Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-20
Fine English Divides
Honors With Vaudeville
BY pHILANDER JOHNSON.

him contemplated dnc" d.
- most as if he were a rising
young author seeking to establish
relations with play patrons. 1t may
be that scarcity OF plays accounts
for giving the Barrie worshipcrs
chance to rally in admiration once
again.
A play like The Legend OF Leo
nora" does much to CRAFTY those
who value the theater not only tor
its entertainment, but as a means
of displaying rehnements OF speech
and delicacy Of idea. Practical men
of the theater will scarcely assign
exclusive credit to Barrie for the
popularity of "Leonora." with such
a winsome actress as Grace George
to realize the part, and SO great a
favorite as Bruce McRae as her
dramatic accompanist. The theater
is still for the actor more than tor
the author The reputation OF the
actor is cumulative, based chiefly
on his success. He may have fail
ures, but he remains unjudged by
them, for the public does not go to
see failures.
An author may have TO wait
long time to count the full measure
of his esteem. In the era which
furnished the costume motif tor
such plays as What Every Woman
Knows" and The Legend of Leo
nora" people were accustomed to
stalwart strokes, with melodramatic
effects involving steamboats, and To-
comotives in actual operation and
tanks containing real water in which
to hurl the struggling hero. A Bar
RE audience had TO be made up
largely of book readers, appreciative
of literary style and graceful fancy.
Those who depended entirely upon
the theater for amusement found
themselves a little puzzled by the
Barrie method OF sparkling over and
then back again between his two
worlds, one of reality and the other
of imagination.
* X x
It was not always easy to correlate
the two sets of impressions; not
nearly so easy as it is now, as the
world has learned to discuss in the
most offhand manner all sorts OF
philosophy, some of them pressing
thought to the most extreme tenu-
osity and permitting an indiscrimi-
nate gable reaching from the pro-
family of the gutter to polysyllabic
circumlocutions relating to marriage
customs and various forms of men
tai science. Having taken such
hardy exercise, the public finds Bar
RE an easy pastime, even though
he sometimes hints that he might
be unable to give precise definition
of what NE aims at in certain OF his
scenes.
He gives the keynote of the play
in the title. He calls ii "A Legend
He proceeds with his story, however,
as il it were a picture of reality and
tells of the mother who hurled the
man from a railway coach because
he insisted on keeping the window
open next to her baby, who had
cold, apparently in direct narrative.
He is the comedian with straight
face.
1t was possible for the spectator
to wait until the court scene, with
its unrestrained travesty on what a
charming woman can effect in in
huencing the processes of justice
before perceiving that the play is
a portrayal of a mothers thinking
and not of what she does.
n - n
The third act is not vitality neces-
sary. The speech of the whimsical
Judge after Leonora's triumphant
acquittal is in effect an epilogue, a
beautiful tribute to the mother
woman and 10 the instructive love
and reverence that men have for
her. The third act, however, is use
full in pointing distinction between
the physical humanity and the
thought identity OF the role. When
Bruce McRae, as always, the most
convincing of suitors, asks Grace
George, irresistible in feminine charm,
whether she really did kill the man,
and she replies that she is not quite
sure about it, the audience is com
PEELED to share her mental attitude
on the subject and be content with
knowing that if anybody threatens
the health or happiness of loving
mothers baby, this was precisely the
way that mother would feel like be-
having.
Amazing reconciliations are pos
sible in the theater. The bitterest
quarrels have not closed the way to
future understanding. For theater
people, more, perhaps, than most
men, have need for one another and
must forget personal differences in
an effort to coordinate for a COM
mon end--the success of the play.
When Daniel Frohman employed
David Belasco as stage manager,
Belasco frankly regarded himself as
being a very hardworked man. The
separation was not friendly. But
the incident produced no lasting
quarrel, and Daniel Frohman recent
ly came forward conspicuously with
a monograph on Lulu Belle" TO cast
his weight of reputation on the side
of Belasco at time when Belasco
needed every friendship he could
command.
Only those who have risen 10
heights of power and independence
can afford to quarrel. Families that
can afford abundant alimony are
those most likely TO separate. The
parting of men so independent in
circumstances as Klaw and Granger
was followed by years of expecta-
ton that they would one day re-
unite. But they never did. They
could each afford to get on without
the other.
X