Evening star., 1927-03-13

KEYNOTE Of every song or speech ap
Deared TO be novelty 1hespi!
donned his white whiskers. took VI
his staff and trudged counter-clock
wise into bygone days. Not con
tent with lettering through thu
lanes of sturdy English literature
he put on speed and went ava!
back to the days of Hannibal an(
Fabius.
How easy it is to spark acros
the gap of centuries il the intel
lectual current is strong enough wa:
shown when the old figures in th'
Punic War were brought forward II
all the elegance of ancient garb tC
discuss military plans and social con
ditions with the freedom of speech
and blunt suggestiveness that char
acterize the most impudent OF The
plays which have offended thought
full consideration, but which have
nevertheless, been prosperous. These
plays, appealing to no responsible
sense of valuations, would once have
been designated as catch-penny en-
terprfses. They are now catch
three-or-f four dollar plus -wartax = en-
terprises The quality is not enhanc-
ed by the price. On the contrary
the quality has deteriorated. The
situation shows the consistent rela-
tionship of the present dollar toward
theatrical as we'll as other merchan-
disc. Prices have gone up; material
does not keep the pace.
=
1t was freely predicted when The
Road 70 Rome" proved a success
that figures resembling those on
Pompeiian vase would come romping
in hordes into Broadway from all
the adjacent thoroughfares where
dwell those who wait the call OF the
producer for "at liberty" talent.
1.-THE Adventurer," which tells the
story of Ulysses and Penelope on the
lines of current comedy based on an
entirely cynical attitude toward al
most every kind of decency known
goes away back OF the Trojan war.
1t is long jump.
4 X + X
This play of Ulysses was quite
needless. :,
Offenbach had romped with the:
Olympian heroes in Orpheus and
with the Trojan warriors in La beiie
Helene quite satisfactorily. giving 10
already spritely scripts the adyan- a
tage of enticing melodies, ne
Road TO Rome" showed that the
music was no more necessary TO a
comic presentation of the old themes
and personalities than it is to
trarical Interpretation of them But
a NAV like "The Adventures" needs
music and plenty of it. 1t should De
yerv loud music; loud enough to
serve the same purpose that TOM
toms and whistles serve among par
baric tribes when employed to
drown the shrieks of tortured
nrisoner. The dialogue fairly walled
in pathetic endeavor to enlist sym,
pathy for a hard-working ana
patiently rehearsed group of players
y y \
The difference between THE Road
10 Rome" and "The Adventures" is
the difference so frequently oo-
served between the effects of story
told by two people. 1t may be a
risque story. One persons tells II
with a dexterity which implies re-
spectful attitude toward the audi
tors sense of refinement. he may
even employ certain graces OF Ian
ruare in delicate innuendo which
finally leaves his listener largely re-
sponsibie for his own Interpretation.
Story-teller No. 2 comes along, re-
peats it all in fat phrase, leaving
nothing to the imagination.
Then he wonders why people
resent him and demand some sort
of censorship that will prevent him
from being invited to any more par
ties. He protests that he merely
told the same story and cannot un-
derstand why he should be discrimi-
mated against. But it is not the
same story. Ibsen, in Ghosts, an
nounced a principle which applies to
the relative acceptabilities of various
theatrical producers as they stand
in comparison before their public.
The mother, in despair at the lone
illness of her son, has yielded her
preiudices and told him that he
might introduce into their home the
old Bohemian life. for which he
yearned. His reply was that it
might be possible TO do the same
things, but here they would not be
the same.
II is a question of atmosphere and
delicate barometric adjustment to
the pressure of good taste.
" " 4
Ii has been stated that the Ulysses
play was written long before the
Hannibal comedy. 1t had all the in
dications, regardless of when it was
originally written, of having been
hastily rewritten very shortly after
the Jane Cowl success. 1t harks
back without conjunction to vari-
Gus incidents of the Cowl play and
reasserts them in broad, uncom-
promising terms that would have
been resented even in old-time bur-
lesque.
A pun has been referred to as the
lowest form of wit. The first act OF
"The Adventurer, introducing a
character obviously suggested by
Fabius, reduces even the poor pun to
q degradation hitherto unknown.
y X \
II was remarkable to see how
thoroughly Mr.. Atwill managed tc
keep his role apart from the reekine
deluge of garbage. He was evident
ly expected to hold the same rela'
tionship to the performance that
Miss Cowl had held in The Road.
There was not the same co-ordina-
ton and Mr.. Atwill was left admir-
ably aloof in a sincere delineation oi
the Trojan hero which descended tc
banality only in the scene where he
.,,na {0rrad into the Inherent Oruri.