The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-10-24
THE THEATER IN NEW YORK
FRANKLIN FYLES ENTERTAINMENT CHATS OF THE
LATEST PLAYS ON AND ABOUT BROADWAY

are different, quite. The titles indicate
the dissmilarity. The Harvest Moon
is psychological 'placidly. 1.-TWO Women
and That Man" is physical turbulently.
Thomas earlier plays were OF and for
men-robust. vital, and masculine II
came to be said that he didn't delineate
femininity because he couldn't Wen, no
moon ever shone with more softly lunar
effulgence on a stage heroine than this
harvest orb OF night does on Adelaide
Nowak. That Is the actress name. and
! like to use IT instead OF the heroine's
because Adelaide is a real girly girl. not
beautiful, but with hands and feet, ell
bows and knees. and charming for lack
OF the easy grace which she viii gain
with practice. Her own crudity serves
for what would require much skill I'm
sophisticated artist; for the play says
she is but eighteen. and still wonder-eyed
at the world. Adelaide may work her
way TO fame
Thomas can't write a sweetly sentl-
mental scene, eh2 Look at this. AIDE
laide is going 10 act part in her sweet
hearts play. lie has directed the prep
arations At a dress rehearsal he has
reproved her sharply, she has resented
II and a lovers quarrel 70 under way,
friendly dramatist tells them.
first or. that plays should be made
10 be seen as much as heard; that
some passages ought 10 have a yell
low outfit; others red or blue. and he
shows the different effects Of various
hues. This primary lesson in stagecraft
interests the audience.
Next the instructor teaches them that
the scene in immediate question should
have exactly the blend Of blue and vel
low 70 initiate the light shed by the
harvest moon. He regrets that he can't
fake the needed moonlight. All but
genuine harvest moon Is shining outside
The curtains are pulled aside and the
moons effulgence floods the window.
What else can happen than that the real
lovers quarrel melts away in rehearsal
of the mimic wrong and the mock
lovers naively betroth themselves anew
and actually.
Negative Suggestion the Theme.
Negative suggestion. That Is the par
ticular kind OF telepathy with which
Thomas makes The Harvest Moon
psychological Adelaide's mother gave
birth 70 her while astray with para
mour in Paris, and died there. after send
ing her TO the home in New York. where
she grew up ignorant that her mothers
husband was not her progentor A vix-
enish aunt. though. took vicious pains
10 inform her that her mother lid been
hayward. The child's slightest fault or
the maiden's-each triilng lapse into
observation-disclosures attributed 20 innate
depravity Inherited from the mother.
The aunt predicted nothing but disgrace
for the niece That is 10 say. the woman
n
girl. and so Adelaide ran away from
boarding school and for a fortnight was
a member OF dramatic stock company.
II was an escapade without deviltry.
That happened before the time OF the
play. When we first see her. she Is bent
on becoming an actress as way to get
away from her aunt-bossed home The
moonlit scene, already described. is Incl
dental 10 her debut in a New York thea
ter. Her supposed father. a professor
az Harvard, opposes her going on the
stage. Her aunt ascribes IT, OF course
20 birth-taint OF cussedness. A mega
tive suggestion, you see. that she will
yield herself to dishonor as her mother
did and some actresses do. The idea that
she Is foredoomed to infamy possesses
her. She misconstrues her small pecca-
dilloes to be big misdeeds; and when she
finds herself fascinated by the theatrical
company's leading man, she accuses her
self OF being recreant 20 her fiance, OF
readiness to give herself TO her stage
wooer. and Of being vertically wanton IN
disposition Negative suggestion has
made her all but ready to become the
worst that her aunt predicted She Is
saved from that ruination by the friendly
dramatst. who is n Frenchman and turns
out to be her real father
A.
protective guardian OF an unsuspecting
daughter Is sure 20 be winsome. especial
~ II he speaks English with a foreign
accent. Thomas has written this one
attractlvely. and George Nash. hitherto
known for useful versatility. acts him
with so much OF sympathetic force as
10 dominate the play. George and Ade-
laide are doing right well IN this very
singular play The Harvest Moon" IS
far and away from being Augustus
Thomas strongest play: but 1 think II IS
the most intellectual.
1.-TWO Women and that Man,
The first out-and-out melodrama came
so far into New York that it did not stop
at any OF the theaters where such PLAYS
are accepted. but pushed on to Broad
way. Such boldness lays Two Women
and That Man" open to easy ridicule.
There Is little doubt. however. that II
Henry D. Carey. author and leading act
or. presents his play before the proper
audiences, he will be regarded with ample
success. The pictures in the lobby proyn-
lsed a thrilling assortment Of terrors OF
the frozen north. and such Broadway
regulars" as were on hand for the
premiere placed bets as 10 whether THAT
Man was Cook or Peary. But he turned
out 10 be a good old friend of melodrama
the Sainted Hero. First off, he married
an Alaskan dance-hall girl, but she left
him. He believed her dead-no one in
the audience did but several characters
said they saw the body. SO he was free
to WOO the traders daughter That
worthy was rich in hirsute adornment. So
was daughter-though 1t must be admit
ted that she lacked the Senator Clark
whiskers which flowed mxuriantly from
her parents chin. When he strained
her to his manly bosom TO warn her
against the Vaccinations OF our hero and
10 deliver a bountiful flow Of general
thoughts on virtue" the hairy foliage
Of both was nearly their undoing. But
tons and hair are risky. Father and
daughter became, indeed, so attached to
each other that the touching scene had
to be carried on beyond its lines while
the actors fumbled to untangle hair from
buttons.
Perhaps this shook fathers confidence
in daughter, but, anyway, when she ap-
peared later with her bushy hair IN DIS
order he suspected the worst And he
said what he thought right out loud
With many a horrid word. he drove her
from his door. She passed the night I'm
her lovers cabin, though he respected
her Innocence so nobly as not to be
caught by a single hair. In the morning
he made pancakes for her. Dripping the