The Washington herald., 1913-02-16
THE YELLOW JACKET"
IS HIGHLY NDORSED
Florenee Reed Makes First Appearance
Here as q Star in "The Painted
Woman"
ny JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

enter Tomorrow night looms large with
interest, bringing to Washington tha,
poetic and capricious Chinese play, 'Ths
Yellow Jacket about which we hav.
been hearing SO much; THE Painted
Woman" a new William A. Brady pro
duction which had its premier in Balti
more last week. and the return of Fran
ces Starr in ''The Case Of Becky"
In anticipation of The Yellow Jacket
at the Columbia this week, the bulletin
Of the playgoing committee of the Wash
ington Center of the Drama League
urging lovers OF the theater to see thi,
remarkable Chinese play during 1t.
Washington engagement, circulating the
unstinted praise of the piece as voiced
by the MacDowelI Club. of New York
through its committee on drama, and
others of the leagues New York advis.
ers. r-- .---.. -..... ... -.--s
THE Yellow Jacket" is the joint work
of George c. Hazelton and ]. Harry
Benrimo. Mr.. Hazelton is a lawyer who
has been best known to the stage as
the author of Mistress Nell" in which
Henrietta Crosman made her greatest
success. Before he reached the voting
age he appeared in small part with
Booth and Modjeska, where he obtain
ed the rudiments of his dramatic educa.
tion. Later he lived for a time in San
Francisco. His father, who was a men,
ber of Congress. had to deal with prob
lens touching Chinese immigration and
Mr.. Hazelton found plenty of chance to
study the Chinese from Ii Hung Chang
and WI Ting-fang, down to the coolie.
When Mr.. Berimo, whS lived in China
when a boy, and who speaks the Ian
suage. came to New York with THE First
Eorn,'' he and Mr.. Hazelton became
friends and they agreed to collaborate on
The Yellow Jacket" which was named,
by the way, in honor of Mr.. Hazelton' s
friend, Ii Hung Chang.
The Painted Woman" which William
y. Brady is bringing to the Belasco this
week is the work of Frederick Arnold
hummer, a Marylander. by present right
of residence. The piece, which is said
t. be a revival of the romantic melo-
drama. serves to introduce Florence
Reed a star. She is the daughter OF
the late Roland Reed. whose opposition
TO a stage career for his beautiful young
daughter acted as a restraint upon her
ambitions until after his death. The
Florence Reed who plays the eNacting
role of Ramona" in The Painted Wom-
man" must no be confused with the
musical comedy player of the same name.
The Brady star halls from Philadelphia,
where she WAS educated at the Convent
of the Sacred Heart. Her first stage eN
perience was gained with E. II. Sothern,
after which she received thorough
stock schooling, playing as far West as
the Pacific Coast. later returning TO the
Fast, where she won recognition through
her characterization of Ann Brown in
Seven Days Miss Reed has recently
heen playing in THE Master in the
House.
Frances Starr. who is distinctly a
product of the Belasco method, returns
I,
ir The Case of Becky" a stage char
acteTization which ranks among the
most notable achievements of our Ameri-
can drama.
When seven years ago Miss Starr was
IIaying the leading feminine role with
David Warfield in THE Music Master"
her magnetism, youth and beauty made
:. strong appeal to the theater-going
public and was SO convincing to Mr..
Besco that one day he sent for Mr..
Warield's little leading lady to call at
his Office. During her engagement in
this city last season in THE Case of
Becky" Miss Starr described her sensa-
tion upon receiving Mr.. Belascos sum-
mons as the most dramatic moment in
her lfe-and such it proved to be. for
the interview was the beginning of her
real career. Months We're spent in max
ing ready for her first important role,
Jaunita. in The Rose of the Rancho"
which. from its first presentation, was
distinct success Then came The Easi-
est Way" which meant harder work for
Mr.. Belasco's new luminary than ever,
hut she emerged from it Triumphant,
Glorifying both herself and her astute
manager.
In The Case of Becky" Miss Starr is
playing the most exacting role of her
stage life; one which calls for the dis
play of dual personality. She portrays
two distinct characters manifested in
one body-a personality with two entirely
different selves-one sweet, lovable, re-
fined. and beautiful; the other cold, hard,
vicious and cunning. One of these two
selves gains the mastery over the other,
which makes the story of Edward
Locke's remarkabl play.
We are to have this week at the
Academy the first presentation of Will
lam Vaughn Moodv's play, THE Great
Divide" by metropolitan company at
popular prices, which recalls an anus
ing circumstance in the premier produc-
tion of the piece at the Belasco Theater,
September II, 1906. with Margaret AnSlin
and Henry Miller as cO-stars. Washing
ton dramatic writers who were among
the ''first-nighters'' were SO depressed by
the disagreeablc theme of the play as to
find themselves capable of talking to the
public of little else Believing the critics
to be in error Mr.. Miller took the piece
Immediately to New York where it ran
for six months in Days Theater. re-
ceiving the stamp of New York ap-
rrovaI For one night, March 4, 1907.
The Great Divide was brought back to
Washington by way of impressing those
who had predicted failure for the pro-
duction with how very little their opin-
ions amounted to after all,
The announcement that Charles B.
Hanford, r. D.. MacLean. Odette Tyler,
and Marie Drofnah will come to the
Columbia. Theater next week in classic
Shakespearean repertoire calls once more
to our attention the many successful
rivals of Shakespeare this season. AL
ready We have had Sothern and Mar
lowe for two weeks, William Faversham
in his splendid rival of Julius Caesar"
for one week, and following the Mac
Lean Hanford engagement We are yet to
have Robert Mantell.
Aside from Shakespearean revivals,
which make their own peculiar appeal.
standing in a class apart, Washington
does not want clean drama IL We are to
believe a statement made to me last