New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-02-08
WHY YALE WINS OFTEN THE UNWRTTEN LAW
Edwin M. RoyIe's MeIodrama
Offered at the Fulton.
MAY BUCKLEY PLAYS WELL
Rather Sordid Punch" Theme
Gives Opportunities to Sew
eral in the Cast.

There are no friends like the old
friends goes the antique proverb. And
playwrights believe in it to this day.
The Unwritten Law presents one old
friend, the eX-uprisht man, who falls
from glory through drink and drags his
family down to poverty i'm a drunkards
home. Then comes in our old friend, the
seducer who in more senses than one
takes the place Of father in the family
after father has left it in disgrace. There
is the young mother, who goes through
I, with everything for the chidren's sake"
even 10 the extent OF numbering the man
who had seduced her-and paid her bills.
There is the honest young District At
torney. in love with the daughter OF the
unfortunate family. And SO on There is
not an unfamiliar move in the whole
play To cap the climax. there is a
triumphant hypnotism scene, in which
mothers darkcned memory is restored.
During this entertaining scene she con-
fesses the murder only TO be forgiven
by the grand Jury on account Of the un-
written law. which evidently allows a
married woman to kill her lover for her
children's sake.
The decision was. after all. not a sur
prise after one had seen tho members Of
this particular grand jury They caused
the one rio. of merrimcnt of the evening
and nearly broke mp the gravity Of the
scene in which they figured. But to de-
scribe them more in detail would be
cruel.
The thing that makes the play geein
without novelty or freshness is not that
il has old themes and situations md
characters, of course. but that ii does
nothing with them. 1t simply presents a
sordid spectacle to no end. IL has a
punch" In fact it is literally sprinkled
with punches, but audiences have been
punched so much for the last year or two
that they are beginning to take this pleas
urc trife YEARLY. A blow, they say. is
no longer a stimulant in the twenty-httl
round
However. there was some good acting.
MAY Buckley in the perplexngly COM
plicatcd role of a woman OF fine breeding.
who had been driven. through miserable
poverty. To becoming a laundress ana
who later became an adulteress and fina !
Is a murderess, yet who throughout Was
practically a goddess of purity and love
maintained her balance with considerable
dignity. She showed power. variety anG
feeling. Two years ago Miss Buckley
made a distinct impression here in the
title role of "The Little Damozel. The
impression has not been forgotten. and
her work in this new play merely
strengthens it.
Frank Sheridan kept within bounds the
role of seducer. an Irish 'saloonkeeper
with a straight laugh and crooked past.
He never overacted. although he mad
tempting opportunities.
Fselle, the siren who won away the
! heart" of the freshman, was practically
the audiences favorite. a bright smile
and a bright complexion, cynicai lie
and a merry one. appealed strongly. IL
was well set forth and in decalcomania
colors by Grace Goodall. Tommy Tooin
played pert little boy TO perfection ana
Jean Mercct was acceptable as the young
daughter.
But OH the grand jury
ssrU