The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-08

1 Tom Kemp-Joseph Coyne. MT. Baxter-Forrest Robertson. | Miss Roberts-Beatrice Forbers- Robert | son.
 Mrs. Baxter-Alexandra Carlyse.
 The cast of "The Likes O Me" follows:
 Matilda Emms-Maud S. Love. | Billy-Doris Keane
 1 Viscount Worth-Master George Clarke. Joad-W H. Gilmore
 The Earle of Whitecliffe-Dudley Diggs. l As wifi be seen "The Mollusc" has only -four parts, but each of them is sufficient | ly strong and admirably played as to make each a distinct success. | Mrs. Baxter is a human mollusc, ap- 1 parently refecting in her own nature some of the qualities found in the an-
 mai. At least, her brother calls her a | human mollusc after exposing the many weaknesses in her character, or, rather, the family failings. It is a story of the idle rich. of an exquisitey beautiful and | pampered woman and a husband who | bores her. Mrs. Baxter is a paradox in that she has strongly developed love for I domesticity. but is extremely indifferent 1 to her husband. They have two children. | and the family live at their country resi- | dence, near London, a pretty enough set l ting for an English play
 1 / The conventional English governess is l provided in the role of Miss Roberts. To 1; her falls the care not only of the Bax- /, ter children but of MT. Baxter. In these
 arrangements Mrs. Baxter not only ac- 1 quiesces cheerfully but is responsible for Il I, atrae
 the games of chess which throw her hus-
 band and the governess together.
 Mrs. Baxters brother observes the sit
 uation, and calls her attention to the dis
 organized condition into which she has permitted her household to fall. MT. Bax-
 ter is also reminded of his duty to Mrs. Baxter, and 1t requires much conversa-
 tion and illuminative dissertations on the
 weaknesses of human nature generally to awaken Mrs. Baxter to a proper attitude
 towards her husband, to straighten out
 the husband and also to complete the love | story of the governess and Mrs. Baxter s
 brother
 Plays with governesses playing a con- spicuous part are generally stupid. As
 a rule, American women do not favor
 governesses as a part of the household | machinery as much do the English or
 French women, both countries having
 made a tradition of the governess in the
 family.
 | And few American women would sit | idly by while their husbands fell in love | with the nursery governess. But in plays it is different. Mrs. Baxter does sit idly
 by and appears to get more out of life
 than most women, whi1e her husband and
 the governess are always together. In
 justice to the governess it should be said that she is above reproach, and only ac- 1 companies MT. Baxter because Mrs. Bax-
 ter requests it of her. With Mrs. Baxter l it is anything-any one-upon whom she
 can shift some of her responsibilities, even
 her husband.
 Miss Carlysle, who plays the role, is
 one of the most beautiful women I have
 seen on the New York stage. If every
 human mollusc looks like her, some of
 the most undesirable qualities could easi-
 ly be forgiven.
 MT. Daly's Regeneration.
 MT Arnold Daily has abandoned Bern ard Shaw. As owen Conway in "The Regeneration" he has just opened his
 member him in Candida" will hardly recognize him in the new and unlova-
 ble role.
 Plays with such names as the Re- 1 generation carry with them an atmos-
 phere of gloom One has to look far for any brightness, to grope in the
 dark for ray of light in these
 dramas which seek to show the human
 uplift.
 Ihad taken the Regeneration serious
 ly until Mr. William Winter openly
 stated that the play does not portray
 the East Side of today. and is therefore
 unreal But due to MT. Daly's honest
 portrayal of a thief I sat through the
 gloom for three hours believing that he
 was depicting life such as the aliens to the East Side imagine exists.
 If MT. Winter is mistaken and such conditions exist the Regeneration 1 should stand out as a powerful play. | In New York; where the very forces of reformation are at work along the lines | suggested in the play, it will hardly | fail to arouse an appreciation among | those who are studying the submerged 1 tenth.
 | Students of social conditions in the | metropolis are now developing their | Utopian tn eme of universal education. i Those who have followed the workings l of the Peoples institute know what | 1t has sought to accomplish in the very heart of the East Side, in what Is 1 aptly called the cradle of social un- 1 rest.
 | It Is not the first season that the | authors of plays have turned to this ! center of ignorance and degradation i for material. And New York audiences | who remain in ignorance of the real conditions of the East Side wait to see 1 it depicted on the stage, accepting and l accepting indifferently the stage yer | sion of vice and misery. It seems i curious situation, this digging up from | the heart of the East Side the very 1 dregs from it's cellars, an airing of it's l secret crimes, an exhibition of It's {; skeletons a collection of its connois- seurs of wickedness, its dillitante in l settlement work, to exploit on Broad i way and the indifferent go to see 1t, not to appreciate it's shadows but to see if MT. Arnold Daily measures up to l his artistic standards, to see if he plays l the part of thief satisfactorily. | The author of the Regeneration has