF spiritual
ism.
He was to do this while the heir OF a
dead believer in spritualism fulfilled the
terms OF his uncle's will, with the sci
enlist merely interfering. apparently.
for the sake of making it harder. AS
played by Georgia Majeron this Nor
'ison might have been anything scien-
tific--a necromancer, a doctor with
medicine show or a sincere Investigator
like DR.. Prince out to lay a disagree
able. antogonish ghost by the heels.
The suspense was maintained because
the spectator was never quite certain
whether Morrison was actually pulling
the wires. nor what In thunder he was
aiming at anyhow.
Heightened the Comedy.
That sneaking suspicion about the
tomfoolery of all this sudden winking
out of lights and slamming of doors,
heightened the comedy. of course. when
the young writer, trying to unravel the
hocus pocus. as we'll as the other char
acters, jumped out of their skins every
time the wind whistled. At the same
time the spectator was pleased to note
that his goosefesh rose to every occa-
sion.
1t was on the whole skilfully fash
ioned. as becomes the author of ''Stop
Thief" There are many loose ends. and
1t seems that toward the close the au-
thor becomes 50 deeply involved in his
own complications that he justs shoots a
character offhand, evidently with the
hope of clearing away one complication
1t happens to be an Assistant District
Attorney and perhaps another parsonage
dramatist when he says that II any one
was to be shot, 1t nigh. as well be this
one. Assistant District Attorneys have
been having too much of their own way
in mystery plays Of late.
The play verges on farce at times
aHd when medumistic warning comes
that whoever leaves the door before
sunset may die the young writer who
has been paid to stay there and lift the
tl1a tJt,ff h..
to have every one drop in casually for
miles around. AS he franticaIly tries
to keep every one there one looks for
another Seven Days"-and then, as
everything grows more fantastic, one
expects another Seven Keys TO Bald
pate" One imagines the dramatist will
suddenly wake up and find he has been
dreaming-though il cannot be said
that he puts the patron to sleep.
Play Suggests "HamIet.v
Listening In" suggests nothing so
much as Hamlet" done as a modern
mystery play. There is a very weird
ghost that the current Shakespearean
production might be proud Of, and in
deed one half expected the program TO
read, Ghost by arrangement with Ar
thur Hopkins" And John Coomber the
penurious author. seemed just as uncer-
tain as the Dane concerning how to take
everything. This audience last night, in
that respect, was filled with Hdmlets.
But he is n very modern young man
who does automatic writing on the side,
listening in" on the spirit world, while
the very modern ghost gives him tips
on the stock market
AS Coomber Ernest Glendinning gave
his usual reliable performance. being
just as scared as a young man might be
who didn't realize that there are more
things In heaven and earth. Horatio,"
which might be explained by electricity
Minna Gombell played almost the silliest
heroine of the season. Dodson Mitchell
once more gave evidence that he has
consecrated his life to mystery plays.
incidentally, the names OF William
Archer, John Cumberland and Pombor-
ton in the cast gave quite theatrical
flavor. Auto-suggestion is used to ex-
plain everything. even a supposed death.