Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-27
7 he THEAT e R
Columbia.

Columbia.
Last evening the premier production OF
Jules Eckhart Goodman's THE Right TO
Live with Miss Grayce Scott in the
stellar role. occurred. The production Is
described on the program as "a play OF
moral development and regeneration. Sucn
a designation is indeed weighty and not
unlikely to discourage all but the avoweo
lovers of the modern problem play. Inc
play Is heavy: too-unusuaily so-an e:.. Tue
closest attention to the lines and situa-
tons Is absolutely essential to an ENJOY
ment Of the production
Constant Gregoire. q willy owner OF
pawnshop in New York. hard. cynical
Shylock. ever alive to the interests or his
business. but completely wrapped up IN
the life of his young son Eros, Is man
with past that he wishes to live down
solely for the moral development OF ms
boy. His own conscience Is apparently
dead. For his own good he cares moth
ing; for his offspring. everything. The
moral awakening of Gregoire Is the theme
of the play. His daughter knowingly and
his son unwittingly bring this about
through a succession Of events at times
bordering on the Impossible because Of
their completely and uncommonness.
After running the life Of one woman
who died In garnet and ,ieft MIN
daughter of whose existence he was I'M
death. leaves him a son. Eros. a boy
about eight years of age. BY merciiess
business acumen and with the self-inter-
ested aid of one Stratton. who holds
amasses fortune and lavishes 1t upon
his son. A middle-aged woman. an old
friend who loves him with an unrequited
love, serves faithfully as his housekeeper
and cares for Eros. The keeper of the
pawnshop is happy. except for memories
q mistress he deserted
continual Matchmaking extravagances of
Stratton. who ever threatens him with
the forged check
At this point rich. dissolute young
blood. Todhunter Russell. comes to the
pawn shop and requests Gregoire to give
certain young woman, Lorraine de Lore
500 for sealskin cloak she will shortly
bring to him to pawn. GregOire himself
would give but $50 for It, Russell sup
plies the balance. When Lorraine APP
pears GreGoire attempts to befriend her
for Interior purposes and is repulsed. He
persists. and. to his horror. discovers her
to be the daughter of his dead. deserted
mistress. The identification is made posi-
tive by two rings he himself wrought
when a youth.
His new-found daughter gives him her
dying mothers message of gentle re-
proach and the rings. symbols of his UNI
fulfilled promises: but withhods the Kiss
from her betrayed mothers lips. She Is
taken into Gregoire's home as his niece
because he dare not refuse. With the
avowed purpose Of running her father she
INDUCES in the widest extravagance
Then she obtains possession of the forged
check from Stratton. who. unconscious of
her real identity, is enamored of her. The
continual warfare between father and
daughter and the efforts of each to get
the whip hand over the other reach a
climax when Gregoire who has been sur
rounded by women of the demi-monde.
plans to run of with one of Them Cissy
Yvonne. Then the daughter uses her
knowledge and possession of the forged
check
Throughout however. Gregoire has had
ever before him the moral development of
his son. Eros. Lorraine has discovered
In the little chap tendency toward
theft. which she encourages. The break
ing down of the fathers faith in the
honesty of his son and his arrest for
forgery. with his own daughter prose-
cutting. and night spent in the prison
cell. pull the scales from his eyes. He
refuses to accompany Cissy on their pro-
posed trip. In a scene that is really I'M
usual. He realizes that there is but one
thing for him-to atone for his past.
This is made the harder by the revela-
ton that his daughter. who has ruined
him so completely. really loves him and
that she has done SO in order to bring
about his moral regeneration. She even
offers to give him the kiss from her
dying mothers lips. But Gregofre, all his
latent strength and courage aroused, re-
fuses to take the easy path out of 1t.
and chooses the hard road by pleading
guilty to the charge of forgery and ex-
plating his crime
The suppressed love story of young Rus
sell and Lorraine. at first the baser sort
on RuSselfs part, runs throughout the
play. 1t never becomes visible romance
however. until the last act, when Lor-
raine. at the direction of her father. sends
for Russell to accept his oft-repeated pro-
posal of marriage.
Grayce Scott. al Lorraine. handles the
trying and varying shades of emotion
necessary to her part with real skill and
manages to alleviate, in several instances.
the almost depressing verboseness of her
lines. Though not advertised as such.
Albert Bruning. as Gregoire. comes near
being the ''star" Of the performance. Per-
haps the brightest bit of the entire play
is handled by Miss Vivian Townsend. as
Edna Stubbs. woman of leisure. who
conscientiously examines every flower in
every bouquet sent her to see if it may
contain proposal Of marriage from some
rich old admirer. Eleanor Morettf, as
Cissy Yvonne. has several of the clever
est lines in the play. and she handles
them well. Why the play is called The
Right to Live is not obvious. except 1t
be that the daughter Lorraine makes use
of these words several times during the
performance. The title Is purely hgura-
tive DIT best