Variety (Oct 1926)

I Wednesday, October 20, 1926 LEGITIMATE VARIETY 99 Hampden) professes faith In the jsazarene, but only In order to com- fort his mother, while he remains a sophisticated doubter, even to the and of the crucifixion. What this thief does make evi- dent in his speech and actions Is that he believes in the power of human love, such love as worked his own spiritual salvation, but to the end be protests disbelief in the divinity of Christ Very modern this, rather audacious and much more interesting in abstract idea than In Us development upon the •tage. The play la heavy and until the dramatic spectacle of the last act extremely dull. That It Is written In blank verse-makes It still more unwieldy than It might be In a almpler form. The playing is un- even, both aa to the general' cast and as to Hampden himself. His Thief Is never a real thief or even a real human being. Rather he Is an embodiment of the dramatic idea. There may be ground for sup- posing that Barry merely sought to reflect In his play the Idea that the Nazarene was surrounded with an Infinity of different people whose reactions toward his teachings were as varied as religious belief today. There is the crippled thief, who Im- personates vengeance as an Implac- able Fate; there Is the adoration toward the Christ of the mother, there is the studied neutrality of the Roman-officials, and particularly the strange appearance, brought Into the play for unknown reasons, of the widow's son mentioned in the New Testament, who was raised from the dead. Here was an incident, the Import of which was obscure. The young man talks upon -the stage, head bound as for burial and In appear- ance and demeanor a walking corpse. The thief himself Is horri- fied at the concept of one dragged back from beyond, horrified to pity. He revolts against the concept of auch a miracle. Is the author here engaged In "higher criticism," or does he only seek to reflect the protest of an unbeliever? The meaning, as often elsewhere, la not Only the two last scenes of the final act have dramatic force. One Is a beautifully simple setting show, lng a bare countryside near the city gate of Jerusalem. Here stand the Thlefs beloved, together with one of the followers of the Christ. They look off into the distance and describe the Christ and the Thief toiling on the far road bearing their crosses to Golgotha. To the watch- ers comes the crippled thief (his legs broken by the Crucified outlaw earlier), toiling to the execution to gloat over his enemy on the cross. It is the disciple who gives him water and helps him to his unholy objective, leading to the first sign of softening In the cripple when he protests against the breaking of the crucified thief's legs as he dies on the cross. (Once more emphasis here is put upon the power of hu- man love, rather than upon divine compassion.) The closing scene shows Calvary, only one cross in sight, that of the thief on the Christ's left, while above there is crackling lightning and below In mystic dimness the crowd of people, the thief's mother, his beloved and the Roman soldiers. The execution draws near its end. The crucified thief is near death, with head hanging. His mother begs him to "Turn toward Him." He does and the words come from beyond, "Tonight wilt thou be with me in Paradise." Upon this the Roman soldier moves to break the legs of the dying thief when comes the scream of protest from the crippled thief, diverted from ven- geance by the kindness of the dis- ciple, we are left to presume. That makes the curtain, giving emphasis to the Idea expressed again in repe- tition. The Christ Himself Is never seen, but His presence Is always in- dicated in the background. Scenlcally,. the production Is beautiful at all times. Stately set- tings give an appropriate back- ground to the theme, with a re- markable effect coming from a Btrlking treatment of deep blue sky. As a play, "The Immortal Thief" offers little prospect; as a modern theological discussion, It probably will attract attention. As a com- mercial venture In the theatre the prospect Is exceedingly slight. Ruth. $7,000 Rent for Woods Chicago, Oct. It. Warner Brothers will pay Aaron Jones $7,000 weekly rent for the Woods theatre as quickly as the current hit, LeMalre's "Affairs," leaves the house. Warners have a lease for 20 weeks and will Install one of their Vitaphone shows. LeMalre's stage musical is In the theatre indefinitely, under a $20,000 top clause for two weeks, with one week's notice to be given. The show has been doing over $30,000 weekly. It Is now in Its fifteenth week. PLAYS OUT OF TOWN SEED OF THE BRUTE Wilmington. Llgzle Sanders Calvlo Roberta.......... Lafe Bralton Molly Can- John Roberta Anne Btneraon Barbara Davis. Judge Kmeraoa David Carr.... Matthew Carr. .•••■•■■*. Del., Oct. 18. ...Hilda Vaushan .....Robert Amee • ...Frank Conlan .....alary Michael Donn Cook Doris Rankin ....Jane Seymour ..David Ulaiwford ....Harold Klllott ....Sydney Booth "Seed of the Brute," which was given its premiere In the Playhouse here on Oct. 11, being presented by William A. Brady, Jr., and Dwlght Deere Wlnman, may go In New York, but it la too "strong" for "the provinces." It la the rawest thing Wilmington hi The play opens with a prolog. In plays such as "They Knew What They Wanted." "The Green Hat" and others, the audienca is led up to a seduction scene by gentle steps In a sort of progression, but in this play the author precipitates upon a cold audience & scene in which two women figure most suggestively. Not that one objects to the aphro- disiac lady herself, but her language is highly shocking. Which all seems rather a shame when one considers the masterly way In which the three acts of the play are handled. The story of the strong man," whose hardness be- trayed his own vitality, is unfolded with skill and subtlety. The cast is an excellent one, which Justifies the use of the adjective In describ- ing the play as a rather gorgeous wallow. Robert Ames, who played the con- queror, Calvin Roberts, did a good piece of work, especially in his earlier portrayal of the man. In the third act he seemed to go to pieces a little too rapidly for the strength which he la supposed to have. The show by right of sheer bril- liance of acting belonged to Hilda Vaughan, who as Lizzie Sanders ran the gamut from the street to the Ladies' Aid Society. Her metamor- phosis is complete and convincing. Doris Rankin in her restrained con- ception of Anne Emerson Roberts was good, as were Donn Cook, as her son, and Lafe Bratton, done by Frank Conlan. Harold Elliott, who took the part of David Carr, was especially excellent in his-big scene in the last act. The cast. Indeed, aa a whole, ac- quitted Itself nobly, and it seems rather a pity that a play which possesses as fine possibilities for character development and actual drumatlc situations, should be shot through with such crudities of speech, such absurdities of action as the prolog contains—a Judgment given not from the criterion of what Is known as decency, but from one of artistic achievement- LOVING LADIES Los Angeles, Oct. 13. Farce-comedy by Marsaret Mayo and Aubrey Kennedy In three acta and one scene. Staced by Aubrey Kennedy. I're- sen ted by Arthur Freed at the Orange Grove, Less Anselea, Oct. 11. "Loving Ladles" Is a great title but a bad farce. Really too bad when a title cer- tain to arouse Interest should be endowed on something so poorly constructed; and written as this latest of Margaret Mayo and Aubrey Kennedy. Probably the authors figured a •hurry up Job" could get by on the title, especially in the Hinterland, as they might figure Los Angeles. The Hollywood or no other crowd will have this offering inflicted upon them. With the folks who live out this way Inclined to express themselves, especially If they have to pay for something, the propaganda dis- pensed on this play will not help the box office any. A resume of what one witnessed at the opening night performance might cause it to be said that the curtain could have gone down as fast aa It went up. A situation that seemed to be the only one which registered with the audience waa to And husband and wife In fond em- brace declaring their love for each other and at the same time hold- ing one of those positions where a safety razor blade could not pass between their lips. That was the only kick and It lasted some 45 seconds. If the curtain had gone down at the end of this scene the audience would have walked out satisfied at having been given their money's worth and saved the agony of some two hours and a half of dialog. A great many did not remain that long. Rather unusual out here. After the opening things simmer down to unfold a tale of a wife who becomes Jealous of a Widow. She rnves, rants and finally frames a fake suicide, injecting a Yogi from India to maintain interest and final- ly after running around the house and having every one upset, arises from the dead for a peaceful ending. T. Roy Barnes plays a role totally unsuited to his clowning. Other players are Ernest Wood, Beatrice Prentice, Ellnore Jackson, Harry Shulan, Will H. Gregory and Bur- dell Jacobs. They did their utmost to get over what they had to say. but It is hard to Judge any one's acting in a concoction like this. A play doctor la no remedy for this one. The only thing Freed can do to save himself la to propably repaint the scenery and send the furniture back to the warehouse. If. 'TWINKLE, TWINKLE' Philadelphia, Oct. 16. * Loula Werba'a new musical com- edy, in the process of "trying out" at the Forrest. Is best supplied in comedy and least supplied in the matter of score. Its dancing fea- tures are few. but good. The comedy element la handled by two persons. The first Is Joe Brown, he of the big mouth, who Is cast here as "Peachy" Robinson, a small-town chap who has taken a correspondence school course In detective work and thinks he's a shrewd Sherlock. The Idea of the character smacks of good comedy, but, unfortunately, aa written, the part was lacking in good laughs. Brown is an accomplished and vet- eran comedian, and he coaxed the snickers and the guffaws, but it waa entirely through his own mugging and Interpolated clowning. Paul Smith has been called in to build up the Brown role. His present three songs are put across In the best Brown manner, hut there la nothing novel about them. One called 'Crime" alzea up as t The really funny lotted to John Bhe< takes care of It in smooth and facile fashion. He plays a waiter In a station restaurant, whose wise- cracking on small-town peculiar- ities provides most of the laughs. . The book of "Twinkle. Twinkle* Is by Harlan Thompson. Except In Its relation to Joe Brown's part. It Is about at par. The story opens on a private car of a western rail- road on which a film company la traveling. The little star, dls- guested with life, drops off the train at the small town of Monotony, Kansas. There she falls in love with a young reporter, but her iden- tity is exposed by Peachy's detec- tive work, and It looks for a while p as the best, dialog la al- han. and he mssssm HUGH CAMERON IN "ALIAS THE DEACON" By LEROY CLEMENS and JOHN B. HYMER HENRY DUFFY PLAYERS S. F. "NEWS": CAMERON SCORES By ( I KUAN D. SH INT "... Duffy has exercised hie accustomed care in the selection of the players. He brought on Hugh Cameron from New York to play the central character, the deacon, psalm-slnging old card sharp. Cameron gave a per* formance In the part that makes it difficult to find words of praise, the usual adjectives sounding out of place In discussing a characterization of the sort. I'll say he was great and let it go at that." S. F. "CALL": By DOX kill I I. . . Duffy could not have a happier choice for the card-manipulating deacon than Hugh Cameron, who was brought to San Francisco especially for the piece. Not once does this actor step out of his character, erven on curtain bows, and he maintains an air of piety that keepa the audience In an up- roar." - S. F. "BULLETIN": By A. P. Gil I.KSl KV . . The comedy Is largely a one-man play. All the action, all the numerous situations cen- ter around Hugh Cameron. His capable handling of the title part made him an Instantaneous fa- vorite." S. F. "CHRONICLE": S. F. "EXAMINER": By GKOKCE C. WAat&EN . . Hugh Cameron was Im- ported froosa^New York to play the deacon, and to say he Justi- fied the cost puts the matter lightly. He was a riot and had the audience ticketed and filed for reference before the first scene was ended. A great per- formance he gives —unctuous, rich and fluent. He alone, should take the play through a long run." HUGH CAMERON IS DE- LIGHTFUL IMPOSTER By H WtHY LA NO "... Hugh Cameron was brought from New York particu- larly to play the part. Duffy bad wired Clemens to "bring the best man that can be found for role.' t'iemens ranks as the world's best picker. Of all the sancti- monious, psalrn-Hlnglng sons-of- gun, Cameron's the most so." PRESIDENT THEATRE SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. i SBBBBBai