The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-10-02
THE WEEKS PLAYBILLS.
The CoIumbia-"New York;

The COIumbia-"New York"
Washington playgoers are bound 10 re-
celve with unusual interest the engage
ment Of New York. an Intellectual
melodrama by William ]. Hurlbut, author
of THE Fighting Hope" which openssat
the Columbia Theater tomorrow night
Inasmuch as the Philadelphia clergy has
Endorsed this play las the greatest the
atrical sermon ever preached from the
American stage" and one critic in Phila-
delphia rose above the unanimous plaud-
its by saluting New York "as the
greatest play OF the age" This deluge
OF authentic superlatives is bound TO lift
Hurlbut's play high above the average
of new productions which have dominated
the present season in Washington. A. H
Woods is responsible for the production
OF New York" and within a few weeks
will present this play to Broadway audi
ences. Three players Of renOwn are an
nounced for the chief roles. They are
Laura Nelson Hall, a skillful and beauti-
full emotional actress; Orrin Johnson, the
best known leading man Of America. and
Mary Shaw, whose art is rare and in
disputable. The assemblage OF so power
full cast is bound to prove a magnet
for all lovers of good acting. Others In
the company are Mortimer Weldon.
Frank Craven. Frances Whitehouse, Flor
ence Burdett, and Vaughan Trevor.
The author tells a startling story, and
his frank purpose is to thrill and engross
his audiences by a series OF deft and
81, H.
in action, and through the exposition of
sins and punishment Hurlbut points an
original and powerful moral The play
virtually proves that the bad in life
must be slain by the good and that evil
must be destroyed mercilessly for the
preservation Of humanity. Not the least
interesting phase OF New York" is the
graphic painting of the restaurant life
of the metropolitan pleasure seekers In
revealing this element Hurlbut has not
minced matters and these broad scenes
are outweighed by the uplift OF the main
love story.
New York" tells a story of deep inten-
sity, and in the second act the author
has piled thrill upon thrill so deftly that
dlsinterested opinion has likened this
act to the big scenes in THE Thief and
in La Tosca." The chief characters in
the play are the unconventional and de-
lightful heroine-a woman who knows
her world, but does not permit the world
TO know her." and the well-poised. SYM
pathetic man of affairs. who is harvest
ing most bitterly his crop Of wild oats,
sown years before. There are two young
men who represent the swift life of the
cafes Their amours and their passion
for excitement result in fashion that
proves a warning TO the youth OF Amer
lea. In broad relief there is the charac-
ter of the nameless woman who has
blackmailed her way through life, who
has fiourished through the base desires Of
mankind and whose counterpart may
be seen In the streets and shops of every
city. Then there are the worldly-wise
friend of the heroine, and the most novel
maid servant that ever upset conditions
and did not dust furniture.
Mr. Woods has provided a luxurious
mounting Flemish tapestries. Chinese
porcelains, a Queen Anne tea service,
Japanese pastels, and Sheraton furniture
1 lift the production TO a high degree of
/ reality.