The Washington herald., 1914-09-22
Charlotte Walker Plays
Strong Role in New Play
Eugene Walter Latest Melo-
drama, The Better Way"
Is a Daring Conception
Powerfully Written.
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.


above the Allesheny Rivera hill that
is strewn with old tomato cans. Gin
ders, and ali sorts of rubbish. The
smokestacks in the valley below belch
forth their unceasing fame and SCOT,
even when the ten-hour shift is at an
end and the ironmongers come, weary
and single file, to the only home they
know-the rough boarding house which
is kept by The Man and The Woman.
Such is tie scene Of the prologue Of
Eugene Walters new play, which
brings Charlotte Walker to the New
National Theater this week In a role
which is the exact antithesis OF her
adorable June in The Trail Of the
Lonesome Zine"
AS she sits on the steps with The
Man. while the hunkies eat their even
ing meal. one is at once conscious of
aSsociated with Miss Walker. so very
foreign is The Woman to anything she
has heretofore essayed. And in tue
beginning the effect is too much OF a
jolt to be exactly pleasant, bur this
impression is soon lost in admiration
for the distinction with which she
draws her picture.
She is the daughter OF Bavarian peas
ants. American born. but imbued with the
spirit Of her country. which enables her
to understand the Hunkies-Poles. Bava-
rians, Hungarians-who labor through
their shift, return to eat and sleep at
her boarding house, and go out again
in the gray of another morning to an
other ten-hour shift. and The Woman.
knowing that ten years is a mans life
in the mills Ceven II he Is so fortunte
as to escape accidenO makes up her mind
that for The Man it shall be different.
and for the accomplishment of this pur-
pose she boards and boards and boards,
keeping his nose at the .grindstone with
out a moments relaxation Of her vigil
lance. until she has saved $1,000
And so. when the first curtain goes up
on the prologue OF the piece. we find
The Woman and The Man the central
figures in a group which is typical Of
the American spirit Of action and con-
quest The Man. The Woman and one
other-ths Pollock BOy-in whose great
invention The Woman tells The Man lies
their chance of turning their faces for
ever away from the mills.
What Wealth HrinEs.
The first act finds years rolled
away. The scene is The Mans home in
Pittsburgh, where The Woman learns
that great wealth may bring something
other than happiness. for all the brute
passions OF The Man have thrived on
the money he has made out Of the Po-
lack Boys invention, and even the child
who has come TO bless their union proves |
no restraint to The Mans eXcesses of
and we follow him in the
second and third acts to New York. |
where The Mistress enters the story |
and with her allies matches a conspir- |
acy to separate him permanently from |
The Woman
And into this unsavory mire. through
which The Man drags himself. The !
Woman follows, determined TO stick lit |
orally 70 her marriage vow. In her eyes |
The Man is mentally sick. The Mis- |
tress doesn't count.
You are not important" The Woman |
tells her; IF il were not you II would |
be somebody else. You are just a part |
Of the sickness" She and the Polack Boy |
are soldiers fighting for The Mans util-
mate cure. and The Woman Is game"
to the bitter end. even when the servants |
The Man has hired to trump up a pack
of lies against her good name periure
themselves in court where The Man
fights for his divorce The Woman makes
no defense until the judge. in pity Of her
tells her that the evidence will /
grant The Man an absolute divorce and
the custody Of their child.
Here her vulnerable point is touched
She has listened with patience to the
of her character. but when
the well-spring of her motherhood is
probed she stands like an animal at bay,
and scores a triumph which throws her
accusers into confusion, and acCOmplishes
a climax to the sensational court scene
which takes the breath Of the audience.
And before going on to say that the
understanding Of the man: her
fine courage. and remarkable degree Of
long suffering eventually effect his cure,
let me tell you that this court scene in
Mr.. Walters new play is a piece Of con-
struCtive genius. The climax is worked
up with a CUMULATIVE interest that is
gripping. and the wom-
ans remarkable astuteness. when once
she Is aroused. strikes n very human note
in an altogether powerful play.
"The Better Way" is frankly and red
oloodedly melodramatic. It's theme is
daring in conception. and is handled with
Mr.. Walters usual unassuming and mas
terful efficiency. In II the playwright has
discovered the great desire of our immi-
grant to he something and do something,
and against this background he has stood
the figure Of the woman: superb in her
faith; her loyalty a lesson to the divorcee,
and an inspiration to every woman in
ler conception of obedience to the divine
aw of love and marriage.
Miss Walker breathes into this figure
he breath of life. Her vizuaIization Of
he role is finely intellectual and runs
he whole gamut of emotion without at
my time verging on that borderIand of
lysteria which would have been certain
lad the portrayal of the difficult role
'een in less capable hands
Supporting Miss Walker is an except
ionally well chosen cast. headed by
8yron Beasley. who does excellent work
is The Man; Miss Virginia Pearson. who
s beautiful and effective as The Mis-
ress: George Stuart Christie. as the Po-
ack Boy. and Walter Wilson. who paints
| thoroughly sincere and sympathetic
,ortrait of the Judge
There are scores of others in the cast.
md not one is Intellectual In addition
o this The Better Way is elaborate
v staged and won an enthusiastic recep-
ion at the hands Of last nights audi
nee at the National
REL IACHn Z