Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-01-22
AMUsEM ENTS.
Beautiful Play, Well Presented, +
"Pea o. Nv Heart"


Probably no play was ever more GEN
orally satisfactory to an audience of
Odeon patrons than Peg O. My
Heart" presented Wednesday night by
superior cast headed by Peggy
O'Neil.
most charming little actress in the
title role. with generally good support,
and comedy that was refreshing to a
degree, combined to make of Peg o.
My Heart truly delightful perform
ance. Oliver Morosco gave to the
Odeon this season very capable Of
fering In his 1.-The Tik-Tok Man of
o." and this, his second Of the season,
was even more satisfactory than the
first
Miss O'Neil was seen to most excel
lent advantage in the role Of Peg,
despite the fact that she is recovering
from q severe case of bronchitis, and
it was with difficulty that she retained
the best use Of her voice.
Miss O'Neil gives her very best work
in her delineation of Peg. from the
fact that she is in love with the char
acter, and also because nature has en-
bowed her with Celtic parentage, ana
keen understanding of the "auld sod
brogue." There is, not even sug-
gestion Of artiticla!lty in her work, and
this one fact alone would mark her as
one in a thousand in the same role. The
Irish dialect is easily, overdone, and too
often overdone. but Miss O'Neil has
the happy faculty Of pronunciation
that is true to life. To use her own
expression off the stage, II try to talk
just as my grandmother did"
Prominent in Miss .O'Neils support
were MARITIME Sabine, as Jerry; Kara
Kenwyn. widow of Clay Clement and
stars successes ;NFrazer Coulter. also
here before indifferent productions;
and Roland Hogue. The latter's por-
trayal Of the scion III the proud and
aristocratic Chichester family. was a
very artistic bit. of work. Jane Mere
dith, as Ethel Chichester, while rising
to the occasion very nicely in her
emotional climax. would have been
more pleasing were she little more
true to life Her artifciality was
even more striking by the contrast with
Miss O'Neirs work.
The production was very handsomely
staged and complete in its minutest
details.
That Miss o'Neil has brilliant flu
ture before her is shown by her work
in last nights production. 1t is hard
to imagine as a fact that this young
woman, now only 20, and with but q
little more than two years experience
on the stage, is capable of such fin
Two wears ago Miss o'Neil was a
chorus girl in one Of Mort Fl. Singers
musical comedies in Chicago: 1t was
realized she had talent. She was given
tryout in Richard Benefits The
Stronger Claim" soon to be revived UNI
der the name of 1.-The Deadlock" The
girl made good, and the next season
was seen in "Top O. the Morning" by
Anna Caldwell.
When Oliver Morosco last July ad-
vertised in New York for 500 actresses
To trv out for his seven peg O. My
Heart" companies, Miss O'Neil was
the 37Oth applicant. She read but a
few lines, and was signed for a Tour
years contract.
Miss O'Neil is an orphan. and lives
in buffalo, her father, born in Ireland.
and her mother. a native of the same
country, but half English, having died
when their daughter was a little girl.
Taken into the home Of an aunt in
Buffalo, where the surroundings were
about as congenial, it is said, as the
Peg of stage life is shown to have
found in the Chichester household.
the girl was sent to a con-
vent. She displayed an inde-
pendent spirit, left the convent.
and started up a little dressmaking
shop in New York. Here she remained
until her aspirations for the stage led
her to chorus work.