The Washington times., 1913-09-23
Play by Washingtonian, She
Says, Could Be Greatly
improved.

Perhaps some day AT Bay,
which is being played for the
| first three days of the week in
the Belasco Theater. may be a Broad
| way success. Stranger things than that
have happened. But before this be-
comes a fact. the play will have to be
| pruned. manicured. and subjected to a
process Of elimination that will trans
| form It into something entirely differ
! ent from It's present form, and even
| then doubt II this drama, from the
pen Of the author of 'The Lure" ever
| will be accepted by any but the ten
| twenty thirty audiences; perhaps MOI
| even by them, for they demand action
| with their melodrama, and AT Bay
lacks much in this respect. d..
The piece Is prelix, verbose. and It's
long -drawn-o out story Is devoid of novel
ty while the situations are forced and
/, improbable. all Of which served to drag
the play along until almost midnight
last night.
"At Bay" is a melodrama of the most
pronounced type. though its author
does not call 1t so. Advance press mat
ter named II as "the newest gripping
! thrill play" and though 1t Ii in four
acts. it took all Of them to tell the
story that might easily have been told
in a twenty minute vaudeville sketch.
Beautiful Heroine
Tricked BY Mock Wedding.
In this play of Mr.. Scarborough there
IL, of course. the beautiful heroine.
tricked into a secret marriage which
she has afterward been assured was
mock ceremony; q father. the district
attorney, who Is torn between love and
duty when the test comes; dashing
young lover, who believes In the girl,
and who makes violent and constant
love to her In delightful Irish brogue.
a la Fiske Hara, and who believes in
her through thick and thin: villain.
who is a man Of mysterious occupa-
ton but abundant means, who buys
from chaufYeurs and servants incrimi-
mating letters written by unwise wives;
an old school detective who has all the
technique of the melodramatic pussy
foot at his fingers tips: Filipino serv-
ant; a priest who talks like ward
politician and wears his hands in his
trousers pockets most Of the time;
world-famed surgeon, who says the
word that saves the girl and her lover
from the gallows; sprinkling OF pa
trolmen and inspectors in brand-new
suits and shiny batons. and several
other gentlemen. fourteen in all, who
help to make the wheels of the play go
round.
Then, there is the telephone-one cam
not forget the busy little telephone In
fact, nobody was allowed to forget the
telephone last night, for in the four
greater portion OF the plot OF the play
was shouted into the receptive little
Instrument.
have often wondered what play
wiightS would do without those con-
venient first aids Io the dramatist.
What did William Shakespeare do
when he wanted to create a situation
or crawl out oil one with no telephone
10 depend upon?
Friend telephone occupied table in
the parlor OF the Graham home in the
late afternoon. of the day the play
opened. II occupied a prominent place
on the desk in rlagg's library. several
hours later. il tinkled Its merry little
tune half an hour later in Holbrook's
apartments, and it was again, found on
the job in The Graham home the next
morning. Whenever the story of the
play halted. there was the telephone
IuSt sitting around nice and convenient
waiting for some one TO come and con-
tide a portion of the plot INTO IT'S walt
ing receiver.
The story Of the play in brief is as
follows:
Here Is the Story
Of the Secret Service Play.
A newspaper correspondent while dy
ing after the siege of Port Arthur. calls
in vain for a priest. There is none to
be had, so Capt. Larry" Holbrook, L
drill master OF the Japanese troops.
tells him he is a priest, and the dying
man contides to his supposed confessor
that he has tricked a girl in Washing
ton into a mock marriage. He exacts
a promise from Holbrook 10 go 10 the
the wrong; which the captain proceeds
10 do.
Arriving in Washington he learns that
the correspondents victim is the daugh-
ter of the district attorney, promi-
nent society girl who has carefully
guarded her secret.
Holbrook falls in love with her. and
wishes to marry her, though she re-
fuses him, not giving a reason for her
refusal. When Woolworth. the cor
respondent, has left the girl. she has
written him a letter of reproof. which
has somehow fallen into the hands of
Judson FlaSg. lawyer and blackmailer.
He bides his time. then demands Of the
girl $1,000 for the letter. giving her the
alternative OF exposure. She goes To
his office. pays him all the money she
can raise, but he Is not content. and
insults her. In the struggle. she picks