To a Cosmopolite in Spring (verse)
Hartsock, Ernest
When John Barrymore Talks ONE of our best motion picture critics, Thornton Delehanty, has made the discovery that the freedom of the talking screen has released a quality in John Barrymore's acting...
...This is profoundly true...
...Barrymore has regained the verve and enthusiasm and keen interest in his work which characterized his stage appearances...
...Even forsythia shall find us scorners, Weary of proper yards in this prim city...
...Speech permits the essential repose of the great actor, the deep restraint, and heightens the occasional volcanic outburst...
...Speech apparently has a vast deal to do with the effective timing of an actor's gestures...
...It is a relief to feel that his splendid art may now come back to us again and again through the newer medium...
...Then spring shall be no more a hackneyed story But ways turned golden and a walk in glory...
...In General Crack, the first of his talking pictures, Mr...
...Wild peach beside deserted orchard fences And buttercups' belated Saturnalia...
...Here shall anemone maraud the senses, Hepatica and bloodroot and azalea...
...When John Barrymore Talks ONE of our best motion picture critics, Thornton Delehanty, has made the discovery that the freedom of the talking screen has released a quality in John Barrymore's acting which earlier motion pictures had threatened to obliterate...
...Now come where poplars gossip in the rains The scandal of the wild, sweet, early flowers, Where lusty creeks like mares with leaping manes Freighten the loudly silent April hours...
...I noted this recently in Greta Garbo's first talking picture, and it is even more pronounced in the case of Barrymore...
...It removes all need for exaggerated facial contortions and melodramatic gestures...
...To a Cosmopolite in Spring Leave daffodils and tulips in their corners To preen in water-mirrors and look pretty...
...Ernest Hartsock...
Vol. 11 • April 1930 • No. 23
