Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-03-07
The play gives

and wholesomeness. The play gives
Ethel Barrymore role quite apart
from her previous characterizations.
vet one in which she figures most
agreeably. Mrs. McChesney has step
ped out of the magazine and book page
at last. and in Miss Barrymore has
taken place in the real world. No
matter what a readers idea of the star
petticoat saleswoman may be before
he sees the play. when he leaves the
theater Mrs. McChesney is-Ethel Bar
rymore.
AS the queen of all saleswomen Mrs.
McChesney is about to give up her
work ION the road for the house of T.
A. Buck and become a partner in an
other firm. This venture. after a trip
her to settle down" and have a home
Of her own. with her eighteen-year-o
son Jack by her side. But Jack upsets
calculations by leaving college one fine
soubrette. at the same time raising a
check his mother sent him from $50 to
$500. So Mrs. McChesney sticks" be-
comes member of the firm of T. A.
Buck and helps her son Jack become a
man. while his little wife is being
polished" at a girls school Mrs. Nc
Chesney and T. A. Buck stake the for
tune of the house on a new creation of
Mrs. McChesney's. but the women of
the country cannot "see" the new crea-
until the house is on the verge of fail
ure. Then Jack calls his young wife
from school just in the nick of time to
enable her to put her theater eXpe-
rience to good use by donning the new
dress and winning the honors at the
big fashion show Then Mrs. McChes-
ney goes out on the road once more
gets orders from the country's biggest
firms. and arrives back at the Office one
day just in time to prevent T. A. Buck
pfaO
with the william" The last scene
shows Jack and his young wife in
stalled in fat by Mrs. McChesney. and
Mrs. McChesney and r. A. Buck him
self just about to look up fiat for
themselves.
1t is an altogether pleasant little
story. slight though it is in plot with
its characters and situations SO natu-
raj that the spectator feels at home"
The lines of the play sparkle. but they
sparkle naturally. The opening scene,
showing hotel lobby in the middle
west. is so true to life. despite dra-
matte necessity. which congregates
more characters in one place at one
time than would perhaps ever happen
in real lobby. that the spectators who
may claim the middle west as home"
Will feel absolutely homesick.
the Charming. gracious naturalness
which always characterizes Miss Barry
more's work is seen at its best in her
Jack McChesney for loving his mother.
There is more depth in the character
than one is apt to realize offhand. so
breezy is Mrs. McChesney. but Miss
Barrymore makes the soul of the sales
woman shine out through her sprightly
speech. and the result is-just Mrs. Nc
Chesney. or-Ethel Barrymore. They
are one and the same.
The large cast is consistently ade-
quate. William Boyd as T. A. Buck, jr.,
gives sympathetic portrayal, and
donald Ga!laher makes Jack McChes-
ney real son of his mother His
musical comedy wife is well done by
Mildred Barrett. Two Hebrew char
acters are well presented by Thomas
reynolds and A. Romaine Calender.
The latter Is the william" as Abel
Fromkin; not the villain of melodrama.
put the sort of man one meets in real
NE, not half bad. not even one-eiehth
pad. The other members of the large
cast are fully up to these mentioned.
The play is well staged.