Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-25
At WHITE HORSE TAVERN
MAKES SPRINKLER USEFUL
Theater's Fire Apparatus Plays
Prominent Part in Lively
Drama

When the fire regulation was passed
several years ago requiring theaterS
to install automatic sprinkling appa-
ratus over the stage the managers
made remarks inwardly and wondered
what the sun, moon and stars CaIso
the milky way they could ever use
them for. Oliver Morosco has found
the answer two successive weeks at
the Burbank and has had real rain
storms to give his audiences that cool
feeling in the first act and put them
in a sufficiently receptive condition to
enjoy the rest of the play. Caught
in the Rain" was the first of the Hat
field plays and now comes "At the
White Horse Tavern" in which John
Burton, Louise Royce and Ethel Won
Waldron crowd together under a big
umbrella while the water pours down
in sheets. 1t is most realistic and cool
ing, thanks to the fire ordinance.
This moisture throws no wet blanket
over the performance, as the facetious-
ly disposed might feel called upon to
remark. For livelier sort of piece
would be difficult to imagine. 1t is
one of those something doing" COM
edies that have some substance to
them. The mistake most writer's of
comedy make is that they take no in
terest in the play outside of the parts
where they make the laughs. But "At
the White Horse Tavern" is different.
When II is not a comedy 1t Is a pretty
little drama with half a dozen pretty
little love stories running along IN the
quiet spots. And then there are a
dozen or more quaint, distinctive char
acterS introduced, some of which bring
smiles and some that queer feeling
that is half way to tears and yet is in
no way sad.
David Hartford is different from
anything he ever has done before as
the head waiter of the tavern, in love
with his young and pretty mistress.
His rolling German dialect completely
shrouds that brisk, snappy, thorough
ly American style of speech he usually
employs, and in the scenes where pa
thetic tenderness is called for he was
a great surprise by his convincing
manner. One is not accustomed to
look for such unctuous lovemaking in
the strenuous Hartford. Marjorie
Rambeau has her first worthy part in
several weeks as Josepha, the young
widow, landlady of the summer hotel.
1t is bright and full of life and COM
edy, giving this clever young woman
room for her big talents again. The
most important role in the comedy,
however, is that of the wealthy manu-
is full of good-natured i'll humor, and
Burton gets laughs with every shift
in the wind.
The others are more or less access
sorry characters, but they are all i'm
portant, adding to the wonderfully di-
-versified coloring of the piece, the plot
being simply a chain upon which these
original creations are displayed David
Landau is brisk and youthful as the
clever attorney who first defeats the
manufacturer in a lawsuit and then
marries his daughter. Myrtle Vane is
! the personification of joy as the young
woman in the case. Harmon Mac
| Gregor with a bald head, Ethel vor
Waldron with lisp, Willis Marks
| Jack Belgrave, Dan Bruce, Cleo Mad
ison, Frederick Gilbert and ever Sc
many more contribute generously t.
the fun.
Virginia Harmed as Paula Tanqueray
| is quite a revelation, not so much be-
cause of her exceptionally forceful
acting, but because of the ease with
which she put off the lightness of farce
and assumed the deep emotions of a
problem drama. To see Miss Harmed
| in Pinero's Second Mrs. Tanqueray''
is one of those experiences which make
the theater worth while. And judg-
ing from the manner in which last
nights audience at the Majestic ac-
cepted Miss Harmed and her company,
the experience was fully appreciated.
The story of THE Second Mrs Tan
queray" is too familiar to need repe-
tition at this late day. Suffice it 70
| say that it tells of a woman with a
past the taint of which refuses to
be effaced. Though the play is an old
one it is a good one, in fact one of
the strongest of Pinero's many sue
cesses. There is a certain absolute
truth about every situation which will
never allow the play to lose its hold
on the public.
Barring one little defect in Miss
| Harned's delivery, her portrayal of
the unhappy Paula is near perfection.
| Miss Harmed has a vocal mannerism
which she should eliminate, for the
| sing-song delivery of sentences with
an ever recurring falling infection on
the final word becomes tiresome be-
! fore the end of the act But even this
defect could not seriously mar Miss
Harned's portrayal as a whole. She
gives her audience a keen insight into
the soul workings of a tainted woman
in a wonderful manner. Now she is
light; then she is jealous; again is re-
pentant, and yet again she is seri-
ously intentioned for good. Miss Har-
ned shows exactly the multi-sided
/ character III dCllOnS ana IdCIdt CA
preston and tells in just the manner
the dramatst must have intended that
the tainted woman experiences unhap-
piness because she cannot efface her
taint. No matter what degree of So
called respectability woman of that
! character gains through marriage, she
never gains her self-respect, which is
! the one thing she seeks. In her eli
| makes Miss Harmed is powerful and
I her acting goes right to the heart
through the brain.
! OF the others in the cast it may be
said that Howard Hickman as the be-
sotted nobleman is excellent William
Courtenay makes a good though not a
| great impression as Aubrey Tanque-
ray. There seems to be a small ele-
ment lacking in his portrayal though
at times, and especially in the last
act COurtenay gripped his audience
| firmly HIS characterization is Virile
and worthy of the company he keeps.
Benjamin Horning as Cayley Drum
mel, the old friend of Aubrey Tan
queray, is fair. Bessie Barriscale has
an excellent grasp of the role of Ell
lean and gives one a clear idea of the
character. Others in the cast are ac-
ceptable.
In spite of the heat a crowded au-
dience greeted the Girton companys s
opening of "A Midnight Marriage"
"a Midnight Marriage is from the