Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-18
VIRGINIA HARMED WINS
AUDIENCE At MAJESTIC
Begins an Engagement in KeIlett
Chambers Play An Ameri-
can Widow
BY SHIRLEY OLYMPUS

Virginia Harmed and her company
opened an engagement at the Majestic
theater last night, presenting "An
American Widow" which serves well
for two and a half hours enjoyment.
The play tells a story about a mar
riage of convenience, contracted in
order to surmount the obstacles of a
will made by a patriotic American who
seemed to have a hatred of everything
British, since he did not want his
widow to marry a British nobleman,
thereby letting his fortune fall into
the hands of Cousin J. Bull. OF course
the hasty marriage of convenience
could have but one result-Convenient
Wifey falls desperately in love with
Obliging Husband, simply because he
treats her with scorn. So as to lend
a little responsibility to the whole af-
fair, Obliging Husband is endowed
with exceptional gifts. He's a musical
genius who makes his mark with an
indelible pencil.
Kellett Chambers wrote "An Amer
lean Widow" The play tells an in
teresting story In more or less adroit
manner.
AS 1.-The widow who was welded
and no wife for nearly three whole
acts, Miss Harmed was charming. She
lent grace, beauty and art to her role.
Always she presented pretty picture,
for her gowns are exquisite and she
knows how to wear them. There were
many gasps of admiration from the
feminine portion of last nights au-
dience, all caused by Miss Harmed S
frocks.
Howard Hickman and Grace Travers
walked away with second honors. Mr..
Hickman made the Earl of Dexminster
silly sort of person, but gave a faith
full portrait of the usual conception of
fortune hunting noblemen from the
characterization Miss Travers as
Madam Abaloni, a prima donna,
showed cleverness in several scenes
and in the manner she delivered her
lines in a dual dialect William Cour-
tenay was a manly sort of a genius
who knew how to win a woman with
out really trying. John w. Sherman
is called society bachelor and mu-
steal dilettante' in the program. He
does not look the part, nor act it.
Others in the cast were acceptable.
When Willie Collier and Grant
Stewart built Caught in the Rain
they just had one idea in mind-and
that was to make a play for Willie
Collier. They wanted farce which
was good enough for the greatest
American comedy star to star in. They
wanted something which would start
the audience laughing at the begin
ming and keep it up to the end. And
they got what they wanted.
Caught in the RAIN" as played by
the Burbank company this week, is a
concoction for the purpose of hilariJy
alone. These is a little real dram
mer" in it, about man who is on the
verge of ruin while an INSCRIPTIONS
financier knows there is big copper
mine on his property, the financler
concealing this fact that he may get
the property for next to nothing at all,
But nobody cares very much about
this, nobody has much sympathy for
the man on the verge of ruin, and mo-
body entertains anything but pass
inc dislike for the unscrupulous imam
cier When one has been laughing
himself half to death over the antics
of Dick Crawford (Harmon Mac
Gregor) who caused all the trouble
by being so shy of women that he
would rather be soaked in rainstorm
than share the shelter of an awning
with a pretty girl, one doesn't care
hang whether the mortgage ON the
old home is foreclosed or not.
MacGregor bears the brunt of the
battle which is quite natural, as he
plays the part which was designed foi
Collier by Collier and the success OF