Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-01
FRANCES STARR'S ART
ATTEST IN NEW PLAY
with Belasco's Lights, She
Almost Transmutes Marie
Odile's" Sentimentality
.,,,,r- onrt,E-A play in three acts, by Ed
MAhiib-S2 MAIL -S2pobiauch. Management David Be-

vAR1E- -oDILB-A play In three acts; ky bbd
Ss2 iss gsSt ARstp4B 4BomSs TRSGs''M Mother sqgsT2 ?5
::ttssF iggso Harriet of Dsilen1sggl stsi
Marie MS5IeoffIf6 ofs6eT the Chaplain Edward po9ney
PsteA the Gardener. larry larry hoil.aay
ssrSeqni ssserrSSorni P5liIp Nieissner. Jerome PatTicl
s,steys. and Uhlans Of q Prussian regiment.
Tno scene is In small convent in tn,
-,1dpnnetainous regions Of AlsaYece. The time II
19lnrIne The Franco -Ptussian War OF 1870.
vou have to be very sentimental TO find
.n,,tbinF in Marie Odile" to inspire
aitber enthusiasm or anger. Otherwise II
sa inst a little tale of impossible inno-
cence. mental psychic and biologic, ad.
,r,rablv set forth in acting, scenery and
i,gbts The EVENING LEDGBR's critic con
5ssses TO state of intellectual lethargy
uneoualed this season. Don't expect toe
much of him.
OF course If the play had really stirred
him IN he might have told the story OF
Marie-Odile in parallel columns-once as
tbe sentimental, somewhat poetic theatre
roer would see II and once as 1t would
anpear to the man of science. But that
would take too much energy and interest
Let him split the difference.
Marie Odile was a convent girl of such
innocence that to call her novice seems
N'Oot
baby, she grew UP without seeing any
man younger than old Peter, the gar
dener, or more fleshly than Father Fisher,
and acquired the most originat notions
about the re-population of the world.
When war came-the war of 1S7O-and Al
SAGE. where the convent hid became the
Belgium of that German invasion, Marie
Odile received the first handsome young
trooper who popped in, as an incarna-
tion of st. Michael of the sword For
4 tunately the troopers were unusually
decorous, Judged by the present-day ac-
counts of the Allies. and If her saint
hadn't been a pattern of healthy inno-
cence almost n match for her own, things
would have ended very quietly with the
departure of the troops. But between one
thing and another, which Mr.. knoblauch
nuts down as psycho-physical truths, the
militant saint stayed behind against his
will, and by some more psycho-physical
truths which the author insists on our
taking his word for, .Iarie-Odile, a
year later, is telling the returned sisters
of the miracle by which God has given
her baby. The fact that she has suf-
fered none of the customary experiences
fails, however. to convince the sisters
that Married. Odile is worthy to remain in
the convent. And so she goes out-in a
very beautiful Belasco aura-to make her
way in the world. God grant 1t be as
easy!
AS Frances Starr acts her, Marie
Ode is n creature of fresh and youth
full navete almost beautiful enough to
make the play seem n thing of poetic
inspiration Whether Mr.. Enoblauch
aimed at such an effect or not, his words
create only the stage innocence of the
"Where do babies come from type. 1t
is the spiritual quality of this rare young
actress that almost wins belief. In the
reflection of her radiant face and under
the spell of her Caressing CONSCIENTIOUS
as many of YER ntonations are-even the
righteously grabbed Mother Superior
seems something besides the perennial
harsh spinster of the theatre
Beyond Miss Starr and the excellent
cast, the whole production is eaborately
keyed to this spiritual strain. Gone are
the foolish old footlights. Warm amhers
play upon the faces as they turn to the
mullioned windows of the convent hall.
The brown walls have something of the
soft shadows of reality about them.
Nook and crevice are full of the intimate
life of such a place, TRANSMITTED in the
glow of stray beams to something in key,
with thes piritual radiance which must
make the story plausible and affecting
1t makes Marie Odile" a play that no
seeker after the inwardness of the the
atre should neglect.
If, however, you are merely a playgoer
looking for entertainment and perhaps
some bit of that inspiration which the
theatre at its highest can so marvelously
give, then your problem is a harder one.
You must make up your mind If you are
a reasonably strong sentimentalist. If
you are, then the play at the Adelphl
will show you how sweet are the uses of
atrocity. X NJ.