Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-12-12
THE HONOR OF THE FAMILY"

In every minute of the four acts of
 the above play last evening there was
 action, brilliant in the extreme, and
 the drama was so filled with splendid
 situations and startling climaXes that
 the audience, which filled the theater,
 was more enthuSed than ever before, ! perhaps, over this beautiful and in tereSting production. It is a play
 that was adapted by Paul M. Potter
 from the French and is a wonderful- ly conceived and peculiarly, but | strongly built of the best there is in dramatic composition. It had dash | of the military about it, which flavor ed the story most agreeably. The plot. while not a deep one, is still interesting and most amusing at times. It tells the story of a senile old uncle, who has been brought un- der the spell of clever adventures,
 who seeks to acquire all the old man S wealth and fly with her lover, a French commandant, but who has not the courage to kill to acquire wealth. So docile has the old man become to the whims of this clever
 woman that all his own relatives are forbidden to enter his home until the
 arrival of the nephew, Colonel Phil
 lippe Bridau. This staggering hap
 pygo-lucky fellow, who has already squandered fortune, with a jolly
 exterior and heart as true and
 brave as steel, refuses to accept the
 ediCt to remain outside his uncle's
 home. He assumes the reinS of gov
 ernment, where once the adventures
 was accustomed to hold control. He
 the lover of the adventures, kills
 him in a sword duel and then drives the adventures and her accomplices
 from the family home. Otis Skinner appeared in the character of Colonel
 Philippe Bridau and such an inter- pretatiOn of part has never been seen on the local stage. Man of the world. that he was. he understood all the tricks and arts of womankind, particularly those of the adventures calibre and the duel, between the two for supremacy in the home, disclosed some of the finest acting that any play ever produced. In one scene, where she believed that she had en- trapped even the colonel as we'll as her uncle by her pretense of love and his pretense of falling into the trap, only to break the spell in the next moment, was a gem of stage realism. It is a character that fits Mir Skinner. better than any he has ever appeared in before. His swaggering walk, his ludicrous gestures and facial ex- pressions all formed a character that the audience went wild over. Miss Percy Haswell played Flora Frazier, the adventures and like Mir Skinner, she had a wonderfully con- structed character, demanding every attribute of versatile acting, of which she was possessed Whether as the passionate lover, the artful and clever woman, spinning the web to catch her victims, or the tragic.and depOsed queen of the home, she had ruled so long. Miss HaSwell was equal to every emergency. Others who added to the success of the production were Francis Carlyle. better known in Hartford at McNabb. who played the part of the Commandant Max Gilet, Sarah Paddon at Le Nedie. A. C. Andrews as Jean Jacques Rouget, and Harry Burkhardt as Joseph Bridau. The drama was beautifully staged and was one of the best in this city in wears