Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-22
He THE ATE R.
New National Theater.

Checkers" and the National Theater
opened their seasons simultaneously last
evening. The play had had enough of q
preliminary hearing to warrant faith in its
entertaining qualities. This weeks engage
ment is not simply In the nature of a try
out, but the preface to New York run. for
which Mr.. Kirke LaShelle, with confidence
that is serene and characteristic, has al
ready made all arrangements.
The piece belongs to the book-play species.
but this fact does not bespeak for 1t much
if any consideration as a literary produc-
ton. Checkers is a tough young man with
a good heart. AS a stage hero he is handi-
capped by the fact that he is required by
the love interest to speak good English,
while all around him is being dispensed the
current slang whose destinations are SO ir-
resistible and whose employment IN con-
formity with accepted usages has come to
be almost an art.
This slang falls chiefly to the share of
David Braham. il, who, as a race track
tout. gives narrowing Illustrations of the
crookedness of mankind Mr. Braham
shares with Miss May Vokes the most lib
eral opportunities for comedy. Miss Vokes
is lady who would rather make the world
laugh than to be beautiful herself. Her
gawky girl in Checkers is almost men,
orable a bit of rustic quaintness as Sis Hop
kins and this In spite of the fact that the
character is a wholly subordinate one.
The Star, Mr.. Thomas w. Ross, is about
overwhelmed by the heroism of his role.
Or course, the young man who is to win the
heart and hand of an innocent, sweet and
entirely grammatical young girl, cannot,
whatever his past may have been with
reference to morals, be permitted to grOvel
In slang beyond hope of redemption. Yet
the public pines for picturesque phrases.
Checkers" as Mr.. Wise portrays him, is
a good-looking young fellow with knack
of wearing good clothes to the best posi-
BILE advantage. ready at repartee and with
an unlimited fund of aphOrismS and odd
Smiles. But as the audience sees him, he
is neither completely the tough nor the
gentleman. and as a character study, the
part lacks the intellectual attraction which
attaches to a positive type. The story Is
presented behind the footlights in such a
manner as to show him only as the devel-
oped butterfly radiant with sentiment and
glorious with good intentions. Opportunl-
ties for contrast with Checkers in his
grub state are but sparsely supplied. In
deed much of the charm which surrounds
Mr.. Braham's performance of the comic,
but constituencies. Push Miller is due to
the inference that he is the sort of person
that Checkers narrowly escaped being.
Mr.. Wise has happy and natural way OF
finging off the homely epigrams which
abound in his lines and holds his role al
ways to the front in interest, even though
he has but few scenes that are big in the
sense of affording him exclusive opportuni-
ties.
Wallace Worsley has rather ungrateful
part; that of the young chap who has to
be looked after by everybody in the neigh
borhood for his own good and whose bet
ter impulses arrive too seldom and TOO
late to save him from being hopelessly
catalogued as a cad. Mr.. Worsley plays
it exceedingly well, making up in artistic
quality for what the part lacks in sym
pathy. Miss katherine Mukins gave the
role of the young woman who inspires
Checkers with ambition for better things,
the sweet, WinsomenesS needful to make 1t
plausible There are numerous character
bits competently enacted The play is well
produced, the scene showing the betting
ring, bringing a stage full of people into
view and portraying all the hurlyburly at
tending asSemblageS OF this description.
Washington is frequently complimented
by the assurance that it is to see the same
production as that required for New York.
and Checkers " management was not for
getful of the courtesy due the capital city
in this respect. Indeed, there were rumors
that a carload of ticket spectators would
be brought on, to give verisimilitude TO
the occasion. A number of Washington
people fingered on the sidewalk In the
hopes of seeing a real live ticket specula-
tor, but there was none in evidence last
night But this was the only point in
which promise was not fulfilled
Checkers is an up-to-date melodrama.
direct almost to the point of crudity In its
appeal to the sympathieS and abundant in
it's applause winning episodes.