The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-12-31
NATIONAL.
"a Good Little Devil"

play which gave him such splendid
chance to display his tenderness for little
children, and the simplicity of his own
nature as does "a Good Little Devil. -
the fairy play in three acts which be-
gan a weeks engagement at the New Ma
tional last night
After the announcement that the piece
has been adapted from the French OF
Rosemonde Gerard and Maurice Rostand
by Austin Strong, the programme reads:
"A mother dipped her pen one day
Into the heart Of her son.
And the poet chap, who sings through
the whole OF the story because he must
comes before the curtain and con-
fides to the audience that that is poetry
enough" after which he says that he
shall see the house where the Good Little
DeviT' is kept a prisoner by his wicked
aunt, Mrs. MacMiche, in which house
strange things happen, after which he
rings a dinner bell and the curtain slowly
rises on a vision of the kitchen, with its
deal table, its homely chairs, its chest
of drawers, its suffering tallow candles,
it's windows stuffed with rags and pasted
over with old newspapers in lieu of the
, glass panes which have long since de-
parted, and its eerie fireplace. in which
the lurid embers glow under the tea
kettle hanging on the crane. The curtain
Is but halfway up, but We know, even
now, that whoever lives here is in league
with the evil one, for right before our
eyes on the hearthstone in a sinister
looking caldron and hanging on the wall
in just the spot a dear. good old lady
would have a framed motto asking Gods
benediction on her home hangs a large
numbe- j..
The curtain is still going up, and now
we catch a glimpse of the attic. just
as the poet chap promised us in his
quaint prologue we should see, the old
smoke-begrimed attic. with its curtainless
windows, and its rickety old bed where
the Good Little Devil sleeps without
his supper. There are no need of words,
once We have seen this bleak and dis
NAL garnet, to tell US of the terrors and
joys of the lonely. motherless. helpless
boy, who the wicked mother MacMiche
mates because she fears the fairies whose
friendship she is sure young Charles pos
sesses.
Whose Imagination but a Childs, or
that OF grown-up man, who has never
forgotten his childhood with its rose
pink dreams, could ever have cOnjured
up this abode which every man and wom-
an instantly recognizes as a long for
gotten dream?
When the evil old witch sends the boy
to his cold and cherries bed, showerinS
blows on his body. and filling his ears
with vile abuse chOky little lump rises
= l,
lowed when the Queen of the Fairies and
her subjects fly through the air in at the
little garnet window, making even the
stars come out to see them as they pass
filling the Uttered room with laughter,
which sounds just like the gurGling of a
brook after whom comes the the weeniest
little fairy you ever saw in your life.
Thought bringing the boy
three kisses from his mother one for love.
one for memory. and one for courage, all
Of which he will greatly need, for he is
bout to depart with old Nick, ST. and
old Nick. jr." Principals of the Big
Black School, at Balahullish where
scores Of motherless boys are kept pris-
oners with all the joy OF youth crushed
out OF their happy little souls.
Just as wonderful as the little old
house of Mrs. MacMiche is the beau
tiful garden scene of the second act,
where the Good Little Devil" comes
back 10 his sweetheart, Juliet after an
absence of two years. which have been
spent at the Big Black School" Here
the Belasco ina gination runs riot for
quaint indeed is the pretty cottage
where the little blind Juliet lives with
her sister Marian-the old-fashioned
flowers growing in the dooryard; the
magic well, down which one has but to
look and make a wish and 10, the wish
comes true; best of all. the great gnarled
oak tree with its hollow trunk. When
the briSht-winged fairies come troop
ing out Of the hollow trunk of the old
oak the observer is brought in such in
innate contact with the genius of Da-
Vid BelasCO that he feels an almost
personal acquaintance with the pro-
Queer of this wonderful fairy tale.
which was written by the wife and
son of EdmOnde Rostand, the immortal
French dramatist-a airy tale told to
and afterward made into a tender story
to stir the heart of man to exquisite
tenderness for all children who are lit
tie, lonely. misunderstood. and deprived
of the short. short span of Childhood's
dreams because of the distance which |
lies between the understanding of the
adult mind and that of the child. whose
brain is the abode of an eternal spring
time.
Here in Juliets garden comes her
sweetheart, Charles, after his two years
Of enforced absence, and here come the |
fairies to hang the moon in the sky and |
Danish sunshine just to create the proper |
atmosphere of romance that the boy and J
girl lovers may kiss. after which they |
bring back the daylight and the sun |
beams, and all the runaway boys from |
the big Black School, come trOoping |
in with the dear and simple poet chap, |
who is very much in love with Betsy, |
the little maid of the MacMChe house |
hold. who does much of work and re- !
Ceives little of thanks-the poet chap who !
always comes before the curtain before |
each act and tells the audience what |
they are to expect in a most refreshing |
manner.
But no one will buy his songs, so he |
teaches the boys of THE Big Black |
School, and is their only friend when |
the two old Nicks" and Mother Mac |
Niche trail them all to Juliets nature
garden. when all the blame falls upon |
the Good Little Devil who is mauled |
about and finally handcuffed to be taken
hack to his cruel prison.
In the midst OF this confusion comes |
a letter to the wicked aunt, telling her |
that the boys rich uncle. who placed !
him in her care and furnished her gener-
Gus funds for his comfort. has died, |
leaving Charles fortune and making
him a lord of high degree.
When the great, soft folds of the green
velvet curtain are lifted before the third
act the poet chap comes before the usual
second drop and tells us that many years
have passed since Charles went away to !
live in a castle and associate with roy
atty, during which time many things
have happened-things so sad that he
hasn't the heart to tell ii all. and so the
curtain goes up to let US see for our
selves
Again we are in the home of Mother
MacMiche, a very much changed and
softened MacMiche is the old woman
who has now taken the attic for her
NkaN H. F,F 1