The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-01-02
THE THEATER IN NEW YORK
DAILY Gives KnOw ThySef THE City, Is the Last of the
Fitch PlayS-"The Lily" Well Received

cent. They will know in twenty minutes;
and for one Of them, that seems like five.
they sit in solemn silence; and then the
curtain goes down with out sound
How much David Belasco has altered
the translation of the Wolff-Leroux play
in passing II through his adaptive hands
don't know. but he can't have lessened
the tens!ty OF the suspense that holds
over from that second act to the third.
The girl has falsely asserted her inno-
cenee, her elder sister believes the denial.
her father doubts It. her brother thinks
the worst. the friend of the family seeks
to hide the truth, and the audience knows
she is guilty. So the discussion through
out the theater during the recess isn't
about the actually of her sin, but as to
what the consequences will be- The girl
and her motherly sister are not there
when the curtain goes up again; but the
three men sit in unchanged attitudes or
rigid awe. TITS twenty minutes" says
che IT'S twenty-five. and ne isn't here"
says another Thank God, he won't
come" says the third. Then the dreaded
man walks In. don't remember more
adroIt prolongation of suspense.
Nance O'Nein hits Broadway hard with
the elder sisters denunciation OF the
father as the selfish cause of the girls
error and exposition OF free love. In his
first-night speech. Belasco hoped that
Miss O'Nein wouldn't lose anything by
her personal sacrifice" by which he
meant her appearance as a sad-visaged,
dead-hearted. Ife-wrecked old maid She
may modify her makeup, but in the
opening performance she Overdid It, and
looked like a grim. gaunt. half-centenar-
fan But she most effectually turned q
drama of adultery into a play of dignity.
in about a hundred lines of fervid elo-
quence.
A Society Mans Play.
A woman Don Juan. That's the start
ling character in the play made from
Joseph Medil PattersOn's novel. "A Little
Brother of the Rich" She belongs 10
New York society, branded best" too,
and is not dissOlute; nor are her manners
or tastes ungentle: but she reaches out
for men sensual1y. just as men commonly
do for women; and. Ike them, she takes
up her afflnities only to throw them down
when satlated with them. At the outset
OF the play, she is q Dicks wife. with
Paul for a paramour. Paul calls on her
10 break off the liaisOn, because he has
engaged to marry a good girl; but Muriel
Is a spoOne- in excelsis and before he
&.fr.a.
him in a wicked hug and kiss.
If I quietly let Muriel get a divorce
from me" says Dick, will you marry
ner?''
4 will" says Paul: for he is exposed
as a wifes leader astray, and what other
response can a gentleman make?
In the next act, we see that two years
Of wedlock with Paul have tired Muriel
OF him, and she has acquired a Lassiter
for a third side OF the marital triangle.
This variant IN Muriers adultery has
worthy wife. but is ready to be faithIess
10 her: and this time Muriel is merce-
nary as well as sensuaiistic, for she ac-
cepts an autocar with a years mainte-
nance Of its chauffeur and garage in pay
ment for her conduct. Hilda Spong, hith-
erto a wholesome player Of honest good
humor, personated Muriel. Vineent Sierra
no, Henry Mortimer, and John Flood give
distinctness to Paul. Lassiter, and Dick.
The two triangles are well made by Mr..
Patterson and well rendered by the &C
tors
What comes Of il? Well, after the
author has exposed what, I like TO be-
lieve, is a scarce sinner-a wealthy and
modish woman sexually degenerate-he
kindly let's the last half OF the play 90 to
agreeable Consequences far at least
as Paul, her principal victim, is con-
cerned. The discarded fiancee Of Paul is
well-behaved actress. SyrNSa, whom Ida
Conquest makes an amiable girl, alto
getker lovely. When the seductive Muriel
takes Paul away from her. Sylvia turns
heart and soul to acting. goes away 10
London, and IN two years comes back to
gain fame in New York She lovingly
fOrgfves the repentant and regenerated
Paul. thus bringing THE Little Brother
Of the Rich'-called that because Paul is
a poor CRATER on the rich first along-to
happy conclusion.
One-act Horror by Same Author.
New Workers who like that drama of
modish degradation and so desire mere
depletion by Mr.. Patterson may get II
in his short drama Of the cocaine habit.
The lack OF a horribly exarnplar drug
fend in Dope" however, strikes me as
Zolas Drink might with the maniac
drunkard left out. Especially a vaudeville
audience expects a raving victim Of cocaine
In strait-jacket at hospital, wrecking
his fiat, or maybe killing his wife be-
cause she won't give him more Of the
dope Instead Of that the traffic in CO.
caine. rather than the abuse Of It, is the
theme.
Dean Summer, OF the Episcopal Cathe-
dral. is announced here as Patterson's
collaboration. and Herman Lieb is the
actor who personates the keeper OF an
East Side drug store where cocaine is
sold without physicians orders. Two
pallid, lettering fellows. one a mere bow.
come in for the dope, sniff it through
their noses into their Threats, and imme-
diately are braced up. A slatternly
woman carries the stuff away in her
shaky hands as though barely able TO
wait for its exhilaration till out Of sight.
A girl of the street is turned away be-
cause Mr.. Robson and Miss Courtney.
wealthy amateur missionaries 10 the
slums, have caught Lieb selling cocaine
to child and have telephone to the
police for raid
Two hundred persons Of thoughtful mien
were among the 1000. and that 1.-THE of
tho nrdfnnQa cparoad o..