Week End Omnibus
The " Week-End " Calendar. Compiled by Gerald Barry, (Bles. 68.) The " Week-End " Calendar. Compiled by Gerald Barry, (Bles. 68.)
THE editor of the Week-End Review, acting upon suggestions made by several of his readers, has gathered together into an anthology many of the most notable contributions printed in the Review, including prize-winning entries to competitions. " Middles," entries, and poems are punctuated week by week with extracts from Gilbert White's Journal, and there are pleasant decorations by Mr. John Armstrong. The standard both of contributions and of entries is exceedingly high. Noteworthy among the essays is an amusing paper by Mr.
E. C. Bentley, describing the technique of his Biographies for Beginners, and appending some rejected examples, with reasons for their rejection. Mr. Ivor Brown's tribute to the memory of Sydney Morgan cried out for inclusion. Here is the end of it : His last part in London was, I think, in ' The New Gossoon; by Mr. George Shiels. The play did not last. But Sydney Morgan, now second to Barry Fitzgerald, came as near as might be to out playing his leader ; he rarely had.the showy parts, and in this case his role was the quiet matter of a patient suitor, too slow for action and too shy for speech. It was done.with a rare beauty ; the acting had a canine, fawning, tail-wagging quietude as the faithful peasant spanieled his lady at heels and showed the strained eye of the dumb friend's adoration. Fitzgerald is a magnificent comedian, and he was carrying on the humours of roguery in the good. old way. But Morgan, second player, was first in the discerning eye. • " Let us now praise second players. The stage, with its bright personal triumphs, is often unkind to them. They are not the darrlins,' as Joxer would have said. But they are the pillars of the stage more often than the common judgement will allow, and it is 'the pleasure as well as the duty of criticism to redress the balance of celebrity so absurdly tilted by the machinery of ' featuring.' The paycock side of the game is not for second playeri. The plough is their symbol, while the stars shine for others. Morgan, plodding the furrows of 150 parts, touched none which he did not fertilize. He is remembered."
Other admirable essays are Mr. Compton Mackenzie's query "Is the B.B.C. too gentlemanly ?" and Mr. T. Earle Welby's analysis of the methods of Miss Ethel M. Dell. Further critical essays are contributed by Mr. Desmond MacCarthy on Arnold Bennett and Mr. Osbert Sitwell on D. H. Lawrence.
It would be impossible to select from the prize-winning entries. but we must direct readers to the " Nouns of Assembly " competition set by Mr. J. C. Squire on p. 170, and to the list of the Seven Deadly Virtues supplied in response to Mr. Humbert Wolfe on p. 151. Mr. James Stephens, Mr. Laurence Housman and Miss V. Sackville-West are among the poets. If the Week-End Review can maintain the standard suggested by these extracts, or anything like it, its place in contemporaq journalism must be assured.
Previous page
