No Complaints. 0. B. Clarence. (Jonathan Cape. 12S. 6d.) Tins
unassuming autobiography will doubtless please amateurs of first nights and of anecdotes which could safely be printed in Punch. Plainly, 0. B. Clarence is a good actor and a self-effacing man—but one rather misses the flamboyant agatism which characterises most writers on this subject. Perhaps it is better to splash about, painter- wise, with words, to add a sprinkling of spite, in order to coun- teract the dullness of mentioning so many half-remembered plays, so many alleged good fellows, whose names might be interchange- able for all they convey to the ordinary non-stage-struck reader. Perhaps this does not matter; only those with some particular interest in the theatre will really enjoy the book anyway. The author has acted with almost everybody, including the Benson and Ben Greet companies. One is ready to believe the fable that members of the former were chosen for theff prowess in the cricket or football field—" Wanted a Laertes and Centre-Forward" —" good bowler for Roderigo." Occasionally Clarence gives one the impression of having played in more Barrie than is good for him. Actors are generally sentimental but to say of Mary Rose " the savour of plays like this, I think, sweetens our daily lives " is just too much.
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