Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-23
The Foreign Stage.
.clnl Cnrresrondence of The Star.


LONDON. December II. 1906.
Tommy" the new play by Jerome X
Jerome which is soon to be taken to the
United States. has been condemned by
some of the London critics as offense
against good taste and good morals alike.
Sc curiosity is keen to see what will be
thought of Tommy when Annie Hughes
takes it across the water next month.
After a trial week in Manchester, where
It seems to have made a small sensation,
the piece was put on at a leading suburban
theater last Monday, and the immediate
result was such violent disa gTeement be-
tween the nestors of the London press as
has not been seen for many a long day.
Unpleasant and unconvincing'' are terms
which several prominent reviewers use in
describing Tommy" while more than one
dramatic writer has been disturbed by
the unusual trend of Jerome's plot as to
decline to narrate it, So. no doubt it was
because of this unconventionalitY that the
new play-which is of course, dramatized
version of Jerome's recent book, Tommy
x CO."-was not put on originally in the
fashionable west end of London instead
Of being sent to America after two weeks
run at a provincial and suburban play
house.
There is just possibility, however, that
Tommy may make hit in the United
States and that London managers may
eventually be c.1moring for the piece OF
which they apparently fought shy to be-
gin with, for, despite the many denuncia-
tons to which the play has been subjected,
reviewers have not been wanting to de-
scribe it as a strong and even an eXtraor-
binary piece. The story which has 50 up
set the majority of London critics is of
hot of Ia-f no
appealing. if rather Unbalanced novel-al-
though, il anything. the episodes which
proved most effective in the story are seen
to least advantage on the stage. The first
act. in fact, which passes in the office of
Good Humpr. the mOribund comic weekly
Of which Miss Tommy is assistant ed
itor. shows a painful tendency to drag. but
after this we gel action in plenty and the
author has no difficulty in carrying the
audience with him.
Jerome gives US heroine who elects to
live with the man she loves in spite of the
fact that he is married and has for years
been a drunkard, once she has discovered
that they have been parted by treacherY.
The In, story begins in the offices of Good
Humor. whose staff has been Joined by
Dick Dauvcrs, smart young writer. in or
der to be near its fair girl editor. And
Tommy" loves Dick and would marry him
did not another woman appear and claim
him as the father of her child. AS for the
man. a mistaken chvalry leads him to
marry Tommy $ rival. although he is not
responsible for her downfall, and forthwith
lie enters on a life of misery which soon
leads him to the bottle.
Years pass and the smart young newSpa-
per man is broken down. drunken. misera-
he hack, who is living alone save for the
woman's child. whom he named Honor.
His wife has long since disappeared and.
unknown to Danvers. Tommy" who is
now successful authoress, has befriended
both him and his little daughter" One
night She comes when Dick is drunk and
suddenly encounters the other woman now
an out-andout adventures whom curios-
ity has led to visit her husband and child.
In an attempt to crow over Tommy she
inadvertently reveals that she won Danyers
by lie. and when upbraided by her rival
fings out of the room with threat of mis-
chief
The end comes with an effective scene
Tommy remains behind in the dark
meaning to tell Danvers of his wifes In
tentionS. lie returns just enough flushed
with drink 10 make him hesitate to go and
bid his child goodnight Reaching for the
bottle. he tells himself that he must drink
again. Tommy" he says. never comes back
into the room and talks to him til he has
drunk more than one glass. If only she
would come with the first glass there would
be no further drink or drunkenness for him.
Touched to the heart. Tommy comes for
ward In flesh and blood. conventional NOR
aisty is thrown To the winds. and the curtain
falls upon the lovers united in each others
arms by the red light OF the fire.