New-York tribune., 1909-12-30
THE DRAM A
The Com manding Officer" at
the SaUog Theatre.

The mischief that can be done by virtu-
Gus persons is sometimes parallelIed, both
in life and in melodranaa by the deeds OF
the vicious. The Savoy melodrama illus
trates this ancient but unpopular truth.
The Savoy melodTama. like the rose would
remain UNCHANGED were it's name altered.
Its name is The Commanding officer" but
the play is less about that sturdy soldier
and gentleman than about his wife and
sunory other persons Colonel Archer eX-
lists to point morals and adorn tales of woe
lie is one OF the tyrannically virtuous folk
who wreck hearths. hearts and homes with
as little remoTse as ever was known by
vicious tyrants Of history and this morn
ing's news.
The overpowering colonel has tiff with
his wife lie goes away for a month
during which relaxing period the lady
who is much his junior. fiiFts with a for
mer suitor. who is by no means the villain
OF the piece The villain is an amateur
photographer. He is also a lieutenant in
Colonel Archer's regiment. The lieuten-
ant snapshots the lady and the lover in
q most engaging moment. The lover,
Brent Lindsay, cannot. of course. be en-
firely a sanity person. because he owns
= mine. but he viii pass in a crowd of
the merely respectable. The lieutenant
attempts 10 blackmail Mr. Lindsay. who
makes an offer of $4,000 for the film OF
the snapshot The film is TO be delivered
al Mr.. Lindsay's apartments at o'clock
In the morning. And, as usual in melo-
drama, the colonel's wife undertakes TO
go there for il at the same hour. Then,
Of course. the complications which ever
accompany such cases set in with vigor
and the colonel returns TO his post and
home just in time TO find his rude and
fr-
murder, scandal and intricate rnisunder-
standing. There is the usual meIodra-
matte blindness OF all The good persons
These latter are unable TO see through
the hole in a milestone when the sun
shines steadily upon that chiselled space
The hero, another lieutenant. is arrested
for the murder of Lindsay: the reputation
Of the irgenue is taken in vain and the
wife Is suspected Tar beyond her undeserv-
ing. It all comes out right in the end
and everybody lives happily it may be
supposed, ever -afTer. not excepting
the murderer. that amateur-photograph
ing biackmailing and lying lieutenant first
mentioned For by a curious code of
ethics and novel perversion of military
law. the officers OF the regiment let this
cheerful knave resign and go scot free
after they have discovered his villanies
They even bribe the sheriff
Mr.. Theodore Burt Sayre who is respon-
sible for the authorship of this vivid
presentation Of the verities of civil life
and military probability, is probably quite
unabasfed, since his audiepces appear
10 find entertainment and solace in his
handiwork If his notions of justice are
less severe than those of the. melodrama-
lists Of a happier and less sophisticated
period. VINO shall chide him? It is quite
the thing nowadays to set UP new schools
Of this and that, and II may be that Mr.
Sayre is working his way toward
school OF drama which shall let the
CALLED jades go free and the innocent bear
the burdens. His villain. Il not triumph
ant. does not make villany unattractive,
and his yirtuous folk, If severely tried, are
IS trying as they can be and still retain
the sympathy OF this great and good
world This melodrama does not quicken
the pulses. II leaves the beholder as
cool as the Nevada mountain tops, near
which the action is supposed 10 shape
itself. The acting is entirely worthy Of
the plsywright's four acts. a w