Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-01-26
New National.

The obvious and timely moral of the
two plays which Miss Maude Adams so
exquisitely presented at the New National
Theater last evening is that woman is
bound to have her way, which she thinks
is always the right way. and what Is still
more important, she gets it at the eN-
pense of poor, weak man." who thinks
he knows it ALL but inevitably ca
pitulates to her charms.
Leonora does not represent an actual
mother, but a mother who might nave
lived, who might have had little glrl
with a sniffy cold and who might nave
pushed man off a railroad train to his
death because he would not ciose an
open window. In her solicitude Tor her
child she thinks she did perfectly rlght,
and she cannot understand why her
friends want to lie about IL. ine leu
when a partial judge and a more thah
partial jury are showing preposter-
Gus interest in her welfare and are
doing all they can to lie her out OF hef
trouble, she insists and persists IN tell,
ing the plain, unvarnished truth, ana
when she has finished caps the climax
by asking those of the jury who nave
children to rise. concluding with con-
fident There you are.
1t is very difficult to describe i'll mere
words the comical charm OF Inc
Legend of Leonora" The tragedy upon
which it is based is entirely relegated
to the background by the personality
of the delightful Leonora, even thougn
she be a murderess, for is she not also
the most devoted of mothers. a wom-
an who is the very soul of humor, who
has all the arts of the flirt and so many
charming characteristics that the most
who has invited Capt. Rattray to meet
her has told him he is to meet seven
other women-but not that they are
all in one.
Miss Adams. with conSumnate art,
has matched the creation of the play
wright with the realization of the
disingenuous is her characterization,
that. despite her crime. she never once
loses the sympathy of her audience
Quite the contrary. she holds 1t even
the many ridiculous things that crop
out to make laughter in almost every
line of the play never fail of their pur-
pose. The story might be told again
and again, and yet it would never mar
the real enjoyment of seeing the play,
which is inimitable just as is the art of
the delightful actress herself.
One needs only to recall the sym
pathetic and uncalled-for intersections
of the English Justice Grimdyke. the
brow beating of the prosecuting attor-
ney, the pauses in court procedure
while Leonora greets her friends, com
ments on their new garments and does
various other absurd things leading up
request of the jury to come sit with
them while they deliberated upon the
verdict, in spite of the judges pro-
test, to realize how utterly absurd the
whole proposition is in the world of
reality-how unerringly it discloses
merely fantastic dream, whose theme
is spun out in the play to the accom-
paniment of ripping laughter of the
audience to the very close.
Arthur Lewis as the sympathetic JUS
tice; Charles Hammond, as Capt. Rat
tray, who forces a point-blank proposal
from Leonora during the progress of
the trial; r. Peyton Carter. as Mr.
Lebetter, who. while he testified Tor
the prosecution. busted himself ever
afterward in prompting witnesses and
commenting upon their testimony, even
going so far as to force himself INTO
the jury room to influence a favorable
decision; Elsie Clarens, as Lady Perlp-
ETY., and Leonore Chippendale. as Mrs.
Tovey. delightfully."- contribute charac-
terizations that embellish the comedy
and add to it's humor.
In THE Ladies' Shakespeare, Barrie
utilizes the story of Katherine and Pc
truchio, with foot notes of his own to
indicate that the shrewish Kate was
after all a most lovable woman with
dainty arts of her own for winning the
man of her choice!
equality Street" will be played tonight.