The Washington herald., 1914-01-11
BY JAMES 5. METcALFE.

BY JAMES 8. METCALFE.
Judging by his output since the honors
Of knighthood thrust upon him. Sir James
NJ. Barrie has not found the accolade to
be a mental stimulant. His short phys
with the exception of ''The WEI" which
provided Mr.. John Drew with ''punch
! for his revival Of an earlier success. have
failed to interest either the American or
the English public.
The combination of the abilities OF
Barrie and Maude Adams has been pro.
ductive of so much delight in the PAST
that the new effort Of this Joyous pair
has been keeniy anticipated by the big
public to which they minister. The un-
dertaking was announced as on tne
stocks more than a year and han ago.
Then there were unexplained delays, with
whispered in.imations that In the original
draft the author had failed to take the
measure OF the star to the satisfaction
: of Mr.. Charles Frohman or Of the lazy
herself 1t was rumored that the pay
was being put through a process OF
strenuous rewriting and that It's title
The Legend of Leonora," which had
leaked out, was to be changed This last
statement proved true. and the play was
done in London under the title OF The
Adored One" TO meet with anything out
fiattering reception.
Now IL comes to US with the original
name, THE Legend Of Leonora- Evi-
IDENTIFY the London performances showed
that the ending was thought unsatisfac-
,tory-at least for the American taste
and a fourth act was written TO supply
an explicitly HAPPY ending" which was
only to be inferred at the end Of the
third act as the play is done here. Per-
haps Barrie or his admirers reasoned that
the American public has SO little imag-
instion that trephining is necessary to
make an idea penetrate.
what Is 1t AL About:
To understand the extent to which the
author has failed of accomplishment IL
is necessary to set forth what he has
done. The first act opens in an English
country house, with its owner and his wife
discussing a dinner at which a recent
ly returned naval explorer is to be the
distinguished guest The hostess hurries
of to dress, but before the host gets away
the main guest arrives uniform. medals.
and ALL. In the subsequent talk the host
explains that among those dining VIII
be an aftectonate mother. coQuette,
a lady with a sense Of fun. a beauty,
and a murderess- Then the host hastens
away to dress, and a lady guest, in the
person. of Maude Adams as Ieonora,
enters. There is no one to do any in
Producing, SO the explorer makes himseh
known and attempts to discover which
enc of the ladies this particular one may
be. This leads to some very amusing
and delightful persifiage, until Capt
Rattray suggests that she may be the
murderess Then she becomes hysterical,
describes the crime, and the curtain goes
down on the explanation that there are
- l. N--aA- - - wt-rw
all those he has enumerated are combined
n the person of Leonora-
Not a bad first act this, clever in dia
lQgue, novel in its dilemma, and suggest
ing all sorts OF developments in the way
of plot to follow later on. OF course
Maude Adams entrance is the signal
Tor delirium on the part of her loyal
personal admirers, of whom she num-
bers more than any other American
actress. The big, rugged figure of Mr.
Aubrey Smith, imported from London,
was an excellent foil of her piquant per-
sonality, and there was nothing to be de-
sired in the quality Of her acting
When=fhe Dixappointment- -Genes.
The scene of the next two acts Is an
elaborate setting of an English court
room with a criminal trial in progress.
The judge and barristers in wigs and
nesses and a few spectators are all in
view. but the prisoners box is empty. 1t
seems that Leonora is the defendant,
charged with murder, but although she
has stepped out for a few minutes the
trial is going right on. Captain Rattray,
who had been admitted to the bar some
years before, but had not practiced since,
was the counsel for Leonora.
The charge was that travelling in an
English railway carriage with her LITTLE
girl, the only other passenger being a
man, the latter insisted on keeping a
window open in face of Leonora's in
sistence that 1t be closed. This being
Intellectual Leonora had pushed him out
One of the witnesses. on being asked
how the man was when found on the
right-of-way, testified that '.he was no
more This constituted the murder.
When Leonora herself took the stand
ater on she frankly admitted that she
had pushed the man out of the window