The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-27
ROUTINE PLAYS
 HOLD SPOTLIGHT
Pegler Says Beatrice Lillie Is Funny In The English
 Revue aa
By wEsrBRooK PEeLER ,(Leased Wire ta Tho Aae. { eraidl


 NEW YORK, Jan. 26.-New York is turning to the contemplation of several routine productions, some of which are really good plays, after a week of excited yelling and screaming about Outward Bound" and Profess Scr Reinhardt's unfilmed movie spec taele "The Miracle" These were 80 distracting that number of other plays moved into the colony along Broadway with slight notice, which was in some cases less, and in other cases more, than they deserved.
 After the first few incidents of Andre Charlot's English revue which had been long heralded and calmly awaited through all the heralding, it seemed that the Selwyn's would have miracle of their own to boast of if the show lived even to the end of the first per formance. But thereafter this plain company of English entertainers got into their stride, their curves began fto cut the corners, and, to give the metaphor a real good mixteure, they began dropping their tee shots dead to the pin.
 Contrast to Ziegfeld Shows
 It was in strange contrast to the Ziegfeld shows and the music box pro- ductinns, too, for the entire stage set ting of Andre Charlot's piece could be replaced in any theatrical junkshop within $500, and the costumes on the girla were near-silk, non-shimmering things such as the little dancing ladies wear in the streets of Cairo, H., at the county fair.
 For a few minutes the New York audience was cold and rather defiant and Beatrice Lilie, who is so popular in her native London, must have won dened If she was going to suffer the tragedy that befell the over-confident Wilkie Bard when he came to the Palace a few years ago and got what he called "the rawspberry." But, just in time, New York got the idea that if you looked at her stuff a certain way 1t was funny and from that point on, Cbarlots revue worked fast in a friend lE, merry atmosphere.
 As a matter of fact, in comic content, Charlot's show is much better than the usual London revue which can be as tragic as Duse herself and not in- frequently is.
 Quite long time ago, Julia Chand- Ter, who dictates information about Selwyn productions to a stenographer and sends it out to the papers, wrote play for herself. She intimated as much in little paragraphs which, she dropped in between much longer para graphs about Charming Pollock and other playwrights whose shows it was her job to keep in the papers all the time. Her play was called "The Gift"
 Doris Kenyon Back
 This week '"rhe Gift" came to the Greenwich Village theatre, far down. town, bringing Miss Doris Kenyon back from the movies and bringing Pedro de Cordoba, that ardent trades unionist who distinguished himself in the actors" strike, as the leading man.
 1t is tragic story of young American artist with more leisure than IS good for a bachelor in Paris. He takes his fun as he finds it but proves to be man of sufficient innate char. acter to whip up some scenes of tense combat between his lighter inclinations ->9nd his sterner principles. He is shown ina quick and easy change from one glamorous but quite trivial love to an- other of the same character, but there is also in the play beautiful young model who isn't that kind of a girl and of course she makes the appeal to the good that you know is in this guy. But not until it is too late for happy ending because the young model, inn personated by Miss Kenyon, falls dead just as the artist finishes master piece to which she has inspired him just as he realizes, too, that the thing which has been beating against his larboard ribs is that love which she has inspired in him. (