Judge — January 10, 1920 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

Drawn by Heawax Patwen ISTORY the “What has Happened ” synopsis __ intro- ducing the cur- rent chapter in the Serial ot the Ages. In comparison wich today’s exciting instalment this cold summary is tame and tedious. It has no dia- logue, no breath of life. There is no kick in evaporated events. But the Past is “out of print”; back issues are buried in oblivion, and we have only the synopsts to go by. Some historians, bent on making the abstract interesting, have attempted to convey color and charac- ter in their condensation, to stage the story with the aid of their imagination. Veracity livened up into vivacity. And why not? Dessicated dates are a dreary diet. Historical “sources,” despite their bubbling appella- tion, are dry as d Such au- thoritative aridity is for pale pedants; pink people want pep. So let’s have the fun of the By- gone, even if certain small facts area trifle phoney. Give us the interesting ideas, even if they are your own interpretations. A well-bred chronicler will be pleasant and diplomatic con- cerning Miss Earth’s checkered past. A particularly happy_han- dling of history is John Drink- water’s “Abraham Lincoln,” which looms high amid lingerie shows. As Drinkwater explains in his meaty but lengthy pro- gram note, which nearly all the reviewers have quoted appre- ciatively (it takes up such a lot of space in a column that has to be filled), he, an Englishman, has not attempted to give us a complete biography of Lincoln or even a complete characteriza- tion; he has merely presented a visualization of such striking B Jaxe Cowt Reclaimed from Drynes Lawtox Mackaun AND NECKLACE 1 Have Suep” 24 traits, ideals, and humorous eccentricities as could com- fortably be accommodated in a play. At that, he found the lean giant too tall to fit into an ordinary number of acts and settings. He was obliged to provide no less than six scenes to give him stretching-room, and between times, standing in front of the plush curtains and declaiming in verse, an official guide to greatness in the person of a Chronicler, or Shakespearean chorus-man. ‘This poetiz- ing personage gives the scenes their interpretive titles, as in the movies. Some of the reviewers have unchari- tably called him de trop. He is the easiest thing in the play to pick on, and a critic must pick on something if he is to command the respect of his readers. We see Lincoln in his home in Illinois accepting the nomination for President; next, after he has assumed office and grown unto himself a beard, we see him in Seward’s office, declaring against compromise with slav ery; we watch him win the confidence of his cabinet on the threshold of Civil War; we see him read to them a bit of nonsense of Artemus Ward’s; we see him in the drawing- room of the White House re- buking a profiteer’s wife for expressions of hatred toward the South, and then dis- cussing emancipation with an old darke we see him at Grant’s Headquarters at Appo- mattox pardoning a lad con- demned to death for falling asleep at his post—sending him back to retrieve his honoron the battle line; lastly we witness his assassination. The scenes hold the interest every moment, and the central figure, played by Frank Mce- Glynn, is a profoundly human portrayal. One leaves the the- atre feeling that he has seen Tears t and known Lincoln. or “ Famous comicbooks.com