New-York tribune., 1912-03-31
A London First NIGHT
CIXVI.
SIR ARTHUR plNERo AND THE HooLIeANs
Copyright. 1912 George W. sra.l.y,

100 intimate scenes, which sketch with
reserve and unwillingly, the impatience
or the house grows visibly and audibly
greater. Once they were over, the play
had not a chance
Or perhaps II would have had chance
IL the author had fashioned his third act
as he did the first. There is all the ma
terial Of a great act. Lily and her
friends have come on from the dance to
her rooms at four In the morning. Lord
Farncombe stays out the rest in order
TO propose to her, and does propose and
is refused. Enter Nicholas Jeyes. who
has dangled after her for years, mad
with jealousy and suspicious of the
mduco,s motif. Lily turns on him as the
Pandora girl she is; calls him spy,
shabby loafer, and-because he has in.
suited her mother-a damned coward.
Lily is Miss Marie L0hr-a strange part
for girl actress in whose stage career
delicacy and distinction have been the
hand maidens of charm. But she played
her part; played 1t with force and pas
sion that carried all before her and
brought the house to her feet. Had the
curtain gone down then the piece had
been saved. But there follows a long
scene between the two men, with a
wearisome, long autobiographical speech
by the older, which the gallery resents.
1t resents equally being misled by the
author and by the in-and-out play CT
circumstance. and the doubt which Of
the lovers the girl means to have II
either; and the solution Of the moment
Is not the true solution.
When at last the curtain falls the
storm bursts in the gallery. With the
stupid impatience Of a mob, ii RACES
against the girl and sends her back TO
the wings in tears. There's no sense nor
reason in the tumult, but the roar goes
on and some Of the ladies In the stalls
begin 10 look white. The curtain goes
up again. and again Miss L6hr, with un
fllnChng courage, faces the tempest.
Think what ar experience for a girl of
twenty-One. out Of life all sunshine
into the black darkness Of this tornado;
not really meant for her, but how Is she
to know? The stalls applaud. One or
two men C 1e forward from the stalls
10 the footlishts and stand there ap-
plaudng till the curtain falls once more.
But the savages in the gallery are saw
ages to the end.
Derision succeeds to anger. The two
lovers appear together in the last act.
Lily remorseful over the ruined life of
the elder, had vowed to marry him. but
he emerges only to tell her he is going to
Rhodesia, and hands her back on a plate
to the younger man, whom she really
loves. This unhappy, yet happy, young
viscount, all through the end of the third
and the whole of the fourth act, is al
lowed nothing 10 do and nothing 70 say.
He is inert and dumb, Pinero gives him
no chance. He might as we'll have been
lay figure from Nine. Tussaud's And
on that note the play ends. Rot" wells
the gallery. It IS. In truth, 2 fine play,
with serious blemshes But the gallery
is on the lookout for faults, not merits.
vorites whom Pinero has pilloried. and
so far as this first night is concerned,
cries death and damnation TO the whole
Owing. am told. 10 a mistake. the
curtain rises twice. and there al the back
Of the stage is the pathetic figure Of Miss
Marie Lohr, in her Young beauty pale,
slight. erect. undaunted For the mo-
ment, play and players seemed enveloped
in one common ruin. but only for the
moment This is NOT the verdict Of
British audience We are indebted for
the sensations Of the evening 70 2 little
gang Of hooligans. not apparently, from
the East End but ~ Leicester Square or
the Strand. They and the new Juvenal
of the stage may divide the honor be
tween them
The disturbance was organized II Is
said. Very likely, but Sir Arthur Pinero
was one Of the organizers, 81 uncon-
sciously. but none the less fatally. He
seems to have thought he could affront
q great section Of the playgoing public
and atftont them safely He has been
interviewed and processes surprise that
II should be supposed he had any such
intention. His statement is 70 be ac-
cepted absolutely, but only at the ex-
pense Of his judgment There are people
who have nothing in common with
hooligans who think II a mistake TO
make the public parties 10 rivalry be-
tween different sections OF the theatre
world. They look upon this play as an
attack by the leader of one branch Of
the profession upon a competing branch:
and they regret IT, Sir Arthur Pinero has
gone behind the scenes of the musical
comedy theatre and into the homes Of
the actresses. Both are private. and he
has exposed both, or what he believes TO
be images Of both, 10 the public gaze
That. observes the Englishn1an who likes
fair play is not cricket G. ". S.
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