The Washington times., 1914-09-22
AT CAPITAL THEATERS THIS WEEK
BELASCO.

With the daring that has led him,
once or twice before. to utilize the
theater as a laboratory for the analy-
sis of big public questions. Charles
Klein las made an intense drama of
the process the late J. FierpOnt con-
temptoUsly referred to as ''un-
scramblinE the eggs" which the Sell
wyns produced at the BelasCo last
evening under the title OF The
Moneymakers."
A captain of industry. wrecker of
public utilities by recognized business
methods, surrounded by what the
newer school Of economists have
taught the public is the convention
a setting of such person, is brought
suddenly to realize that making
money is but one of the many forms
OF activity that 60 to make up what
we call life and that the indulgence
to excess, of the appetite for making
1t leads to as disastrous results as
most other forms of intemperance.
A grown family that presented
most Of the elements that result
when a man permits his money to
train his sons and daughters; a
young wife who, leaving some one
else, married him because of his
money: business associates who are
caught III the wen OI
his financial operations-even repre-
sentatives of the learned professions
of law and medicine whose opinions
have the metallic ring of cash are
carefully presented to the audience
at the rise of the curtain on the first
act
Their comes the revelation that ma
ture has made no special provision to
take up the physical slack unused in
moneymaking endeavors and to apply
the extra energy to the points where
the strains come
In the idleness forced in the hours
when he was told he was waiting the
complete liquidation of his physical
resources-facing the overpowering
hnality of death-the inevitable ret
rospection brings the moneymaker as
clear q realization of the flaws in his
career that his mastermind had been
SO acutely trained to see in rail
road or industrial organization. And
he determines to give his millions all
back
is not venturesome enough to suggest:
But the point is that through a second
and a third act Of high strung drama
the results Of the rich mans revolu-
uonary resolve are vividly shown:
There are very few elements that might
be brought into the unraveling OF such
tangle, left out Of the playwrights
conception. Disloyalty of family. busi-
ness disaster. criminal prosecution. IT,
uuiry as to his sanity. and threatened
divorce fail to swerve the man from
his purpose.
The only thing he saves out of the
wreck is the wife. who ledSned 10 loNe
him because he dared do what ne SET
her own fair fame as a sacrifice TO his I
success. |
Whether the public will receive Mr..
Klein's play in the spirit 1t Is written
will be decided after the necessary set
Ting down process which new drama
must invariably undergo. There are
still loose places in the play, which f,
Edgar Selwyn and his associates are
rapidly Tightening. The first essential
of success. after the undoubted dram
the manner in which ii Is presented,
and the producers have given the play
wright . very capable company OF ac-
tors and actresses TO interpret his lines
Emmett Corrigan heads the company
in the part of James Rodman. the capi-
talist One of the most careful and
actors In the profession, Mr.:
Corrigan finds himself we'll cast, and
gives every light and shade of the deli
cate reflection essential 70 the preset NJ
ia tion Of so big an fdea- Alexandra
Carlisle has 2 larger opportunity than
she has heretofore been thought apable
of realizing in the part Of the wife.
But Miss Carlisle gave ample evidence
was to the character. and when she
fully RECEIVERS her health will be even
better than she was last night in a
performance that left little to he de-
sired. Felix Kremhs. Calvin Thomas.
Eva Condor. Echlin Gayer. James
.Adelman. and Alfred Fischer each filled
their parts in an especially acceptable
manner.
Eugene O'Brien, in the part Of the
wife's sweetheart, labored under the
difficulty of having been hastily put
into part on few hours notice to
give a performance along lines that
are to be abandoned. while studying
also the part as it will be later pre-
sented. A capable actor, he gave an
excellent account of himself. The re-
mainder OF the cast was OF a high or
der but with no unusual opportunity.