The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-07

who saved his fife at the risk of his own That friend (Hugh Colman, readers will remember) is secretiy married to the daughter of . Jew money-lender. of rabfd anti-gentile principles. After dinner at his father in-law's house he asks permission to marry the girl. actually already his wife. and is refused. The Jewess fs waiting in her bedroom. It will not
 be the first time her husband hai travrsed the house he supposediy has quilted. We hear the front door slam. but know that really Hugh is still indoors has gone up to his vife's room. Thereupon the monsy-iender stiil in the salon where the young man left him. has an a1tercation with | drunken butter, who smarts under an ancient wrong and who finally. In . quarrel. kills him.
 Of course. you can picture the scene fin the daughters boudior. The jew has forbidden the marriage. already several months old: and has sworn that should his daughter disobey him. | he will cut her of from his money essential to her. as the young husband is penniless and without prospects The girl declares she regrets the mar riage, has learned to hate him, and fears her father Finally she elicits from her husband an agreement to disregard the ceremony. to swear to everlasting secrecy. and 10 thus leave her free. This he does. and quits the silent house unaware of the murder. The act ends with the girls return to her room. horrorstrfcken at the discovery of her fathers body lying iifeless in the salon. s
 lI Just here Miss Harris doubtless ex- pected to make one of those unlocked for successes that take on the color Of triumph. Up to then she had not obtruded herself. Her gowns were rich and modish to the last degree. but not unsuitable to the role. or hand somer than Miss Roebusk's. The only trouble with "Patsy's" plan was that she had not learned to act. Of course where just walking, on and speaking words ends. and acting begins. is fine point She walked and spoke easily and intelligently. But she did nothing more to justify the floral parade that rushed down the centre aisle at the end of her great scene" It was big Tenderloin dramatic event. all the same.
 The title of 'The Builder of Bridges" might for better pertinence be chang 6Q " 4uG Gt4yST QA DAiH8C- W hAeht for, It's hero. a civil engineer. might as well as plan any other structures than bridges. so far as his work af- fects the paly. and woman absorbed in the cards now in vogue is more amusing factor in the entertainment. He is personated by the Kyrle Below who taught Cora Urquhart Potter whatever she knows of acting and for many years stood by her varying for- tunes fondly. The woman is embodied | by Mrs. Thomas whiffin who. with her Little Buttercup alongside her hus- | bands's Lord High Admiral. saved ''Pinafore' in its almost killingly bad first performance in America more than a quarter of a century ago. Bel lew and Mrs. Whiffin illustrate the ad- vantage of actors over actresses In the matter of age. In the new piece, he at sixty is the admired lover of a girl young enough to possibly be his granddaughter; for he is an example of white-haired but rosy-faced man hood well preserved: but an audience | would laugh at Mrs. whifin if she were to appear as his sweetheart, al- though they are nigh about the same age.
 Simultaneously New York gets plays from two newly noted English authors Stephen Phillips and Alfred Suto, in their "Herod" and "The Builder of
 Bridges" The gist of the latter play is an old bachelors belief that a young girl has not agreed to marry
 him because she reciprocates his ar
 dent love. but as a reward for his
 keeping her brother out of prison The propositions Nare equally true The brother has taken money from the bridge building company to gam.
 b1e. loses 1t and seems sure to be Eexposed. His loyal sister thereupon
 infatuates the bachelor, so that he will
 provide the money to make good the
 thieyery and save the thief from ruin.
 ation. By the time that her plot has
 worked its purpose though, she if
 sincerely in love with her lover; but
 he won't believe 1t: and the very agree. able play lasts until he is convinced
 of the girls heartfelt desire to marry
 him. Much of the good results Is due te
 the excellent acting. and especially tc that by the. hitherto unlanded mem- bers of the cast The idea that New
 York first-nighters are offish to un-
 heraied new talent Is false altogether
 Instead. they are quick to preceive and reward 1t. Gladys Hanson was
 appiauded for merit even before she
 shifted from dupiicity to sincerity.
 Eugene o'Brien as the inexcusable
 and none too repentant.. thief. had
 what show folk are fond of calling an
 ovation on account of unexpected abiI-
 ity The rounders knew Below and
 Mrs. Whifin so we'll that they spatted
 hands at them very lazlly. but made
 much ado over O'Brien and Miss Han son because they were discoveries.
 Please permit me. dear reader, a paragraph to make clear. If can, a
 point of mixed complaint and com paisance for playwfights. They create characters that are definite--in ima- gination, anyway--but the interpret ation doesn't always. or often. accord
 with their conception. Sutro meant
 the builder of bridges to be mere
 the builder of bridges to be a more
 ing--a sort of modern Ingomar. en- chanted by a, present-day Parthenia,
 but the right actor for an ingomar
 in starched shirt and creased trou- sers was not available; so we instead
 the suave politely dignifed Beliew smoothing and kpolishing the fellow in- to a drawingroom gentleman. The actor does 1t so well. too. that scarce
 ly one observer in thousand will guess the author intended another
 kind of characterization. You know shylock was played under Shakes peare's management by comedians for merriment mainly, and wasn't digni-
 fled by a serious performance until a century later. Nobody knows which
 way was intended by Shakespeare Aa-.