Evening star., 1927-04-24
As the Summer Season
Approaches.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
NE of the rewards of a tradi-
tional training in the theater
is a clientele.

tional training in the theatel
is a clientele.
1t may not be overwhelm.
ing1y large, but it is faithful
1t is remarkable TO see how ar
actor associated with literary ideals
will play Seasoa after season to au-
diences which at each performance
represent abodt the same measure
OK attendance. There will be excep-
tional increase on the occasion, per-
haps, of benefits, or unusual throngs
OF visitors to a particular city in
which the engagement occurs, but
the business averages along on fixed
terms which the booking officers
may calculate with mathematical ac-
curacy. And there is always hope
of the big hit when the entire public
rouses itself to acclaim some author
who has adventurously been rescued
from the dust of the library shelves.
x x
Bertha Kalich is an actress with
a clientele. She takes deliberate aim
at an effect. reaches her mark with
fame and thunder She is the Big
Bertha" of the old school of legiti-
mate drama.
q X X
Ladies who love to weep in sister
ly sympathy with an aggrieved wife
come early and begin to unfurl their
handkerchiefS before the rise of the
curtain. The cynical aphorism TO
the effect that the female of the
species is the deadlier finds no en-
couragement when Kalich selects
and rehearses play 1t is the male
who is held up to microscopic
scrutiny, either as an unreasonable
tyrant, or, as III the case of THE
Riddle Woman" a fend incarnate,
whose industrious malevolences are
so profuse as TO become quite in
credible.
The villain of this play would
seem, in all reason, compelled to re-
lapse occasionally for week, or
perhaps an entire month, into state
of comparative decency, if only for
the sake of a holiday.
x x x
The assemblage of a supporting
cast for woman like Kalich is no
slight enterprise She is, first of all,
an actress. incapable of adjusting
herself to a type" performance.
She hurlS herself into the character
and does not wait for the character
TO be trimmed and furnished in order
TO suit her personality. To select
company thoroughly in key with her
dramatic expression would be like
seeking collection of cascades that
would hold their own in comparison
with Niagara.
* X *
"The Riddle Woman" is not, in its
English form, a very we'll written
play, in spite of the fact that Dor
othy Donneily, from whom the the
zter has had many exceilences, is
concerned in its authorship. II has
not the poetic diction which might
assist supporting players in sustain
ing some of their scenes. A direct
translation from the Scandinavian
original, of which traces remain in
various verbal references, might
have been better than the adapta-
fion.
**
The husband of the cast is sup
posed to be stern and overwhelm-
ing personality.
Who could assume to be stern or
overwhelming in the presence of
Kalich?
The villain, whose chronology of
life includes relationships for pur-
poses of blackmail with women of
all ages and conditions, is suggested
TO the imagination as an unscrupu-
lous person of insidious polish.
Who would attempt to rival Nine.
Kalich in polished subtleties?
AS matter of fact, this particular
villain is a disquieting factor; espe-
cially at the moment when he ap-
pears with white gloves that some
how seemed abnormally large. The
satanic import of his speeches could
not entirely do away with the faint
idea that he should have carried a
tray for the purpose of bringing
visiting cards or distributing refresh
ments.
Refreshments appear to be an in
dispensable incident of all drama.
There are very few playwrights ap-
parently who have been sufficiently
devoted to prohibition to exclude the
glass and the decanter from the
stage furnishings.
Here is one point at which realism
must cease, for no actor could sur
viye the perpetual tipple which con-
stitutes part OF the business of
many plav. He faces physical
risk quite sufficient TO prove his art
devotion by absorbing from season
to season oceans OF cold tea.
No wonder actors are nervousl
Mitzi was a Henry w. Savage star
when she came to this country to
flourish as daShing expression OF
femininity. The name of the Vienncse
charmer was Mitzi Hajos, but the
second word was dropped with a
thought, no doubt, of that famous
actress Lotta. who never ventured
to figure in the advertising as Miss
Crabtree, her real name 1t would
not be necessary to eliminate the
Hajos now, for the people of this
country have become accustomed TO
the pronunciation of foreign words
4
Names do not really matter when
Il player has genuine quality Early
predictions were freely ventured that
an actor named Otis Skinner could
never hope TO compete with the
Montmorencies and Hazeltines. who
so long as they were choosing names
decided to choose pretty ones OBJ
jections were raised to Walker
NNnitcsides' name as a billboard de-