Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-07-13
ny w. HERBERT BLAKE

BY w. HERBERT BLAhE
You who may look at show people as
so many puppets jerked by string &c
grace your leisure and you who can
see but folly and frivOlity in the life OF
an actor or circus rider: revelation
awaits your blindness and your preJu-
dice at the Mason this week. An elo-
quent sermon on human charity, a
sweet, uplifting tale of love and sacrl-
flee rewarded, and the best new drama
of the local theatrical season; all these
is Polly of the Circus, which hau us
premiere last night.
Into the Cozy quiet of Parson Doug
lass study comes the bare of circus
band, piquing the curiosity of his dea-
cons and the DER good women OF ms
congregation who have come to call
A circus tent under the shadow Of the
church! Their Indignation is but hu-
man, The lure of mystery conquers
their scruples and each takes surrep-
titious peep from the study window
so many drab, prim lay figures llmned
as from life at some rural prayer meet
ing Suddenly cries are heard. one or
the girl riders has been injured IN a
fail from her horse. In the alarm Oh
the moment she is borne into the par
sonage, and the parson himself carries
her upstairs before the shocked eyes Of
his parishioners. In her train troop the
erOtesdue creatures of another world
clown and canvasman and proprietor,
only for an instant forgettul OF the
call of the ring. The little girl-PoliS,
the pet of the shows unconscious, but
the profession has it's insistent de-
mands It's mighty hard to leave hef'
sir" stammers Uncle Toby, the CLOWN
but the shows got to go on
So begins Polly's new life. We see
her awakened to a puzzled scrutiny OF
her surroundings in the bedroom above
the pastors study Outside the gray
walls of the church are seen through
the window, and the chine of the pens
summons to morning worship. Her
first solcitude as she learns her sit
uation from the pastor is for her tent
ed friends. With characteristic self
appreciation she signs, with me down
and out, it's all over with the snow:
Little by little she grows child again
retreats into that lost paradise of
childhood unknown TO so many waits
of the tanbark woodland then, eleven
months later, when the circus comes
back for return engagement II mas
her almost a woman, with crescent
love between her and her pastor pro-
tector unacknoWledged, unrecognlzed
by either.
The minister's uncalculating kindness
has raised a tempest of small gossip
among his narrow-minded flock, who
see more clearly than he his unrealize1
love. and impute to it the worst of pos
sible motives. We see them all once
more-the jealous spinster, the depre-
eating deacon, the dOmineering dea-
con, the little children forbidden to
plav with a circus girl. Commanded to
send Polly away or leave his charge,
the pastor holly rejects both alterna-
tives, and his foremost censor, meeting
Polly tells her of the storm of scandal
her innocent presence has stirred. With
girlish heroism she lies to her protec-
tor, tells him she yearns 10 return to
the old life and, with a forced gayety,
goes back to the arena with Jim, the
canvasman, her staunch friend OF
former days.
Behind the scenes Of the circus we
see her neXt-a saddened Polly who
has discovered the secret of her own
heart, who loves her deceived protec-
tor and, seized with stage panic, beSs
off from her perlous act until the hurly
manager threatens her with discharge.
There is a pretty scene while she tells
her troubles to Bingo, the big white
horse on which she has ridden i'm so
MANY triumphs IN that mimic world
from which for her the 2est has fed.
The minister comes to her and amid
the shouts of the performers from the
ring across the tent flap, learns the rea-
son for her flight and declares his love.
When his spying deacons come upon
them he all but fOrgets that he is a
pastor in the overpOWerin6 fact that
he is a man and a lover. Just as a
fight seems certain, POllys rival in the
ring trips past on her way to the arena
In a burst of gTief-and of professional
iealousy-POlly rushes after, and in the
ensuing tableau we see her thTusting
the other aside and mounting to her
old place on the show horse, while the
faithful Jim prevents the minister from
interfering to prevent her.
The curtain falls, and rises and we
see Polly and the paTsOn once more in
front of the little church, gazing across
the open country to where the circus
caravan winds away over the hills to
the old, old life which she has left for
ever.
God do so to me and more also if
aught but death part thee and me, -
repeats the minister and we remember
that they are the words of Ruth to
Naomi. the first verses from the Good
Book which ne taught her on that
morning when she aWoke to find her
self in the new world which Love has
made her own.
This is polly of the Circus" a sweet,
simple idyl of American life which
bears in its every line the imprint of
Margaret Mayos conscientious work
manship. 1t is heart-drama of the
better sort--an old fashioned bit of
stage craft, too, in which there are
some dozen principal characters but
no f-aggrandizing star. Neither the
light comedy nor the two minute
glimpse OF the circus in action i'm
pedes the plot, which moves steadily