Evening star., 1915-11-30
New National.

| William Gillette in "Sherlock Holmes
brought a succession of pleasurable thrills
to thoroughly appreciative audience at
the New National Theater last night.
| 1t was the same Sherlock Holmes which
! Gillette transposed himself both as play
wright and actor from the stories by Sir
| Arthur Conan Doyle, and much of the
| Gelight in watching the performance, Tor
those who saw the production when
was new, lay in the well rendered
unfolding Of the stage incidents which
made the character of the great detective
The excitement Of the story begins. with
the rising of the curtain. and continues
without a bres>< to the last moment. AS
a bit of pla building, sherlock Holmes
| is an example of great skill, as 1t moves
! onward to climax without a supernuouS
| line or action. each word being neces-
| sary link in the chain
There is a wonderful sense of suspense
throughout the story. Gillette as a play
wright managed to bring into the hither,
to unpublished episode the feeling that
| Holmes is standing alone on the brink
| of an .immeasurab Bile chasm, into which the
organized criminal forces OF London would
toss him. Gillette as an actor appeals
to his audience by walking nonchalantly
alone through the perils that beset him.
and when surrounded by the rats of the
underworld, with every avenue OF escape
seemingly closed. turning the tables with
a swiftness scarcely paralleied in any
| melodrama of the past two decades. When
Holmes smashes the lamp in the Stepney
gas chamber, and by the trick of leaving
his lighted cigar in a window ledge eludes
the cut-throats get upon him by Prof
Moriarity, the emperor of crime, there
wasn't true lover Of melodrama last
night who didn't sigh with delight at this
touch of t:4e real old-fashioned stuff.
Much of the pleasure Of the play lies
dAF ftF10 ~ Ia a n N q r
isms which Doyle used to make Sher-
lock Holmes an odd sort of genius.
The thin white face. the London
clothes Of day gone by. the delibera ia
manner. the drug needle and the long
dressing gown and the violin which
Holmes caresses in front of the fire--all II
of these things one remembers with
pleasure and loves to see once more
| upon the stage. The little exchanges
between Holmes and DR.. Watson Wild
still says "MarvelouSi" when Holmes
i exercises a little of the science of de.
| duction to the delight of every one. are
And once more Sherlock Holmes walks
II into the yauited cellar of the wors,
II gang of criminals the world has eyel
n seen wearing that ininitahle fore
and-aft cloth cap and CARRYING a cane
n To put il into single sentence, VIII
II liam Gillette thrilled the country wher
II he first produced this play. and in las
N nights performance he revived all o.
III those thTillS LOT tHOSe VINO Sa MN.
H The company supporting Mr.. Gillette
| is a capable one, judging from thu
/ work done by each member last night
II Edwin Mordant. "a James Larrabee
II and Marion Abbott, as Madge Larrabee
II made as hateful pair of villains al
II one could want. Joseph Brennan, al
H actor Of wide experience, plays the rol'
II of Prof Moriarity, and has evidently
II caught exactly the idea of this maste
H crook, just as Doyle conceived him apt
II as Gillette wrote him in the play. A
| most interesting. genial old gentleman
| with a mind OF unlimited capacity ant
H a heart of stone. is Moriarity. all 0,
II which Joseph Brennan manages to pre-
II sent in interesting character. Burfort
II Hampdeu the boy who played Tylty
H in "The Blue Bird" is Billy, the smart
Il little London street boy, member of the
II Baker street reserves, educated and
II made into a house servant by Holmes
II Alice Faulkner, the woman around
H whom the story revolves, Is played by
| Helen freeman with plenty of life.