Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-09
Laughing Too Well
And Not Wisely
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

n tested out when The Ara
~ bian Nightmare was dis
Il n closed to an audience, at the
outset, exceedingly receptive, favor
ably disposed because of the liberia
policy previously announced IN con-
necton with try-out productions
Two tickets were sold for the price
Of one, thus bringing an evenings
entertainment easily within the
reach of all.
IS
There are two widely opposed
theories as TO the influence OF the
price mark on box office patronage
One is that high price is taken as
a signal of high quality, and if il
can be linked with some we'll known
reputation enhances the impression
of merit in the show. When must
cal productions have commanded as
much as $l4 and $l6 per seat, when
introduced as staid and almost
innocent intrusion into the night
club neighborhood of metropolis
it has to be remembered that they
were de luxe specimens, as III the
case of Rose Marie"
x X X
Experienced producers are, in
great majority, of the opinion that
unless the attraction is one involv-
ing great capitalization the purse
must be studied in terms of plain
and sincere economy, such as the
thrifty housewife practices when
she telephones her order for the
daily dinner.
The spectacular production looks
for a crash hit which brings people
stampeding. money in hand, as they
are brought to a prize fight or a
world series game. Big money in
vested in spectacle means big risk.
The most valuable and reliable bit
of property the manager can seek
is simple play easily cast and with
plenty Of laughs.
Yet it must be a play. THE
Arabian Nightmare" threw its de-
pendence squarely upon the shout
ders of old Menus and could almost
claim the right to use that favorite
antique on the billboard, "A laugh in
every line" But to make a person
laugh and then leave him in cropping
doubt as to what he was laughing
about is more in the nature of a
practical joke than wit. and may
leave him suspecting that instead of
being esteemed as a critically appre-
ciative observer he has himself been
subjected to a process of abrupt
mental reduction.
THE Arabian Nightmare" did not
belle its title 1t was like one of
those NEUROLOGICAL animals which
take the head of household tabbie
cat and attach it to the body of a
desert lion. 1t is like a combina-
ton of alphabetically restored "Old
Homestead" and '.'Kismet" well
shaken together and poured out into
three small and unsatisfying liba-
tions. -
There is somewhere among our
groves and grassy spaces monu-
ment to man whose career in Con-
gress was made memorable not only
by his philant Mopic devotion to the
interests of ill3paid men in the mail
service, but also by his poetic graces
of speech and his frank admiration
of the influence of generous sense
of humor as opposed to thunderful
rhetorical compulsion. He was nick
named Sunset" Cox because of a
bit of descriptive writing, pen pic
ture of sunset which aroused read
ers throughout the country to en-
thusiastic admiration. He wrote a
book entitled why Do We Laugh"
which resulted in fluent sentences,
full of charm for an idle hour, but
offering no decisive answer to the
riddle that entitled it. He had not
the benefit of modern scientific study
which analyses the human brain in
terms of not merely philosophy, but
almost of mathematics, and left the
problem still open. If book could
be written answering this question
in explicit terms every producing
manager in New York would devote
to it hours of attentive wakefulness
each day and sleep with thunder his
pillow.
1.-THE Arabian Nightmare" made
everybody laugh and then left every
body wondering why. AS a story
it is most unsatisfactory, for even
in an Oriental fantasy there must be
a thread of FEASIBILITY and a certain
proportion in cause and result.
Striking incidents introduced merely
for momentary comical effect and
unrelated to the development of
actual story have little value.
The funny lady insisted on being
too funny. The ferocious sheik, with
a basso profundo rumble, insisted on
being too ferocious The juvenile
and pranksome invader of the harem,
where he is forced to masquerade
as the beautiful captive vamp, is too
pranksome. There is such thing
as being too eager to please. Play
goers admire competitions which
permit superlatives. Among the bar
gain try-outs announced earlier in
the season 1.-The Nightmare" runs
Glamour" a close second as the
Winters worst play"
*#k
Old comic pieces as loosely con-
structed have been successes, plac-
ing their reliance very largely, as in
this case, on the sprightly charm of
an exceedingly attractive young
woman. But such successes had the
benefit of cast of funmakers whose
approximations approached with
delicate nearness to legitimate art
and who could toss in a song and a
little discreet dancing in an offhand
way that gave the performance all
the air of lightsome frolc through
q