The Washington times., 1909-01-12
NEW HURLBUT PLAY
DISTINCT SUCCESS
Miss Nethersole'S New We
hicle Thrills FirSt-Night
Audience.
MODERN LESSON IN
BROTHERLYLOVE
Star Has Advanced in Method.
Company Good-Play
Best of al.

A thrilling and wholesome play. red
client Of that care of man for his
brother which the Nazafine taught. was
produced at the Columbia Theater last
night Its title is THE Writing on the
WALL" IT is the work of William J.
HurIbut, whose Fighting Hope" was
likewise successfully launched in Wash
tngton this season; ana it serves as the
means Of a distinct departure for Miss
Olga NethersOIe, who hereby puts aside
the roles OF the Krisette and the demireD
furnished her in chosen foreign classics
for that OF a chaste American mother in
a play by one of our own CountryTnen.
The ultimate success 1f the undertake
ing is hardly a matter Of doubt.
OF BIr. Hurlbut il is characteristic TO
look into the life he himself knows, the
life OF today, OF America. Of New York,
10 see its problems, and 10 project that
hfe-whether without its philosophy as
in ''The Fighting Hope or with it. as
IN '"The Writing on the WaIF'-for the
berCer seeing OF mis- patrons. In this
second composition he has gripped the
questions which Mr.. Cleveland MOffett
presents IN THE Battle"
How far are the rich caught IN the
clamp Of physical and spiritual ill
health Of the poor? Is there not be-
hind the Once-remOved interest Of phil
anthropy a closer concern in the effect
of poverty on the well-to-do? Am my
brothers keeper Am not so for my
own sake2
And these queries are posed on TIE
premises OF Fifth avenue and Houston
street not DR.. JOhusOu's Abysinia or
Jerusalem In the time OF HerOd. The
When thou makest a dinner or a sup
per- call not thy friends nor thy breth-
ren. neither tiny kInsmen, nor thy rich
neighbors: lest they also bid thee again
and a reCOmpeuse be made thee.
But when thou makesL a feast. call
the poor, the manned, the lame, the
And thou shalt be blessed; for they
cannot recOmpense thee for thou shalt
be rec0mpeused at the resurrection OF
the just
Themes Practical Value.
No man in his senses. surely no man
who has ever walked our Washington
alleys or given a moment of his time
for pure air and sunlight for the poor
can doubt the practical value OF such
q theme. Not I; not you; but they.
the author states it.. And he drives It
home in the spirit OF Jchn the Baptist
or Jesus among the money changers Of
the temple by bringing Trinity Church.
New York TO the bar as a vicious land
4ord, prOnuug on the sQualOr and sin or
the lOWIy. and by making all his charac-
ters but one depend upon the revenues
OF dank shacks and two OF them lose
their own child with scores Of thread
bare and starving child tenants
But the playWrignLs treatment or ms
theme is quite as noteworthy as MS
social philosophy. he has produced
play which is almost PROOF against
wooden auditors or unre5p0nslFe act
a.
rather 20 its situations than 10 extremes
OF acting The measure OF his aptitude
for such construction viii be plain from
this. That the most Soul-AJLF-AB LS-
NOR of the whole play iE due TO husky
calls of an Extra In the street pc
yond the stage, while the young mother
OF the play bends forward u a daEeh-
port. s1bbIHg over quite anoLner Ils-LleE
and ignorant OF the dread porteAt OF Ine
BY one gauge this and other moments
Of the play where the heart thrObs and
the eyes glLEJcu are frankly nelo-
dramatic So. ALSO is that wonderful
situation iu Mr. Irving Shylock, when
without shadow of warrant from Snakes /
reare-fhe old Jew is made TO return
10 his house cOntemptuOus or the CaFnl-
val and stand rdpplnE lmperlOualy Lor
his absent daughter as the curtain
falls. The Justification "a poTH cases
Is that something of the spirit hits
the situation Tar above the danger OF /
a cotton gin or the certain death or |
circular saw.
+5-+1I ~ +e-T.- even Though it arise
,-tf .F 5--r1rsrFy Tor a lffrIF child and
80 .--.5,-- -5i59 ,,.,,-,av,gs+a t}.s fv-riraI I
i ts.- 80 -' 80 80 +r-e -r7-fT III
t--5-.r+---, Nm All frg 1oy-evi-7rz er,~- /
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lgs e-l = +, t-I,i 20
=. 4, - - 80 IN ~ -v--7l+s
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49, l O. - EE------ --l4 -
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$500 "a 49, F-F----5 ~ - ----- /
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T5-7r +nar- fE mn gTarrgr71r- univ gr0If6 4
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Where Changes Are Needed.
No. -r.-r---- +r-- .4ss.44---+r-- -.~-
mo- ~ 30 ---f $1,000 .-' --7 4
gested themselves last night
That the mother. whom the poet /
CoIerfdEz called .rHa F1TIest thing
-7s-...st .r.-7r ..
a--' -'- '-- ---0075' AO"i-S'
LhaL q DUST or an -LH-lAu boy by Doua-
Iello be not used as the likeness Of q
z,oure- American thai fharz Fe conc
more rF0urhr of the IffrIe SONS C-57T,.Er
mas with So much oil the tenement
Christmas that the child take rarf ia
the plans Tor his less fortunate mates
that die little fellow he Iefr alive now
ever badly injured in the Hre as "a link
10 hold uareuIe together ana hind fFafr