The Washington herald., 1914-12-06

may be pardoned for quietly strangling it
or in some way stilling its message.
The business representatives, sent to ar
range the publicity of plays before their
production have acquired a greater sense
of silence concerning the details Of new
production during recent years. Time is
not far distant when the loquacious press
agent told all he knew and good deal
he didn't know, leaving no wonderful
mysteries beyond the bend in the road,
no beauties for the explorer to rush upon
with that exquisite sense of discovery.
Mr.. Joseph H. Dillon. with whom
spent an interesting hour one day last
week, talking over the first production
Of The Fallen Idol" at the Belasco
Theater tomorrow night treats the bend
in the road with sort of reverence
You do not want me to tell you the
story of this new play by Guy Bolton
which Joe Weber will present for the
first time on any stage next Monday
night" Mr.. Dillon told me in a very
certain tone. and I. remembering many
a first production ruined for the first
nighter because of a too minute descrip-
ton of the plot Of the play, smiled ap-
preciatively.
This much I may say, however"
went on Mr.. Dillon. The piece is
story which is bound to get down TO the
heart of the public, IL know anything
about human nature"
After which we let the subject mat
ter of the play itself lie where it be-
longs-around the bend of the road
which we shall turn for ourselves to-
morrow evening-and drifted into con-
versation of which Mr.. Bolton, the
author of The Fallen Idol" was the
subject.
Mr. Weber has tremendous faith in
the new playwright He believes that
The Fallen Idol" is going to make a
big appeal, although thus far Mr.. Boil
ton has done nothing to set the world
afire. His first play to be produced was
The Prodigal Parent" which was a
dramatization of one of his stories
written for The Smart Set. 1t was pro-
duced by Oliver Morosco a little less
than two years ago in Los Angeles.
Mr. Bolton was born in London in
1883 of American parents. He re-
mained in the English metropolis until
he was sixteen years of age, when he
came to live in New York, where he
studied architecture and followed this
profession for ten years. when he made
up his mind to abandon il for one year
in order to test his ability as a dra-
matist. He had been successful in the
field of short story writing, but decid-
ed wisely that becoming an author of
plays is quite another matter and one
that could not be accomplished unless
ones whole time was given in unin-
terrupted fashion. So Mr.. Bolton gave
himself one year. and in that period
he wrote four plays The first he de-
stroyed. His second was The Prodi- !
gal Parent" His next effort was The !
Rule of Three" which was produced in |
New York last year with no great sue |
cess. His fourth piece is still un-
named, although ii is to be presented |
at the Royalty Theater, London, by |
Messrs Vedrenne and Eadie as soon |
as conditions permit.
The Fallen Idol" is Mr.. Bottoms lat /
est work, and is declared by its pro- |
ducer to show its author to be a seri- |
Gus student of drama, and to reveal |
ability which promises a notable future |
for the playwright
OF this we shall Judge for ourselves |
But in the meantime we can anticipate |
with no fear of disappointment an ex-
cellent presentation of the new play, |
for Mr. Weber has chosen a group of |
splendid players to interpret the vari-
Gus roles. including Bruce McRae, !
whose ability is already well known to !
US; Virginia Pearson, who gave an alb
sorbing study of the vampire in "A
Fool There Was" with Robert Hilliard,
and who was seen her this season in a
somewhat similar part in Eugene Wal
ter's new play. The Better Way"
John Miltern, who enjoys an enviable
reputation as a brilliant actor, and
Alice Lyndahl, who was last seen here
in The Family Cupboard" under the
of William A. Brady.
Nor is the interest of the current
week confined to the first production
Of Mr.. Bottoms new play, for it brings
US one of the distinct novelties of the
present season in Edward Knoblauch's
of an evening gown, the
play which will be presented at the
New National Theater for the first time
In Washington tomorrow night, being
entitled My Lady's Dress"
Mr.. Knoblauchs fantastic story had
Its initial American performance in
New York at the Playhouse a couple of
months ago. being the fourth retro
spective drama of the season
The novelty of MY Lady's Dress"
would have been less dimmed had not
David Belasco rushed his production of
The Phantom Rival" into New York
lust ahead OF 1.-THE Phantom Rival"
being along lines similar to those of the
SnoblRuch piece.
This will make no difference to us,
as we have seen neither The
Phantom Rival" nor MY Lady's
Dress" and will therefore be unable