The Washington times., 1913-04-01
Julia Murdock Praises Stagecraft of
Miss Mary Nash in Belasco Drama

rrVv HAT do you think Of white
NJ crepe de chine. all hand
w embroidered with pearls?'
asks Wanda Kelly, the
telephone girl. Of her chum. Lulu, over
the wire. as the curtain descends upon
the last act Of THE Woman" which
is being played In the Columbia Thea
ter this week. This question indicates
to the audience that that most desirable
Of dramatic attributes. happy ending,
has been reached. and the audience
goes home thoroughly satisfied. even
though this play of political intrigue
and cross purposes has been called by
several critical highbrows "a parlor
melodrama-"
Melodrama II may be, but II is a fine
piece of dramatic construction, a piece
in which situation dominates and in
which suspense is maintained with in
tensity throughout the three acts. Once
in a while the dialogue seems trifie
forced, but there are enough snappy
lines to make the play brilliant as a
whole.
The theme possesses some measure Of
novelty. for at the end Of the first act.
when the audience discovers that The
Woman" whose one and only false step
from the path of rectitude is to be used
as the means by which a dishonest
statesman is to be coerced into legis-
lative honesty. it is evident that only so
long as her identity is kept secret
from her father, husband, and brother
will the play hold interest.
One sentence In the second act would
have ended the drama, but this SEN
tence remains unspoken. and the brave
little telephone girl who could have set
everything right, refuses to enlighten
the men who question her. and hands
the audience three hours of pleasant
suspense.
OF course some OF the situations are
improbable-what play exists that does
not have this same fault? No girl with
the ginger and grit that wanda Kelly
displays would have submitted to the
merciless third degree through which
she was put by Jim Blake, Mark Rob-
ertson, Van Dyke, Tim Neligan, and
the remainder of that precious bunch of
politicians. even though threatened with
arrest.
No Young man with red blood in his
veins nave Sioou iNiS ~
done nothing to save his fiancee. al
though advice from him would have
prevented her from answering any OF
the questions put to her. But all OF
these things go to produce nice situa-
tions, and they are made the most of by
the master hand of Belasco, ably as
sisted by a splendid company.
In these days of political activity the
figure OF a statesman forms more I'M.
portant part in a play than he would
he in less strenuous times AT any rate.
the chara acterization by John W. cope
of the Representative from ILLINOIS,
was remarkably Photographic. Quite as
fine a bit of character work was con-
tributed by William Holden as Tim
Seligan. the Irish Representative from
PENNSYLVANIA. and others who were ex-
celIent as members of the political ring
yxcre Edwin Holt, as the Hon. Mark
robertson, Representative from New
Work. who takes the part: Hon. Silas
Grcge Representative from the SUM-
flower state, and Cuyler Hastings. as
Hon. Hatthew Standish. the insurgcnt.
The love story is rather family traced
through the various scenes of the piece,
and IL Is not until the close or the iast
act. that the audience is sure tnat
everything will end happily for the III.
tie telephone girl and Tom Bake, son Oh
the man who leads his party.
Relasco realism has become oy-
word among stage people. but many
neonJe fail to realize the true signin-
cance of it until they have seen the