The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-03-23
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

THE Bird of Paradise, Richard W al
ton Tully's symbolic drama based on the
devitalizing influence OF tropical eli
mate to a white man, opened its second
Washington engagement at the Belasco
Theater last evening with nothing or Its
potency lost either in the changes made
in the cast since last seen here, or in
that mystical and melancholy charm with
which 1t is threaded.
Mr. Tully's depletion Of the gradual de-
generation of an exceptionally capable
young doctor by an insidious environ
ment; the LIBERALIZATION of his splendid
energies through his capitulation TO the
lure of drink and laZ.ness under the sun
that stretches out ''flOwer-coyered fling
ers'' and flays his ambition, is a remark
abb. psychological study set against the
background of the Hawaiian Islands with
their dangerous and romantic atmos-
phere: their quaint, and sometimes tragic,
superstitions and traditions and their
weird and melancholy music.
DIR. Wilson is at the beginning Of his
chosen mission in life-a big and splendid
work-when he stops With friends on the
Puma coast, and becomes inoculated with
germs of romance. moonlight and in
ertia yielding to the alurement of a
passing fancy for the wild, exotic beauty
of a Hawaiian princess of the royal blood
who persuades him that the South Sea
Island is the land of Paradise, and she
its bird OF rarest beauty. For a time he
is content to dream away his life, and
slip down into the slough of Incidence
and vice but in the end. after two years
have gone by, he is Sickened of the life.
disgusted with the unciviliZcd customs OF
his beautiful wife, and all the sensuouS
life which surrounds him, and his soul
cries out for the land of his birth and
the companionship of his own kind.
Comes now the inevitable tragedy
to Princess Luana. whose name inter-
preted is Lifelong Happiness She is
made of heroic stuff and bravely she
defies the religion of her people; re-
iects their customs, and follows her
American husband to Honolulu with
the intention of companioning him up
on his newly appointed mission TO
Washington. But. alas, for the tropl-
cal flower that blossomed so radiantly
in the wilds of the Puma coast! Trans
planted to strange and civilized SOIL
Luana is out of her element and in
stead Of being able to understand the
beliefs and acquire the customs and
manners of a different race becomes
more obsessed with the superstitions
Of her own until at last she renounces
love for the sake of the welfare OF tho
man she adores, and returns to Puna
to give her life as an appeasement 10
the wrath of Mount Pelee that she may
save her people. and thus does the
meaning of her name become a
mockery. and her life's end one OF
fruitless but heroic sacrifice.
While THE Bird Of Paradise unfoids
DR.. Wilson'S gradual degeneration, II
paints in vivid contrast the regeneration
OF Dean, who at the beginning OF tine
play is a beachcomber who has drunken
the dregs of disgrace which afterWard
Wilson drinks, Deans way to the light
is pointed by the splendid faith and
courage Of Diana Larned. an American
girl of fine understanding and education.
whom he afterward marries.
When seen here two years ago at the
Belasco Theater. Guy Bates Post visu-
allied the life of superb promise which
failed OF its high fulfillment. and Miss
Bessie Barriscale played the part Of
Luana.
Last evening Miss Lenore Ulrich made
her first Washington appearance rs the
Hawaiian Princess. and fulfilled IN every