The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-01-09

handsome, Jolly ana reckless IN heF quest
of risky diversion. She brings home
theater party. The play has been too
tame to please her. Oh, for g new thrill!
Has she ever seen cock fight? No.
Would she like to? Yes. The questioner
thought so and has brought along two
cocks and their trainer, The birds flap
their wings and crow defiance at sight
of each other They are handled Alright
All is realistic except the blunted points
OF the steel spurs. They dart at each
other vicIously. The ladies and gentle
men cheer.
There goes an eye" cries the amateur
handler.
My bird can do yours with one glim
shut" says the professional.
stop" the Married Belle interposes;
7 won't have my choicest rug spoiled
by fowl blood. and the pun raises a
laugh Finish the fight on a table in
the billiard room." and the party goes
out to see one rooster kill the other
That establishes her as a dead-gone
lady sport. She is a little of a senti-
mentaliSt, too, and great deal of a
sensualist This principal person in the
play made from Joseph MedilI Patter-
sons novel, "A Little Brother of the
Rich" by him and Harriet Ford, IS a
woman rake-a female libertine-a Donna
Juanita. She belongs 10 New York so
ciety branded best" TOO, and is not
dissolute; nor are her manners or tastes
ungentle; but she reaches out for men
sensually, just as men commonly do for
women; and, like them, she takes up her
affinities. only to throw them down when
satiated with them. At the start OF the
play the Married Belle has Bachelor
Paramour. He calls on her TO break off
the liaison. because he has engaged to
marry a good girl; but the Married Belle
is spooner in exeelsis, and before ne
realizes 1t. the Husband catches him in
a wicked hug and kiss
II I quietly let my wife get divorce
from me-" says the Husband will you
marry herr"
L will says the Bachelor Paramour;
for he IS exposed as a wife's leader
astray, and what other response can
gentleman make?
In the next act, We see that two years
Of wedIOck with the Bachelor Paramour
have tired the Married Belle Of him, and
she has acquired a Welded Rake for a
new side of the marital triangle This
variant in the Married Bellies adultery
has a worthy wife. but IS ready 20 be
faithleSs to her: and this time the Mar
ried Belle is mercenary as well as SEN
sualistic, for she accepts an autocar with
years maintenance Of its chauffeur
and garage in payment for her wanton
conduct. That Hilda Spong, hitherto
wholesome player of honest good
humor. personates this Married Belle Of
murlIy immortality is a proof that the
amateur harlot Is a blithesome. amusing.
captivating creature. Vincent Serrano,
Henry Mortimer. and John Flood give
distinctness to the Husband. the Welded
Rake, and the Bachelor Paramour.
A Gloomy Play.
There can't be much laughter in this
letter. I am sorry. but the new lot Of
plays is devoid OF jollity They are
mostly good but glum dramas. some
CHASTITY grim and none with a glad grin
not even Liz the Mother" a brevity at
the New Theater with the often merry
Jessie Busley. Annie Russell. and young
That's LaWtOn in IT, An Unmarried
Mother Is about to be turned out be-
cause her child makes her a burden 10
/ the poverty-stricken family. A young
/ Welded Mother brings IN her dead babe
/ TO swap it for the live one. Why? The
/ two infants have the same father, the
/ girls having been rivals for him; and
he has died suddenly; so his widow would
/ Ike to get the other babe as a solacing
substitute for her own. Do you see?
A novel idea. The Unmarried Mother
/ is tempted to turn her child over to the
better care Of the Welded Wife. but
learns that, though discarded by the
/ father. she was his beloved one. and
| therefore drives out the other with the
! corpse of an infant in her arms.
That is Of fameless English authorship.
and so is the longer and less Iugubrious
Don" in the same bill Don is a clergy
mans very worthy son, a Don Quixote
| for idiotic chivalry. In a restaurant. he
sees a Pretty Waitress insulted and i'm
! pulsively thrashes the boor. Learning
that she is a good wife turned adrift by
a harsh husband, he befriends her in
| judiciOusly; for when she colIapses. he
takes her to a hotel, nurses her all night.
and next day conveys her to his staid
( family home in the country. His kind
/ ness looks wicked. and for two acts his
| father and mother. with his nnancees
father and mother, discuss his Quixotic
| exploit and what to do about It.
| This play puzzles even keen-witted
audience as to its intention. Eight d.
verse characters are developed CONVEX
sationaly. inactively. but with consd-
cradle wit and humor; and the cast is
a fit one from the numerous stock com
pany; but by the time that the people
| are convinced that IL is a comedy Of
merriment, laughter is hushed by a shunt
into melodrama. The husband of the
Pretty Waitress. a harsh Christian
Exhorter. comes with pistol in hand to
kill the Don Qulxote as a seducer. And
it isn't funny. Bless you, no! The cpl
sode threatens tragedy, but ends without
bloodshed. and the audience disperses.
still unable to classify Don"
skinner BurIesques transformers.
Otis Skinner makes fun OF himself in
| "Your Humble Servant" Skinner is the
best of our declamatory actors-almost
if not quite; and was sorry at first when
he disclosed himself as the strutter and
ranter of familiar travesty; but he did
make me laugh at his mishaps with
stranded company IN a village op'ry
house. He went to and fro 'twixt an
imaginary performance on a supposedly
adjacent stage and encounters with OBJ
streperous creditors in view Of the real
audience-'twixt flights of airy art and
slumps of sordid reality: and when he
would have doffed the robes OF royalty
and donned ordinary clothes a sheriff
rendered the change unfeasible
Keep my coat and vest II Won will 4"