New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-08
= Turns a Long Island
Library Into a Cham
Der of Horrors.
STRONG SCENE IN LAST
ACT is WELL ACTED
Heroine Who Makes Hedda
oabler Seem Like Lydia :
Languish.
..sr or CHARACTERS.
D. ACTON DAVIES.


Foyaes. ...... James A. Marcus
Nv ACTON DAVIES.
srs, R,udeeon" at the Maxine Elliott
n;gbt certainly hit from the shout
Never have we seen a heroine
49,. rbsen's Hedda Gsbler 50 hsrosly
-.rspsd AS Mrs. Irene EyendOrr was
%r Paul Armstrong, the author Of
IN. Rludreon." AS a matter Of fact
"a. csbler. when you come to COM
-. her with Mrs. Evendorr at the
s,aof the play, seemed like vsrltaeis
-. Isnguish. Mrs. Evendorr wasn't
80, devils incorporated; she was
s.di,ste Of seventy-seven devils all in
And she started in be-deviling
.v,rv male in sight the moment the
....,r rose. She owned a very beau
..,.l bome on Long Island which had
49, riven 10 her by her husband, q
.,,S;ons and remarkable chemist, who
49, ESQ 600 he first year they were
sr;sd $4,000 the second and moth
- ~ amount to more than pin money
. e since until the play opens, when
tbs;r child is ten years old. EvsndOrr
s5orss his child. His wife does not.
r. Stonev Brook. who is described on
~, nrooramme as "her indiscretion,'
~ CIVILIANS that she gave up nearly
ons whole year Of her life to having
,bis child SO that she might have
an effective bludgeon with which
bit her husband over the
head. .
And she hits him all right-there Is
m doubt of that Besides her indis-
cretion." who calls on her steadily,
very rich old Long Island msgnate,
ninety wears of age, falls under her
SMELL She makes him change his will
n her favor. But we anticipate! In
the first act her husband is very UNI
bappv: his best friend, Robert Hillman,
n iswyer. like the almost centenarian,
tails under the spell Of his wife. He
doesn't know anything about this firta-
ton Of course. but coming suddenly
into his own library he finds his wife
In the arms of Stoney Brook, "her in
discretion" The husband draws pistol
and Is going to kill StOney, until he
suddenly thinks better of it, He thea
tells Stoney Brook that he will spare
his life If he will tell him exactly
What his relations with his wife have
been. Stoney not desiring g oody
puneture. tells all The wife M
b1ids him. but he does not wait to
hear He makes a hasty exit through
the drawing room window. Then Er-
endorr turns his pistol en- h;s VIE,
but she snaps her fingers IN his race
and darcs him TO fire. Re is about 10
close her career. when hi3 ii,tlc Sl.l
comes I'm and saws: ooh. daddy. daddy
Naturally, he is nonplussed. The pisto,
falls from his hand. Ia the next &c
he gives his wife a divorce. His best
friend. Robert Hillmsu, is her counsel.
Hillman, unfortunately, has become
mbued with the idea that Ererdorr is
IN love with his housemaid He es-
pouses Mrs. Evendorr's cause. Be-
tween them they concoct vile plot
Of which rer husband is 10 be the vic
tim The wife ~ to testify that her
husbands income Was $4,000 & year.
This will cause the courts to award
her an alimony of at least fifteen thou
sand year. AS Evendorr can only
earn FIVE thousand a year now, this
viii make him an exile from the State
oi News York.
When the third act opens the plot
has been getting in its deadly work for
seven years Irene is married 20 Hill
man now and is leading him the worst
sort Of a dogs life. The child has
grown up; she is seventeen now. We
see her first on her way to debu-
tante's party. She stops long enough
10 beg her mother TO let her 90 and
see her father, who has been living in
lonely New Jersey village for seven
years. The mother consents, under
protest, that the girl shall go to see
her father The moment the girl
starts for the party her father appears.
New Jersey has aged him horribly.
The wife, furious at his coming TO
see her, calls the police over the tele-
phone. The instant he disappears Mrs.
Eyendorrs ancient lover-he is now
ninety-seven by the clock-appears
lie tells her that he has changed his
viii and left all TO her, but he has also
had a bad dream in which he has seen
her murdered by a man with a knife.
Subsequent events prove that the old
gentleman was bad dreamer; but once
more we anticipate. While Irene is
assuring him that h is in his dotags,
through the drawing room window,
battered and very much the worse for
wear, Stoney Brook appears. He wants
hlty dollars and he wants 1T quick.
when he doesn't get il he draws a
pistol, which Irene instantly snatches
from his hand and throws into the
waste basket Thwarted, he departs
9y MS Old familiar route, through the
drawing room window.
But outside he meets her second
husband, Hillman, and is enabled to
get IN his deadly work. He tells the
second husband all about Irene, which
ne mad originally told the first. Then,
as Hillman comes in and faces his
we, StOney reappears at the drawing
room window When Irene denies
eFerything, StOney points to the waste
paper basket and tells Hillman that
&c will find a pistol there. Hillman
hnds the pistol and shoots Irene full
the stomach. She dies without a
hgfmur. Then Hillman gives Stoney
handred-dollar bill to take the crime
himself. Stoney exits, and is al
lost Immediately run over by a motor
Ar but, Of course, he don't hear about
way until the next act. And here, in
.Ssuee to Mr.. Armstrong, who up to
nus point had written in such deadly
seriousness and with such a complete
k4 ""tlOL Ihdb sumo Oi MS scenes
usa aroused laughter, it must be adj
tted that, whatever may be said Of
ne ne hrst three acts of his extraordinar-
ny lurid play, his last act does contain
eh exceedingly powerful scene, and
one IN which his sense of humor, in
grim way, asserts itself for the frst
e, The murderer, Hillman, has
Sammoned the police when her first
nioa comes back TO make another
s s,snos speak for the first time in,
~ ON years: Evendorr knows nothing'