Judge — February 7, 1920 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

rae by Henwey Patuen N a recent ex cathedra utterance wherein Man- ager Al Woods bid a long farewell to all his bedroom farces chemisette comedies, and turned his face toward high- brow things, he mentioned the fact that his productior of Maugham’s “Too Many Husbands,” though cher- ished by critics and connoisseurs, had not proved a source of shekels. Undiscombobulated by this tragedy of the box office, Mr. Woods proposes to plunge into the producing of “high-class” drama with idealistic abandon Just what, may we ask, is “high-class” drama We have always wanted to know. Is it Rand Kennedy “Army with Banners” groping, that brings to some people spiritual uplift and to others blessed sleep? Is it imported English teacup talk that occurs with wel groomed mildness in the morn: ing-room of Lord Spatleigh’s country-seat at Smugby- by-the-Bye? Is it’ Frencl problem drama, translated recognition, about j home without a Art and beyond What is ‘Triangle According David Be- lasco, high classiness would seem to consist in having window-shades that let up and down and admit scientif- ically perfect sunlight. Ac- cording to Arthur Hopkins altitudinous art is to be found in the depths of Rus- ia, where John Barrymore hit the baleful bumps and had his “Redemption” thing grim and Gorki, like “Night Lodging,” where f ple live and die like rats in a cellar, passionately purpose- less; or in the intoxicatimp Italian Renaissance of Rob- ert. Edmond Jones. As dreamed by J. J. Shubert, the Wintergardener, it would be some- oy Aber Ina Crane, Goto 1) StiLLinG and By Lawrex Mack att P Better Jazz Babies; as rol- licked by George M. Cohan, syncopated satire: as specu- lated upon by Morris Gest, austere bareness; as visioned by John Cort, a perfect 36 pink corset. But what will be the classicism of Al Woods! We can only watch and wait But to he n him on his culture crusade we would suggest that in the Maugham merriment “Too Many Husbands” it was not the intellectuality but the unmorality that was too much for the multitudes. The public welcomes intimations that men are by nature amous. Extra affinities, old flames that break out almost-infidelities on the part of the male; these But complacent polyandry is not for Pollyanna Even a cattish woman mustn't have feline morals ‘The comedy male can be heavily suspected without harming himself in the hearts of his audience Wallace Eddinger as the — pseudo- bachelor in ** Wedding Bells” certainly does not suffer a setback in popularity from spending a fond vigil with his already wife on the eve of his scheduled wedding to other. And Clifton Cra ford as the “sunshine spread- er” in “My Lady Friends” is hardly hated by those present for the mere fact that his sweet protégées are as demonstrative as they are pretty. But imagine a hero- ine, of even the farciest farce, in a similar situation \ play, whether moral, im- moral, or unmoral, cannot rise higher than its audience. We hope that for his forthcoming classics Mr. Woods will tind highly classic audiences—such as Mr. Gest garners at even tide for his heavenly-twia productions, “The Light of the World” and “Aphrodite.” Audiences ex, Potsep ox Hee Pata, Cuts Music JUDG! D comicbooks.com