Variety (January 1923)

LEGITIMATE i SA BROADWAY REVIEWS Thursday, January 25, 1923 MOSCOW ART THEATRE THE CHERRY ORCHARD The thlrtl offering of the russlan Art Player* si .ii -on'* oUth 81 Four-act com- edy by Ant. n Tchekhoff, his Ja«t p:ay. i»ro- duced about 1K» ><-;.r» ago by the Moscow Art theatre Jus* before the author*. 1 * deatli. Under the auipicai of Coinstotk & Uest, Jan. 22, In third week of run. Mine. Ttrn< vskaya .O'.ga Kneipper-Tohekhdvn JLand own« r and proprietress of the i'tc rry Orvhard, old estate near a growing modern lcu^sian city. Anya. daugner Alia Tarn" \ a Varya, adopted daughter. .Vera Pashennaya «>aiefr, her brother.i.'onMantin Btanlajavakl Lopskhln Leonid M. Lconidoff A wealthy merchant and self-made man, •on of a serf on the same estate; bun*, practical, ambitious, without patience ■with the Improvidence of the rest, he, still with a sense of his own In- feriority, holds them in nspect. Troflmofr, student Nikolai rodjromy Pi«tchik, land owner... .Vladimir Oribunin Veplkhodoff Ivan Moskvln Uunyasha, maid Varvara ttulfakova Flrce Vasaily Luzh^ky An old footman, 87, once a serf on the same estate, deeply devoted to the family. 7a«ha. "smart" young footman Nikolai Alexandroff A Tramp Alexel Bondlrieft Uueats.and servants at the dance This is the first of two Tchekhoff plays to be done during the engage- ment, the other being "The Three Sisters." What you get here is the tragedy of the passing of a social caste. It comes to you in a blurred picture, as It is played in an alien tongue, lacking in sharp outline and in detail, but still powerfully colored and unmistakable in import. Here is character that breaks down thee barriers of language and makes itself understood. Change a few details, familiarise the locale and the exteriors of the people, and it might be a story from the Indiana school. It even might be as human and recognizable as "Main Street" or a little way out from Gopher Prairie, or it mlgnt be compared more appropriately with the tragedy of the abandoned New England farm and the gradual transfer of what Holmes called "The Brahmin of New England" from the land to the cities. It takes only a few program hints to give one command of the key, and the rest* with a little imagina- tion. Properly speaking, the com- edy isn't a play at all. Nothing really dramatic happens. Tou sup- ply the drama yourself. The drama is the slow decay and disintegration of the landholding class-in Russian society before the World War. The Russian landed gentry of two de- cades ago may be a long way from the theatrical appeal of Times square; but so is Mark Antony. Cer- tainly a work that on the surface is light and at times tediously literal, but still furnishes the outline of a big social upheaval, is no bunk. This reviewer struggled with the text in Mr. Gest's popular translation and found it incomprehensible drivel. But the play gets over by the power of its playing. The production has none of the sensational aid of freak or massive scenic settings. Its equipment is meager—even poverty stricken. You .couldn't take some of the scen- ery of "The Cherry Orchard" on the road with a second-rate troupe. For one scene they use a series of those net cut drops to show a countryside that have passed out of use in America since Chaunccy Olcott stopped touring. But in spite of these scant backgrounds this band of players get their effects. There are a thousand details that aw miss fire. For instance, there is Atwlce introduced into a scene a cup ■that is the exact replica of the model ^pthey use to serve coffee in a New York Hartford lunch. The sight of it commands the association of a cheap lunchroom. But it is given to a guest in an aristocrat's house, so the association of the New York mind is all awry t . In like manner there are strange* attitudes and re- lations between servants and mis- tress that would suggest to an American the presumption of a New England "hired girl." whereas, of course, the real situation is exactly the reverse. And yet, in spite of these bewildering conflicts of American and Russian ideas, the central message is plain with a lit- tle sympathetic understanding. You can go to the Jolson, as this writer did, with the viewpoint that the whole venture was an extraor- dinary bit of showmanship, and so it may be, but this company of artists will get you. Observations in the theatre itself, packed to five deep behind the or- chestra rail, suggest one reason for the swift success of the enterprise, which ordinarily would have had to fight its way to the front slowly. Besides skillful exploitation, Gest probably had examined the social situation in New York and knew that since the Soviet regime there have been hundreds of Czarist refu- gees in the city who had made their way promptly into the highest ranks of metropolitan society. They paved the way for the trick of making the Moscow players "smart " and start- ed the engagement off under bril- liant patronage. That was all needed to make a vogue, Be ildws these lucky fugitives from the now government there must be a \ horde of lonely ex-patriots from Russia In New York, and they to swell the total. Jtu.Ji. DAGMAR Countess Pagmar Alia Natlmova Maid. , x Pola Wr'.na Karola." Sophie Wilds VSswount Stanley Ljrttoa OPbert Emery i'apt. Jlioni Donald Call Count Rgon Holl Frederick Perry Andre Beli^ar Charles Bryant Claire Anntrsiey <lreta Cooper Usher Myra Brook* The electric Nazimova returned to the New York stage in her own sizzling person Monday night at the Belwyn, starring under her own management (and that of Charles Bryant, her husband, also her lead- ing man in films and in this presen- tation). The vehicle is "Dagmar," by Louis K. Anspicher, who credits an adaptation from a play by Fer- •HCI Here/eg, a Hungarian author. The title is a misleader and a misnomer. The name Dagmar is es- sentially Scandinavian, and the Scans are, for dramatic usages, re- garded as cold and blonde. Na- zimova, a Russian Dagmar, is about as cold as she is blonde. She is the most fiery little hussy since tlu> half-caste in "East of Suez"—in truth, the plots are very similar. Whereas, Somerset Maugham wrote a finer and better play, Nazimova is a more thrilling vamp and a far more natural and convincing allurer than Florence Reed. Further, the surroundings and atmosphere of "Dagmar" might as well be Amer- ican, for they are entirely realistic and close to home in treatment, though they are a decided and dar- ing novelty in form. There is not a "set" as that term is understood in the entire produc- tion. It is built and revealed in a series of scenes with hugely tall arched proscenium frames outlining delicately furnished confers and spots, with drops of Urban type as backgrounds. They are all artistic and all beautiful. They add much in spectacle and effective Intrigue to the eye, yet they take nothing from the intimacy of the reactions. They are somewhat like Bel-Geddes' settings for Arthur Hopkins' Shake- spearean presentations, and are ultra-modern in method. B. Iden Payne is credited with the staging. P. J. »Carey and Co. with the building and Bef^man Studios with the painting. "Settings" are by Frederick K. Jones, 3d, who is to this reviewer hitherto unknown. Nazimova was "discovered on," sparkled with her little back turned for half a scene, and kept growing brighter and more scintillant through an intoxicating succession of transitions that blended or shot from a cooing pigeon to a flaming volcano, from a charming noble- woman to a heartless harlot, from a transparent flirt to a blood-mad ad- venturess who attempts murder with a knife to rid herself of a lover grown boresome, from a pet- ulant child to an incandescent par- amour, from a kitten to a hyena "Dagmar" is a tragedy like "East of Suez," and the double-dealing toyer with men's passions and honor is slain in the end. This time it is in sight of the audience—her Jugu- ular vein is cut by the ex-apache whom she is throwing over, a two- time murderer who has slain two women before her: one in Jealousy and one, his wife, to get her money (a modest hundred millions). The knife comes to her in a rather roundabout way, the only unplaus- ible main link in the otherwise credible narrative. It at once ex- ercises a weird fascination for the neurotic," erotic, erratic countess. She itches to meet the apache she has heard of from her current lover, who witnessed the trial and bought the knife as a curio. She meets him, of course. He has made his hundred millions. He falls for her as hard as she does for him, and longer. He lives to suffer, while she only lives to yawn, and he kills her as she is about to drag back the lover she has discarded, whom she craves because he is a bridegroom and she wants the thrill of vamping him from the arms of the decent girl who succeeded her. The story is not as crude as that pictures it. It is not crude at all. It is skillfully and fleetly written and its composition is airtight and a credit in construction to either the academic Prof. Anspacher or Herc- geg or both. That women, especially adolescent girls.of the 1923 model, will yearn to see "Dagmar" and burn while seeing it is a safe prophecy. Men, the hardest of them, will not find it dull either. It is, by the by, a great film, too, in prospect. As the heavy lover and the lov- ing heavy, Mr. Bryant, while quite poised in the fierce parts was quite fierce in the poised parts. This is not meant to be slangy, and does not charge that ho was reprehen- sible—it means that he has shaggy eyebrows that come together, and he look'd and conveyed the ex- apache Through—hi* $100,000,000 veneer on immediate contact. As a lover he was more gentle by far than Dagmar was, and was almost all the tine on 11 *• ■ defensive up to th< moment when he knifed her, a nd after she had tried to murder him In warm blood. Gilbert Emery as the ex-lover was a perfect example of the Brit- ish gentleman, A splendid player, Mr. Emery, every inch and every moment. Frederick Perry did a surprisingly short bit well enough, though It was far from his cus- tomary sort of roles. The women In support were well-cast types. Nazimova surely never in her whole career gave a more cut-dia- mond exhibit of unique personality, fiber and Heaven-given eloquence of diction and gesture. She is the Nazimova of a decade ago in full flower, a perfect Lenore Ulrle of the tenser drama. Nazimova will not take umbrage at the comparison. This reviewer regards Miss Ulric as the greatest natural artist Amer- ica has produced in his lifetime. "Dagmar" and Nazimova should score in cash and credit. Lait. JITTA'S ATONEMENT Lee Shubert presents Hcrtha K alien in "Jitta's Atonement," tragi-comedy adapted by Oeonre Bernard Shaw from the German of Siegfried Trebltsrh. In three acts, staged by Leater Lonergan. At the Comedy, New York. Mrs. Billiter Phoebe Coyne Professor Bruno Jiaidenstedt.... John Craig Jltta I.enkhelm Bertha KnMeh Professor Alfred Lenkhelm. .Francis Bvrne Dr. Krnrst F>sslr»r Walton Butterfield Agnes lla!denstedt Thais I.swton Edith (her daughter) Beth Elliott CJeorge Bernard Shaw in the last act attempted to atone for some of the verbosity of the German Trebitsch's "Jitta's Atonement" through the injection of several typical shafts of Shavian wit, and only accomplished it at the expense of more verbosity, despite the laughs which were a relief from a rather tragic hour and a half pre- ceding. Not only was the purpose intended for contrast, but probably to achieve a "happy ending," with the result Jitta. whi had been Pro- fessor Bruno Haldenstedt's idyllic and Idealized paramour, walks off with the suggestion that her stupid bore of a husband will very gen- erously allow for her marital short- comings and take her back into the fold. .In the original Jitta doubt- lessly bowed off to a sad curtain. Either way it is questionable what chances the plary would have, or now has. for popular appeal. The "tragi-comedy" starts with Bruno, married and with a marrlag- able daughter, meeting Jitta in a flat he maintains for their stolen hours. The professor has been at work on a book on psychology which he ascribes to Jitta for in- spiration. The star, to her credit, makes her first entrance modestly and surreptitiously in keeping with the action. When her face is dis- closed from hie protecting coat col- lar disguise she is well on her lines. Bruno's and Jitta's marriages are false ones. Their stolen bliss is idealized on that premise. Bruno's heart has been backfiring unusually tonight and he decides never to see Jitta, for fear she may be dan- gerously embarrassed if she were found with a dead man, since his days are numbered. A doctor him- self, he fully realizes this. The professor also conceives the idea of willing his new psychological treatise to Jitta's husband, so that the glory may reimburse him for having stolen his wife. Jitta exits to an anteroom. A fatal attack spells disaster for Bruno. Jitta returns, hastily adjusts her informal house dress—which leaves nothing to the imagination of their relations—and flees. In the second act her husband, himself a psycho- analyst, ruthlessly presses an hy- pothesis until he too learns the truth. The professor's widow in the last act has an intuition that her hus- band would not have carried on with a common woman and feels certain she must have been a lady of station. She confides to Jitta, her friend, that she can't help feel- ing it was somebody like her, and in a masterfully written scene re- fates that by thinking that no lady would have left her dead lover and slunk away in the night, that only a person of character akin to a chambermaid would be so shallow, under which Jitta never flinches. The widow's sole literary inheri- tance is a lecture on "Varieties of Sleep,'' at which she opines she knows just what kind of sleep he indulged in, and yet, paradoxically, refuses to hint of Bruno's amour to her marriageable daughter, now engaged to a young physician. The daughter surprise s her by her knowledge and expresses her love for the woman who could have made her father happy where her mother failed. Jitta confesses to her also and patches up a lovers' quarrel for the girl and her be- trothed. The acting is superb. The star intelligently Interprets her role, John Craig for the one act as Bruno making an able opposite: Francis Byrne's conception of Prof. Lenk- hcim was humorously ingratiating- Beth Elliott as the daughter was not wholly satisfactory. Abel. GIVE AND TAKE Marion Kruger Vivian Tobln Jnrk BHuer, Jr Hubert W. Craig Albert Kruger effeorga Sidney John Bluer T/Ouls Mann Daniel Drum Charles Dow Clark Thomas Craig ; Douglas Wood Jan. 18 Max Man-in, Inc., pre- sented the new Aaron Hoffman fare-comedy, "(live and Take," at the 49th Street, with Louil Mann and George Sidney dually ■tarred. it is the show that was fust done on the coast with Kolb and Dill. At the matinee Saturday about a half house was in. That la not unusual for any new show and perhaps nat- ural for a laugh play, with no in- tent or desire for a sex factor, which appears necessary to catch the fem- inine trade of the afternoons. "Give and Take" looks like a money show. It has been play- wrighted along similar lines Of "Welcome Stranger" by the same author. It bn« a cast of six with but two Important ,salaries, the leads, and .there is one set. Crit- icisms in the dailies were mixed, with some reviewers saying it was a bad play. That means nothing where the author has written for the box office. Tho sarqc comment at- tended the opening of "East Is West," but it went over for a for- tune, and its author, Samuel Ship- man, never denied he wrote it for the box office. Hoffman's new worn touches the capital and labor problem along the lines of the apparent movement within the industrial field within the past few years pointing to partici- pation of workers in the manage- ment of plants and in a percentage of the profits. The locale is in an independent fruit canning factory in California owned by one John Bauer, whose foreman is Albert Kruger. The latter, inspired by old Bauer's son, who has been to college and who is one of the workers, pro- poses an "industrial democracy" for the plant, with a "congress," "cab- inet" and other departments as the government at Washington. The old boy rages about the new-fangled scheme, but with the business owing $150,000 on a note due the bank he finally consents. Even with the new order aiding, however, "Bauer's K-O Brand" is on the verge of going out of business when a man from the east arrives, drawn by the democ- racy plan, and signs a contract to take the plant's output. The plot takes a twist when it is discovered the visitor had been incarcerated in an Insane asylum, and then in con- clusion it develops the man Isn't nutty after all. There are three curtain lines of / sure-fire design. For the first act finale Mann as the president of the democracy tells his "secretary of state." Sidney, when everything looks bad, that "this isn't the first time Congress put. the president on the bum." For the second act con- clusion when it is learned the rich visitor is loco, Mann again has the line: "He is the only millionaire who believes in industrial democracy and he has to turn out cookoo." At the finish Sidney pulls the curtain line, after Mann instructs his secretary and daughter-in-law to be, that her children must be "democrats." She answers it can't be done, when Sid- ney remarked: "Yes It can; with a little co-operation." Mann as old Bauer Is in a part that fits him excellently. He has a chance to rave frequently and he is working according to direction, which was one of the points insisted on when he was chosen for the role. The part was originally handled by Sam Mann, who is reported having gotten the resigning habit when the play was out of town, which per- mitted the entrance of Louis. Au- gustus Duncan started with the show originally, but stepped out quickly. One of the noticeable points in Mann's apparent adhesion to direc- tion is of appearance. He no longer sports those funny high collars. In the show he wears collars of a turn- over design, and he looks more the business man that is intended. The locale being in the west, he gets a chance to carry one of the big Stet- sons that the west thinks is the real goods. However, he changes head- gear several times. Sidney plays the foreman with- out dialect, and he has come through with a very good characterization. The lines have Mann picking on him all the way. But he seems to like it, hav.'ng both the stature and the temperament. Sidney's best bit of playlnp came in tho last act, when the millionaire whom they think is a bug enters. Sidney's business of shaking hands and that of always being ready to make a getaway drew attention. Vivian Tobin as the secretary is not burdened with the role, nor does it call for much. Robert W. Craig as young Bauer had a better chance. Douglas Wood enacted the near-nut cleverly as did Charles Dow Clark as the town banker. But the meat of the play is given to the leads vir- tually all the way. The set is that of the plant's of- fice. Thrbugh the glass partitions the factory pulley wheels are In mo- tion and through the high windows the flywheel of a gas engine re- volves, whilo the exhaust vapor spits through a pipe on the roof. Tho picture is a faithful one and really an exceptional setting. "Give and Take" without lining up as a knock-out, ought to make money. It entered Broadway With- out a wealth of comedy in the field. From a practical side it has a short cast and that means it can operate successfully without draw- ing record grosses, line. LADY BUTTERFLY - +■ new two-act nr'sical comedy la four scenes founded on toe fares, ' Somebody'■ Luggage," produced at the Globe, New York, by diver Morocco (Morosco Holding Co., Inc.) Jan. 23. Book and lyrics b» Clifford Qrey; acoro by Werner Janseen* staged by Ned Wayburn. ' Duval, steward Vic Casmora Horatio Meak, passenger Lionel Pap*, Pansy, his bride Rona Wallace Jack Owen, first ofUcer Edward Lester Ullry Browning Alien Kearna Henry Crawford .....Goorgo Trabert £«»har Prank Dohaor* Caroline, stewardess Maude Kburne Mrs. Stockbrldge Gertrude Maltlund, Mabel Stockbridge Mabel Withes A . 1,r f d « »°PP"- Klorena Amea I'.nld Crawford Marjorie Uatcson Bobby, cabin boy Janet Stone Frances, ladles' maid , A line McOkll ltuth. stewardess Marion Hamilton Mr. Stockbrldge Lionel Paps BrlKgs, butler Edward Lester Policeman Raymond Hunter Incidental dancing specialties by Janet Stone. Aline MoGlll, Marlon Hamilton. Florentine Gasnova, Joe Donohue. Nick Long, Jr.; Jack Lynch, Horton Spurr. Tho New Palace, Jamestown. X. Y\, to have Op< nod lai I week, has .set bark its premiere until r*eb r. Delay In receiving the seata re- sponsible. The house, witt. a ca- pacity of i.mio, will nave valid* rille shows supplied from Ihe New Vok office of Qua Sun. With a book far from being; worthy of the production given it, a score only fair in as much as it has but one number in its total of 17 that seems to have a chance for popular faver, "Lady Butterfly," produced at the Globe theatre Mon- day night by Oliver Morosco. is a musical comedy saved wholly by its dancing. In that particular respect the piece is a triumph for Ned Way- burn, the producing stage manager of the production. The cast is faulty in several spots where strength was most needed, but Oliver Morosco did dress the chorus of 20 girls in a manner that be- speaks of purse . strings freely loosened, and provided several seta that were a delight to the eye, with an effect at the end of the first act at once bewildering and a delight, so cleverly worked- aut that the audience was on the verge of cheer- ing It. "Lady Butterfly" is the work of Clifford Qrey as far as book and lyrics are concerned, he adapting the Mark Swan and James T. Powers farcical success, "Somebody's Lug- gage." Werner Janssen provided the score, ajrrl while he provided a rather melodious score there waa but one real number of the jazzy type which the public of today re- quires. The book In Its adapted form did not hold the comedy either in lines of situations that the orig- inal farce had. To be sure, there were gags aplenty, and good gags too, at least they must still be as good as they were 20 years ago, perhaps a little shop worn. Audi- ences that gather at the Globe after the first night may laugh at them* but the hard-boiled first-nighters failed to catch the humor. The first act contains little ex- cept for the novelty of the opening and the closing scenes. At the opening the chorus of 20 really striking girls (Incidentally let it be said here that the show girl has been brought back again in this production, eight and all stunners) is brought down one of the aisles and onto the stage over a gang* plank supposedly leading to a Chan- nel steamer, and the closing effect showing the little steamer moving out to sea with the wharves and buildings receding In the distance and a corking picture effect of the rolling sea that was projected from the rear. Between these two scenes the ae-» tion and lines are supposed to plant the fact that on board ship are two cousins, unknown to each other* who are both on their way to Eng* land from France to meet in ac- cordance with the will of their late uncle, who has provided that his entire estate is to be given to thd two if they will marry and com- plete the classification of his col- lection of butterflies. Both hate the idea of having had their life's mate selected for them in this fashion. Aboard also is a clerk of a Paris establishment who iias been falsely accused of having been too free with his firm's funds and who has fled to escape arrest; trailing him is a genial grafter who knows his secret and is going to give him the shakedown. The other of the pas- sengers are but minor figures in the story, with the exception of the stewardess aboard ship, who is tho affianced bride of the fleeing clerk. Palpably enforced horseplay failed to bring anything like real laughs in this section until down to just a few minutes before the curtain, when Florenz Ames and Maude Kburne offered a duet entitled "Beautiful Love," accompanied by a burlesque dancing number that was a wow from start to finish. This was tho first real wallop and the audience couldn't get enough of it. Just prior there had been an eccentric legminia specialty in- jected by Joe Donohue that also got to the house. The opening of the second act shows the exterior of a garden* wall outside the English estate which tho dead uncle has left to the cousins. Here the proceedings arc started with some dan CO features that hit and from that time on through the entire act dance num- ber follows dtnee number, with th' 1 chorus working in ensemble.hi: and specialties being Interposed every few minutes. And it is the "lanc- ing In the second act that gi*F< "Lady Butterfly" whatever chance it has o! being a hit ftmong musical shows. The interior set for this SCt is a corking one with a c<;up!e «. f little tricks that all help out A sil- (Contlnued on page 19)