Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-09
-HE Difference to popular taste

for presenting plays which
startle by holiness Of theme
instead of appealing by force
of idea or grace of expression does not
seem to be entirely appreciated by that
same public for whose sake so much sac
Tifice of managerial modesty is made.
After numerous experiments with tri-
angular plots, the public fiocks to see
Peg o My Heart"
What dear public. could you see in
s'Peg o NV Hearth
1t is deficient in the essentials! No
cayenne pepper, No Roquefort! Nc
Brie No smoldering cigarette stumps.
: No fiat champagne, 1t is only a play
of sweetness and sentiment. Why. oh
public. do you persuade managers to
spend fortunes on producing plays sup
posed to fit your jaded requirements and
then go romping away with the first
guileness and irreproachable heroine who
comes along?
Peg o. Ny Heart is one of the
simplest and most Straightforward of
dramas, an old-fashioned love story. with
characters of the sort that the old Eng
nsh noveIists liked to draw. Even the
old-fashioned villain is a relief He OPP
crates from motives of sheer personal
perversity and does not seek to excuse
antagonsm to the Ten Commandments
and the police regulations scientific
or philosophical grounds. Miss Ryan is
seen to infinitely better advantage than
she was in "The Blue Mouse" which
was a French farce designed to please
tire public taste. She does some real
acting Peg ard her melifluous bit of
a brogue is so subtle and secure that 1t
is plain To lie seen she employs it not
only by the grace of art, but by right
of inheritance.
When the public wasn't going to see
"Peg o My Heart it was following Hob
ert billiard as the suavely explanatory
guide through museum which displays
all the para phernalia of practical detec-
tive work. The play was created under
the guidance of the famous detective
Mr. Burns. who has contributed SO much
mechanical assistance that the task OF
the acting company consists to large
degree of sitting quietly and seeing that
none of the electricity gets short-cir-
Quilted.
1t has no punch and doesn't need. any.
The audience has the plot pretty thor
oughly worked out in it's own mind be-
fore the end OF the first act. but the
incidents are interesting. and there
is a sense of relief at seeing the
man whom nobody liked at the outset
handcuffed and marched off the stage
SO that he will not be an unworthy spec
tator of the love scene which concludes
the play. A play like THE Argyle Case"
Is good wholesome drama, direct in its
method almost to the point Of crudity,
but meeting its audience on ground Of
common interest apart from all theoriz-
ing 1t is novelty in that 1t deals with
facts. without attempting to distort them
in order to win sympathy or maintain
an alteration.
Perhaps the fact play viii become an
institution along with the problem play
and the purpose play.
So far as it's acting requirements are
concerned THE Argyle Case" comes
pretty near being vacation for player
OF MIR. billiards. exceptional attachments
in the portraiture of complex and. in
tense roles.
May Robson always has a series Of
laughs awaiting, and with them some gen.
erous touches OF kindly pathos. Mrs. Mat
Piummer seems to have been written
with the idea of getting even with
Omaha, Neb. Just what Omaha has ever
done to be held up to public jeers as a
.'rube'' community is not made clear.
Miss Robson might easily have spared
her audience some of the ultra sophistica-
ton introduced into the dialogue by way
of humorous establishment. Some laughs
are not worth having.
Recurring to the efforts to give the
public what it wants: 1t wanted Sothern
and Marlowe in Shakespeare; 1t wanted
Quo Vadis?" in pictures and has shown
unlimited enthusiasm over the film pro-
duction of Les Miserabes." 1t would be
remarkable indeed if the classics were
to force themselves to the front as In
reality the popular diversion. The dramas
whose themes are harshly repellant to
those who regard the theater an a place
for entertainment and not for hard think
ing may be exerting an influence toward
more serious consideration of the stage.
For harsh plays do compel hard thought.
and the mind-weary may easily turn to
the poetic forms for relief from the in
tellectual gloom likely to gather when
there is too much study of merciless
PHILOSOPHERS.
The present week promises a series of
pleasant evenings for the playgoer. The
very title of Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs' is allurement. Ever since
Maude Adams asked the American people
If they believed in fairies they have been
doing their best TO remove all question on
that point ''Disraeli'' is splendid char
acter picture which puts the spectator on
terms of almost personal acquaintance
with one of the most fascinating charac-
tiers in English history. The Honey
Bee is a new play, but the name of its
producer. Harrison Grey Fiske, lends con-
fdence The Academy turns from the
idyllic theme OF "Old Lace and Lavender"
TO that marvelously patient representative
OF indiscriminate optimism. Mr.. Happy
Hooiigan Polls by presenting The Meier
Do Well maintains its policy of Offering
standard plays with view to general eff
ficiency of cast rather than TO stellar ex-
ploitation and vaudeville promises dash
of the heavy legitimate in r. III. Davis
one-act play, "Blackmail. Patrons of
vaudeville in its more tabloid aspect will
find various entertainment at the Cosmos
and the Casino, and burlesque will reveal
one of its stalwart veterans in Mr.. VIII
liam Watson, who. to avoid being mis-
taken for the English poet OF the same
name. calls himself Billy" for short.
PHILANDER JOHNSON.