Evening star., 1925-01-06
Belasco-"Four Knaves and
a Ioker."

An epic of the piker-if a piker
may be a fit subject OF an epic-is
''Eour Knaves and a Joker" played
by Lionel Barrymore and an aston
ishingIy good company at the Shu-
bert-Belasco Theater last night.
Mr.. Barrymore in his new play
presents a character sketch-the
piker-that in his hands becomes a
masterpiece. With the same sure
touch that makes memorable his
'Copperhead," his clown in Laugh,
Clown, Laugh" he makes Bernie Kap-
Ian, the piker, a living, breathing
person. worm, IL you will-but
worm in the beginning and in the
end "Even a worm will turn" the
saying goes, but no one ever heard
OF a worm causing any great terror
or destruction if he did turn. In this
case the turn of the worm, II 1t may
be called a turn, Is as Intellectual as
the abour-face of others of his type
once a piker, always piker. The
authors, Leon Gordon and Mr.. Bar
rymore, have stuck close to this text,
and between them have presented a
picture that never wavers; that is so
true that it hurts. 1t is the picture
of a little soul, a cowardly soul,
soul that suffers the terrors of the
damned. a soul that is ridiculous, a
soul that is a jest. Mr.. barrymore
has caught the knack of it. And
the audience, willy nilly, suffers with
the piker, and in measure sympa-
thizes, because it pities the poor BOOB.
The story of -Four knaves and
Joker is novel. The piker steals
$4,000, thinking all the time he is
taking only $50. What happens to
him and his purloined thousands
furnishes the really dramatic action
Of the play, covering prologue ana
three acts, in which the audience
last night sat keyed TO the highest
interest The very depths OF the plker
are sounded when Bernie discovers
that the envelope which he thought
contained only $50 contained SoU,oOo.
Had he guessed for an instant that
the envelope contained thousands or
dollars Bernie never could have
touched It, But S50-that was horse
Of another color, a horse that piker
might ride.
The four knaves and couple of
females of the species are admirably
done. Alan Brooks as Willie Riley,
a leech; Frank Conroy as Alexander
Montgomery, a gentleman; Robert
Cummings and Harry E. Mckee, as
Two Wise Men from the East,
play the knaves. Mr. Brooks charac-
terization of the leech is very good.
Irene Fenwick is cast as June
Knight, described as a "chooser'-
chooses those who can produce the
coin. 1t is upon June that the at
fections of Bernie center. In fact, 1t
is the thought of her combined with
the thought of a suit of clothes with
an extra pair of pants which causes
the piker to make his first little
move-the effort to get $50 Of the
money of the bank in which he is
employed. Miss Fenwick handles the
roll cleverly indeed.
-Four Knaves and a Joker" falls
into the category of plays of the un-
derworld-of the seamy side of life
along with a considerable number of
others which have been presented
within recent months. It's characters
belong to the submerged tenth. They
talk and act like the scum they are
supposed to represent. Oaths, slang
and the argot of the gutter generally
crop out during the play. Apparent
ly there is determination on the part
Of the producers that the American
people generally shall know just
what this kind Of life and the people
who lead 1t are like.
1t would be difficult, indeed, to
praise Mr.. Barrymore too highly Tor
his acting as the piker. In fact, the
whole production, by A. H. Woods, is
far above the average. But there is
not one redeeming character in the
whole lot of them. Even the infalli-
bility of the police becomes jest.
They are sorry lot. The merit of
the new play lies in the correctness
Of the picture 1T presents, in Its dra-
matte situations, and in kind OF
grim comedy. It Is without charac-
ter to whom the real sympathy OF the
auditors goes out.