New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-30
TRIAL MARRIAGE
Helen Wares Hit in New Emo
tionaI Drama.
MEANT FOR PROBLEM PLAY
put the Problem" Is Solved
as Soon as 1t Is
Stated.

The dramatic menu is just now proVid-
-, dishes of strong meat. Mr.. Elmer
IIorris. whoever he may be, is the latest
ontbor TO provide dish which requires
aharn sauce to help ii down. His play has
r,erit II would have more were certain
ugh edges smoothed and certain marks
ofimmature authorship torn out. Thechlei
hing is, no doubt, that Mr.. Elmer Harris
hoe provided Helen Ware with play.
md as the play is for Miss Ware every
ono will guess without more ado that Its
,rincIpal part is an "emotional one
There is an abundance OF emotion" Miss
Ware has not been disappointed in her
PLAYWRIGHT, so far this provision goes.
The name explains the play, almost tells
,be story. The trial marriage is entered
anon by Mr.. Blair Thomas and Miss
Narie Ridgway. Mr.. Thomas is lecturer
,n-well, on other subjects, no doubt, but
,specially on trial marriage. Miss Ridg-
way is a daughter of supposedly rich
md undeniably smart" and vulgar fam
Nv. She becomes a nurse. II may be that
,he needs a guardian.
Now this trial marriage" upon which
the loving pair embark is sheer hum
bug. II you state the truth in the mildest
possible terms. For after much talk OF
courage and defiance Of the world and
all the rest Of 1t, Blair and Marie slip
of to some Isolated place on the coast Of
Maine and pass the summer together in
. bungalow belonging TO their old friend
Alexander Prince. an actor. Nobody but
Prince knows who they are nor why they
are where they are until paragraph In
a country newspaper startles them into
remembering the world and their position
BY this time three months have gone, and
Thomas has become Jealous, violently
Jealous, Of Uncle Alec" the actor. It Is
sufficient to say that doubling Thomas
accuses his trial wife OF infidelity, that
he half chokes her and that she thrusts
him out Of doors at night in thunder
storm.
But trial marriage" conducted on
these terms Of secrecy is only a liaison,
ike many another, let the parties to 1t
love as much as they may. The entire
issue raised by the title OF the play is
evaded by the dramatist. A trial mar
riage," you would suppose, must be open,
like any other marriage. not hidden and
secret dalliance, else why is the world
deafened with so much talk Of valor and
the breaking of stupid conventions. n
man and woman run away in secret, live
together in secret, are dismayed when
they think they are discovered and that
scandal will follow them. In the last act
of the play everything is made right
BY loving reunion, a wedding ring and
promise of tine customary legal ceremony.
Many Opponents have been thus con-
Quoted and have terminated in similar
way, but none ever took the trouble 10
call them trial marriages" But II any
stick is good enough for beating Jog
any name or theme is good enough for
play, IL the actors can get it over" The
actors get it over in this case, Helen
Ware chiefly, and then Charles A. Steven
son and Harrison Hunter. Their acting
interested the house. The applause was
LIBERAL But it need not be thought that
the dramatist raised a problem. although
ne discussed one. There was no trial
marriage"
But there are clever, amusing and
strong scenes in the play. There are also
Iome superfuous and jarring characters
and among these is an indoor man SO
badly trained that he spills all the fat In
lhe fire by his inconsiderate method Of an
nouncing a caller The dramatist's good
work. however, outweighs his poor work
What the result may be the admirers OF
emotional acting will decide Although
the play is short 1t needs cutting. II also
needs a new name. A. W
CAST OF TRIAL MARRIAGE
Robert Payne-Stewart. 900. Robert H HUDSON