The Washington times., 1913-11-06

| MAN VINO seldom goes To the
| ~ theater went to the National
last night to see Mr.. Hilliard
In The Argyle Case" After
| the performance I asked him IL he en-
joyed 1t.
Fine said he ITS a good play
and Hilliard is fine actor. Any man
| must be fine actor who can make
props play up to him the way Hilliard
does in this piece"
And 1t struck me all at once that this
description from the viewpoint of a
layman came closer to describing the
play itself and the work of the star
than anything that had seen in any
of the many reviews which / had read
since the piece had its initial production
some months ago.
Taking the play in detail act by act,
1t Is hard to remember any that ap-
proaches 1t In the importance of the
props themselves and the manner in
which the leading character must force
them to work for him." And this Is
quite aside from the big scene Of the
play, In which. Of course. the action
ic constantly accompanied by the work
of the dictograph. Props" should al
most be given a name position in the
printed cast instead of appearing among
the ''also rams at the end, along with
/ the inevitable Gowns and Hats by
etc. And the way IN which Mr. Hilliard
makes them serve his purposes Is truly
wonderful One does not notice 1t par
ticularly at the time. but ones atten-
tion having been called to 1t, 1t is easy
20 remember that one of the best laughs
of the evening comes from the inimit-
able way in which Mr.. Hilliard puts a
box of cigars away in his desk. when
his office Is invaded by a friend who
has filled his pockets on the occasion Of
a previous visit
Details Important
All Through the Play.
The Importance of all these details Of
''The Argyle Case" which can only be
furnished by the judicious handling of
the numerous properties, Is made mani
fest before a word Is spoken. At the
very rise Of the curtain, which reveals
the room In which Argyle has been muir
dererd, the first thing which attracts
the attention In the almost complete
darkness. is heap of things on the
IOofs ioeSi 81 oS>" =" SS NA'S
remnants of bric-a-brac which at a time
previous to the death struggle had
adorned a nearby table.
1 can remember now that this very
bile of debris furnished fully three min
utes' business for Joe. the great de-
tective's Man Friday. and during all that
time he did not utter a word.
Again during the action OF the first
act fully onc-third of Mr.. billiards time
is spent at a desk at the. opposite side
Of the room from the table where, from
time to time, he goes through every
drawer and pigeonhole, handling and re-
handling documents Of every descrip-
ton. A prop in the shape of counter
felt 500 bill furnishes him with one of
the first clues toward the solution OF
the murder mystery, which Is the mo-
tive for the play, and in the course of
the same &C. the two-detective and as
sistant-get fully five minutes of action
out of a shaker filled with powder and
a megnifying glass, with which they
discover finger prints on the table which
furnish an added clue that goes long
way toward helping them bring the
crime to a successful solution.
And so il goes throughout the even
ing. There is hardly a moment when
the detective is not working with some