Evening star., 1925-04-12
HELEN STRANSKy
BERNARD THORNTC
preeident \
Preoldent

to tread whatever path her fancy
chooses. to play with the truth with
bold ettrontery, to persuade a man
in his unconquerable devotion to lie
to himself in her behalf The place
she holds in his heart makes her I'M
mune TO retribution.
= = :: x
The more refined the type OF man
with whom she has to deal, says this
woman of Lakatos. the more easily
he may be compelled by his own
bigness of mind to tolerate, to pal
late. to forgive. The author brings
his play to a straightforward, logical
conclusion, permitting the woman
no defense or apology which can
render her worthy in her own es-
TEEN of the forgiveness which her
heart need compels her to &C
cept. She is discovered and for
given cheat. No vengeful punish
ment or contemptuous reputation
could be so terrible as her final
realization OF her pitiable self. a
posSeSSor OF power so great that
to use it idly was only the most
merciless OF follies.
= = *
All this was easily seen if YOU
were in the humor to look beyond
a cleverly woven series OF incidents
involving a dashing and spirited re-
sort to intrigue Ill the quest OF SEN
timental adventure. The dramatic
construction varies familiar patterns
by utilizing the technique of the
film studio. employing the second
act, more or less, in explanation OF
what has been presented in the first:
in modified and elaborated applca-
ton OF the hashback
Along with this Hungarian drama
comes The Best People" announc-
ing itself as "a new American COM
edy."
Hyperion to Satyrr'
Even that long-honored phrase
Charles Frohman presents" is
employed in the announcement.
Charles Frohman relied but little on
the New York playwright, and per
haps did as much as any man to
make the American theater, in
large degree, only a vehicle for the
expression of foreign ideas. He
would certainly never have pre-
sented during his !ifetime a play
like this; nor it is conceivable, even
in the latitude of experiment now
permitted the play producer, that he
would have lent his name to so
coarse and clumsy a creation. The
utter disregard of the standards for
which he invariably stood recalls
L. !
Rip Van Winkle, Are we so soon
forgot when we are gomez
A hodgepodge of the old French
farces, with a undermining incident
of the fapper, this girl who weds
the chauffeur, and the modern, fast
set youth who falls in love with
hard working chorus girl, enlists the
services of a group of people who
are laboring obviously to convey
portraitures of personalities which
they do not accurately comprehend.
The comedy is gymna site, but not
graceful the repartee harks back
to seasons long since closed and the
sprightly audacity of impetuous
youth becomes shallow impudence,
emphasized to irritation by habit
of nasal intonation. Perhaps the
property cigarette is to blame for
the fact that nearly all the reckless
flappers of the stage talk through
their noses.
The week preceding Easter was
not expected to be liberal in its pat
ronage of the theater. Polls oblig-
ingly closed its doors and offered no
competition to the ShubertBelasco.
The hopeful prediction that the lat
ter theater would assert claim to its
normal type of patronage was full
filled. 1t was remarkable to see how
they all came back, those patrons of
a season or so ago who made this
little playhouse a landmark in the
journeyings to seek Winters
pleasure.
A suggestion was made some time
since that theaters should be COM
PEELED to display samples of their
wares in words or pictures where
people could see them before buy
ing tickets. The idea evidently had