Show i PERCY HAMMONDS HAMMOND'S aLETTER Lua D CI Dc t Is Da-Is ula lula Vollmer r r returned turn d to ou last week k with The Tha the e i locale 1 of or as I her Sun Up and The ad Woman Moman Is 18 Carolina a It village In the Caro lina mountains and most moel ot or characters are v very ry plain and primitive The story has to do the pretty schoolmistress jao of or 1 place lace who boards with the family consisting of ot Pa and Ma ickle I Huckle e and their only child a a boy or of nineteen Tude a 0 oy In a spiritual part part phy ical way falls rails In love with Ro Rosie le the schoolmistress and to save rave him from heartbreak the mother tells Tude Tilde If U he touches Ro la she will fade f-de f and aDd die just Juet as when ben acut a acut acut cut flower Is la handled It will fade and die But no forte ROlle le la Is loved by two other men who are not wits half and when the unsuccessful suitor of oC the two t In a drunken frenzy attacks the girl Tude who accidentally stumbles on the scene believing That Roste Rosie wilt die because this too passionate lover has touched ed her bod body struggles with the man and ends eDds by killing him Then Tude returns to hl his home and only half half- half conscious conscious of what he has done tou runs to a neighboring saw raw mill and throws thrown himself be before Core the tho great lumber Raw saw Not a v very ry logical act act but then presumably a half half- halfwit wit halt wit Is not supposed to be logical I have bave seldom known a case care wh where re there was war such a divergence of oC opinion among the critics entice all as there has been about The Tho Dunce T P fy Some In a cheap comedy heap heaped d abuse abune on It It oth others rs lauded tho the piece as ns fine Cine drama The two points point howl however on which all agreed was the exceptional exceptional exceptional acting of oC Antoinette Perry ns as Ma Huckle and the Indubitable fact that the play was one of ot the most It If not the most d depressing ever produced in New York That the plot Is le very thin there can be beno beno beno no question l For or the purposes of oC fiction there would be scarcely the material for tor a h short rt story but the main theme themo of oC the pl the piece piece the ce-the mothers mother's love for Cor her Imperfect off off- offspring off offspring spring and her obsession to make him like oth other r normal children children- children is treated In fn certain speeches which have havo not only distinction but real nobility Miss Mills Vollmer has a man man- manner ner of for tor the stage that is so eo fluid and and Imaginative o and her understanding of oC construction and Is le so ao sound round that It ite e ms mr but a question of oC time when she he will write a play about which there can be no disagreement of opinion and which will be welcom welcom- welcomed ed d as a truly great drama Gareth l left rt the the Ahe acre screen n nI the I he says Bays for tor all time lime to play the part of oC the boy who was po I a of ot the mind of oC o a poetic child tI a Innocence and the body of oC ofa ofa a man and in our opinion por- por portrayed por por- port portrayed t rayed the sided many character with considerable success But al- al alThough although al although though Hughes was as the featured d member of an unusually excellent ast east It was wea Miss Antoinette Perry who carried away the chief hon hon- hono hon o o The brilliancy of her per per- performance per performance shone through the all all- pervading all pervading gloom of oC the play as a id d sun forces forcer its light through a London fog Of the hc weeks week's productions it wasja was wasa for Love a revival r of Congrove's Congreve's LOve by the group hat has created the tho greatest dis discussion dir dir- ru lon most And the oCt of the talk was not about the capable acting the imaginative setting the intelli- intelli intelligent Keni gent direction or the comedy nut ut the he fact that any play pley written 00 cars can ears ago with all the Indell- Indell Indella indell a los and Indecencies common to het age should be produced In so 80 nearly its original form The Tho season reason of 24 1923 was or hould be notable for the fight n rat our pia play promoters ra had with he police and the municipal au- au au authorities to allow nudity on the stage And as Is well known the battle In the name of oC Art was as won won by the producers and therefore therdore any night now for tor box of- of office of office fice flee prices at several ot of our best beautiful la la- la ladles waters theaters I we may see dice clad exactly tuI as a they were when ben the they made their first ap- ap appearance ap on the worlds world's stage This knotty point having been settled 0 o th tho satisfaction of oC n nearly arly all our cousins the and country townsmen own producers have made every e honest Corl tort this season to ascertain what wha was was most pl pleasing to the ears ofas of oC 1 ic as public as well as asto asto to o Its Ita l a aes eer es els The result which was not attained without a somewhat conflict with the law 1 seems to be bo that what the public e mands Is profanity blasphemy Of ne s and who ho enjoy Mira tr there are arc many an plays on the stage and some someo o 0 n nf seasons season's successes 8 will prove m nis is but no one can deny that the have been Jeen o opened wide only t nd heretofore ere ereo filth only J through our drama It r now rushes at full fun flood William A A Brady produced a av avery v very r badly written very Pry badly cart ca play called The Good Bad Dad Worn Worn- Wom 0 n It was daring au very I broad but It was also so 80 sordid and soiled that on the second night there were but few present to watch the machinations of or the un- un unmoral unmoral un unmoral moral heroine Indeed ed things look look- looked looked looked ed rath rather r gloomy for the good bad woman and then the authorities took official notice of b her r demor demor- demoralizing demoralizing demoralizing Influence In our midst and andt It purchase t became most difficult to pur pur- purchase chase a seat scat for tor what I presume we should call the show shoo Before Detore the district altorn attorney y took look cognizance ance anee anc of oC Eugene 0 Desire Under the Elms It was wa playing to about a week but after arter It had been be n officially condemned as Indecent business promptly jumped to Numerous Num rous Instances s of the same sort could be bo quoted but these theae no doubt will serve sene to explain c why many of oC our theatrical th entertain entertain- entertainments entertainments ments should have reached so lowa low a level The tenpins ot of decency set up by our puritanical forefathers forefathers ers for Cor all ll these th se many gen generations In one short theatrical season reason have b been en bowled over and so 80 far Car as our drama Is concerned we wo are arec c certainly wild One of oC our best but known critics said in his review of the e Congreve piece ACt After r seeing Love for Love I am more than ever con con- convinced convinced con convinced vinced that we ought to have ha some ditty dirty plays playa If It only they are funny enough nough And that It seems to ml me fairly crystallizes the opinion of oC o a great part of oC the public toward the modern tendency o our stage in inthe Inthe inthe the direction of oC Indecency ncy The crime I 1 Impute to love I ove for tor Love LoveIs Is that It is not funny tunny enough i Eliminate the Indecent lines liner and andIn In spite of o what seemed to me a Colorful If It not brilliant perform perform- performance performance ance I do not bell believe ve it would have lasted out the week The In- In Ind indecencies In Indecencies d decencies c left leCt In I have ha no doubt the piece will soon move to an up- up uptown uptown up uptown town th theater ater where the crowds can be accommodated As a play there Is characterization of ot a kind lot lut there Is a lack of ot Imagination In construction which is unworthy of ofa ofa a playwright who had learned learne his craft through a 1 a correspondence nee school Of OC course the same fault could be found Cound with that modern artificial comedy Oscar lIdes Lady Windemere's s 's Fan oan but to tomy tomy tomy my way of thinking there is more rea rea wit and wisdom In one page of Lady windemere's Fan than thanIn thanIn In a volume of Congreve |