The Washington herald., 1914-03-22
Ry JULIA CHANDLER MANY.


From the past weeks engagement OF
Forbes Robertson to THE Lure, the
Relasco Theater passes from the sublime
to the Iascivious, offering us this week
a chance to see for ourselves Just what
all the excitement has been about TINS
winter in New York. although am told
that the notorious white slave drama has
been somewhat expurgated in point OF
setting, IL not in point OF theme.
OF course we know that the world does
hold sick mothers. sacrificial daughters
seducers and seductresses, politicians
who share the spoils of prostitution and
profligacy, tights and suicides in bagnios,
some Secret Service officers who have
nobility of character, and all the other
material clements of THE Lure"
We know also that the greatest amount
of statistics on the white slave trafnc
that have ever been compiled are those
which United States Commissioner STAN
ley w. Finch has gathered together. Mr.
Finch, who is head of the Federal Bureau
for the Suppression Of White Slave trafnc'
is reputed to be the most thoroughly In
formed man in the world on this subject.
having in his office in Baltimore more
than 1000 specific records, to which
George Scarborough, as special Secret
cess. From his own work, and from this
vast store of information at his COM
mand, Mr. Scarborough garnered material
for the play, in which he presents all
the phases Of the typical white slave case
his exposition of this national evil drip
ping with such lasciviousness as to have
created a sensation in New York when,
last fall, THE Lure had its initial pro-
duction, since which time it has brought
discuSSiOn than aQY play
of modern times.
After all has been said and done, the
question OF the stage as a suitable place
for the exploitation of the moral evils or
the world is a matter Of individual opin-
ion, but it gives pleasure to chronicle the
fact that the balance Of opinion Is on
the side of keeping the theater for the
entertainment of the public along the
highest lines of art, leaving the matter
of needed reforms to the social worker,
where it belongs.
Still in serious vein, but in vivid con-
trast in theme, comes a play new TO
Washington to the National Theater this
week. a drama with the not very illumi-
mating title Of Change" representing
the first effort of a young Welshman. ].
o. Francis. a stenographer in London,
who wrote the play in response to an
offer from Lord Howard de Walden "a
welshman by birth and one of the richest
men in England of 500 for the best piece
with a Welsh theme. The promise OF
London production was sufficient to in
duce hundreds of competitors to enter
the contest in which Mr.. Francis won.
He turned out a virile play. which was
given its first presentation at the Hay
market Theatcr in London. Before not
able audience. which numbered England's
foremost dramatic critics, whose reviews
of Change" were remarkable for the
unanimity of opinion which they ex-
pressed concerning its power of theme
and strength of situations.
Walter Hast Cwho found when Bunty
Pulls the Strings and introduced 1t to
America) was present at the premiere OF
the Francis drama of Welsh life, and Sc
cured the play and the original company
presenting it for tour Of America at
the close of the London rum So conf
dent was Mr.. Hast that the young author
was a find that he has secured an op-
ton on all plays that he shall write in
the future, even as he has done with Mr..
Moffatt, the author of "Bunty."
Lest some one get the impression that
the play has something to do with pocket
money, be it said here and now that
Change is a philosophical discussion,
which is alive with atmosphere, COM
pleting the British Isles triology-
the Irish, and Change" the Welsh. The
story is reminiscent of "Milestones." It
has to do with a hard-headed Welshman
and his soft-hearted wife. who live at a
place the name of which looks like q
pied line of type. Three sons consti-
tute the family. One, who is intended
for the ministry, balks when he is half
way through the seminary; the second
still further offends his conservative
81 xa-hf
third is an invalid. The first son is turned
out of home; the second, because of his
differences with his father. goes to Aus
tralia, and the third is accidentally shot
in a riot. At the end the old couple are
left alone, clinging to each other as they
face the bleak little future that the mans
tenacious clinEing to the determination
that his sons shall live their lives in ac-
cordance with his own ideas has made.
This Welsh play. by a Welsh author. is
presented by a company of Welsh players,
whose excellent work has been highly
commended wherever the piece has been
seen. But don't get the Idea from all
this that the story is told in dialect, for
this Is not the case. The English spoken
by this West London company Of play
ers is of such purity and the enunciation
of such clarity that the American-trained
player would do well to take lessons from
them.
In bold comedy relief comes a remark
able aggregation of stars to the Columbia
Theater this week in a presentation of
THE New Henrietta" which is a revival
of the famous Bronson Howard comedy,
THE Henrietta" remade and modernized
by Winchell Smith and Victor Mapes,
both of whom saw the original produc-
ton in the years between 1887 and 1889,
when it was played with marked success
by William H. Crane and Stuart Robson.
Several offers had been made Mr.. How
ards widow to Permit a revival of THE
Henrietta" since Robson laid it aside, but
she could never bring herself to consent
to the plan until last summer, when Jo-
seph Brooks proposed a revision of the
comedy with Mr.. Crane in it. which pro-
posal struck her favorably, for Mr..
Brooks produced the play originally, and
Mr.. Crane had been intimately identified