Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-08-12
Miss Ellington
Plays |7heLie

teTeSLeu III the chicago tribune 5
criticism of The Lie" which ap.
pears at the Auditorium, next Thanks.
giving Day. The criticism follows:
Since Miss Margaret Ellington Is
better known to this neighborhood
than Mr.. Henry Arthur Jones. and
is infinitely more popular, it is per.
haps the duty Of a vender Of opinions
about the theater to give her prece-
dence in a report of The Lie" as
played at the Cort.
Therefore, it will be said at once
that with her performance in this
good story she takes her place among
the actresses who count. ] am, per
haps, tardy in making the discovery
that Miss Ellington counts. Others
in vast numbers have been announc.
ing it Tor years, but | cen to lave
been as blind as an Egyptian III his
fog, and knew it mot. 1t Is, of course,
possible that "TEe Lie" is her initial
chance since His House in Order"
and that in within the Law she
was as good as her surroundings. At
any rate, here she Is al actress of
the first class, thoughtful, expert
honest, and powerful, playing a fine
role in m OF the best Of the plays
Of Mr.. Jones' composition.
1t Is Miss lllington's function in
"The Lie to impersonate the unsat-
isfied though patient granddaughter
of a drunken and parasitic old baro-
net, whose pride and fortune have
fallen into decay. The characters
design calls for her to suffer, not
meekly, but with spirit, to struggle
courageously against the squalor of
debt and penulv, until she is put
down by the revelation that her sis.
ter, evil, heartless and worldly, is in
a woman's trouble. So she surren-
ders her chance to marry an amiabie
and solvent builder of bridges and
vanishes with the sinner into an
onymity in order that the child may
be born without disgrace.
These self-sacrifical ladies of the
drama are usually a bit too noble to
be true, but you will find Miss Hing
ton going about the business of immo-
lation quite credibly. She gives up
her ball dress, her mothers jewels,
and her appointment with Gerald, the
rich engineer. with a reluctance just
a triae less than ier sense Of duty.
U%nluckily for her life and her love,
her sisters secret is penetrated by a
quizzical millionaire, who innoccntly
imparts it to Gerald just as Gerald is
about to ask her to be his wife. There
is an ironical twist to this bit Of Cos.
sip. 1t is so deftly told by the dram.
! atist and so badly told by the million.
aire that Gerald suspects his lady
love to be the unc,aste member Of
the family. And the unchaste men,
Der of the family in a dramatic inter
| view with him c~orroborates his sus-
picion so definitely that he hastens
back to Egyut and his dams. broken
hearted. So broken-learted that it is
several months before he marries the
wicked sister at Shepherds in Cairo.
You will be ready by this time for
the third act expose of sisterly per-
fidy, and the emotional exhibit which
| will follow the disclosure. Having
known of Miss Illington's ability all
along, you will not be surprised Wien,
with the millionaire's confession of
his blunder, she is first confused.
then amazed, then indignant, and
then passionate, and all in perfectly
human fashion. The iteration of
"She didn't! She couldn't! She
didn't! She couldn't" seem to me to
be Just what a woman in that stress
would say and just the way she would
say it. Sister, seeming trouble, is
decamping in a motor while this IS
going on, but she turns to blow her
victim a kiss. In the printed play
Mr.. Jones has his heroine cry, "Ju-
das sister," but Miss Ellington has
amended it to "Judas!!" which, no
doubt, is better. <
In case you are not satisfied with
the way things end the promise of
reparation in Gerald's eyes, and the
prospect of matrimony with the hui.
morous millionaire. you will surely
enjoy Mr.. A. G. Anson's opulent por-
trait of the mendicant old baronet
with his shifty, selfish expediency-
overdone a trihe at times, but most
effective. Also Mr.. G. Aubrey Smiths
easy and authentic manner Of imper-
sonating the nice blunderer, and Miss
Mercedes Densmore's acting of the
wicked sister-one of the most diff.
cult of the theater's culprits.