Kritisism

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To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

Sir, I protest. For weeks past it has been to me a source of extreme haemeotropiros to peruse the languid quaintness of your dramatic reviews, from which I invariably recover (than my lucky stars!) with a realization that the unfortunate play, or playwright, or manager, or both, have been surreptitiously pen-handled by the critic. But I forgive him--now, for I have discovered that only innocence or naivete has produced the effect of an apparently learned discussion of so learned a topic as the stock performance of a play only recently produced on Broadway by much superior talent, which play, after serious deliberations, it is suggested--quite cunningly, too,--the review actually approved. A peculiar use or unsuspected ignorance of the correct and artistic method of including erroneous impressions in the same paper with only too obvious conclusions: e. g. "black is not white," "my humble nothingness," "I am not a good critic," "I am not blase," etc., etc., reveals that the critiques are native and quite harmless. Proof: advertisements of plays reviewed appear regularly side by side with these learned literary compositions--that's why they are native. But ah! the glory of success! I discovered one in this A. M.'s Crimlisten: "The humor of the play, which" play, the critic states "is continuous" a dramatic technicality "is simple (a common quality of naivete--simplicity): it is bound round (as Ridley and Latimer were bound round a stake) the novel and hotherto unused idea of mistaken identity." Is it to laugh. How could you, Mr. Critik? Is it unknown to you that the mistaken identify theme is decidedly not novel? In fact, it is absolutely un-novel except to a native critic. The archives of the library (Coolidge Corner) reveal that this positively much-used theme constitutes the chief source of the otherwise inexplicable development of the Incas, not many years before native dramatic criticism was permanently established on a simple basis in Kame-Bridge by Hyppopatrot, cousin-germination of the pedantic Kritikos, the first of the Order of Native Kritiks. Their motto is: Here stand we--we sit not otherwise. Kritikly yours, Joseph Robinson '35.