New-York tribune., 1910-11-22
THE DRAMA
Conan Doyle's Play. 1.-The
speckIed Band" at the Garrick.

speckIed Band" at the Garrick.
Conan Doyle's stories are hotter than
his plays. His latest play is stage
arrangement of one of his short stories
one Of the Sherlock Holmes series. and
on that account of course it Is bound tt,
find an audience, Just as it was bound TO
find a manager 1t is rich in cheerful
crudities. and You take it good nat11redIy
because the author admits you to his
I confidence with a manner that is child
like and bland It is quite the proper
thing To turn up superior noses at the
| Sherlock Holmes stories. even though the
owners of the noses read the stories with
| FEARFUL JOY. about bedtime And so II
happens that just as millions of humans
Of one color or another waited for Colo
nel Selers's Eye Wash other millions.
mostly white but OF various tongues
/ feel secret eageruess to behold Sherlock
| Holmes on the stage. With one Holmes,
Mr. Gillettes. the publis has been fami-
lar these many wears. Now another Sher-
| lock. Mr.. Charles Millward's. and he is
quite as interesting. and. if YOU will have
! il 50. quite as convincing as the first. He
IS cieverer. indeed in disguiSes. He dis
Euises not only his appearance. but his
voice. The first Sherlock of your acquaint
ance never did that: his voice was always
Unmistakable.
The SpeckIed Band Is the story Of the
poisonous snake that crswied down the
/ tellrope at the bedside and gently took
/ the life of sleeping ladies' DIR. Griuesby
| Rylott. retired Anglo-Indtan surgeon.
owned the snake ard desired the ladies
snug fortunes. TIE ladies' died. Puzzle:
! find (-nrOr-arG' jUrieS
do il And do YOU wonder? Any crown
ers quest sitting in the vicinity Of
! CTrimesby Rylott would have been more
than suspicious of that choleric apostle OF
medical chaos and snarchy-eIcepting, of
! course, in a rrelodra ma. and in this melo-
drama. above all.
| The company PLAYING in The Speck3ed
Band is u very good company. Mr Ed
win Stevens. as Grimesby Rylott. is as ex-
! rlCsive Villain as ever went unhuns- You
are never in the least doubt about him.
and he means that YOU should have no
doubt II one has 70 do this sort of thing.
this undiluted ruaniacaI vilIany. one must
do it thoroughly. Mr.. Stevens does it thor
oughIy He is a villain after ones own
heart, without a redeeming quality. OF Mr..
NilIward's Sherlock Holmes something has
already been said, but not too much. And
at last the real Dr.. Watson is seen Nr
Ivo Dawson plays this part. and he is the
good natured, good looking well meaning,
none-too-deep companion of Sherlock's s ad-
venturous hours of the long series Of snort
stories, the creduIous (or increduious>, kind
| lv, haIf-bewiIdcred, always ready person
Conan drew.
| There's a good jury scene III the hrst act
The men are we'll portrayed types There's
! q pretty, unheroic heroine. Her chief duty
is TO be pretty Miss Irene Fenwick easily
fulfIs this duty She cannot avoid it.
I There's cranky grocer who gains
your dislike at first and ends by
gaining your liking Mr.. Ben Field
has the part, and he knows what
hes about. And of course John Find
lay Is worth while as Rodgers, the aged
butler in the Rylott household Mr. Find
lay is one OF our best players Of old men
There are many other persons, Of sorts
| together they help to tell the story, al
| though it must be confessed that the story
| is told when the second act is half over
! The remainder Of the play is shorn OF nlEs-
terry and is used for showing you how the
ingenious Sherlock arrives at the concIu-
| sion which has already been TeFealeo 70
| : ou. Dr. Rylott opens the basket, and the
snake. conjured by the piping of the East
! Indian servant, comes LOELil LtL MS ilNiA'
| ing cup Of milk Nobody takes the trouble
t to explain to US wao pipes at the end of the
play when the snake is enticed for his
merry adventure through the hoIe-in-the-
wall. All, the Indian knave, has been chic
| reformed in the garden by the handy and
/ immaculate Watson. Somehow Grmeshy
/ Rylott doesn't know it. And Grtmesby
doesn't pipe. Perhaps the pipes pipe auto
rnaticalfy. Or. maybe. there's sramo-
phone, or something. You'll have 70 guess
and give it MP. This is where Conan Doyle
! taxes the intellect. And taxing the intei-
! Iect is forbidden in melodrarna. This is one
! Of the first Canons. but Sir Conan has for
/ gotten it. Or maybe the manage One
really doesn't know and 1t really doesn
matter It is a naive play. Even casual
audience gathered in from Broadway Wou!d
think so Upon that fact percn vast ana
/ estfrnabIe truths. Anyhow, the play tens
a story. and the first night audience seemed
| to like the story and the way 1t was toid
The credit though. was more to the actors
than TO the knightly author That distln-
g7lished and fortunate gentleman Is SO
s,+r-ated will, adventurous themes that it
NAV not be impossible for him to write
jpIavs in his sleep. A w
/ CAST or THE sPECKLED BAND
| DR. Crin1esby Rylott.. Edwin stevens ~
Enid Stonor. irene - feric I,f
| 49, ~ ......... j Ohm Findley
! 80. I,5ian ........H. H. McCo!lun
! -. g. :tott et a. wilson ..... Cyril Chadwick
/ ~ .-,n;.aoc ....,............ Ben Field
! NJ on gt,rsce Alexander Frank
! ~ ~ Ira9,e~ ......... Ivan T. Simpson
! T-s,aI+Ir T,oyyrirey ............W ". Coats Bush
! Coroners Officer .----.- -John NJ IrOusnIon
| NJ Holt Loau1i7g g.--..-.......-.F Frank Shannon
! Mr. James b. Montagu- -.-...-..... ". SoderlnE
! Mr Mflvertou. ivan r simpson
! Biliv -...........-.-... Kenneth Meinken
! H-af IFO Lawson
| Ia-ers ..................C c. Later
| NJ Sherlock Holmes Charles Miilward
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