Variety (March 1921)

Friday, March 18, LEGfTI A T E IS WOMAN TO WOMAN. f{«nrictto.. • • •••• Andn*e ('orday W'tlly ....Julia Chippendale I.tttle Dary • ;.. ..Itorna Volar* ]>oloryse Wllatta Kerthaw Dr. Oavln Kenneth Hill David. ...»••••••••••••••••••• Mil Krombif Mji»on t Stapleton Kent ifrs Anuon-Pond .Qall Kane after-theatre discussions, hat a great chance to hit, more so in New York than in Chicago. Lait. NEMESIS. Chicago, March 16. It looks as though Al Woods may have outguessed the sharpshooters again. This observation warrants string with W»>ds' selection, in the face of the Chicago critics and many wise pickers, who almost unanimously took "Woman to Woman" lightly, some cavalierly and norne even snecringly. This depart- ment, in a similar instance, picked •The Womsn of Bronie" as u poten- tial New York money hit list sea- son, receiving nome Randolph street sympathy for the prediction. It proved a prophecy. The hypothesis thereof was the following para- graph, which wound up the review: "This plmy i» ju«t old-fashioned enough to prove a novelty in. New York, where, no matUr what its for- tunes on tour meanwhile, it will harvest a health* and enduring profit." Thiv may no equally for "Woman to Woman." which* is iti a measure of the same type. If anything dis- turbs it on the Dig Alley it will be its modern features, not its sturdy, time-tried backbone of sex. birth eontrol and the deathless "triangle." Its biggest shortcoming may bs its defeat of whooping melodrama by subtleties, niceties and at times terrific and fascinating restraint, both in the manuscript and its per- formance. The play is a hybrid of several hardy old "problems" and propagandas, several immortal p-ots and a post-war twist plus a 1931 handling of 121*1 themes. In "Woman to Woman' are found essentia] elements of "Commits." Where Arc My Children." Maud Muller." "Thne Weeks,** "Way Down East." "A Doll's House," "A Dittle Child Shall head Them.' "The Christian" "Hindie Wake*," "Marie Odllte," "The Unmarried Mother." "A Wife in Name Only." and Orac« 3.a Hue's classic song hit. "She Was only a Dancer." That's a pretty lair foundation on which to build up a box-olllce demand Add to that some deep and ringing philosophies OOUChed In the good old bombast of theatrical verbiage, a flood of alibi for sin growing out of the bedlam of war, a sentimental alliance of sexual leaning between allied nations in a death struggle, a winsome blonde injured French girl with an ador- able love-baby as against a cold English millionairess who refuses to be a mother because she doesn't want to spoil her figure—and, voila! If "Woman to Woman" doesn't wring tears and dollars, the panic is on. This hard-boiled reviewer shamelesly admits that he blubbered like a boob through most of it and "pulled" for the game French mama through all of It. Michael Morton, author of "The Yellow Ticket," wrote this one, and the narrative can be set down in a few words: A French girl, seduced by a British engineer, has a child, unknown to him. The child is four when he comes up with her in Lon- don again. She has become a fa- mous dancer, with a lesion of the heart. She begs the man to give his son a home. The man asks his wife, proud and prudish, who, her- self refusing to be a mother, has no sympathy for the ringless one. Dater she relents and takes the child. The bereft one is giving up the man, the boy, the career—everything—to be swallowed up again in want and ob- scurity for the Bake of the child, when she drops dead as a finale. It is not an "unhappy ending"; it is a tragody, but a sweet climax. Willettc Kershaw plays the French girl. She plays her with all that uncanny cunning for speciou* acting that registers as artistically natural expression. Only her ob- viously spurious French dialect dis- turbs the realism of her work—a realism that she carries through many moods as the girl, the woman, the mistress, the dancer, the super- creature and the animal. That she creates and sustains .sympathy is beyond argument; that she is an artist of indescribably exotic and electric personality is certain; that she can hold back a thrill and bang it over when it is least expected and most terrific is certain ami amastng. That the success or less of "Woman to Woman" banns en her fragile shoulders is also sure. 'Jail Kane played tlie wife. Miss Kane is a majestic woman, supreme •n dignity and ley reserve. She fed the scenes probably j-ast as the au- thor coneeived them, l-vlix Kremhs the most polished "heavy* of our present-day stage. Is the husband- lover. Krembs' selection was un- usual in view of his past perform- ances, but quite pat. He pays re- soundingly and straightforwardly. The girl w - 1tl plays the boy, liul< l»avy, is saccharine m app nrance ajjd cuddly and all that but not at ?i!. ** 1( ' l nH ldred precocious aetros« the loea] critics irived about. Any one would fall for her bobbed curl* •'tad her baby protile and 1:-r h-art- iWlning lisp; in those rcspc Ms the youngster has a distinct appeal and * distinct value. Woman to Woman Keemfl to fooibine theatrical money elements. make women ween, wl'l » iu-e -=• TT Atlantic City, March lfi. It's now up to CJeorge Cohan, its producer. Augustus Thomas, its author, and John Meohan. its stager, had their say at the play's premiere Monday, and their voices were none too clear. Cohan watched the opening from an upper box. I tow his . restless fingers must havo itched. Thomas has a tense theme in this new one. "Nemesis." Ilis treatment is too leisurely. lOmmett Corrigan. splen- did player as he is. is miscast in the feature role. Meehan handled his material Without inspiration. A revengeful husband forces his faithless wife to decoy'the wife s lover to the couple's home, r.y cold- blooded prearrangement the hus- band slays the wife and by ruse and device schemes that the para- mour will be arrested and convicted of the crime. The lover dies In the electric chair. The husband is avenged. That's the play's dramatic base Melodrama surely this. Hut the attack hasn't been sufficiently con- sidered. As the play Is revealed it sounds as though the author had at the outset, but an exciting third act—the assassination and arrest scenes -and deemed its tension war- rant for easy approach by act I and 11 and amplification by act IV. the last. The result is two lat»ored in- troductory acts and a none two auitant tinal period. Cbhan, a wiseard adapter, Is un- doubtedly already hard at it supply- ing new color and direction to the lagging stretches. Overhauled, as Cohan can overhaul it. the piece should be a surf bOX-vfBce success. An assembly of guests at a bridge party in the wronged husband's home colors the Initial act. A group of women of the pseudo smart set sit about with the animation of Was mannequins in n department store show window. Their conversation, protracted till it sounds like a read- ing-room dissertation, has to do with several ancles of preparation for what It to follow. This intro- ductory act and the next that fol- low* in an artist 'a studio are con- sumed in telling us that jfarcla Kal- ian, wife of Benjamin Kalian, is having an affair with one .lovain, an artist with whom she became in- fatuated while in Parte; that the husband, a business man, loves bis wife madly, and is undoubtedly sus- picious if not indeed aware of 1.1s wife's tergiversation. The wife is fifteen years her hus- band's junior, is temperamental, erratic, and a follower of all that is artistic and beautiful. Kalian, the husband—a silk merchant—thinks mostly of his business that he may be positioned to supply his wife with the luxuries she craves. Un- der the business consciousness of the man is a studious current that finds its expression In delving into the new things in science and me- chanics that the solid magazines consider and exploit. The wife reads Life. Judge, Puck. The Smart Set; the husband, the Forum, the Scien- tific Monthly and other Intellectual pabulum of their kind. Carrigan appears too well-fed and good natured in this play to com- mit two foul murders. The wife, played by Carlotta Mon- terey, was a fairly well developed study of a woman at war with her- self and her surroundings, nervous, mercurial, emotional. The lover of Pedro De Cordoba was finely wrought. The presiding judge at the murder trial looked like Jake Rosenthal who is here ahead and with the show Ezra C. YValek played the role. The story passes in New York. Several readjustments will have to be made before the court room scene sizes up with a New York murder trial of Its class. For one thing the jury will need to look less like an Absccon, N. J., clatr. diggers' group. change in the cast, it has pi a into its 11th week at the Park Square. With the ending of Lent it may slide into a run. William Courtenay and Lola Fisher furnish about all the weight there is to the cast, the balance be- ing consistently inoffensive, and grinding out Megrtie's lines effec- tively. It is not a play of explosive laughs nor of hilarious situations. It is almost a British parlor comedy in this respect, being chuckly all the wuy through, and interestingly funny although talky in the ex- treme. Megrue has plenty of fun with human foibles in true Shavian style, lecturing at times to bis audience through the medium of a character who is a playwright. Ono novelty catches the audience at the start, a prolog curtain being divided into three sections, each representing an episodic proposal in the life of the heroine. Showing first a silhouette of the girl (Miss Fisher) and the man involved, the curtain then rolls up for a proposal and a rejection, one at Atlantic City, the next in the mountains and the third at Palm Beach, occurring In a wheel chair, a stranded auto and on the sands respectively. In each ease the man is turned down for the same reason, lack of cave-man stuff and lack of the ability to give her a soul-stirring thrill. Well handled and admirably lighted, the house is murmuring its approbation of. '"It's at least a *little different." when the triplc-tfcctioned curt i q ascends and the comedy gets Into quiet action. Of plot there Is little. A play- wright (Mr. Courtenay) arrives at a week-end party and instantly dominates the girl by convincing her j he is a woman hater. She is at tin i hVght of a trial engagenvnt to a .society diamond thie/. The eternal duel of sex starts and she filially accepts his Invitation to come to his bungalow on the roof of a Broadway skyscraper. He Invites. without her knowledge, her Old nurse to chaperon the escapade, and also brings the society thief to the apartment for the purpose of ex- posing him to «he girl. His plan miscarries through her teaming h« is posing as a woman hater nv ralj to win her and she plays the game through by pretending that her ad- mission of love has been merely in add ono more scalp to her proposal b»it. The third act Is saved by its no\ 1 1 close in which they both apprise the audience privately the eternal game had been even more Subtle. than the audience had been allowed to discover, she having worked under the advice of his mother In forcing him to propose and he in turn having been guided by her father with reference to the "cave- man" stuff and with reference to her true emotions, which she had been confessing to her "daddy" alone. The other snapper in the play comes in the fact that he, a playwright, has taken it for granted that wdien she left his apartment with the society thief, she had been married in the Little Church Around the Corner, despite she had no license. Scenically, the production is ad- mirable, the second act showing a vegetable garden outside the sky- scraper bungalow with the lights of New York in the background, and the first and third acts laid in a country home living-room which has no decorations except flowers. 'Honors Are Even'* will make money from the real cream of the theatregoing public, however, on the strength of the cynical Shavian lines of Megrue. who has concen- trated on stencilled characters and dialog based mainly on psycho- analysis of character anil idlocyn- "lasieH. Libbcy. HEARTS OF ERIN. Chicago. March 16. ».'•<!* r-rry .O'Malley . Thorn** V OUhn Ilnrvoy Voyta l*iwrrnc« C. O'UiU-it Martin Kurke Charl«n W. Dingle I.Mly Sylvia .,., Urotn Sherman N.»ra o'Malley .olive Al«»orr IMi tin M.-Alllstcr Dan Kelly Harry Boys* Walter Sr.inlan Btttlcr l.arry McCnr Policeman l»»-nni.i o sh.\t Under George Gaits' banner, Walter Hcanlan debnts in Chicago at the Sbubert Cent nil. and Charles Bradley and L*orla Howard sur- rounded Scanlni. with a light and harmless plot. The hook Is /air. with pleasant comedy. From beginning to end it appeared as though Branlan was giving a concert. He wrote and sang his own compositions, the most popular of which is "Xota" and There is One Girl." There was not a house full, but those that were h re were of Scaniai.'s descent, and il.is fact had a most pleasing effect. It"s a love story of Nora O'Malley, very well played by Olive Moore. !»• ing forced out of her Dromana Castle, County Kerry, Ireland. Barry Doyle, acted by Walter Scan- ia a. u stranger, Intercedes with the e hemera to rob Nora of hrr father's estate. Barry sings his love for •Xoia and, as her savior at critical moments, she becomes deeply Ir.ter- e-ie«i jn him. The foiling of the plotters' attempt to steal a treasure elu st reveals the faet that Harry is the new squire of Dromana Castle. He marries Nora and forgives the plot (lis, Mi-;N Moore Is a typical colleen and Greta Sherman, as l4idy Sylvia. one of the plotters, is beautiful, wearing her gowns artistically. Dan Kelly, as riielin McAllister, Is ar. Irish comic who knows bow to han- dle lines and situations. The villa Iii. Charles W. Dingle, is a past master at doing his bit well. The rest of the cast is ordinary and none, except Walter Scai.lan, did any wotk which will make one re- member them. Seanlan is a treat In many respects. His voice is tenor, and he strikes high notes with little exertion. Jlis lyrics are eatehy.and he sii.gs others In magniftcicnt fashion. No doubt but what his next appearance will be much longer than two weeks. The stage direction under Dorin Howard Is good, the high spot being the electrical evening effect in the s« . oi.d act. The scenery did not st- trict much attention, but the cos- tuming showed Judgment. HONORS ARE EVEN. Boston w'p RcllnAn Carter V'augban Duterbrkl.Tt? A Man Ralph K litftaiam] I.f;il Ni<tl < Jordan John f^elghton t .uv'i.-- i U : .»>' .t >' (K*orgy Hall • 1 ».»vii ( ..rtpr Parser I.uisl I'.:inn;ih March :«. Lola i is)i >r .... Horacv Sinclair J„i\vr. u ■.• K •IiiiuM riiui K< It) . . . Amln M* Mi"". : ii .. ,ftanlon Jobntt n \\ ..:i iin ('our.' n '. ft* r.fx. ^i* kqi T He falls la lore with the girl, who spurns him on the grounds that las admiration Is but pity. The maid- enly sister sees what Is going on and confides in her frlehil, the chewing- gum widow, whose son Is engaged to the poets sister, much against her wishes and the disgust of the po t. she being In love with the reporter, but allowing the engagement to con- tinue. Desper a te at being rejected by the girl, the brother tells her that her refusal to become his wife is be- cause she thinks him better than In rself. and that he will go and be- come as bad as she. He departs in a violent storm, but Is fol'owed by the girl, who In her hasty departure dons the minister's hat and coat. Their absence is not discovered until the next morning, or eourse the immediate supposition is that they have eloped) and the sister and her fashionable friend, who has been hastily summoned, can see nothing but disgrace.. The little sister stands up for her brother. This causes the widow to break the engagement be- tween the girl and her son, much to the KrntihYation of the girl and the satisfaction of the reporter, who. the others think, has come to get the particulars regarding the elopement. He soon 'gets wise." and plays up to llo m until he gets the story. Just .is the runaways return to announce their marriage and to disclose the real identity of the supposed erring young woman. The action runs fast and smooth- ly. Mr. Walthall as the poet-brother makes the most of what the book has given him, and never falls to "register," going gracefully and ef- fectively through the play In a most charming manner. Mary Charleson (Mrs. Walthall) has the really star part and it fits as though written for her. As the pseudo girl of the street she handles the part straight- forwardly and unaffectedly. Arthur Kutledgo as the rector was most convincing, and was aided by his excellent voice. Klizab'th l>e Witt as the minister's sister does a bit of clever character acting and does not hesitate to resort a little to burlesque at times. Those who go to see the play ex- pecting to see Mr. Walthall In a slm- lar part to his well-known Little Colonel of "The Birth of a Nation" will be a bit disappointed at first, but bis delightful personality and stage presence will soon overcome this. The piece when first written was called "Would Your* but the title seemed too suggestive of farce or musical comedy, so was changed. Here the play and company were well received by the press. Will R. Hughe: TAKEN IN. VAN HOVEN. Everybody please accept aey lhanka for your wonderful wire.-, cai»i« s. lei tins, etc. It is simply impossible to reply lo all. Oh gee you were M..uti to the old kid I feel blue thi-< week and will bo glad when I n.t Chicago next week I cant sleep or ii,\ thing i guesa I was happiest in ail my life in this town one time the IVnnlhon and the little dressing i v ui "it the fringe and Rol Cooper M< grue Is rapidly be- coming Rhavlan In hie dialog an i apart from several • i uile touches Of dramatic construction his newest COTUedy ill subtle c\ljfi.-ni -(.en.S ti have tickled the risibilities of every admirer of Shaw i.> tl rent or ttostnn its title of 'Honors Are Kven" I* based <»n the • •••ii* j i ill ' "•' '.vein ; Pi aut'fii! woman bcred to «!•-;» t*i l>.. «t( n al Uatli ry ui d the ultimate rind he toads ! r, ! v ha road to i e I : : 1.1 tfrvr all they tears Cr;t l„ order 1 I win her. . »«? ,,f '• ] "»*» h * hn(l •'' The Mi'lftvns ore control with i hv irmihh ona tune we *»at llostou test, as the produetJoii mil every rhii^ p fl four i Opened here after touching Ikiltl Ihe 1 call hear tn» train-. more and Washington, and Without • bHIe Kirks gone to bed he change oi a line and .'•'.'• ' i • "' J»"'» r f<*l!t»w. Melville m:1 } ' V\ btti • ii .-■ Tsrl rv K Kaasai City, March 2. !>»• l»avid Skagira Arihur RutMgt Rvbacea SIcaKK* IStlzalteth DeWiU Atfru-» Wllluuffhhy Cleave Orden Jimmy I»obl* Wllltnm Cliffon! Alio*' Ilnwlamt Mary Churt<*aton <url. ton Wlllousliby Henry 8. Walthall Mra. Hromley Harrlnsfonl Mau<1 Truax Percy llarrtnfford Sherman Italnbritlre When Herbert Uashford, San Francisco newspaper writer and dramatist, wrote "Taken In." the vehicle chosen by H<nry D. Wal- thall, at the Grand last week, for a starring tour after a ten years' ab- sence from the stage, ho chose for his theme the sanctimonious atti- tude of many "good church people" toward unfortunate women. Highly dramatic at times, the writer has as a rule handled the more delleate sit- uations satirically, with numerous trick lines, which keep the play run- ning in the comedy-drama vein and away from the melodramatic. The piece, in three acts, Is played In the living room of the rectory of St. John's Church, the first act be- ing in the aft'moon of a summer's day, the second and evening two weeks later and the third the neit morning. The rector's household consists Of himself, a maiden sister, his housekeeper; his niece and her brother, who is a guest. The other characters are .Jimmy Doble, a newspaper reporter! Alice flowland, a special newspaper writer; Mrs. liromlcy Harrlngford, widow of n deceased chewing-gum millionaire, rind her von, a **slssy M ministerial ud nt. THE RIGHT GIRL. Probably intended for a summer run in New York, "The Right Clrl" opened at the Times Square Tues- day night before a friendly audi- ence which permitted of manv en- cores that will be missing "later. They pushed the final curtain be- yond li. If this is a forerunner of what mqy he expected in mi ical shows during the hot weather. It looks like a tough summer for the •fans." It's beyond doubt that ' T!« Girl" will ever offer serious opposi- tion to the other musical revues scheduled to give their Initio' formances here within the three months. per- ncxt i- ..Krnnw Andrew. Kirk is her,- with me and lies H 0 * n ,,,.,,.,„,, thf . ,, ; , y ,, /oro t0 . ll:.rs.rr I -.Ii, -k t-ie:,t fellow had a lot of ti .... !„• , ,» ||N . ,, when I get to r.neauo im ..,„ . , u , Jn g that they shmiUllend a help- ' " ":'>\;'^::\> [ flat httic restarau » hand to their unfortunate slatera on VS. st Madison where I was night waiter is ^till there if it is III have a dip < f Coffee and give the waiter a ii.if dollar »ip and sit there and dream* and Kirk and l are ^oiny, t<> > !•: tmi <i! front of the Dennison t>» nauruAV and look up at the fourth Window fn»m th" corner on the i! •]..! l'.o.r 'o-(- Kirks a great fellow hen ; •.'•• grai hair and l-'.k-' :. f .r» ■ • t of (he ( and .«ri«l th»« WOI i e's e U tog< m. i UC m Instead of spurning them, Thf ser- mo/i has created Unu ual interest, and the yonng woman Journalist grnspa upon the O|»i>ortunlty to g"t an assignment to Ret into one of th«- fashionable household" as a servant, proclaiming the f.iet that sbf Is a r ;ien'.ant Magdalen. She comes lo the rector's to s<-.k his aid. hul with- out disclosing Iut Identity. While waiting for him she i.* fieen by th • r r»orter and obliged To tell th»* oh- : I of her vl-!t an 1 disguise. Th • reporter keeps Ihe secret .sh" is taken into the rector*a own hi*me, much against the wishes of tJ»e shrewish sister. The air! soon '•i the flitting nephew, a i»oe'.. The Oleerich Productions In programed as presenting t | lees with Walter Wilson having i the staging and David Bennett t. e dances and ensembles. ftaymond l'eck la the author of the bork an lyrics, while the melodies, of whi< h there are 15, were turned out v Percy Wenrich, ably assisted In tuneful efforts by the orohestl on of the numbers. This bit of ir: Ing was done by Arthur Lanrre. ^ 0 succeeded in raising a below u i- ocre score to at least normal. . the help of an orchestra well di- rected in the pit. As to the cast, the story ro\o] m around Karle Henham and Carolyn Thomson, as Anthony Htanton and Uera Da icy, but the honors w* c allotted to ftobert Wool ., w- took care of all the comedy mate, ial Which the book posses d, end Dolly Connolly, assigned to the most tuneful numbers. It was rarclv either Was not on the stage, anil 'lev practically walked away with I oth the book and score of th- en- i '•rtalnment. Ilapley Holmes, as the girl's • r. save a pleasing performem e in « i'-i't that was hot ov i atouTi-" dant with opportunities, while of the Others Frank Munnell, Harry iled- dlng and Helen Montros* Hash* In and out of the picture in Spasms long enough to carry the tale along. Mr. Henham presentc a you'hful appearance besides singing accept- ably in hla role of the lad who save- his sweetheart's parent and h'meelf from Hnaneial ruin at th finish. Miss Thomson, as "tho pirl." sang easily while regist»ring successfully to tic eye, but beyond that there was nothing overmuch for her to do. though she gave a smooth per- formance. Tho chorus, 16 girls and oi^ht hoys, had a trio of numbers to it- ^•ii arid did nicely with *ne respon- sibility. Nothing particularly st.ir- lling was shown in the grouping o? (Continued on p ige *JI» ■