New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-09
On the Screen
Percentage" at the Rialto
Shows Effect Of Home
Life on Children

of "Parentage," the quite different
film play which is being shown at the
Rialto this week? One would speak
first of its humor, only one is bit
saddened by the pathos;: or perhaps
one should speak of the acting, only
! il is so difficult 10 realize that IL is
acting; or of the wonderful direction,
only, surely. those people never were
| directed. Hobart Henley must have
/ waited around with a camera until he
caught them in the act and then photo
graphed them. The picture goes from
one delightful scene TO another, ming
/ ling tears with laughter-tears for the
childhood of little Horace Brown. and
/ laughter for refreshing bits of humor.
! John Brown was a brute of type
alas, too common to need any descrip-
| ton. His wife was a gentle creature
/ utterly subdued, and after her little
/ boy Joined the family circle she lived
! but to protect him from his fathers
wrath; but John Brown never forgave
! his son for being born. Anna Lehr
| did wonderful work as Mrs. Brown, If
work it was. She did not seem TO act,
she seemed merely to be.
In Owentown was also Robert Smith
and his wife, but they loved children,
and when a plump and smiling infant
| is seen floating toward them over the
/ broad sea of life they welcome 1t with
outstretched arms.
Horace Browns childish life is one long
succession of deceits and punishments,
and when he grows TO manhood he is
weak edition of his father without the
one redeeming feature-tenscity Of
purpose.
Robert Smith, jr, who was wanted,
welcomed and adored, grew to be
! perfect man, mentally and physically.
| The most amusing scenes occur IN
I the schoolroom where the two boys are
sent to acquire knowledge. Robert
! achieves it, but Horace has it thrust
upon him. In this schoolroom Mr.. Hen
ley has gathered together all of the
! children that went TO school when you
and | were young" There is Hamil
/ West, who used to pull your hair, and
/ Lottie Storey, who had long curls and
could recite "Curfew shall not ring to-
night" and all the rest. And the
/ teacher, too, who frizzed her hair and
kept geranium in a cup Of water on
her desk.
Alos Alexander is the young lady in
the case. She is Robert Smiths little
7
teachers pet. She can add 8 and II
and perform all sorts of ,Herculean
mathematical problems. Barbara Cas-
Teton plays the part, grown up, and it
surely seems as though she must be
little Miss Alexander ten years later
She is her exact counterpart.
The story contains a sermon, and a
potent one. 1t is bound to give one
pause, however hardened one may be-
But whether one likes being preached
at or not, one will remain and learn
the lesson, for Mr.. Henley has gilded
his pill so artistically that one cannot
resist il.
One feels that Mr.. Henley must be
quite remarkable man to have con-
ceived, produced and directed such a
play. and one is right. He is.
The final movement from Schehera-
zade is played as the overture. The
orchestra also renders selections from
Madame Sherry" A novelty is Madge
North's singing of THE Old Folks at
Home" A more ambitious number is
the trio from 81 Lombardi," sung by
Madeline D'Espinoy. Signor Marion Ro-
dolfo and Henry Burton.
The comedy is Mr.. and Mrs. Sidney
Drew in Lest We Forget"
No one can say, after seeing "The
Love That Lives" at the Strand this
week, that Pauline Frederick is not a
great actress. She is, for she sacrifices
her beauty to her art and makes Molly
McGill a real scrubwoman, dressed in
a torn frock and carrying a mop and
pail. This is decidedly Miss Frederick's
best work, and she has made a radical
departure from her usual role.
At first one keeps wondering how
/ long it will be before she gets to the
point where she will don beautiful
/ clothes and pour tea, and then one de-
/ cides that she isn't going TO reach that
point, and she doesn't, either.
There is no romance in this picture,
and "The Love That Lives" is the
mothers love for her child.
Molly McGill, a scrubwoman, and the
J daughter of a scrubwoman, marries
/ Pete McGill, a drunken brute, who
abuses the children and spends his
wife's hard-earned money, until one day
/ the Lord takes him away via barroom
/ brawl over a crap game.
Molly struggles TO support the little
boy and girl, but their environment is
bad. and so one day when the man
whose Office she is cleaning sees her
and offers her money and freedom from
/ her sordid life she accepts for the sake
/ of her little boy.
! She sends little Jimmy to a technical
| school, but her life with Harvey Brooks
! is unbearable, and so one day she
| leaves him and goes to wiring a living
from the world as best she can. She
falls lower and lower, and finally is
seen in cafe. with bleached and
stringy locks tucked up under a white
plumed hat, and tawdry finery hanging
on her gaunt frame. II is difficult to
realize that this creature is really Paul
/ inc Frederick.
| She finally reforms for the sake of
I her boy, who has grown to manhood.
although she never makes herself
known. She humbly asks for work as
scrubwoman, and when the overseer
SAYS "Any experience" she answers:
1--WE been a scrubwoman all my life
at heart"
1t is a pathetic little story, but il is
decided relief from the usual sort
Of thing, and Miss Frederick rises TO
/ great heights in it.
John Sainpolis plays opposite Miss
Frederick as the villain. There is no
hero, unless it be Pat O'Mally, who
plays Jimmy after he is grown up.
The overture is La Gioconda," and
there is another one OF those musical
monologues by Harry Gribble. with
music by Albert Lee Bryan. 1t is called
"a Parable of Nature" 1t was most
artistically done and enthusiastically
received.