The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-17
POIsI'S.

sion that Clyde FftCh'S great play,
 SThe City, has made upon thinking
 people, may be gleaned by the opin- .s4ons publicly expressed by two such hernfAent men as Professor William hyon Phelps, professor of English and
 Dramatic L4tesature at Yale Univer-
 sity, and Professor George P. Baker. Qoooapying a similar position at liar ward. Fhe foEzner learned gentleman rlwrote that he considered it the most 1powerful drama ever composed by an iAmsrdcan. not. oqly thrilling but @ !. drama that has the driving force of -la treat idea", and Professor Baker lwrote that he considered ''The City" ,s nood. play rsa.,os and perfectly srG acted ,sh
 souRces should leave no doubt in the tpubs4u mind as to the great treat in ,istore for them when ''Ihe City" Is
 produced by the Pon Players at Polls ,nsxt week.
 lsrfui is '.rhe City" wafch the Messrs. fShubert produced during the latter part Of 1908 ~rhe City" might aptly :be said to have made stage history on
 the memorable night upon which 1t twas first given to the public. Given never witnessed a performance so charged with sensadona1ism and the ovation or torrents of applause which tareeted ths play caused the news of the wonderfully tragic. drama to spread like wild fire The word was not con- fined to New York alone. Visitors Ibefcre they came to Manhattan were
 well versed in their knowledge of the F5tch epic, with the result that the management at the Lyric Theatre proved one, of the most remarkable in the annals of the American stage life. Indeed, we might also mention the fact that during the past season when y &1 aax of Theatre at the top notch price of ad- mission one of the largest audiences ! of the season witnessed it.
 "The City" is in three acts. The scenes quickly change from village to a massed center of civilization be- try-the author has drawn vivid con- tYast. George Rand, Sr., a banker of Middleburg, N. r., is the father of a family. He also has an illegitimate child, George Frederick Hammock, who continually bleeds him for money, not George Rand, Jr.. the ambitious son of the banker, discovers the elders secret and the shame and disgrace of Lit kills the father. The family con- sisting of mother, son and two daugh- ters, move to New York-yield to the call of The City" George Hammock
 is taken along as young Rand's secre-
 tary After a year or SO Rand enters politics and then Hammock becomes
 unbearable. Added to his vice as a
 cocaine snuffer he becomes prac-
 tfced blackmailer and Rand's cam
 paign manager calls for Hammock s
 dismissal Rand insists that Hammock
 cannot and will not be discharged, but
 the issue must be met In a wordy
 contest between Rand and Hammock
 the latter says that he has married
 Cfcely. the younger of the bankers
 imnOSSihjl- ity of such contamination Rand tells Hammock of his parents. "You have
 married your own sister" he declares
 Like a thunderbolt comes the retort, girl enters and rather than let her know the secret Hammock shows the only spark of manhood in him by si- fencing her forever.
 The moral of the play, if MT. Fitch in tended there should be one, is that the city Is not responsible for ones down. fall but that 1t puts the stuff of which one is made to the crucial test. AS George Rand, IT,, one of the charac- | ters in the play says in his speech in | the last act, NO, you're all wrong. l Don't blame the city. It's not her fault. It's your own. What the city | does is to bring out the strongest that | good In us will win; if bad, God help l us The city strips him naked of | all his disguises and all of his hypo- | crisies and she paints his ambitions on her fences and lights up her sky | ecrapers with it. What he wants to 1 be and what he thinks he is. And | then she says to him, Make good if | you can or to Hell with you.' And | what Is in him comes out to clothe | his nakedness and to the city he can't | lie know because I tried.''
 Tn the Poli production MT. Ince will | |be seen as George Rand, Jr., and MT. | Junior will have the role of George | Hammock originated by Fully Mar shall, and one of the most sensational | roles in American drama. Miss Hol- | finger and Miss Martin will be cast in | the leading feminine roles and all the | other members of the Players will | have prominent roles.
 Stage Director Socola will give his | usual careful attention to the staging | and the usual special features during | the waits between acts will be seen including the singing by Jack Sher-
 man and the Singing Ushers and the Electrogra ph. Monday afternoon the silver service now being shown at FairchiId's will be given away.