New Plays

The Outsider. A girl cripple (twisted hips), beautiful, intelligent, a talented musical composer, longs to stand up to conduct her own symphonies, longs to stand up and have a man play upon her passions. Men flirt with her, but shun her as a matrimonial hazard. Repression has given her a case of aggravated amorousness. A Russian surgical instrument maker, half genius, half charlatan, who received his early training in the Chicago stockyards, guarantees to cure her with a movable rack, if she will lie strapped to it for a year while her limbs are remoulded nearer to the heart's desire. This Napoleonic upstart, imperious, wilful, has been proscribed by the British Royal College of Surgeons for-bone-setting without a degree; his string of cures being nullified in their eyes by the lack of a string of Latin words after his name. He believes he can score over them by healing this crippled daughter of his chief antagonist; she consents, despite a parental frown which cannot straighten her limbs.

The day her treatment ends, she tries to walk, falls, and the Russian's ego topples with her. But as he claps on his hat for an exit growing love of him lends her pinions. She walks far enough to reach his arms for the grand finale.

The Outsider is an exceptional play, raised above a clinical discussion by the warm emotion of a girl's adolescent libido, but perspiring a little with theatrical laboring. Katherine Cornell gives an extraordinarily balanced portrayal, making the proper suggestion of a maimed butterfly fluttering its wings. Her acting swings the real focus from the man to the maid. She washes from the part any taint of carnalism. Her varied, rainbow performance stamps her as the greatest young player of her age. Lionel Atwill is forceful, explodes with the splendid precision of dynamite. But at times he is too conscious of making an impression with friends across the footlights.

Alexander Woollcott: "The pronounced theatricality of this slightly medicinal romance was underscored heavily by the ornate and splendacious acting to which Lionel Atwill has become progressively addicted. . . But there was Katherine Cornell . . . to alleviate the distresses of an otherwise disturbing evening."

John Corbin: "As for Mr. Atwill's performance, seldom has so big and complex a nature been presented with so perfect a blending of subtlety and vigor. Miss Cornell is as nearly perfect."

Percy Hammond: "Scientifically, The Outsider is, as Mr. Dempsey would say, 'the bunk.' . . . But Mr. Atwill is gorgeous as the quack-doctor; and Miss Cornell's realization of the passionate lame girl seems a perfect thing. I suspect she knows more about honest acting than any of the other actors of today."