Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-07
ADJUSTMENTS
NATIONAL-Mr. Gillette in Sherlock
Holmes"

Assiduously bent upon the pursuit of
news at, the National Theater last night
and scenting news in the booming of
flashlights from squad of photog-
raphers assembled on the sidewalk out
side, The Stars representative sought
out a constituted official of the theater
during an lntermission and asked him
whether President Hoover, as rumored,
was in the audience, and if so, where.
NO" said the official, 1.-The President
did not come. but there is party here
from the White House. Mr.: Holmes
WIS a dinner guest at the White House
and members of the party here tonight
were the other guests
1t was not until later that 1t dawned
upon The Stars representative that
there was something at least out of
the ordinary in the fact that Sherlock
Holmes was dining with the President
of the United States. And it is to
De doubted The Stars informant realizes
yet that he said MIR. Holmes was
dinner guest" when he meant Mr.. Gil
lette.
But the incident serves as well as any
to emphasize the indisputable fact that
Sherlock Holmes is more widely known
character than William Gillette and
that when one thinks of William Gil
lette, one really visualizeS and mentally
personifies Sherlock Holmes. Which
brings to mind certain parallel be-
tween DR.. Watson and Mr.. Gillette.
We only know DR.. Watson, negative
character at best, whose fate in life
was to be the goat, because he heroically
became a Boswell. And while William
Gillette will always claim distinction as
being one of the greatest of American
actors, we know him best through Sher-
lock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is an
altogether admirable person, whose
niche in fame is secure. But Mr.. Gill
lette is so much more of an artist than
even the Incompatible Holmes, it has
always seemed a bit unfortunate that
he has had largely to conflne his talents
to the relatively narrow confines of the
character he enabled Sir Conan Doyle
to make immortal.
One cannot but believe that Mr.. Gill
lette would have reached even greater
heights had he ever been able to escape
from Sherlock Holmes. He never could.
And in his farewell tour it was only
natural that he would return in the
person of one whose name he made
by-word and symbol.
In Washington, as elsewhere, the re-
vival of Sherlock Holmes and Mr.. Gil
lette has been made the occasion for
great rejoicing and interest in 1t has
kept apace. 1t has been many long
day since the National Theater has
held as large or as distinguished an
audience as that which filled its seats
last evening The source of this in
terest and enthusiasm is tWofold. II
has been ID or IS years since Mr.. Gil
lette bid au revoir to Washington, and
a much longer time since he reached
his heydey in the role of Sherlock
Holmes. There is, therefore, an older
generation of theatergoers which has
regarded the return of Mr.. Gillette as
an event recalling happy days now
gone, and there Is younger generation
that regards the return of Mr.. Gill
lette as an opportunity to learn what
the older generation has been boastlne
about all these years and to judge Tor
itself whether or not that Boosting is
justified.
Neither generation is disappointed.
Mr. Gillette, of course, and not Sher-
lock Holmes, furnishes the answer to
the possibly puzZling question of why
rather mediocre melodrama has lived
so long and SO we'll. He is one of the
artists who, ordinarily, would be eX-
pected to come only once in lifetime.
His temperance, as young in spirits
and as skilled in the mastery of mis-
work as ever, means that he has come
not once, but twice, in a lifetime. This
being a bona fide farewell, no one
should neglect the opportunity to see
him.
Sherlock Holmes" ives, no doubt,
wild, a wicked, crime play in the late
'90s. For it appeared as the lonely van
guard of that veritable host of crime
plays and crime stories that have
marched across the stage in the last 10
years, and its characters were truly
wicked and depraved lot. 1t is an in
tn foxt ot,t
ization that the base villains with whom
Sherlock Holmes had to deal seem, in
the light of modern times. naive ami
unsophisticated lot of bad boys grown
up. The modern audience is too ia
miliar with the tactics Of machinegun
bandits, with dum-tklm bullets and high
explosives. to trerR lie in fear at the
Vaccinations of lyof. Moriarty, with
his toy pistol and lethal chamber. And
old Sherlock himself has become gal
liant relic-but only relic. His profess
Sional counterpart today is more in
terested in the effectiveness of the au-
tomato rife and tear gas bomb than in
looking at cigar ashes through a mag
nifying glass Sherlock Holmes" was
once a rip-roaring melodrama. Today
1t can be viewed in the light. almost, of
burlesque. Methods and fashions in
crime have changed.
MI. SlucIIc ID ouppOIISu al ulo 1dL
we'll tour by an excellent cast. John
Miltern, an old-timer is adequately
equipped for the role Of Prof. Moriarty,
and Montague Shaw, who has gained
favorable attention as Shakespearean
actor of note, is thoroughly capable in
the part of James Larrabee, an alto
gether despieable fellow. Roberta
Beatty is a charming but most wicked
Madge Larrabee, and Peg Entwistle's
Alice Faulkner constitutes an adequate
explanation of why love conquers all
including Sherlock Holmes. B.~McK.
$685. l.