Evening star., 1927-11-01
NATIONAL-"The Barker. "

Whatever skepticism may. have ex
listed concerning THE Barkers" au
thorship and cast, there could be no
doubt whatever that this much dis
cussed production has the, best ad
vance agent in the world.
No less vocalist and publicist than
Mary Garden herself sent telegram
to he posted on all the billboards. 1t
was written after she saw the show in
Atlanta and reads as follows:
1.-The Barker is the finest
theater I have ever seen. The
players. the story, the way 1t Is
put on make 1t the most perfect
entertainment I have ever wit
messed"
After such distinguished compli-
ment it is impossible to go further IN
commentator. The only hope OF an
original phrase must lie in a feeble
effort to find flaw.
THE Barker" is what might be
called a hard boiled native drama. 1t
Is the kind of drama Charles Dickens,
while writing his American notes,
might have imagined this country
would develop when it should forsake
English literature as its model and
proceed to deal with the New World s
own customs and personages. 81.
tent of that type of show known as
carnival. The story deals with the
show world far removed from the
Ringing Brothers or Flo Ziegfeld, but
still the show world-the show world
peopled by so many who are heard OF,
if at all, only in the brief advertise.
ments in voluminous magazines for
professionals" relating to performers
who are sober. neat dressers on and
off and can double in BRASS"
'"The Barker" attempts none of the
poetic spirit that characterizes the
plays which tell of humble player folk
who roam through rustic villages.
Here is no poet like the Man Who
Gets Slapped" to suffer amid refined
perfidies. Instead of the conventional
poet, 1.-The Barker" is a -sideShOw
shouter who addresses his persuasions
directly to his public regardless of the
lure of rhyme or meter.
1t resorts to the vernacular of the
tribe. It mollifies no idioms. The dia-
logue is frank and honest. 1t disarms
all suspicion of deliberate coarseness.
At the same time it disdains any ef-
forts at polite circumlocutions. The
charactrs, humanity drawn, simply
speak for themselves.
1t might be said that the play is so
story. 1t has little plot in the sense of
complicated intrigue. What will hap
pen from act to act Is easily antici-
pated. An unscrupulous girl Of the
tent group is persuaded by a bribe to
make conquest of a youngster who is
worshiped by his father. Her mock
love turns into devotion even as real
as his own. The father casts them out:
and finally forgives them. That is all.
Yet the play of emotion is constant
and the interest always tense.
The moment in the play that is not
well managed in the writing. and
therefore of necessity not convincing
in the acting, is the one in which the
girl announces that she Is honestly in
love. 1t is a little sudden, and audi
tors who. have settled themselves in
admiration of a l1eartless and con-
summate vamp find a little difficulty
in recovering from a mood of cynical
humor
From the "piece of poetry" on the
front page of the program to the end
of the spoken play the evenings en-
tertainment is defiant of accepted
models.
The Barker is played by Walter
Huston, who is the outstanding figure
In the cast. Few artists could, after
50 much good acting through many
scenes, reserve the real thrill of hfs
Interpretation for the four or five
words with which he closes the play.
1t means the melting of an iceberg.
The tag" of a. play usually has but
slight meaning. In this case 4. is
worth whole act. To explain and
describe II would be laborious. But
1t is well worth waiting for.
PHILANDER JOHNSON