Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-24
RY sIpLE LAMRENoE

L ~ IIh<AlJ llufiuitQ DciSVlio ct Vic
~ Belasco theater last night APP
~ plauded Lieut.. George Dodd's de-
termination to win for his wife young
woman who was not yet old enough to
have a past I'm not spotless my
seTf" he assured her, "and l don't be-
lieve man has right to ask for what
he cannot give. That was the pretty
little platitude that evoked applause.
1t all proved, however, nothing more
startling than an increasing spirit of
charity toward erring females. as they
are depicted upon the stage. In real
life the lieutenant's friends would have
elevated their bejeweled hands in holy
horror and would have refused to
recognize the girl IL she had trod upon
their skirts in bargain counter crush.
1T is so easy to be charitable-across
Truth TO tell. Claiming Pollock has
not succeeded in fashioning n very in
teresting play out of THE Secret
Orchard" His characters to begin
with, are stage puppets of ancient
genealogy. we have met them all,
many times. in similar circumstances.
In fact, this Pollock play is nothing
more than a Kremer melodrama,
adapted for the dress suit stage.
Girl Is Convent Bred
Here we have the wronged girl--a
young woman of notorious family-who
has been, however, convent bred. She
steps outside the convent walls for a
brief vacation and her very first incur
sion into the world entails disaster
Fortunately Mr.. Pollock has spared us
the customary twaddle, explanatory of
the wrong. He has sought to defend
neither the man nor the woman, ana
for that he deserves our thanks.
Next comes the man. He's noble
man, too, Charles Edward Henri Stuart
duke of Cluny-eertainly finely Kre-
meresque nomenclature. There doesn't
seem to have been any excuse for the
duke. He saw a devil in the convent
girls eyes. That's all. The devil
tempted him and he succumbed.
Then we have the dukes wife; ador-
ing her husband, trusting him, unsus-
picious. Through one of those dramatic
condolences that prove so handy In the
absence of plausibility, she attends the
girls mother upon her death bed and
promises to adopt the girl, in complete
ignorance, of course. of the young
Woman'S character.
Further. there is the dukes friend.
who is also friend to the duchess and
who, for the duchess sake. aids her
husband i'm an attempt to keep his
guilty secret--I believe guilty secret"
is the approved phraseology-even after
the girl has arrived to take her place
in the ducal household. It's pretty
mess, isn't it?
Last comes Lieut.. Dodd, who prompt
IL falls in love with the girl, asks her
to become his wife and is told that the
greatest barrier in the world stands
between them. Timidly the young wo-
man refuses to be more explicit. but re-
fers her wooer to her cousin. the duke.
The lieutenant asks. The duke weak
ly tells him he knows of no reason that
would make the match inadvisable, and
the girl then confesses the whole de-
plorable mess, eoncealing only the
mans name.
The Truth Is Revealed
There are however, few sane char
acters in the play, and they proceed to
tumble pell nell upon the truth, until
the duchess is the only one in the story
who is in ignorance. Finally the duke
ccnfesses the girl announces her de-
termination to go to her fathers rel
atives; the lieutenant swears that he
will follow her wherever she goes, and
the curtain comes tardily down upon
the end of the story.
The play has been finely staged with
all that nicely Of detail that ordinarily
marks Belasco productions. For the
most part, too, 1t is well acted.
The only sympathetic role in the play,
that of the well-intentioned friend,
falls to the lot of Howard Scott and
Mr.. Scott plays it excellently. Lewis S.
stone is the lieutenant, and he so far
overcomes the heroics of the part as to
make 1t seem almost life-like. Harry
Glazier plays with distinction as the
duke.
Miss Florence Smythe is the girl. Miss
Smvthe was obviously nervous last
night and she lost the effect of the
third act climax; but despite this there
Is much to be claimed. in her portrayal.
Later in the week she should give
better account of herself.
Miss Katherine Emmett plays the
duchess. the character itself being so
silIv that she could not, in Justice, be
expected to give it life. William Yer
ance has an excellent character bit as
the kindly old canon; and John DAILY
Murphy is good as the doctor The
cthers have practically nothing TO do'
and do it. ,, ,.,,,os
through the week.
The beautiful nreproof HOTEL
a.. Doa.Hapa Is worthy OF a