Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-01-21

mind the babies.
THERE will be two new shows, the
now Harrington comedy, The In
.,r,ate Strangers. with Billie Burke, at
,be Broad, and the third annual Green
,.;cb Village Follies at the Shubert.
.aThe Bat remains at the Adelphi.
.Iadies' Night" is still packing them
,r at the Lyric. the Orphans" are
,lss" .ho kiepfeld "Frolic." with viii
Rogers, still. glitters at the Garrick and
sre of the beat shows Of years. John
Gslsworthys "The Skin Gase,' stays
A. the Walnut for another week.
Would be playwrights or photoplay-
xrirhts can get a wonderful lesson on
Now TO construct n first act by seeing
"0" "Thc Skin Game"
~Skin Game at the Walnut. I. All
Bos Perfect Of the tcchnic is
First Act , ,nsrr c,s TO per.sc'i%m, %
managed TO do one thing that most
writer's fail to do. He has employed all
the devices Of tcchnic and has. at the
same time. filled every minute with
go much real human interest that the
bc prescnts all of the principal char
actcrs OF his story. he cicverly skctchC,
IN their individual personalities so that
ve get clear idea Of what kind OF
neoplc they are. how they are likely to
act under certain circumstances, what
their relations are to each other. the
events which have brought them to-
ecther in the story and the reasons for
tho state of dramatic tension in when
wc find them. aud he forecasts the great
struggle TO come and vitaliZc II ut his
curtain by having the young girl call
the boy back aud say. Enemy. lets
shake hands before the battle" That's
big job to accomplish in the time
limits of one act---and not make II
rrosy or dull. Galsworthy succeeds in
making it all extremely vrilc and
cnmulativcly absorbing. And he man
ages the added difficult task of doing
most of it with bright and brisk
comedy.
From an artistic standpoint il is
pity that he introduces tlfat auction
scene especially in the way he does.
From popular standpoint ii proves
one of the big hits Of the show. Which
IL simply another way of bcmoaning
the public's lack of genuine artistic
perception. The whole import Of the
auction scene could be stated in II
brief dialogue. And The unfortunate
part of 1t is that Galsworthy hns his
characters. including the auctioneer, on
the stage facing. the audience and the
bidders apparently in the body of the
house. The auctioneer talks over the
heads of the audience and apparently
gets bids from there: the other char
iacters spy people and point them out
and talk about them.
The effect Is to destroy all sense OF
illusion on the part Of the audience.
The minute dramatic attention crosses
the footlghts and enters the audi
'torium OF ii theatre: there is a distinct
sense of shock. There Is an impulse
to look behind you and sec who IL is
they are hiking to or about. You
know at once that il is an amusing
trick; yod arc being told by the actors
that it is all just in fun and that
they are not really actual people, liv-
ing and loving and suffering and tri-
umphing over obstacles-that they are
only telling you story and fooling
you while they are doing il.
But in spite of this "Thc skin
Game ranks as one Of the very best
plays we have had in n long time
And the acting of virtually the whole
cast is quite on par with the writing.
"THE SKIN GAME" WH stay at
the Walnut only ono more wcek.
Then il ICiH gire 'ndp to a return Of
! "Thc Man Who Came Back" the
thrilling melodrama, which doesn't seem
10 lose its appeal rih the passing
years. The male lead rV be played by
Arthur AShicy. mho has Just returned
10 the stage after four or fUc mCcks
spent here acting IN a nation picture
called "EH, En- NJ the Bet:wood
studio.
When you see an elaborate show like
the Iieg.cId "Frolic.' nt the Garrick,
do YOU ever stop to wonder what in
NJ the world they do
mdrarooc OF with all those hum
'"Frotfc Makes drcds of costumes
a Biz lob when they move
and how on earth
tney keep them in such u systematic
way that everything is ready for every
girl for quick change? The idea i'm
pressed me more with the '"Frolic"
man It has with other shows because
tne froli lic' is essentially a huge sue
J cession of costumed stage pictures and
one effect follows another SO rapidly
'"o' therc Hlust De SmOOtn WORKING
organization functioning quietly behind
the scenes or else something would &c
nooey every now and then. So
sneaked back the other night to do q
httle Investigating. And | found Miss
Arico, who has charge of the wardrobe
ana got her to look over her books and
give me some tigurcs-fgurcs go well
WIN these costumes. as you'll admit
u you've seen the girls.
There are sixty-onc girls in the
chorus. The whole east totals ninety
seven persons. Some of these girls
make eleven complete changes during
.he performance; others make nine ant
zen. There are twelve maids to helr
them. and the company carries six
women who do nothing but keep the
costumes in repair.
Miss Arico's books show 457 differ
eht complete costumes. She has 26s
pairs of silk stockings. 40 pairs OF
lights and 262 pairs of shoes, not tc
mention hats, parasols, ornaments ant
Uncommon Ser