"MR. PIM PASSES BY."
"The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn...
God's in His heaven--
All's right with the world!"
When _Pippa_ "passed," singing songs like that and preoccupied with the
splendid fact of her one day's holiday, she unconsciously brought about a
change for the better in the heart or conscience of all who overheard her.
It was not so with the passing of _Mr. Pim_. Prior to his intrusion, there
had been nothing to disturb the well-ordered existence of _Geo. Marden,
Esq., J.P.,_ and his wife (late Mrs. Tellworthy), except that they did not
see eye to eye on the small question of his niece's early engagement to a
young artist and on the still smaller question of futuristic curtains. Then
came _Mr. Garraway Pim_, a doddering old gentleman, with a thin falsetto
voice and a loosish memory, but otherwise harmless. He arrives with an
introduction from Australia and casually lets fall a tale of a
fellow-passenger with the unusual name of Tellworthy, from which--and
other incidental evidence--_Mrs. Marden_ gathers that her first husband
(an ex-convict) is still alive. Having dropped this thunderbolt he drifts
off, leaving tragedy in his wake. End of Act I.
_Marden_, highly conscientious, takes the orthodox view that his lawless
marriage must be nullified. His wife, though horrified at the resurrection
of her impossible first husband, permits herself to recognise the
humorously ironic side of things. _Mr. Pim_, fortunately located in the
immediate neighbourhood, is sent for that he may throw further light on the
painful subject of Tellworthy's revival. He now reports--what he had
vaguely imagined himself to have mentioned in the first instance--that
Tellworthy had met his death at Marseilles through swallowing a
herring-bone. The Second Act closes with a burst of jubilant hysterics on
the part of _Mrs. Marden_.
But the situation is only partially relieved. True, the old husband is dead
all right, but the _Mardens'_ marriage is still bigamous; they have been
living all this time in what would be regarded in the eyes of Heaven (and,
still worse, the county of Bucks) as sin. However, a trifling formality at
a registry-office can rectify this and nobody need be any the wiser. This
at least is _Marden's_ attitude, always free from any suspicion of
complexity. But his wife (if that is the word for her), being of a more
subtle nature, determines to make profit out of the situation. She points
out to him that she is at present the widow Tellworthy and that she must be
wooed all over again, and can only be won on her own terms. These include a
recognition of the niece's engagement (has not the young artist an equal
right with _Marden_ to a speedy marriage with the woman of his choice?) and
a concession to her taste in futuristic curtains.
[Illustration: A DROPPER OF UNCONSIDERED TRIFLES.
_Mr. Pim._ Mr. DION BOUCICAULT.
_Mrs Marden._ Miss IRENE VANBRUGH.]
At this juncture _Mr. Pim_ drifts in again to correct an error of memory.
The name of the gentleman who succumbed to the herring-bone was not
Tellworthy (he must have got that name into his head through hearing it
mentioned as that of _Mrs. Marden's_ first husband). It was really
Polwhistle--either Henry or Ernest Polwhistle; he was not quite sure which.
Everything is thus restored to the _status quo ante_, except that _Marden_,
in a spasm of generous reaction, feels himself morally bound to abide by
the new conditions that his wife had laid down.
_Mr. Pim_ only passes by once more to announce his settled conviction that
_Polwhistle's_ Christian name was Ernest and not Henry.
It will be seen that the play is original in design; but it is also a true
play of character revealed by circumstance. Further--and this is very
rare--it owes nothing to the adventitious aid of the costumier. For the
author's observation of the unities is extended to include the matter of
dress; he allows his people one costume each and no more.
Miss IRENE VANBRUGH played as if every one of her words had been made
expressly for her, as, no doubt, they were. I have never seen her so
perfect in detail, in the poise of her head, in her least gesture and
intonation, in her swift changes of mood; never so quietly mistress of the
_finesse_ of her art.
As _Marden_, Mr. BEN WEBSTER was a little restless in a part for which he
was not constitutionally suited, but played with the greatest courage and
sincerity. Mr. DION BOUCICAULT'S study of _Mr. Pim_ was extraordinarily
effective; and the way in which he made the attenuated pipings of this
futile old gentleman carry like the notes of a bell was in itself a
remarkable feat.
These three were given great chances, full of colour. But in the part of
_Brian Strange_, the boy-lover, by its nature relatively colourless, Mr.
LESLIE HOWARD was hardly less good. He never made anything like a mistake
of manner. I wish I could say the same of his flapper. But Miss COHAN
asserted her good spirits a little too boisterously for the picture.
I hope I shall not be suspected of partiality towards one of Mr. Punch's
young men if I say that this is the best of the good things that Mr. MILNE
has given us. As in his unacted play, _The Lucky One_, he gives evidence of
a desire, not unfrequent in humourists, to be taken seriously. But he knows
by now that brilliant dialogue is what is expected of him, and he thinks,
too modestly, that he cannot afford to dispense with it for long at a time.
The result is that, after stringing us up to face a tragic situation, he is
tempted to let us down with light-hearted cynicisms. He would hate me to
suggest that Mr. BERNARD SHAW has infected him, but perhaps he wouldn't
mind my hinting at the influence of Sir JAMES BARRIE. Certainly his
_Mardens_ remind me of the _Darlings_ in _Peter Pan_. Just as there we were
invited alternately to weep for the bereaved mother's sorrow and roar over
the bereaved father's buffooneries, so here, though not so disastrously,
our hearts are torn between sympathy for the husband's real troubles and
amusement at the wife's flippant attitude towards the common tragedy.
I will not deny the sneaking pleasure which this flippancy gave me at the
time, but in the light of calmer reflection I feel that Mr. MILNE would
really have pleased himself better if he could have found the courage to
keep the play on a serious note all through the interval between _Mr.
Pim's_ first and second revelations. Apart from the higher question of
sincerity he would have gained something, in an artistic sense, by getting
a stronger contrast out of the change of situation that followed the
announcement of Tellworthy's demise.
In the First Act we seemed to have a little too much of the young couple,
but this insistence was perhaps justified by the important part which their
affairs subsequently played (along with the _leit-motif_ of the futuristic
curtains) in the readjustment of the relations between husband and wife.
If I have any flaw to find in a really charming play, I think it was a
mistake for _Mrs. Marden_ to let _Mr. Pim_ into the secret of her past. As
with the sweet influences of _Pippa_, so with the devastating havoc wrought
by the inexactitudes of _Mr. Pim_, I think he should have been left
unconscious of the effect of his passing.
For the rest,
Mr. MILNE'S at his best--
All's right with the play!