Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-09
Valerie Bergere In PlayIet, German
Gymnasts, Comedy Team and Six
Tuscany Troubadours Come
to Orpheum
BY W. HERBERT BLAKE

The Woman Next Door. Miss Ruth DAVIS
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE
Pleasant entertainment, in which
the suspense is ingeniously maintained
I'D TO the last sixty seconds of action
is "The Little Grey Lady, the week
Belasco offering. 1t is brightly writ
fen play. abounding in clever eplgrams.
Like all epigrammatic plays, TOO II
suffers from the counterbalanclng de-
feet of occasional talkiness. But us
slowest moments are interesting, par
ticularly for their wealth of intimate
and detailed characterization. AT thls
sort of thing-especially fetnlhlne
Notwithstanding Pollock is an ADEPT
The beguiling realism of his character
ization again and again blinds us TO
the oyer-theatricism of his situations,
After all it is a fair field, and good
playwright may justly test his STRAIT
egy on his audience as well as ms
characters.
In the redemption department OF the
United States treasury somebody mas
carefully taken in, bit by bit, the
pieces from enough $1,000 bills to make
a new one--a possible, if seemingly
herculean feat. The quest of the thief
constitutes the plot of "The Little Grey
Lady" He turns out to be the old
sweetheart of the young woman whose
SOD1iQQeI gives Ine pay It's AeliiN' CiiN
is his fellow worker in the redemption
bureau and she has a rival for his
love-a frivolous young woman, who
gives him up on his confession OF
wrongdoing, and from mingled motives
of love and Jealousy hides the proof
of his guilt in the desk of the woman
he really loves, her rival.
The pieces of paper are discovered
a moment after the Little Grey Lady
has arranged for the guilty mans es-
cape to South America. To cover his
flight she assumes the guilt, accepting
the surprising discovery in her desk
as a providential aid TO her attempt. !
The secret service man on the case is
also in love with her-by one of those
lucky dramatic chances-and he is be-
set between duty and affection. In the
last act it is all solved to his salts
faction--and, one is sure, to Uncle
Sans, if he only knew it. The fugi-
tive returns to face punishment, re-
coiling somewhat belatedly at the idea
of permitting his sweetheart to suffer
suspicion for his sake. The federal
agent is about to arrest him, when
neighbor comes out of the house with
the pieced bill. which has just been
given to him by the ticket agent OF !
whom the guilty man had purchased
passage from the city. This coup de
grace is less fortuitous than it seems, !
thus compactly narrated, for The Lit
tie Grey Lady had previously played |
the detective and had brought the
search for the discriminating greenback
logically up to this point.
The secret service man tears up the
BILL and we are bound to be glad, |
whatever the abstract ethical merits
of the proceeding The guilty man has
decided to reform and to marry The /
Little Grey Lady. We go home happy. |
Capable acting contributed not a lit
tie to obscure the frequently strained
motivation Of this plot, and to Miss
Magrane must the Hons share of the
laurels 60 The part of the heroine
is Just the dainty, fragile, true hearted
sort of role which she adorns with a
rare grace and persuasiVeness, and in
the moments of emotional stress she
played surely and impressively. Mr..
Camp embodied the thief, weak rather
than downright bad and the only fault F,
TO be found with his smooth and pol
ished method is that he made the char |
acter a wee bit too much of hero. To !
be sure the playwright has set out }
do pretty nearly the same thing, |
despite his forewarning that this is
''a play without hero" 1t Is diff |
cult, and perhaps impossible, to take
him at his word.
Mr.. Stone lent dignity and the proper
degree of brusqueness to the secret
service type and Mr. Vivian and Mr.. |
Giblyn played we'll Master Peter
Clancy sat on a fence and made merry |
In divers ways to our edifcation.
Miss harrington gave an excellent |
Interpretation of the tickle and flip |
pant rival to the Little Grey Lady, and
Miss Taylor and Miss Lewis made |
much of lines rich in comedy possi- /.
bilities.
The production was completely |
staged. There We're a few slips In
lines, but these, in the main, were
gracefully covered by the perpetra-
tors.