Life — November 18, 1926 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

Virtue Breaks Even C HASTITY gets a little better than an even break in the theatre this week, for while it is made to look pretty silly in “Seed of the Brut through, y overhe iv The Great Pric under Pearl « to a ma, The only trouble is that they don’t give you the impregnable maiden’s name i The Pilgrim, Pearl of Great Price.” The just call her So she can't be used as evidence in a court of jaw to prove that such a thing really does exist on the 2 we have what i ‘morali "on the order of . at is, the characters all have generic lik ‘le He Rich, Lust, Orgy, Prudence, and, accent-marks ig what they are in a program-printer’s shop, Blase. ust also note for posterity that the eight little girls who bounce in attendance on Lurury (Miss Julia Hoyt) sre named Flip, Flounce, Flirt, Pert, Primp, Siish, Swirl and Smirk. And a hoydenish little crew the you may be sure, Always up to something. ‘The family name of these eight sisters is not given on the program, but it would be funny if it were Rothapfel. Flirt Rothapfel. Or even Flounce Rothapfel....Oh, well, enough of day-dreaming! by % P ‘The Pearl of Great Price” unbelievable » B& 20 § I... is easily told. nee the plot of © concerns the TH inconve a young girl named Pilgrim is put to in her fight to retain the jewel given to her by her dying mother. (Effie Shannon has no other name on the program than Mother of Pilgrim, but we gather that it is Pernicious Anemia to her friends.) This “pearl of great price.” need we add, is Honor, Virtue, Chastity, or what have you? Well, the time that that girl has! Living cloistered as you do, you wouldn't believe it. If we said that she s beset from every side we wouldn't be exaggerating a bit. Despair, Fame, Hunger, Idle Rich, Lurury, Ponder, Preen, Pride, Queer, Quill, Smug, Want, ad, an'e, con, in post, pra, pro, sub and super and sometimes aus, auser, bei and mit, all take the dative and all con- spire to rob Pilgrim of her jewel. But the memory of Pernicious Anemia and the vision of Love (in the healthy person of Reggie Sheffield) serve to strengthen Pilgrim, and she comes through clean, much to the joy of the hollyhocks around the door of her old cottage. It is all very exciting. And the Shuberts, as if to square themselves for the money they have lavished on the Winter Garden in the past, have given bountifully to the good cause in a highly spectacular production. So let us all give this little girl a hand. a) [\ Seed of the Brute” we find a more pessimistic out- look. Not only is sin rampant but almost without fail it is productive of results which manifest themselves in the subsequent census. Calvin Roberts (vividly por- trayed by Robert Ames) was evidently the original of the man the story who owned a bicycle. He was a veritable King Midas in the social life of that section of Illinois. In practically every field of endeavor to which he turned his hand, he found himself confronted by some son or other of his. In the end his proud spirit is crushed to earth by the still prouder spirit of one of his informal family group. It served him right, and yet one can’t help admiring the man. Were it not for a weak first act and third, “Seed of the Brute” would be a play of consider- able power. other words, the second act is swell. Mr. Ames, Mr. Cooper, and Miss Hilda Vaughn com- bine in making a tremendously dramatic scene which we would consider good enough to make up for the weak spots. The author, Mr. Knowles Entrikin, has had a fine idea and has brought part of it to life. This ought to count for something. 8OHOB88 ND may we offer it as our opinion that of the two plays “The Pearl of Great Price,” in spite of its high moral tone, is the more immoral? ‘Seed of the Brute” uses bad words and ignores several moral codes entirely, but it furnishes the spectator with mentary boxes of salve for his conscience. “The Pearl of Great Price’ will give countless matinee audiences of women the opportunity to humor their voyeur tendencies under the pretext of attending a “morality play’ and will result ina much smaller enrollment in the Vineyard Workers’ Association than d of the Brute.” If women want to see that kind of thing on the stage (and statistics show that they do in tremendous droves), they ought to be made to get it in plays like “Seed of the Brute” where it will take their breath away so that they can’t giggle. Robert Benchley. \e a still weaker i 0 compli- comicbooks.com