Evening star., 1927-12-04
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

" HE theater last week demon
strated that there are two
ways of saying the same
u thing, one way pleasant and
the other unpleasant. Both Rest
less Women" and - Girls Wanted"
constitute a study of modern life at
the most rapid pace, and the love at
fairs of the young woman who makes
an independent choice of career
in the social sphere which cultivates
the butterfly by day and later the
moth that hovers round the electric
light.
The play Restless Women" pounds
the unpleasant keynote. 1t sets out
1 at a terrific pace, placing burden
of acting responsibility upon Miss
Conover, which she sustains with
intelligent courage, even when the
audience falls into momentary doubt
as to whether a speech was intended
to be a serious expression of senti-
ment. or little laugh at the expense
of the woman of 40 who has set up
a mutiny in her own mind against
the inexorable decree of Time. 1t
has never been quite certain whether
the English jester who made the
Quip offered an example of humor
or pathos when he referred with re-
gret to the fact that when woman
reached 40 it was not possible to
change her for two twenties.
There is no question as to the
serious interest of the character
type who, realizing that the years
have passed, battles desperately to
continue the emotions of youth and
, to cultivate the frivolities with a
desperate disregard of conventional
restraints. 1t is not easy to preserve
the gentle dignity which makes such
a figure attractive if she is repre-
sented as gasping madly amid mid
night aromas and trying to imagine
them the perfumes of a Springtime
long ago.
In both plays a stupor> led up to
by ,Aintoxication was employed as a
dramatic climax. Next to Miss Con-
over the girl who represented the
childhood factor in the
4 plot had the hardest work. AS for
the men in the story, they had little
to worry about. All they had to do
was to remain quiet and admit that
for them, so far as battle for su-
premacy in the home was concerned,
the referee had long since counted
. 10. 1t would hardly be possible to
depict so small a girl as having ac-
quired SO rapidly rough vocabulary
and a heavy thirst without robbing
. the role of the charm of innocence.
The effort is made to retain this
!, charm without sacrificing the COM
+ edy of blase precocity. The result
is a clash which asserts itself at fire.
quent moments.
It is subject that should have
been tar in hand by a poet or a
philosopher, and not by the dramatist
content t. look only upon the prac-
tical possibilities of theme for de-
veloping suspense and climax The
play for which Restless Women
offers idea might have been written
by an Ibsen or a Surdeman. If Mr.
Sydney Stone can prove that his
method of discussing the social prob
lem responds to the popular sense Of
artistic propriety in America he viii
have demonstrated his right to bt
hailed as an explorer in the realm:
of thought and memorable dis
coverer.
The comedy by Gladys Unger
"2 Girls Wanted" takes up thi
new, but already hackneyed, subjec
of the ruinous and rapid pace le'
by the world around us and tells
story of the gay life in a pleasan
way. There is no sermonlzing. NJ
nicture of the luxurious vices insid
iously working their way into tn
social fabric and threatening the de
struction which excessive luxur,
brought to many an ancient capita
AS the story goes on bubbling min
eral waters flow freely into sterne
liouids and the ice clinks, but ther
;s no warning of terrible death b.
d;esination. Golf and dining at tn
country club, even the dance at
y cabaret, where the river can be see
sbarkling in the moonlight, ar
shown without a threat of injury t
morals or sentiment. In fact, thes
elements from which so much pre-
carious smartness is ordinarily ex
oected are adroitly utilized as
luminous background against whic
are silhouetted graceful figures in a.