New Britain herald., 1916-02-29


 Mrs. Cortlandt Crandall. . ...... Adelaide Hubbard James, the Butler. .Girard Patterson ! Henry Gilsey. .....J. Irving White | Edith Gilsey. Dora Booth l Irving Barlow. Eugene Weber Peter Cortlandt Crandall. ........ 1 Alfred Cross Katie Murray, from Pocotello. Julie Herne Adachi, Barlow's Valet. ........ ] ........ Philip Sheffield
 There are occasions that live in the memories of men, that refuse to be 1 forgotten. Such was the reception rendered the premier of Miss Julie Eerne's remarkable play, An Out sider," which greeted it's first audi ence last night at the Lyceum. It was like the end of a Roman holi- 1 cay of old. Society was there m force. Every seat in the playhouse was l occupied even before the curtain arose on the first act and standing room was at a premium. For the first time l since the halcyOn days when the old 1 plays and actors packed the house to 1 the rafters people were turned away | at the box office. So it was that this | new play was welcomed by one of the l most brilliant and sympathetic audi eDces that ever gathered in the his toric old playhouse
 There were present friends and ad- mirers of Miss Herne who journeyed from New York, Philadelphia and Boston to attend her greatest effort in theatricals. And they were re- warded; for An Outsider proves itself play of exceptional merit, one decidedly different from the stereo- typed drama of the present day, a play that succeeds in getting away from the morbidness of criminal at moSphere and engenders the purer spirit of real American comedy,- clean, wholesome, invigorating.
 Because it was the opening night, with all the attendant enthusiasm4 IL was away after Il o'clock be- fore the curtain was rung down on the last act. After that the many admirers of Miss Herne rushed to the back of the stage to shower con- gratulations upon the star. An in formal reception was held. There was 8 wilderness of flowers banked high in Miss Herne's dressing room, tokens of the esteem in which the clever little lady is held.
 So well did the audience receive the play that after the third act, when bouquet after bouquet was sent over the footlightS to the author she was called forth for curtain speech. And Miss Herne responded in good style. Her voice chOked with emotion as she told of the appreciation she felt, of her thanks for the good wishes expressed, of the support the ccmbsny accorded and the work of the mgnaagement in producing her l play.
 ThroughoE the vast audience
 there were nSaerous echoes of Miss
 Herne's sentiment. Never before has
 play, even fresh. from a metropolis
 tan run, been put 02 in such elabor-
 ate fashion as "M Outsider. v
 Through the cooperation of Man
 ager Lynch, Kendall WeSSon, the d1-
 rector, Maurice Futile, the>scenlc ar tist, and Alfred Cross and lis cont
 pany An Outsider got the >oeneht
 of every consideration. Kendall Wes-
 ton who has produced plays for may
 seasons has never in all his career
 approached the infinite success he
 attained in putting on this play of
 American life. The settings in all
 the four acts are superb. They are l gorgeous, sublime. The scenery l painted by Maurice Futile represents
 the fruits of special labor. The com
 pany manifested it's hearty support of
 it's star and playwright by the man.
 ner in which the lines and situations
 were handled. Only once or twice | c1i of hn
 and then in trivial places Not q
 cue was missed. Instead of being | the result of five days study and
 rehearsal it looked to the old-timors
 as if An Outsider had been on the boards for months. The Japan | csc setting in the third act is a scene l calculated to go down as one of the prettiest ever painted or set forth
 on the local stage. For fully two l minutes the audience appIauded
 when it was shown.
 As for the play itself, Miss Hernc has indeed written something that l will live. She has gotten away from | the narrow confines characteristic of 1 some present day efforts and produc- ed a drama replete With good lines and situations stirring episodes, l happy comedy,-a real Anne erican play. "An Outsider is the story of 1 Katie Murray. a Western creation Of l femininity, what EasteIners call a cowgirl, straight from the town of l Pocotello in Idaho. Katie Murray is 1 a character so clearly drawn that l she goes out of the theater with Tou when the show is over, she lives in 1 your heart you fall in love with her. An Outsider" shows all the vicissl tudes that come up in Katie Murray S ! life, tells how she overcomes them 1 with her rugged philosophy of tEC | plains how she comes into contact ] with uncongenial spirits and in the ] end conouers them. You cannot help l but admire Katie Murray. She meets /! Peter Cortlandt Crandall, scion of q ! wealthy Eastern family. who is on