3 JANUARY 1925, Page 11

It was an engaging paradox that at the end of

his life he won great success with his melodrama, The Green Goddess—not at all a serious play, but one nevertheless extraordinarily well put together. Mr. Archer's OW11 little world was astonished. How could such flippancy come out of such normal severity ? Well, no doubt under his stern exterior Mr. Archer had always liked to play with such ideas as those which right at the end of his life brought him comfort and—ironically- fame. It is one of the happy facts in life that there is in most people something which has not been suspected.