New-York tribune., 1910-09-20
THE DRAMA
Decorating CIementine" Pro-
duCed at the Lyceum Theatre.


dians. It might easily be one of the best
comedies of a season or two If the powers
that be would take the trouble TO trim ii a
little. Anyhow. as it stands il fills an
evening with laughter That it has quite
brilliant moments. passages Of sparkling
Dialogue. viii readily he guessed when its
authors arc mentioned. Armand do Call
layet and Robert Dc F'iers. and when IT is
known that the translator and adapter IS
Miss Gladys Unger, who has translated
and adapted other plays of this clever
pair. Nevertheless. the play needs excision
here and there Given this with discreet
hand. ir should have run.
CIemertine \ popular novelist-rot the
CIementine who was tine daughter of
miner, forty-niner. in a dark and deep ra-
vine"-is happy creature. happily mar
ried these ten years. she tells a re-
porter as soon as the curtain rises There
is cloud in her sky she Las nothing 10
wish for until the little demon of jeaI-
ousr tells her that she should be deco
rated with the order of the Legion Of
Honor Clementine thereupon lays siege
to the Minister of Fine Arts and urges her
husband 10 iirt with the minister's wife
The complications that follow in French
farce based on a story of this order are
what you would imagine them TO be
with modiica tions for the American pub
lie Tt ia unnecessary to follow the story
through Its many details Beginning a.
comedy the play switches into farce. and
and for a few minutes into something like
xtravaganZa To an entertainment OF
this sort the spectator goes to laugh, and
during the performance of this piece he Is
not cheated Of his opportunity.
There are two stars in this bright frrna-
ment. Mr.. G. P. Huntley and Miss Hattie
Williams. And yet three might fairly have
the twinking glory of electric lights, be-
cause Miss Doris Keane with delicious
skill and dainty. gracious art and fine sense
OF humor. made. without question. the sue
cess of the evening" success literally rec
ognized by the audience. How funny MI.
Huntley was nobody need be told. If any
thing. he was funnier than ever, and the
fun was in himself rather than in his part.
Miss Williams. the Clementine OF the deco
ration. was capital-quite in the vein of the
piece and the playing. But Miss Doris
Keane was at once the delight of the even
ing. and, TO many, the surprise. There was
A scene between Mr.. Huntey and Miss
Keane. a scene in pantomime, given with
just the right spirit, just the right touches,
that was one of the best things one has
Witnessed in a month of blue moons, and
in the same act-the second-a scene be
tween Miss keane and Mr.. Richie Ling
which, for good fun, delicacy of treatment
and rare ina Sinatiou on the part OF this
young actress was as artistic q piece of
comedy playing as any one could wish 20
sea bit Of work so admirable that its
like seldom comes to the theatres that
crowd Broadway.
The play itself is as uneven as New
York pavement 1t starts like a real COM
edy and ends like a burlesquc The in
vention of the authors must have tagged
when they introduced costume dance.
possibly intended as skft on the craze
for Russian dancing. Miss Keane and Mr..
Huntley are dragged into this Let a
shrewd management drag them out again
for the dance adds nothing 10 the play. is
not funny. is not even a passsbIe inlita
ton of the Russian dancing" Of the
music halls or Of the opera house, and it
rudely disturbs the impression made in
earlier moments by the really ina naginattve
acting of Miss Keane and the quantity
comic moments Of Mr.. TIuntley The ar
fists do the pest they can here. but they
cannot make this business fit into the play,
fsrcical- comedy though the play may he
No actors could do il. How Is II that no
body sitting in front At rehearsal saw
what dresr void this passage makes in
the play. and how il risks dreuChiug with
neptitude the charm and taste and gem
Uine skill that had gone before The
fault in this instance is not with the
actors. but with the Compulsion under
which they act this insue and lugubrious
passage. It Is ss out Of place as the Mr.
Dooey" gag on the lips Of Partisan in 4
Partisan drawing room. but even this was
dragged in, too, by another character
Some little cutting and compression,
then. will make this play thoroughly en-
tertaining It can be done by tonight.
The piece is we'll cast. Mr.. Ernest Law
ford and Mr.. Louis Massen earned their
shares of favor. Miss Keane was ap-
plauded with real enthusiasm, as she de-
served to be. A W.