The Washington herald., 1910-01-30
THE THEATER IN NEW YORK
Billie Burke and Maxine EllOtt-"AIaS Jimmy Valentine
and 1.-THE Faith Healer"

and feels, some way or other, the Sc
Quence of figures that opens the door.
Henry 3. Warner, a tall, slender, blond
son of Charles Warner. the English actor
who used to scare drunkards with q
terrible example in Drink" comes to
star distinction in alias Jimmy Valen-
tine" As burglar? Surely. And not
at first as a triumphant safe-opener.
but as a cropped. striped. abject convict.
guilty Of the crime for which he Is being
punished. The women in the audience
like him because the plays heroine loves
him; and she is a nice. rich modish girl.
so why should they refuse to dote on
gentlemanly chap simply because he IS
doing time? So they approve when she
gets him pardoned and induces her
father to employ him in an Ohio bank.
There he woos her and they are TO be
married.
But loves course must not run smooth
in drama. This hero has almost for
gotten his alias of Jimmy Valentine
when a police detective hunts him down
for an old burglary. He has prepared
himself with an alibi for such an emer-
gency. however, and seems TO prove that
he Is neither Jimmy Valentine nor any
other criminal The reformed thieHs
encounter with the thief catcher is an
absorbing fight of wits with words, and
Jimmy is the victor-almost-not quite
for the plays last long. quivering thrill
requires that he be exposed as a male
factor
A judge has Just ruled that Paul Arm
strong shall pay 20 the heirs OF Andrew
J. Dam the hundred thousand dollars he
has received in royalty for The Heir to
the Hurrah," because he took the story
from one Of Dams narratives; yet that
doesn't warrant me In withholding credit
to Armstrong for inventing Jimmy's SEN
sttiye finger tips and his use Of them to
get child out Of a bank vault The
little one is his sweetheart's sister She
playfaily hides in the vault. the time
lock is seq for the night, and she will
suffocate before It can be opened in tho
morning-unless Jimmy performs the feat
In burglary which Will identify him as
the former craftsman. See the stress on
Jimmy and the audience.
Jimmy doesn't hesitate. With his Won
derful fingers. he feels out the numbers
Of the locks combination. stopping only
to sandpaper the skin off their tips till
the women say Ouch" marking the
progress OF his work with blood and
forcing an outright melodramatic episode
into Broadway attention; so that. when
the heavy iron door swings open, the
child is brought out alive and Jimmy
falls with the exhaustion OF nervous
strain, the applause is wild What be-
comes OF Jimmy? oh, the detective saws
Il guess your sweetheart needs you more
than the law does" and lets him go IN
arrested.
"The Faith Healer"
He is a pious person who gives the
title TO The Faith Healer" and prob
ably he came OF Schlatter, the man who
took on a semblance OF Christ in the
credulity OF those whose ailments he
seemed to cure. This healer in a play,
like the one in life. energies from OBJ
security In the Rockies, works what look
Ike miracles. is followed by multItudss
and in a little while wanes into oppro-
brium. There is a difference, however,
for in the stage make-believe the healer
finds out why he has lost his singular
power and then singularly regains H. A
woman both damages and repairs his
gift OF healing. That IS the popularity
/ in the religious drama which William
/ Vaughn Moody has written.
| Henry Miller enacts the healer and
makes him a man Of common intellect,
but unusual religious fervor without any
! conscious humbug He believes that,
when hermit herder in New Mexico.
Christ came visibly and babe him 20 forth
to cure the afflicted. He begins by curing
! a paralyzed woman. Sick folks gather
around the house and beg him to operate
| on them. Gladly would he do so, but
suddenly, strangely, completely, his
| supernatural gift is gone. The woman
relapses into paralysis. His prayer for
a dying babe Is futile. Divine grace has
| departed from him. He grieves and
wonders.
| The audience perceives the reason. The
| healer's carnal love of a woman vitlates
his sanctity; for she has come home from
/ harlotry In a city and her influence Is
pernicious; But in turn his piety makes
/ her devout; and from the moment that
she becomes his help instead OF his hin
drance his power Of healing Is restored.
/ The woman's paralysis again ceases. the
! babe RECEIVERS and the healer goes out,
betrothed to the repentant Magdalen. to
cure the waiting multitude
| The injection OF the love affair into
THE Faith Healer" surely is bold and
risky; but 1t is done with a manner Of
religious sincerity. and It gives an air
OF Christian Science TO the play. AInier's
delineation of slow, stolid, utterly IN
inspired zealot doesn't aid the author.
/ though, and the illuminative acting is
| done by Jessie BOnstelle as the regene-
/ rate wanton. OF course, the audiences
| as yet are divided between bored dis
pleasure and enthusiastic satisfaction.
The play might find its public among
| plain Christians, hypnotic theorists. men
/ tai investigators and Christian Scientists;
while the seeker of mere theatrical di
version will hold It in almost angry dis
dain. But are we not to accept such a
study OF piety and pathology at all?
ART LECTURE AT LIBRARY.
| Miss Anna Seaton-Schmidt will lecture