Judge — December 16, 1916 — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“ LIKED that show!” said the I Tired Business Man, with a smile of deep satisfaction. “T agree with you,” said the Critic, for once. “‘Captain Kidd, Jr.,’ is a remarkably good production. I am glad to see that Rida Johnson Young has left the field of musical comedy in this instance. It shows what she really can do.” “T think Edith Taliaferro is simply sweet!” furnished the Débutante. “Didn’t you just love her selling books and everything?” “T am glad to see her again in the spoken drama, after her long absence in the motion-picture field,” said the Critic. “But there was other good work in ‘Captain Kidd, Jr.,’ which it would be unjust to overlook. Otto Kruger, for example, acted as well as I have ever seen him; Zelda Sears was fine, as usual; and Charles Dow Clark was very funny. M Young was fortunate in securing such an able cast for the performance of her play.” “I didn’t like that discovery of the treasure,” said the Débutante. “It would have been so much nicer if they had really found a chest full of gold, or something, instead of that old platitude about work. Don’t you think so?” “Well, the happy ending is secured by other means,” said the Critic. “And perhaps Mrs. Young was wise when she chose the note instead of the pieces of cight. was decidedly the more natural discovery of the two.” but I did want them to have—oh, just millions, instead of the lit- Ue twenty-five thousand dollars that the Railroad gave them,” complained the Débutante. “Well, well—we mustn't cavil at the construction of the picce, which was really very good,” said the Critic. “The last act was a trifle weak; but I can pardon slight faults in dramatic construc- tion when such a really funny, clean play By CYRIL ANDREW appears on Broadway. It is an excep- tion, I assure you, to spend such an enjoyable evening.” “Speaking of funny shows,” said the Tired Business Man, “what di think of ‘Our Little Wife’? Seems to me there's a good show for you.” “T don’t quite agree with you there,” said the Critic. “In a w it is too bad that Avery Hopwood wrote ‘Fair ard Warmer.’ We are always expecting him to come up to the high standard that he set in that farce. To my mind, ‘Our Little Wife’ is distinctly below par. Not that there not a great deal of merit in the piece; but it just simply is not up to standard. And Margaret Illington——” “Wasn’t she fine?” interrupted the Tired Business Man. “I laughed myself sick at her. I think——” “I was going to say,” cut in the Critic acidly, “that Miss Illington was something of a shock to me.” “Heavens!” said the Tired Business Man. “You don’t mean to say that you —a case-hardened devotee of the Wash- ington Square players—were shocked at ‘Our Little Wife’?” “That is not at all what I meant,” said the Critic. “It was a shock to me tosec her in farce. I recalled ‘ Kindling,” and shuddered. “But wasn’t her acting fine?” in- sisted the Tired Business Man. “I don’t carc if she used to play Shakespeare’ She acted as well in ‘Our Little Wife’ as she ever did. It proves t she is versatile, that’s all. And she certainly helped to put the piece over.” “No doubt she did,” returned the Critic, “but that does not alter the fact that ‘Our Little Wife’ had not the charm and finish of Hopwood’s former success. It is a question whether or not it will be a success. I should like to sce it suc- ceed, for the sake of Mr. Hopwood and Miss Illington; but there are doubts in my mind.” stage “Oh!” said the Débutante, who had been listening attentively, “I think you're just horrid! I enjoyed it ever so much, though, to be sure, Mother was shocked at it—but then, she always is shocked at something. Why didn’t you like it?” “The theme is old,” began the Critic, oracularly, “and the lines, while fairly clever, have no particular sparkle. I see nothing in it to distinguish it from hundreds of other farces that have been with us in the past. And I am surprised that Miss Illington has chosen such a— such a unique medium in which to display her powers. She is far ahead of her part.” To this comment the Débu- tante nothing to say, as was usual with her when the Critic went at all deeply into the mysteries of his art. She contented herself with a sniff that spoke volumes, and departed. “Tam afraid t I have offended our little friend,” the Critic. “But she ‘S$ get on my nerves sometimes. Her ideas of the drama are distinctly paleolithic, if 1 may say so.’’ “That's a fact,” said the Tired Busi- ness Man. “Still, 1 can’t say that I am much better off, and still I enjoy myself. I don’t think you have to know an awful Jot about the drama to enjoy it.” “That doesn’t speak very well for the drama of the present day,” snapped the Critic. “What's the idea of the drama, any- way?” shouted the Tired Business Man. “T don’t t to have to study all my life to appreciate what I see on the top!” said I. “If you two get started on your old argument I am going to leave. You'll never agree until there is produced a play with a_ universal appeal.” “We'll all be dead when that happens,” said the Tired Business Man. “Thank goodness!” ejaculated Critic. the comicbooks.com