The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-12-14
D. JAMEs 5. MErcALF.

BY JAMES S. METCALF.
New York, Dec. 13.-virtue is not only
its own reward, but on the stage it pays.
This sage remark is melted by the fact
that within the Law" is about to leave
us after contiguous run of almost sew
enty weeks, and with nine other COM
panies touring various parts of the coun-
try. In London the play has reached its
,sOOth Performance.
Also on the side of virtue is the reward
of wholesome and clean Peg o. My
Heart" which in Thanksgiving week
played here to over $4,000, while on
Thanksgiving Day alone the original
Peg" company and the four touring
companies gathered at their box-offices
something more than 81, 800.
On the other hand, the noxious plays
called The Lure and THE Fight =
with all their advertising and Shiny
notoriety, seem to have sunk out of sight.
For time they enjoyed feverish pat
ronage from that element in the public
which ficcks to anything that is notori-
Gus, but which quickly melts away the
moment the notoriety wanes. Our
selves" which also based its claim to
patronage on a little more creditable
handling of the white slave question,
went up the fiue Saturday evening after
only few weeks of life, and helps point
the statement that the clean things on
the stage are the ones that draw the
big profits.
Princess Tries Again.
The little Princess Theater has not
been SO successful in its choice of plays
this season. Last year the original bill
of playlets ran unchanged up to closing
time. The five-playlet combination put
on in September contained one that for
oil cd m nj ha
less public, and another that violated
a foreign copyright. They had to be
lifted and two others were substituted
at private performance; of these one
was too gruesome even for the selected
audiences, and the other, Russia, was
so shocking to the religious feelings OF
those who saw it that in order to keep
IGhe theater open the gap in the pro-
gram was filed up by putting into the
bill again Fear" which was fairly sue
cessful last year.
Now the bill has been changed again.
Fear is dropped, but the three sue
cesses are retained. These are THE
&ask," which is a most ingenious thrill
er, and The Bride" and EN- Desha-
billie both risky, the former farcical
and funny, the latter ingenious and witty.
One of the additions is called 'Hara-
Kiri." The other added number is the
Russia referred to above, but with
changes that are supposed to make it
less shocking.
The Princess will have to bestir itself
and secure better material if it is going
to hold its place as the home of the most
advanced and bizarre dramatic enter
prise in America
MiIder In Tone.
Very much in contrast to these lurid
things is the elemental sentiment to be
found in THE Things that Count pro-
duced at the Maxine Elliot, by Mr.. w.
"a Brady as an appropriate Offering for
tbe Christmas season. The same play
had a few matinee presentations at the
Harris year or so ago under the title
Of Mrs. Christmas Angel
Mr.. Lawrence Eyre, the author, pre-
sents as his principal character female
Scrooge in the person of a rich New
1Gork woman, who has refused to recog-
nize her sons widow because she thought
he had married beneath his station. Led
by Jealous suspicious of her husband she
trails him to a downtown tenement
where he and others are providing
Christmas party for the little laughter
of an attractive young woman. who is
gaining a scant livelihood for them both
by her sewing machine. OF course, the
young woman is the widow and the
daughter the grandchild of the rich per-
IS softened by the Christmas spirit
The play is eXcellently cast, that re-
liable artist, Florine Arnold, winning new
laurels as the irascible rich woman with
4 forbidding exterior but a soft heart
within. Alice Brady. daughter of the
manager, is still very young, but in the
part of the widow is most attractive, and
gives promise, with added experience. of
becoming a good actress. Lineage is also
shown in the diminutive person of Edna
w. Hopper-the w. presumably standing
for WaIlace-who represents the child
of Italian neighbors, who have logged
her up in the wreath and short gauZe
skirts of the ballet as an indication of the
career for which they intend her. The
minor parts are eXcellently done, notably
in the case of Hilda Englund as a sus-
ceptible Swedish maid, sickeningly in love
with the butler, well portrayed by Mr..
Wallace Erskine Mr.. Albert Reed as the