New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-27
By HAYWOOD BROUN.

and cir, nut 0ramdtcdllN IT u AWAY
on the ground. and familiar and hal
lowed ground at that. The jewels are
stolen in the drst act, the papers in the
second. and I'M the third one OF the
heroines is struck with the lea that "a
woman's most precious possession is
her good name"
4 In other words. "Stolen orders" is a
typical Drury Lane melodrama. 1t was
produced before large audience at the
Manhattan Opera House on Saturday
night.
Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton
wrote thc play. but tncy owe much TO
Sir Isaac Newton. who discovered gray
itation. sing apples. the best which
Sir lsaac could prove was that what
ever went up would come down. Raj
eiph and Hamilton have employed
heroes. hcroincs and villains IN their
experiments. and have succeeded IN
demonstrating beyond the shadow of
doubt that the bad fall much harder
than the good.
Take that likable Young naval lieu
tenant, Dennis NiilouEhby, for IN
stance. Ia the second act he climbs
eh on the turret and goes over head
first. without the slightest trepldation.
And his confidence IS justified. he lives
20 recover the papers and marry the
heroine. Virtue is better than net
We trust. however. that John Halliday
as Wiliouehby depends on both, for his
long dive is as daring bit OF stage
business as we have ever seen.
Bad persons fall sixteen feet the first
al a
on. Joe Allan. the burglar. and Castor
journal. the spy, 20 over the side or
the Zeppelin together and fall right out
Of the show. Ruth journal, on the
contrary. takes the same tumble few
minutes later and does not even lose
tie papers. We were rather disap-
pointed that there was no tumble Tor
Connie EdiSs. She seemed much better
built for falls than any other member
Of the cast.
a thrill in each scene" is the prom
Use Of the producers. The play con
tains hardly thai. for II takes az act
or so teforc q British melodrama is
properly aroused. The average IS
maintained. however. for some Of the
later scenes contain two or even three
thrills. The best set shows the east
cru exposure of British battleship
Il
and whole batteries Of l6s and Us.
4 reception is held for visiting for
oign admirals. First comes the French
to the tune Of the "Marseillaiae," then
the Russian with proper musical &C
compartment and finally the German
with his Rhine sonc Tire aid of Won
limit came of very well in the mat
ter Of applause, although there were
Kisses COR him as well. stolen Or
dcrs" promises to be as good a barom-
efcr of American war sentiment as
"Under Fire"
Il is while the visiting naval officers
arc on board that the English admiral
discovers that his scaled orders from
the Admiralty have becn stolen. He
PURPOSES 20 search cvcrv one. but he
very first man approached on the sub
icct refuses 10 be "friskcd." Although
the reluctant Officer IT, owl brother-in-
law 10 the admiral he naturally falls
under suspicion As matter of fact,
ne has in his pocket "A letter compro-
missing the wife Of The admiral, and in
order 10 save his sister he dives over
board.
The orders were stolen by Mrs Ad-
miral i'm order to gain a loan from
foreign SPY so az 20 pay her gambling
losses. She is much more to be pitied
thar scorned and turns out all right
in the end.
Gambling is one Of the worst vices
Of mc'odra ma people. They sometimes
win on horse racing, hut roulette IS
always losing game for thcm. We
did not quite get tho hang Of the game
IN which Lady Felicia Gaveston lost
her e. 900 no attempt viii he made TO
Ill Of
tho fluctuations in exchange. but when
eyer she cried "Six!" somebody else
shouted "Seveni" and took the money.
At such times We felt for Lady Felicia.
IA fact. VIC don't remember ever having
had so much in common with a char
actcr.
Next to the bat:leship scene. the
most exciting nart # the play was a
struggle in midair in a Zeppelin. The
villains having thrown each other out.
the heroine is left alone Bang
cries an pnti-aircraf. gun, and zip goes
the Yep. The nero is waiting fo- the
heroine in the ocean below, and she ar
rives beside his steam launch punctu-
ally for the happy ending.
John Hailidav is % bllthe young hero
and am excellent diver. Charles VI.
ballard is one villain and W. l.. Abing-
ton the other. Ivy Marshall is the un-
lucky Lady Felicia, and c. A. Handy
side her imposing husband. Connie
Ediss furnishes amusing comic relief.
and Franklyn Ardeil does we'll with a
humorous but thoroughly British and
impossible American.
"Stolcr Orders is very large show,
and we are informed that il cost
rrcat deal of money.