The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-09-18

X. 1 a.
A hIHUR WING PINERO is TIE
n leader of the English playwrights,
and they have got ahead of the
Frenchmen, while the Americans are
hlndmost. Therefore the Introduction
OF Pinero's kitty in New York was
an occasion Of expectancy and equally
OF satisfaction. I would qualify that
only by telling you that the play viii
not please people who wish to have
thelr stage heroes and heruines alto
gether good and their villains alto
sether evil. who have no liking for fic-
ton that chimes with the realities of
me- and who are Vexed when theatre
cal stories end unhappily, as they often
DO out in the unideal world
Pinero's Lefty Shell is refined
working girl with a vivacious but not
vicious desire for pleasure. Nevil Lech-
mere is an idler whose family name
might well be Lechery, for il is. as lie
says, rotten 10 the core, and only one
member Of it. his sister. lives decent
~. Lefty thinks that Nevil will marry
her, and is heartbroken when she finds
out that he has an eStranged wife
that his purpose is dishOnorable and
that she can be nothing better with
him than 2 companion. She goes at
midnight to deliver herself to him in
his chambers. and, although ashamed
and grieved. makes herself at home by
letting down her hair, putting her feet
into lis slippers and curling up costly
on his sofa At that juncture Nevil
gets he news that his sister. yielding
at last to the family proclivity, has
run away from her husband with a
ilbertine. NeVil denOunccs her in a
rage and describes her infamy so
graphically that Lefty, thus made to
comprehend her own similar case flies
IN the nick of time and saves herself.
That is the gist of this new and pow
erful Pinero drama.
What happens after that Well. i'm
an epilogue-as the author calls the
ftih act-timed several years after the
single day in which all the previous
things have happened. Lefty is Shown
rs he wife Of a photographer whom
she used TO laugh at for his eccentric
uSliness. the mother of his child and a
worker in his shop. disappointed, dis
ilusiOnized. yet cOntented and even
happy in the contemplation of a hum
Drum, respectable. utterly unromantic
future. As to NeVil. he has developed
consumption. and. after listening and
asserting to her sensible summing up
OF the affair, starts off 10 die more
slowly in the pure air of the Alps than
ne would If he stayed in the fog Of
London. Isn't that an odd way TO
point the moral OF a social problem ?
OF course, there are many Pinero
particulars TO vivify the story vital
lie the characters, and make TIE COM
position good literature adaptable TO
stage use. Nevil and Lefty are no
more faithful studies in human ma
ture and conduct than their nine as
sociates present: and. although
trohman star actor, William Faver-
sham, is duly exploited to his advan-
Tage, no member Of the able company
lacks opportunity for distinction.
Lefty" is a drama that will not fade
soon from the memory of those who are
impressed while seeing it. They will
forget slowly. If ever. the Door little
girl who longed for the joys of life.
deserved them. expected them. barely
escaped disaster in seeking them and
found a safe yet sad refuge in Ioveless
matrimony. Her case is so common
that most OF Us have seen many like
it. and Pinero presents it with a subtle
realism that makes us dampen our
pity with tears.
Interestingly curious is the evolu-
ton of the newest comic opera "A
Eadcap Princess whether considered
as venture in the show business or
as an experiment in dramatic art First
among its factors is Lulu Chaser. She
crossed 10 small parts, came further
forward as his principal soubrette and
burgeOned out into such affluence of
audacity that there was hardly room
for her and Wi,son at once on the
stage. She was so pretty and so bright
that some folks apDlauded her, while
others would have used their hands to
spank her If etiquette and opportunity
had permitted
DO you want to give TIE whole
show Wilson is said to have asked.
hope TO some day." Lulu is said to
have answered.
The time 10 nearly do that came to
her when she was put at the head of
company in Dolly Warden" 1t was
seen then that the forwardness which
had been vice when she was a help
mate with wilson became a virtue
when she was by herself at the front
of an entertainment Permitted to
have her own wilful way she devel-
oped a cash value which made mana
gers fight i'm a lawsuit over the cues
ton who should have her this season.
The process of making "A Madcap
Princess" has been peculiar TOO
Charles Major originated the story in
his novel, When KnighthOod Was in
Flower" and il was dramatized for
Julia MaFloWe.y who used it thoroughly
ana was thought to have used il up.
But whoever decided on the play for
Lulu Chaser this season knew that she
was capable of impersOnating herself
only. that she had done il captivating
y as the Dolly Warden in the musical
parody of Wycherley's The Country
Girl and that she could DO IL again
as the Mary Tudor in a version of
When knighthOod Was in Flower
With fun and tunes i'm it. The prob
lem looks easy now that it is solved
successfully Lulu is more eXuberant
than Ada Rehan was in the Wycherley
comedy, more humorous than Julia
NarlOwe was in the Major drama and
more clownish than either Ada or
Julia could or cared to be She is a
hearty hoyden when in the petticoats
Of bluff King HaIs contrary sister
Mary handsome swaggerer when she
put son the doUblet and boots OF a
knight TO escape marriage with the
old French monarch. and so complete
q mistress Of the tricks Of a low
comedian, a saucy sOubre1te and a
gracious prima donna that the COM
pany gets along first rate with none Of
those costly components, except as all
three are embodied in Lulu her own
confident self.
a play that has reversed the ordi-
nary process and made a years tour