Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-13
| IRISH PEGGY
MAKES A HIT
PLAY OF POWDER AND PATCHES
WELL LIKED
BIG PRODUCTION OFFERED AT
THE BURBANK
Drama Is Biographical Nature Fake,
but Tells an interesting Story
and is deliberately
Staged
BY sIDLE LAWRENCE

| TTyHERI is Just enough of fact in
Frances Aymar Matthews play of
| Il pretty Peggy which is given a
highly elaborate and effective production
at the Burbank theater this week to make
| the student wonder at its fiction me
J play presents historic characters who
, stroll blandly through the mazes OF DO
graphical falsehood that the dramatlse
may make a heroine of Peg Wofhngton
and a hero of David Garrick Some of
/ the material has been taken from Dr.
Doran, some from Arthur Murphy and
some from J. f. Molloy's silly and hope
! lessly inaccurate Life and Adventures
, of Peg Wellington" There are incidents
IN the play well founded upon fact. For
instance, Peggy's trip through the streets
of Dublin, just prior to her departure for
London. in a cart drawn by her admirers;
and again her breakdown upon the stage
! of Coyent Garden while attempting 10
! play Rosalind in "As You Like II" rhis
| happened on the night of May 3, 1901, ano
the actress never thereafter appeared In
public.
Elsewhere. for the most part, pretty
FegCy" is pretty romance. The character
Of Peggy herself is no more like the reg
i Wellington of fact than it Is like any OIL
/ her contemporaries. Artistic, one OF the
best loved players of the English stage
1 Peg Wellington, in her private relations
1 WAS one OIL the most OlSSOlulC 1900
stage has known; whereas Miss Mat
! theWs makes her q shining example OF
purity. However, all this is apart from
a consideration of Pretty Peggy as
play; and as a play it has much to COM
mend itself TO Burbank audiences.
Production Is Complete
To begin with, the Burbank manage
nent has given the comedy drama an
elaborate staging The first act showing
Madame Violanti's circus booth in Dublin,
| is a decided novelty for local theater-
goers; the last, showing the Covent Gar"
den stage, set with an effective, though
ultra modern, forest of Arden, is doubly
SO. In this scene two of the players oe-
oupy a stage box Still others have seats
| in the parquet, while fifty or more extra
people, in the satin coats and breeches
Of the period come running down the
aisles through the audience, to make a
demonstration against two monenslve
| French dancers. This device was used
| in less sensational form in 1.-THE Royal
Box" Yesterday it was greeted with
| enthusiastic applause scattering at first
| because of the surprise, but growing
| rapidly in volume as the house arrived
| at an appreciation of what was going on.
The story of pretty Peggy" is the love
story of an actress for an actor. The
| leading characters have been named Peg
Warrington and David Garrick, probably
| with no attempt to deceive, but certainly
without authority of fact. The story is
an interesting one, we'll worked out, ano
the play s presented with an augmented
cast a richness of costuming and scenery
rarely seen on the stage Of stock theaters
| II only for the excellence of its produc'
ton 1t ought to run fortnight. and be-
\ leve it will
Peggy the Coincidence
d. lv, he oh OF
moments of the character, where her gay
and sprightly acting is a genuine delight
She lacks impressiveness in the stronger
| scenes, appearing petulant rather than
tense; but her comedy, as 1t always does,
justifies cordial commendatfon
| William Desmond never looked better
| than he does in the picturesque attire of
Garrick and by the same token he never
has better pleased his many Sunday aft
| ernoon admirers. There are many women
/ and q few men in that matinee audience
at the Burbank who go there each week
to worship at the Desmond shrine. Yes
terday their idolatry was complete.
The cast, as 1 have said, is of unusual
| length. Harry Mestayer plays the role
Of Peggy's rejected sutton with his Gus
| tomary excellence of repression and fine
suggestion. Beasley is wasted In part
which gives him nothing to do. Miss
| Elsie Esmond Is daintily effective as
Peggy's sister and Mango buffet con-
tributes a well conceived characterization
of Eva Sorel, one of Garricks many
loves. Maude Gilbert, too, is excellent
as George Anne Bellamy. Moreover her
beauty never was better set off than by
| that second act costume.
| AS a rule the staging evidences careful
attention to period. There is, however,
one curious anach-onism. The British en-
sign. displayed in the greenroom scene,
did not come into use until the beginning
of the nineteenth century, some years
after Peg Woff1ngton's death.