Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-06-10

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Now why do you want to waste your
time over that NONSENSE" Well, 1t
may be nonsense to you and you and
you, but it may also have given the
other person the kind of laugh they
were anticipating and never got again
all season. Her Masters Voice" was
not a work of genius. But its situations
were droll, its characters absurd and
it's language so genuinely cockeyed
that no matter how you could look at
it we do not see how you could help
but be tickled by its freshness and
originality.
Then just because George Jean
Nathan said Richard of Bordeaux"
was the finest play of the year GER
tain people decided that they would
sleep through it, neglecting to notice
the beauty of its staging, the slow but
moving portrait of its hero, the tapes
try of its times and the general spirit
of elegance which it had all the way
down from its very finger tips.
The Wind and the Rain" was no
startling innovation, fraught with ex-
element and overpowering with a
message, but it was sincere and hu-
man little play, which. if it had been
better acted, must necessarily have
appealed to that small public which
likes to sit back and take its amuse-
ments gently.
Last and not least is Sailor, Be-
ware" comedy with bawdy theme.
which nevertheless has given thou
sands certain sort of kick through
out this whole last season in New
York. Granted that it's situations
were not new lit was after all labeled
a variation on an old thence, granted
that it was rough and rowdy and
that its hero was no gentleman of
the old school, nevertheless, it was
entertaining to some and more enter
tanning to others, and far more peo-
pie came out of it chuckling than
they did wagging their heads with in
dignation.
IN THE case of all these plays there
has come up this question of bit
terness and almost rage by those who
didn't happen to enjoy the show and
who wanted to be sure that their
neighbors knew that they didn't enjoy
1t. Those of US who write reviews are
often sorry afterward for some harsh
word we may have said-the speed
with which such things have to be
done very often guiding the mind in
the wrong channel. Nevertheless, if
we have erred in our duties and spoken
wrong, it is our belief that such a
deed being done. it is best not to pur-
sue the subject. but to let the patron
make up his own mind as to what he
likes or what he doesn't like 1t is
this endless word of mouth criticism
which hurts the theater more than
anything.
If. in fact, we summed up the above
you would find that someone had cor
daily dishked Mary of Scotland
Her Masters Voice." Richard of
Bordeaux, The Wind and the Rain"
and Sailor, Beware!" Nobody could
possibly be as i'll humored as that.
Yet. from the gathering together of
this seasons gossip, one could almost
believe that the world swarmed with
such iconoclasts and that the theater
is chuck full of malice, nonsense and
immortality.
Such may be the case, in a very
small way, but it is in such a small
way that it should not tear down the
very fabric of the theater, which still
has ideals as high as any art. We
should like to say. in other words
Live-and let live The theater has
yet to learn. but in its evolution it
has given you some pretty enjoyable
moments, and it is not heading for
perdition, as certain callous souls will
try to tell YOU.