Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-04
ESMOND DRAMA
RENEWS YOUTH
IT'S PLEASANT BEING Fl AT
THE BURBANK
PRODUCTION SHOWS THE STOCK
SYSTEM TO ADVANTAGE
Florence Reed May Star in "The
City"-Musical Show opens
at MaJestic-Te edford
Play Is Accepted

4GANntG lutOAAAAs tAAo ASNStVA 80
Observation-Disclosures. IL. 5. Duffeld
Richard Terence Miles Audaine, tine
Imp ................ Harry Mestayer
David Hirsch ...s-....''' bIhlALl AeldhVe
Lord Dunget ,.....s..... Efeuetlck oliDef'
Morney Alsops .........'.... WINS Marhs
Hughie BemOnt .......... Nayland Irask
Hon. Gerald Carruthers, Lord Dungelts
cousin -. ;.'..''''''.'' % NoiIilAn mar ,,, neap
Wallis Brundal ............-' Leo fletsOh
Jacob ................ Albert Cunning nam
Barkeeper ...............' Julus haFtI tIh'in
SsDmah .''''.''''''''''''' Siauue li ,,,os aho"e
Mrs. Ericsson ................ Louise Royce
Phyllis. her daughter ...... Lillian Burkhart
Kara Glynesk, known as THE tireiiy'
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. MArgO Duffet
Mrs. Grant Gordon .... Lowell Alice Taylor
Eileen O'Briane .......... Maud hanaiOfd
Clarice Newton ......... Claire Woodbury.
Lady Elertine .....s.... Agnes fItzslhmohs
Winnie Thornton ......,..... Margaret Ly' e
Mald ..s.......'s ss...s.. Allce L IStlAtpaih
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE
We were all Twenty-one yesterday
afternoon at the Burbank. We lived,
and loved, and thought the world all
sentimental glory, like the Imp, and
then we found it dust and ashes to
the touch, and vowed it all a game of
barter and sale, as did the Imp. And
we were wrong both times, with the
Imp. For the tenor of Henry Y. Es-
mond's comedy is the variety and the
delicious uncertainty of life the ut
ter impoSsibility of reducing it to the
terms of any mere human theOrem or
motor factor. The fun of living, for
modest Dick Carewe most of all, we
learn to be simply its surprises-such
surprises as the sudden creases of
mirth in Waddles' cheeks, or the be-
lated discovery by Carewe that he
wasn't too old to be in love.
Mr. Esmond's treatment is truly and
consistently that of comedy. The gar
ments of tragedy touch US at poignant
moments, as at the impressive en-
frances of Mrs. Gordon in the third
act, a speCter that was once woman,
and also in the frivolously penitent
message from the Firehy to Carewe-
the sudden vision of a soul where all
had seemed the blackness of utter
night. But in general, the method is
faithfully that of comedy, and in this
the play should be a revelation to
young and aspiring playwrights The
comic situations are not dragged in by
the ears. to balance the serious scenes.
Instead, the humor itself is of the
stuff of the play 1t furthers, not re-
tards, the action. 1t is a part and par
eel of the deep solemnity Of the
dramas underlying motive as of life.
the laugh and the sob so identified that
one cannot say which vanquishes: one
merely feels oneself capitulate.
The same antithetical quality per-
sists in the moral aspects of the play.
1t is daring a 8 a certain cheap sort of
farce does not know how to be, be-
cause a certain cheap sort Of farce has
no moral sense to shock. The basal
action and struggle in the EsmOnd play
are like the battle of st. George with
the dragon. That was a dreadfully
shocking thing-the dragon, I mean
and so was the third act of yesterdays
stock offering, eliminated on the Good
win-Elliott tour. It was discreetly
played. to be sure. but it shocked us
because we saw it shock Dick Carewe.
We We're living and walking about
with Carewe. We nearly forgot there
was such a nan as Byron Raqsley in
the world. We We're wrestling and
chahng in soul with the Imp, who
was anybody but Harry Mestayer.
And we felt their emotions. which
were not those Of ribald delight in the
scene of sybaritic pleasure. We felt
the elemental struggle of all ages be-
tween battling forces. It was the pur-
ity of the theme dominating and OBJ
scuring the foulness Of the environment.
Almost the some effect was produced
in 1.-THE Merry Widow: identically the
same, though treated with a difference,
in Salvation Nell"
1--WE all do things that we can't un-
derstand" said Dick Carewe, as he
faced a crisis in his guardianship of
young scapegrace for the sake of
dead friend. D'Artagnan, figure Of
mist and dreams as he was. might
have said the same. with the Three
Musketeers doubtfully assenting, even
as Waddles. the doctor and the "sOl-
dier man" dutifully but obviously fol-
lowed Carewe's lead in training and
restraining the Imp There is no lit
lie spiritual resemblance between the
Dumas trio and the trinity Of the Es-
mond play even to the addition of an
other to the triumvirate. Tt is the mys-
tic digit of friendship, and Kipling's
"Soldiers Three instantly arise to add
weight To the evidence.
Yet "When We We're Twentv-one" is
not a romantic comedy. Tt is real
comedy. The whole struggle is one to
cure the Imp Of his extreme sentiment
tality It cures him at frightful cost
The imp fails to find the Firefy hu-
man. and he leaps desperately to the
conclusion that no woman is human,
that all are for sale as she was for
sale The Imp is an extremist. and he
enters the army. Tt is the place for
extremists. He needs the leveling in
fuence Of a rigid discipline, and he
gets it.
Carewe finds the human note in the
Firefy. and Phyllis after much effort
finds a lover and a husband in Car
eve. The end is sane and satisfying
an end at which true comedy ever ar
rives.
The acting yesterday was the ablest
7 have ever seen the able Burbank
company jointly afford 1T was a con-
summate and a communistic product,
such as no production built around
star could possibly present. Every
character-even to Mr.. Yerance's viii
lainous but veracious Jew-was quite
genuine. One could well believe that
the play is favorite with Burbank
audience and with Burbank actors
Tt was acted as a thing is acted with
which one is en- rapport Such things
as Mr.. Beasley's Carewe, Mr.. Nestav-
er's Imp and Miss Burkhart's Phyllis
are too fine to spill inert adjectives
over: they must be seen. The deli
cate irony of Phyllis banter of both
the Imp and Carewe in the second act;
the brilliant individuality Of Messrs.
Hartford, Dufield and Burton as the
immortal Three; the memory Of Miss
Taylor's brief but Impressive appari-
lions: these are among the things
which the playwright had to say to
rs. The Burbank company became his
living mouthpiece, which is the noble
art Of acting.
There are certain minor but essen
.ial points in which the production