The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-11-08
THE STAGE
DETROIT OPERA HOUSE.

DETROIT OPERA HOUSE.
/ Ten minutes after the curtain goes
down you think The Third Degree"
a commonplace, agreeable sort OF
show. An hour later the impression
has grown that The Third Degree" is
worth while. and the next day you are
likely to be quite enthusiastic, for the
play is just few sections OF life. skill
fully put together and we'll acted. The
Third Degree" opened Monday evening
In the Detroit opera house for a three
days stay.
The pay hinges upon the suicide OF
Robert Underwood and the efforts Of
the police to convict Howard Jefiries,
Jr, OF the crime. The way his wife
and Lawyer Brewster finally free him
furnishes most OF the action. There
are few other little kinks in the plot,
but the efforts OF Mrs. Jeffries on be-
half Of her husband furnish practical
ly all the action.
There Is a decent, soft.pedal tone
about the whole thing which creates
the Impression that you are looking
at real events and real people. An In
ferior company could turn the play
into a 10000 with scarcely a change
OF lines. In the first act, for instance,
when Robert Underwood decided to
efface himself he wrote a letter to
that effect, had a stormy interview
with Mrs. Jeffries, Sr., who was the
cause of his woe, and walked into the
next room. The lights went out. the
stage carpenter smOte the floor with
barrel stave and you knew that Rob-
ert Underwood was no more. Thus
was the audience relieved OF the pain
full necessity of watching a victim
writhe on the floor while red paint ran
up-stage on a borrowed carpet, In imi-
tation of real b-Lu-d.
There Is only one touch Of melo-
drama in the entire four acts, that be-
ing when the police confront young
Jeffries with the revolver which Is
alleged to have killed Underwood.
Even this Is done with decency
which impresses the fact that It really
might happen
Very briefly, Howard Jeffries, Jr,
has married Annie, waitress, much
TO the distress OF Father Jeffries, who
is a fine old snob with more money
and social position than brains. or
course. father Is displeased. Howard
goes 70 see Underwood. his friend, and
enters the house just after Mrs. JEFF
fries, Sr., his step-mother, has had
row with Underwood. That worry
disappears long enough 10 shoot him
self and the police nab Jeffries, Jr
The police sweat" him into con-
Hession after seven hours of question
Ing. The youthful Mrs. Jeffries hav-
ing had police acquaintances, doesn't
believe the confession is true. She
spends most OF the second act persuad'
ing Richard Brewster. a lawyer OF the
type which laws and doesn't want TO
be called attorney" into defending
her husband. This involves row be-
tween Jeffries, ST., and Brewster.
In the third act young Mrs. Jeffries
worms a confession and letter out OF
the elder Mrs Jeffries regarding why
Underwood shot himself. and rather
than create a scandal Annie Jefrries
allows the police 10 think she was the
woman involved.
The final act Is brief. During this
portion the whole Jeffries family uses
its influence to persuade Howard into
an European trip. He Is about TO go
when Brewster appears and causes
him to change his mind.
The play might have been improved
had young Jeffries been a youth OF