Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-15

| ingenuity. We learn that Brookfield
himself had often thought that Hard
muth's victim deserved killing, that
he had even mentally foreseen and IN
the silence of his own thoughts planned
that killing During that time he had
met Hardmuth daily. The thought
was transferred, he believes, and so
feels himself bound to aid the other s
escape from the law. The legal logic
of all this is extremely slipshod, OF
course, and Justice Prentice's calm ac-
ceptance of it is sheerly absurd. But
! Gus Thomas does not let you think
of that until you are well out of the
playhouse. That is why he is the star
| of his play
Brookfield marries Helen, the woman
who refused him unless he quit the
worship of the goddess Chance. And
one fancies their future life will be
very interesting Will he rule the
household with his mental influence,
or will he share its potency with his
wife2 Ask Thomas.
| So ends the most successful play of
the last two years on the American
stage. Has Thomas been merely trick
ing us, as did our old friend Keller?
Or is there a large, wholesome kernel
of truth within the crisp shell OF his
dramatic ingenuity? I think there is
And 1t is simply the F6dllly ol BOOuilSSS
which has conquered all the villains
by Transforming them. Did 1 not tell
you this Thomas was a wizard?
The proof of the excellence of the act
ors Is the clarity of the very involved
plot, as 1t remains imprinted on the
memory as a result of their we'll
balanced endeavOrs Mr.. Mason shows
us a peculiar method He is one of our
natural actors. In the first two acts
last night he was so natural that he
bored me- I wondered when he would
wake up. Well, he did wake up. He
woke UP 1ust when Jack Brookfield
woke up-in the flash Of action and the
call of heroism. He awoke to himself
in the last act, and we wanted to see
more of him at the fall of the final
curtain. At the first two curtains we
did not care whether we ever saw him
again. He was Jack Brookfeld, the
gambler, then-not a romantic gambler
like Cameo Kirby" but a real gam
bier who was vaguely sorry for 1t. At
the last he was something like an
anchangel - strong and majestic, and
humble. too. He had simply found him
self out.
Russ Whytal I shall not discuss at
length. 1t would be an impertinence
Have I not already introduced you to
Justice Prentice? And Russ Whytal is
the Justice and no one else.
Miss Gardner filed her part rather
more than adequately and pleased her
legion of friends. Miss Ives and Mr..
Preston were a charming ingenue and
juvenile, two Of the best / have seen
on a Los Angeles stage The others
were satisfactory in the main-even
Mr. Sadler's reporter, who gave up
that assignment quicker than any re Il
newspaper man would have dared to
do and return to the office afterward.
Mr.. See, I believe, was unrepentant to
the last as the irredeemable gambler,
but we had hopes Of him. We hope to
meet him some day in Central park and
hasten his reclamation over a con-
fiding cigar.
Flaws? Yes, several. But I have
allowed myself scant space to enumer-
ate them. The killing in the first act
went clumsily, and there was a certain
chill, it seemed to me, between the
principal actors in the early scenes.
1t did not amount to a frost but we
shivered. Jack Brookfield might have
been a bit chummier with his friends
in that first act. We expected it,
having seen a prior, and in most re-
spects inferior, production And we
felt it's absence. There were times,
too, when all the players-save Mr..
Whytal and Mr.. Sadler-seemed a
trife stereotyped in their reading of
liltll lAtANa lllN BtlAetiNsi ~ hOuuAs VI
long playing in the same vehicle
But in the main there is little food
for honest disdain in the present pro-
duction Like the staging and the
scenery, it has the nicely of approx
innate perfection, even to the raven on
the "pallid bust of Pallas, just above
the chamber door"
On second thought. I believe the
shade of Poe would have joyed to have
| had hand in the making of the
| drama. It is rather in his line, save
for the militant evangelism of its con-
clusion. And I daresay Justice Prem
tice win tell you that the shade did
For Justice Prentice Is gently credu-
lous, as you and ] must be if we are
to taste the tantalizing torments of
THE Witching Hour"
John Cort has wired oliver Morosco
that he cannot cancel the engagement
of THE Girl from Rector's" at the Ma
jestic week after next. Mr.. Morosco
reluctantly accedes to his decision and
announces to the public that he will