The Washington herald., 1915-02-09
BELASCO.
William Hodge in ''The Road to
Happiness."

Happiness"
The proofreading of theater programs
| is notorious, probably because there
amt no such animal" but the examples
are seldom so amusing as that offered by
/ the bill of the play at the Belasco Thea
| ter this week. Among the heraldings of
| The Road to Happiness" furnished by
| the local press was the statement that
Lord Northcliffe, the famous British pub
| Usher of periodicals, had called it an
| American 'Bunty Pulls the Strings" {"
This gives the cAw to the program puz-
zle, which announces boldly that the
play is by Lawrence Whitman, author of
AN American" "Bunty Pulls the
! Strings" and Lord Northcliffe." Thus
the new playwright. who is himself ru-
| mored to be no more than a name. is
furnished by the ingenious printer with
two mythical plays and a real triumph
for the making of his reputation.
Well, Lord NorthcIiffe's comment. IL
he made it, deserved no better fate for
the resemblance between the cheerful
American success and the Scotch idyl by
Graham Moffett is exceedingly shallow.
Both are comedies OF village types and
there the comparison ends. 1t would not
be difficult to name several American
rural plays that approach much nearer
TO the standard of "Bunty'' in genuine
merit and charm; let us say for ex-
ample, George AIDES County Chair
man. and James A. Herne's Sag Har-
bor"
Mention of Sag Harbor' suggests an
other thing that has been said about
The Road to Happiness" which is not
SO. Mr.. William Hodge has been un-
fairly described as IAN apostle of ma
turalness in acting and as carrying on
the tradition Of James A. Herne, whose
character OF Freeman Whitmarsh in Sag
Harbor' gave the younger man one OF
his early opportunities. Mr.. Hodges own
acting seems realistic enough when you
get used to him, but in the production
Of The Road to Happiness the banner
of fidelity to nature which Mr.. Herne's so
nobly upheld is most decidedly not car
ried forward. Its standard of realism
is scarcely even equal to that OF Way
Down East" which it resembles in tone
to a certain extent. Possibly a different
company could give a convincing air to
the authors lines, which are for the most
part prosy and merely explanatory aside
from the drolleries of the principal char
acter.
This much of criticism appears to be
due, to correct the wrong ideas which
might be gathered from the pretentious
tone OF the advance notices. The quick
est way to point to the true value OF the
piece Is 10 add that a capacity audience
which saw it last night cheered and clap
ped Mr.. Hodge and the company and the
play with heartfelt delight and laughed
over its humors without limit of re-
straint
The dry vein OF humor exhibited by
Jim Whitman. the young law student
and man OF odd jobs portrayed by Mr.. |
Hodge, is truly rich and luscious and |
brings out admirably the quaint flavor of |
the actors personality. Jim Whitman |
holds the audience fascinated from the !
first. when he defes and ''sasses' the
harsh old village tyrant and woos his !
daughter to the last. when he softens the /
old mans heart and clears UP the mys-
teries surrounding the-arrival Of a found
ling.
Scott Cooper. as the harsh old Ben |
Hardcastle, is forcible and credible |
Miss Marie Haines has a good character
role as a strong minded spinster Some |
OF the other parts are well done, but out
standing merit is hard to point out. In a !
very real barn scene a chicken on a |
beam aroused much friendly interest dur
ing some long conversation. horse and |
a dog are other attractive features.