Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-24
New National.

Ever since the prehistoric days When
Mother Eve demonstrated to the full sat
isfaction of her masculine posterity, at
least, and brought the curse of death
upon mankind thereby, the super-will OF
woman the struggle has been going on
to prove that she is mans equal and
ought to be recognized as such.
John Drew and his splendid supporting
company with Alfred SutrO's four-act
comedy The PerpleXej Husband, at the
National 'Theater last evening, repeated
the lesson of Mother Eve with telling
force and with four of the Infinite va
riety of types of femininity.
And, be it said to the credit of the au-
thor who of course, employed eXaggera-
ton to emphasize the lesson of his play,
there was not "a single type that was a
loser. On the contrary. when the last
curtain fell upon happy reunited young
married couple, there was not a man in
the audience that ana not feel the crush
ing force of the inferiority of his own
sex. Furthermore, it does not seem to be
mistake to say that any one of the
types of adorable woman presented Was
a deadly, dangerous one TO be feared, IL
woman ever comes to the realizing sense
of her own power in the masculine world.
Thomas PellinS, tea merchant who
has been absent for a month on business,
is just coming home, his face aSlow and
his heart jumping with JOY at the pros
pect of the reunion with his adored wife
and little children. His first shock comes
when she fails to meet him. as usual, at
the railway station. and it blossoms into
a full tragedy when he gets home and
learns that his loving and confidins wife
has been convinced that heretofore she
has simply been "a doll, a plaything of
his, a sort of sultana in his harem and
that henceforth she is going to live her
own life The only possibility in the
world he has offered him of retaining her
at all seems to be that he shall fall in
line and recognize she is his equal
and some more things like that.
house guests for two weeks past. since
her conversion" the master of the
cult" big. fat, old humbug. who
eventually proves to be poor, weak,
harmless sort of man. who has a fond
ness for eating and drinking and being
adored. and a heroic disciple of the
cause" who has deserted her husband
and children for it-not for "a man
around the corner''-and who lives up
to her convictions. even after she has
been deserted by all her chief sup
porters.
Thomas would have made a sorry mess
of it, with his seemingly wrecked home.
had it not been for his sister. Agatha
Margel, the matter-of-fact woman. who
knew she had all the other women We're
clamoring for without opposing her hus-
band or even seeming to fight for it
Agatha suggests q Sermiclde' in the
form OF a pretty. sentimental INpeWTlllSC
who has been fired from Pellings firm
because she would Intervene lines of
Browning with her business letters and
had the habit of softening the vigor of
her dictation because of her love for the
beautiful" Her name was Elizabeth
Green. but she had adopted the ascetic
one of Kalleia Da Vinci and liked to be
called kalleia because it was $50 beauti-
full In fact, Kalleia told right from
wrong always by it's beauty or it's ugli-
ness.
She consented to help Polling because
''he needed her. and also because she
longed to go to Athens that she might
attend one of the adorable ancient Greek
temples kalleia disarmed the MASTER, y
angered Dulcie, his heroic disciple; made
Sophie. the young wife, jealous. and
brought things to a happy climax by re-
moving the chief cause, the master"
and taking him to Athens to protect her
and carry her bundles. His deSertion
restored the status quo with the wife and
husband, who We're locked in fond en-
brace as the last curtain fell and heroic
Dulcie tragically marched out with
declaration of undying loyalty to the
cause
There is more of real substance to the
play than anything in which MIR. Drew
has appeared here for long time. 1t
makes him really act. and when he has
to he does it well. 1t furnishes a new
characterization for Miss Mary Boland
that is eXquisitely played. 1t discloses
Alice John as a delightful actress in the
type of the Just ordinary woman; Nina
Sevening, as a charming type of wife, and
Margaret Watson as exceedingly
clever portrayer of the "heroic type"
Herbert bruce, as Clarence Woodhouse.
1.-The MASTER is immense, even if he
does resort to the Dickens method of
eXaggeration to push a point, and Walter
Soldering is all that d decorous old serv-
ant in the family should be. 1t is not
woman suffrage discourse, but goes deep
into the relation of man and woman in
the world.