Judge — November 15, 1919 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

Drawn by HERMAN Paumer HOULD all plots be sup- pressed, or should they be allowed to work themselves out harmlessly ? Plot Suppression, By Lawton Mack aut In “Hitehy Koo” there is no plot at all, but Raymond Hitch- cock takes its place. His pro- logue before the curtain and be- hind his front lock of ha Musical comedies are of two sorts: those in which the plot is a necessity, and those in which it is a nui Vii concerns a duchess in disguise or a scapegrace in dutch with his uncle, or a millionaire arriving at a Palm Beach hustlery, it isn’t a plot at all; it’s a pest. Just when the leading damsel has captivated us with her dancing, and given two chairs and a library table the waltz-over and has whirled fluffily out through a doorway in expectation of seven encores; just then in butts this plot pest in the shape of a lawyer and the villain, will in hand, to explain that the hero will come into Much Money provided he marries within t! next half-hour. That is, they would explain, not these legal matters squelched by the applause. tactfully, before anyone throws a brick, these repre- sentatives of the plot withdraw and the encore occurs. But this preliminary peekaboo of theirs was useful in this w: It gave the leading lady a chance to appear to shoo them out with her éclat It is so easy, it’s almost a shame to take the glory. Pirouetting person- ality can put it over plot in a single saucy skip. Yet plot perseveres. Encore fol- lows encore,and the damsel springs all the “specialties” she has, but each time the lawyer and villain come back with the persistence of bill-collectors, giving the audience a look which means: “When you've had enough of this minx, we're here to relieve you of her.” And during the last encore or so they boldly stick on the stage. In the end they win out. The audienc too, realizes that there is no hope. of their not telling about that will Thus does.plot hold pulchritude in check. It is perhaps the only re- straining influence that stage queens acknowledge. It tempers even the egos of slick-haired juveniles. We are used to it. So let us endure it even unto the end. ance w > Yi Vhoto by Abbe 11-15-19 Peaay Wood as the Breton Rud in “Buddies.” us the situation—the “wh happened”—and throughout the subsequent show w discern his sage motivation. The human-limbed steed responds to the sound of his voice with joy and obedient ch ancing, and the still more human-limbed * Ponies” prance attendance upon him with perfect docility. If, seeing him in the Pocahontas scene mauled by the merry Indians, we have momentary doubts as to who rules the revel, these are happily dispelled in the barber shop session, avhen we behold him as the Grim Reaper shave a writhing victim, wiping, the while, his razor on the latter's necktie, as his accomplices, the manicure and the bootblack, pounce upon the help- less unfortunate’s hands and feet. Then indeed we know that Hitchy dominates the drama, “The Passing § vw of 1919,” at the Winter Gar- den, has no plot either, and no Hitchy; but it has Muchness, which keeps it moving. There is safety in numbers. With time alloted on a short ration basis, no performer has a chance to pall. Even Beauty is mar- tialed for only brief dazzlements. And this is the most beautiful as well as the best show ever wit- nessed at the Winter Garden. Personally conducted revues, glorified vaudeville, and Hippo- drome hugeness, can hold together without the tie of plot that binds, but the ordinary musical show re- SQ) quires a story-structure. General- izing from the last forty-three and a half musical comedies we seen, all that is needed is a string of compromising situations growing out of the stunt of having two people not married to each other compelled to pretend to be husband and wife, or fiaacé and fiasco. Don’t you see how simple it is? Just add a bedroom and serve to an ev responsive public with a degree of warmth. That public will be in- finitely delighted and surprised. comichooks.