Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-21
o o o 0 o o

In the absence. at this somnolent-
ly reminiscent moment, OF a more
facile cartoonist, let the above dia-
gram by the linotype stand as the
felt yawns Or, if your fancy is
mathematical, allow them to SYM
bolize the box Office returns with
group of attractions lucky in
showing the week before Christmas,
since the date offers convenient
explanation OF a lack OF popular in
tereSt.
In ancient Chinese warfare it was
customary to use gas bombs which
depended on odors more or less re-
lated to asafetida. They were essen
TALLY humane. inducing profound
discomfort to those not immune by
experience, but taking no life. And
Then What" distinguished itself as
the most Intellectual dud of the sea-
sons warfare against conventional
propriety. A more applicable title
would have been What Of It?" 1t
is a futile revelation of 1aborious
smartnesS on a theme so common
place, so closely related to the more
modcrnly instrusive activities OF po-
lice authority, that it represents an
exceedingly juvenile mental attitude
which has survived. even to the ma
ture age of 80 or so. during the &C
quirement Of a somewhat resource
full vocabulary and the collection Of
the stock cynicisms that have -four
ished from Rochefoucauld down to
the current comic strip.
* < X :;
Whenever a play has something
unpleasant to deliver it announces
it as the truth. This play refers to
itself as a candid comedy, and evil
IDENTIFY cherishes a notion that it is
B. Shaw's Man and Superman,"
and, as matter of fact, it does sug-
gest Shaw in the irnpudence, though
not in the security, of its ego. 1t is
like what Man and Superman
would probably have been if Ber-
nard Shaw had written it at the age
OF IS or IA.
Audiences are quite willing to be
shocked. Those who protest vio-
lcnt1y against play are invariably
forced to confess that they saw it
all through. After particularly
atrocious scene, groups of auditors
invariably leave the theater, and the
patient observer may think that at
last sufferance has become impos-
sible and that insulted citizens are
going out to call their chauffeurs,
and, possibly, if thrifty inclined, to
get their money back. They never
do. They all return and give their
tacit, but unequivocal. Endorsement
to what, according to subsequent
excavations for the benefit of wide
eyed friends who did not see the
performance, must have been most
uncomfortable and humiliating ex-
pcrience. There are no gives for
our feet nor shackles for our wrists
as we sit in the theater, yet we,
the audience, placidly remain and
chuckle betimes.
The most remarkable feature of a
currently typical theatrical perform
ance is the audience ourself; admit
ting by the hour that our interest
has been congenially and intimately
appealed to and then protesting by
the week that it was all perfectly
inexcusable!
* y X X
Every dollar that goes into a box
office is far more important leaf
in the play than any page in the
authors manuscript.
y \ x
AS a candid comedy And Then
What?" reveals only one important
truth, and that is its confession
of unblemished, callow egoism on
the part of the "curbstone intelli-
eencia." who succeed in holding a
place in inquisitive attention by a
well organized system OF mutual
backslapping and handshaking. The
t,rou.re Of ToDsy is DaraphraScd