Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-13
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The so-called legitimate drama got
along the, best it could without his
patronage As far as he could see. he
had to admit, it got along very well.
From time to time he read the bowls
of those who despaired of the Aneri
can people, in an art way, but stock
companies seemed to be doing very
well, thank you!
He discovered that art, as exempli-
fed in the spoken drama, did very
we'll, even though he never once stem
ped inside a theater door. At last Ne
got to the point where buildings given
over to theatrical enterprises were lust:
so many buildings by the city curb and
nothing more.
The theatrical addict win say he was
mad, but he was far from it. In the
vast buzz Of life, on the American fiv-
wheel of business, he was never missed
He simply pleased himself, at once
the most important the most irving
and the most terrible of businesses
Any one who has never tried to please
himself absolutely can know nothing
Of the difficulty of it.
It Is much easier to say, ooh. thank
you, will be glad to go!" when a
friend invites you to the theater. than
to think up some magnificent lie on
the spur of the moment and get It off
with aplomb: "Oh, would he de-
lighted to 60. but have an important
meeting tonight-board of directors
yes, very unusual, night meeting, quite
exceptional, of course, but"
So much easier to go and be bored
than stay and be blamed. The wear
and tear of life comes as often from
polite refusals as DETER acceptances. It
fc two kn
please ones self, and quite another to
live to please ones friends. The high
est life consists in reconciling the two.
In the theater at last, our magnificent
wight-and we really think there was
something magnificent about him -
settled down to infinite enjoyment.
Minute by minute he began to admit
to himself that this heroic play on the
stage before him (no less heroic than
O'Neill's nine-acter) was really worth
seeing, after all.
It was not worth seeing, he told him.
self, because it enabled him to talk
about it to others who had seen it, or
to be Gin the know" with those who had
had the personal satisfaction of seeing
it when it was new"
No, it was satisfying, principally. be-
cause OF those authentic human voices
coming, to him over the footlights,
voices not strained through film, or
conveyed through the medium of cleo
tricitv but voices projected as sound
waves through the personal and physi-
cal force Of the speakers.
The words "nuance" and "timbre"
came to him. while Nina was ranting
her stuff, They were good words, but
they did not express enough. Few
words hit more than the shell of a
meaning. If they cause movements in
the mind layers of humanity they are
good words.
Bigger and better than nuances, or
even timbre, quality, is the human voice
itself. It is our means of contact, mind
with mind. Without it, for all its
faults, we would be reduced to the scale
of oysters. and sit side by side on the
interesting shores of life without once
knowing each other. The spoken
drama, as q reflection OF this life of
ours, has its place In the universe,
largely because of the power and beauty
Of the human voice, strange, close,
vibrant, cruel, loving, all inclusive, CIV
ing us a chance, at least, of knowing
and loving one another.