Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-28

ON TRIAL 4 pelodrssma BY Elmer L IL Ials Reis-
ment Cohan & Harris. Garrick Theatre.
The Defendant. nt...............F Frederick Perry
His WIFE WIifkn.er Marie Loo1hard
HesTr Fatihcr tie6cieascdj .. Harrison astedman
His Widow. w.,.,..................Ja Jane Wheatloy
ii1 4 Nsws SSsr1tsegi kssgyi wallace Clinton
Hotel Proprietor ...,.,. Lawrence Eddinger
4 Maid, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., .Jean, Mover
waiter ..,................ James James. Hds,TTtbert d,Tt
The pefendaits Counsel. ...... Gardner. Crane
t%-t SoS SS6T,ss sES@s %s
The Jury--Foreman. Howard Wall; r.; A.
Thayer, Edmond Pardy,, Arthur Tobell Sam Sam
Joseph McKsnna. George spIvins
The bRsolGgSS1f i3S'5SS% home Of AS5 S''Fs Fts.
June "a 1912 $50 p M scene q -h, The count gGnIo
The Isl stnsF9q@ in ome OF RoBcE
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osnd roo@ Z ssS s'eP ns ry Tae fSS5 fSo
Scene z: The courtroom.
"on Trial" Is another Of those puzzle
plays and guessing contests like Under
Cover" The problem of thinking out
Just how the leading man Is going TO be
acquitted of murder and who is going
to be nailed for the $4,000 theft is alone
enough TO make Elmer Reizenstein's play
as popular as missing word contests and
picture puzzles of the nlnetles Keeping
the audience guessing used to be drama
turglo lese majestic: now It Is the surest
step toward success.
But the new play Mt the Garrick has
n half dozen other destinations 1t Is not
only trial play with plenty of suspense
as well MS Of that old, old terror, tho hand
of the law. 1t Is not only the clearing
n N al et bnpNIngs Of
fessed murder. 1t not only keeps the au-
dienco and everybody in tho cast. in
cludtng the defendants counsel, in the
dark as to the truth. It not only pre-
sents program with items like "The
Dead Man" and Her Father (Deceased)"
and synopsis of scenes with the court
room, where the testimony is given, in
terspersed by glimpses of the testimony
acted out in reality. II does more than
show us these scenes changed with n
lightning rapldity that ought to hold
good in every dramatic performance
All those are mere side issues to the
real fascination and thrill OF ION Trial"
The thing that brought rapid and hearty
applause from n crowded house at every
change of scene last night was that the
play tells its story backwards. 1t begins
with the trial of the accused, shows the
crime itself, then the motive for the
crime. then the thing that created the
motive. landing back 13 years before the
coast is clear for the triumphant close
of the trial In the solution of still an
other mystery.
To describe the whole cloth from which
the plot of ION Trial" is cut would be
as unfair to the play as to the playgocr.
Suffice 1t, that, though pretty broad and
considerably stretched. 1t would hold the
interest in any case and, with the re-
verse thrown in, 1t is most admirable en-
tertainment.
The production carries It well. The ad-
mirable scene shifting, already men,
toned, deals with settings that are eX-
cellent enough, except for one that badly
needs retouching. The cast is n long one:
yet crammed with middle-aged actors who
play small bits" to the life. a few of
the principals might be bettered. Fred
erick Truesdell over-acts badly as the
dead man. Marie Leonhard IS still a little
young for so eXactlng a part as the
accused mans wife. And the child is
not as children should be. But Fred
erick Perrys defendant, added TO the two
dozen admirable bits" carries the play
triumphantly. Conceiving the man as n
person of hot passions, he drives him to
an extremity of pent, maddened suffering
in the court scenes that has seldom been
equaled. K. NJ.