The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-11-02
ADJUSTMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Elliott in, "Her
Great Match" - 7--3 :,

Metropolitan-Max ine Elliott in, "Her
- Great Match" - ~--i -
A pleasant comedy pleasantly played
that is Her Great Match" of which the
Industrious Clyde Fitch is the author and
Maxine Elliott is the titular star. Th,.
burden of Mr.. Fitch's tale is a little love
romance in which a typical American girl
and German royal hfgness meet on
English ground, and having fallen lin
love, strive to find the answer to the
puzzle Of how theyS are; to we'd The
answer is obvious enough, or perhaps
too obvious, but ere it is reached the
playwright with characteristic deftness
interposes two obstacles in the shape of
an INSCRIPTIONS and mercenary step
mother on the American side, and a royal
highness aunt on the German side. Each
of these, by entirely different processes,
arrives at the ~untenable> conclusion that
morganatic marriage is the answer.
80 Oddly enough, Mr.. Fitch has failed
utterly In drawing the American step
mother, making of 1t a character al
most impossible. while in the royal aunt
from Eastphalia he has achieved a tri-
umph of Hfelike verify. Such uneven
ness is a fault quite characteristic of
Mr.. Fitch and one that%givess many of
his plays their air ~ being carelessly
and hurriedly wrought. Once you con-
cede, however, such a shameless barter
as that arranged by the stepmother with
the English captain Of the beer industry
,-onee you overlook the fact that no
English millionaire would give sixpence
for a barony from a German principality,
and the other palpable absurdities OF
the yarn, you are fain to admit that the
story is ingeriously constructed. "a
But out of this happy conceptions of
the royal aunt issues a result which
doubtless: neither Mr.. Fitch nor Miss
Elliott, for whom the play is written.
quite intended. The role fell into the
hands Of Nine. Mathilde Cottrelly, who
has with the sure touch of the artist
made Of it by far the best thing in the
play. This royal old maid, with 3hel
world reverence for caste continually al
war with her romantic sentimentality
makes a figure humorously pathetic
Her Gretchen-like braids Of faxen hair
her marvelously rich and ugly costumes
with their lace berthas, her Teutonic
profile and delicious foreign accent are
important items in the picture. But the
touch that makes the character appellant
and genuine comes when the woman in
her triumphs oyer the princess. >:
Miss Elliott plays the American girl
sweetly and with moderation, but with
out subtlety or finished art From a
certain self-consciousness she seems
never to have been able entirely to free
herself. Perhaps the acclaims for her
beauty that sounded so insistently inethe
early days of her stage career may be
blamed for this. Some beautiful women
are never unconscious OF their beauty.
And the pulchritude of Miss Elliott is.
after all. mostly physical. 1t is seldom
illumined by the inner intellectual light
that often transforms the plainest face
into the most attractive. This is mot
to say that Miss Elliott Is uninteliectual,
but that simply that her Qualities of mind
do not show forth upon her face. Her
picture Of "Jo'' Sheldon is pleasing but
not impressive. /. .ara. =
Charles Cherry plays the opposite part
Of the royal lover with nice discrimin-
alton which combines dignity with fer
vor and sincerity with humor His
kaiserly moustache and German accent
would swamp a less genuine actor in a
sea of low comedy Muriel Wylford
plays the stepnother with clear-cut and
almost convincing fidelity. The equally
Impossible role Of the newly rich English
brewer IS in the hands of Cory Thomas,
who does not altogether succeed in build
ing up a distinctive characterization.
Suzanne Perry plays his true-hearted
daughter with charming simplicity and
Leon Quartermaine extracts some ex-
cellent comedy from the role Of his son.
There is. too a decidedly Fitchian flash
light OF a countess with a mania for
married men presented by Gladys Morris,
..4 w B. Chamberlain.