Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-27

I-odsrIcl.'s Maid d Margo Dufet
Thompson, MIR. Parndno Fouldes Ie,,,,. man Marks
walter, at the Hotel spendide
"A "Ni'N'' Nayland Trask
BY w, HERBERT BLAKE
The most impressive trouble with the
Burbank production of Lauy -
arick' Yesterday afternoon was tna'
verv few members of the coILlpaItS p..ts
down at the bottom OF thelr hSeL 80
thought a whole lot of the play NOW,
49, lev NAV or may not be shreWd
In critic. but it is fatal in a pIaSel'
one cannot altogether blame Mr.. beas-
Low for instance, for having a certain
inner ennui over the character OF I a. :.
dine Fouldes. Paradine is something
of a bore, and until the last aGt d
pretty small bore, at that. he Is oa cleo.
er. Oh, dear, yes! Inc Worel I I'll,
commonly are. But he isn't sprightly'
and bashfully dashing, and nsh.-
hearted, all of which Mr.. Beasley lllaoe
him at intervals yesterday. -
am afraid the truth is rather creu-
table to Mr.. Beasley's judgment Oh
men. if not to his entire Versatlllty as
an actor. Mr.. Beasley was natuIaIly
displeased with Paradine. So much So
I believe, that he unconsclousIy eitbe +La
to remold the character nearer 10 llIe
hearts desire" The result was an eA-
traordinary Paradine, whose transIoI-
nation in the last act was ndrutS
necessary, and whose frank slmpliclty
of mood and manner would nave peeH
unrecognizable to his creator. VI the
mans superficial cynicism Yelllng
lifelong tragedy of the heart MT beas-
lev gave us little or nothing. His char-
acter was a blithe observer of the IN
5ignIties heaped on Lady Frederick by
LADY Mereston, but not fellow SUI
ferer for the sake of an old love that
had never healed. If the playwright
had given Paradine a single big mo-
ment in the first two acts Mr: Beasiey
would have leaped into it and hlled II
amply. But Paradine was not a man
of big moments. He was a lazy phi
osopher. and Mr.. Beasley is too much
PLAYER of red blooded action to be
either lazy or philosophical. Hence the
discrepancy. ,..,a
Miss Burkhart gave us a polished
and a lovable impersonaton OF the
hard pressed woman of title. She was
wanting almost wholly in the pungent
irony with which Miss Barrymore fit
tinglv infected the role The real Lady
Frederick did not conquer by sweet
ness. and light, but by sheer, undaunt-
ed wit. Her victory over the vanity
swollen dressmaker was an astute APP
peal TO that vanity. The eplsode yes
terday seemed impossible. The at
tack was too open and obvious. Even
such a blatant cockney as Miss Beat
tvs Madame Claude would have snitred
at it. In her scenes with her pure
souled Young admirer Milady was more
credible. Toward him the character
does reveal some of its elusive beauty
and gentleness. In her interview with
Captain Montgomerie she was much
too tolerant and long-suffering. She
G,~o ut iE
proposal. Instead she was merely
worried.
Mr.. Mestayer gave far and away the
best Interpretation of the afternoon, as
the young lord who is regretfully disil-
lusioned of his dream. He wore ms
clothes naturally, for one thing. ana
he spoke his lines sincerely. Had the
playwright given this character its
rightful place in a drama not written
to bolster up the prestige of a siRgle
star the product would bear the strain
of stock production more gracefully.
Miss Royce dressed In i'll taste for
her part, One cannot imagine Lady
Mereston in such a flaming gown, for
one cannot imagine that stolid and In
grained philistine flaming at all. Miss
Roy wisely pitched her wrath and
her hate in a minor key, The very vice
of the character is it's stupid placldity.
Mr.. Hartford hardly measured up to
the coarse grained captain. The man
is polished and crafty after fash
ion. but he does not pretend to nobtl-
ity, as did the hearty Beresford in
1.-THE Three of U.s." He is frankly try
ing to buy Lady Frederick, and he all
but admits it. 1t is his idea of court
ship, and his consistency Is unques
tionable. There was too much of the
mechanical in Mr.. Hartfords reading
of his lines. Once it resulted in an in
terruption of his fellow player, one Of
the things which happen often enough
in life, but which produce curiously
gauche effect on the stage-especially
in a drawing room.
Mr.. Burton made a likely and an in
teresting fellow out of the admiral, and
several minor roles were capably filled
by Mr.. Trask, Mr.. Gilbert, Miss Tay-
lor and Mr.. Stockbridge. Miss Beatty
still treads the border line of bur
lesque In her English impersonations,
but she did make the dressmaker a
human being-so much so that she had
not little of our sympathy while the
rich debt shirker was making that
ridiculous appeal to her mountainous
egotism.
Lady Frederick" is not good We
hicle for stock. Except for the bare
climaxes to it's second and third acts,
its whole charm lies in it's atmosphere.
] we fldQ 10 llldL yes
terday. for the players rarely if ever,
breathed it. 1t was rather too much to
expect that they should, with the play
sandwiched in between Rachael Croth-
ers' drama of finely chiseled idealism
and "When We Were Twenty One."
That they struggled hard to make the
thing enjoyable, while doubtless con-
scious of its demerits, one must charge
up to their credit as sincere and con-
scientious players attempting the we'll
nigh impossible.
"Adrift in the World" a rapidly
moving melodrama by Owen Davis,
opened at the Grand yesterday after
noon It introduced four new members
of the stock company-Arthur Whiting,
. as a novel Hebrew character, always
| broke but always. merry about it; Roy
Watson, as a duck-suited mollycoddle;
| Jane Keckley and Matte Davis. It's
story is of a young woman rather ir-
| tionally forced to live in the slums
/ in order that the villain may force her
to marry him and endow him with her
| fortune, of which she is in Ignorance,
but of whose cashable value he well