The Washington herald., 1916-03-05

lCopyr1ght. isisJ
The latest play to be divulged by
Grace Georges company at the Play
house Is The Earth" by James Ber-
nard Pagan, and though 1t Is TO be
said that Miss George is still living up
nicely to her PREDATORY promise 10
found a repertoire theater, not so much
NAV be said for the species of play
with which she is attempting to per-
petuate that theater's career. For this
manuscript of Mr.. Fagan's is, from
whatever elevation one looks upon II,
Of poor countenance. 1t may be that
the play, as 1t is here given US, has
been altered and that II therefore is
not precisely as originally written
there are signs indicating that this
may be true-but there is no means at
hand of discovering, and so one must
appraise the manuscript as 1t Is re-
Vealed-
Briefly, the evening concerns the
character of one Jannion, owner of a
chain Of British public journals and
in whose hands are the reins of Brit
ish public opinions. interruptions, vain,
mighty. this JanniOn-so is the imme-
diate motif-takes a gross dislike to
the wages bill propaganda of young
member of parliament and, facing the
latter. tells him that unless he aban-
dons his enterprises in favor of the
bills passage, he (Jannion) will COM
pei him to withdraw the measure
against his will. The young member of
parliament defies the journalist and the
combat is on. Jannion, through his spy
system, learns of the attachment OF
the member of parliament for a mar
ried woman and prepares to blackmail the
member of parliament with the inror-
nation. The member of parliament is
prepared to surrender, to abandon the
wages bill, when the heroine of the
play manuscript rushes in, faces the
villain with magnificent contempt and
ticks him to a fraZzle in three minutes
by the clock.
Although this narration of the plays
ingredients appears to the reader to
be deficient in a certain consecutive
ness and reasonableness, 1t Is less the
fault of the present narrator than the
fault of the playwright. Pagan assigns
no Ineligible motive for LANNON'S OPP
position to the member of parliament
bill and, as a consequence, much OF
the stage excitement is cryptic. The
love story of the young member Of par
lament and the married lady bears all
the imprints of Henry Arthur Jones
The character sketching, save in the
instance of Jannion, is weak; and even
in the case of Jannion not especially
adroit. The performance by the Play
house company is superior to the play.
Miss George handles the role Of the
philandering lady-a role that calls for
little exertion-deftly. Louis Calvert
is picturesque in the makeup of jan
Mon, though this actor still possesses
the habit of learning everything con-
nected with the role he is playing ex-
cept the lines. Conway Tearle is mis-
cast as the member of parliament, but
tries hard to project the creature over
the footlight trough and succeeds in
the business to a certain degree. The
remainder of the cabotinage is salts
factory.
MELODY of Youth"
At the Fulton Theater, we attend
The Melody Of Youth" a romantic
Irish comedy by Brandon lyman, who
also interprets the hero OF the manu-
script Laid in the Emerald Isle in
1880, the play reveals itself to be a
painfully sweetish concoction brewed