Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-08
THE TEST" IS
A REPUTATION
SHOWS INJUSTICE OF DOUBLE
MORAL CODE
MISS WALSH LIFTS CHARACTER
FROM soRDIDNEss
New Bill at the orpheum is Artlstlo
and EducatIve--NeWs Of
Plays and the
Players
BY SHIRLEY OLYMPUS

TT HAT century-old question-shall a
woman be social outcast be-
cause of one false step-is an
swered in "The Test" with which
Miss blanche Walsh opened her en-
gagement az the Mason opera house
last night. The answer pleased the
mental attitude of nine-tenths, possibly
more, OF those who sat in last nights
audience. But the answer is not in
accord with actual conditions. Wo-
men rarely are forgiven their sins.
The past of men Is dead and burles its
dead. There is today, just as there
was in the days when the lowly Car
penteF of Nazareth walked upon the
earth, a double. standard OF morality
He forgave Mary Magdalene and by
his forgiveness she was regenerated.
1t may be cynical and harsh to say
that never since that time have the
erring women been forgiven and re-
generated, but it is nearly true. If 1t
be that there are some women whose
pasts have been buried the world
knows little of them, for they are the
isolated cases of society. We all say
to ourselves, "Oh, yes. I believe a
man should be made to pay the PEN
atty OF his sim" but we rarely ever
act as the executioner. We pity the
erring woman, but We never marry
her. So 1t is that I say the answer
made by "The Test" pleases the mem
tai attitud, but does not correspond
with facts, for the answer there given
is that the man who has caused Emma
Eltynge's fall loses the chance to
marry a pure girl and to bury his
past, while Emma Eltynge is restored
to her former position and her better
self
"'The Test" Is a play of the brain-a
great deal OF dialogue and little action.
1t might even be called a preachment.
There are not many pictures; not
much to please the eye. 1t seems al
most like hearing a tract on the double
standard of morality read by the char
aeters rather than stage performance
of a comedy-drama.
When the stage story opens, Emma |
Eltynge has fallen In love with Arthur |
Thone. more or less of a dreamer and |
social reformer Richard Tretman. |
who has completed term in prison |
and who was Emma's sweetheart be-
fore being sent to prison, suddenly |
turns up. Frederick McVane. who is
largely responsible for Tretinan's |
prison term and who through insin-
cere promises to Emma, has caused her |
downfall, has asked the hand in mar
riage of Thone's sister Peggy. The
motive of the play is furnished by the
opposition to the marriage of Thone
and Emma, while the marriage of Me-
Vane and Peggy is considered proper.
When Emma makes known all of her
own and McVane's past the different
status of the repentant man and the
repentant woman is brought vivldly |
into contrast. When Emma brings
everything down to finalties and
matters are threshed out" McVane
for I
Thone reclaims Emma to her better
self. Tretman goes out into the world
TO live down the past.
Blanche Walsh is one of the truly
great emotional actresses, and by
little things" shows IT in her por-
trayal of Emma Eltynge. She has
taken on a bit of flesh since she last
appeared here. but it has not made her
any the less artistic. Miss Walsh has
an analytical mind hence she plays
her parts with deep understandings
She knows when to scowl, when to
smile and when to make her voice ring
with scorn or pity. Her Emma
Eltynge is a cameo carved from a
bleeding and contrite heart. In the
scene when she tells her past she
raises the otherwise sordid situation to
one which enlightens her audience and
ennobles her character. Miss Walsh
does not compel pity for Emma
Eitynge. Rather does she justify her.
We believe in the rightness of EN-
mas acts and her philosophy If Miss
Walsh were less the artist, she would
make Emma Eltynge anything but a
repentant woman.
Arthur Thone is what Socialists
would call half-baked. He turns pref
ty epigrams and utters high sounding
platitudes, but is not of sterling worth.
He has weak heart. AS Thone,
George w. Howard put sincerity in his
but he could not make IL
great, for greatness is not in the char
acter William M. Travers as Nc
Nane looks the part of the man with
a past. He has rather stiff manner,
however, which does not seem to hit
the generally accepted idea of the man
about town. Will y. Corbett gives an
excellent portrayal of Tretman, the
ex-convict. In the second act, when
he has scene with Emma, Mr.. Cor
bett lays bare all the venom pent up
In his soul. He does not resort to de-
clamatory tactics or ranting, but car ,
ries home every point by suffusing his
voice.
One criticism of every member OF the ,
company is made for the sake of the
audience. Too many times the backs ,
Of all the players are seen. 1t is al
most impossible to hear the lines de- ,
ivered from that position. l sat in ,
the sixth row in the center of the s
house and at times had to strain my ,
ears to hear.
THE Test is worth seeing if for no {
other reason than being awakened {
again to the fact that there is double I