New-York tribune., 1918-09-16
By Haywood Broun

"The Unknown Purple" is a melo-
drama with a welcome touch of magic
1t is written solely as thriller, and
succeeds admirably in fulfilling that
function. Nevertheless, the play is
rather unusual. for the author has
combined a detective play and a fairy
story. All the most exciting moments
OF the play depend upon the fact That
the hero can make himself invisible at
viii by means Of q powerful purple
ray which he invented.
lie does not use his magic to awaken
sleeping beauties, but to steal diamord
necklaces and rob safe. Doors swing
open and chairs are tossed about on
an empty stage, to the great delight @:
the audience. Perhaps it il wcn to
explain mere that the hero had ample
provocation for what he did. The
opening of the play d;scloses hin. in
Jail, but by means of cutbsck PROOF
is soon presented to absolve aim from
crime. 1t is shown that faithless
wife led him into a trap in order that
she might go away with lover. All
this is revealed to the unfortunate
man III prison, and he vows revenge
full in the teeth of the spotlight He
promises to drag down the man who
wronged him, and to choke the faith
less woman.
Peter Marchmont is in u position to
make lot of trouble for anybody who
has offended him. Protected by his in
visibility he robs the villain He also
makes love to the villains wife. for
merry Mrs. Marchmont. Here he is pro-
tected not by invisibility, but by the
tact that they shaved his whiskers off
in prison.
All his robberies are done with fine
bravado. He sends notes to the villain
telling him that on such a day he will
lob the safe or snatch away his wife's
necklace or what not, and then in spite
OF the presence of the detectives he
slides in no more than a purple glow
and takes the things before their very
eyes.
In the last act he even tells the de-
tectlves how 1T is done, but still they
cannot catch him. Shielded by his pur-
pie ray, he walks right past them and
taunts them as he goes. 1t seemed
to us that the detectives might have
seized him. After all. although he was
invisible he was not incorporeal. Per-
haps the detectives knew their bust
ness. 1t would have been little use TO
bring such man to trial. The court
room cartoonists on the afternoon
newspapers would not be able to do a
thing with such trial, aad there
might be additional dilIicuities when
the case got to point where the Judge
should say: Jurors, look upon the de
fondant"
We were glad that Marchmont es-
caped. but it seemed a pity that he
didn' give his wife just a little bit Of
choking while cloaked with his invisi-
billty. Unless she mistook it for
asthma, it might have done her great
deal of good. She was pretty bad.
AT the end the hero married her good
sister Ruthic and also regained posses
sion of his son. 1t may be gathered
that the play is crude. which is true
enough. but any brief recital of what
happens fails to do justice to the genu-
moments of the play. The device of
the purple ray is exceedingly effective.
Otherwise the lighting Of the play is
one of its few drawbacks. The over
head lighting was bad enough, but in
addition to that people were constantly
turning lights up or down for no appar-
ent reason. This was particularly a
fault, because the presence of the pur-
pie ray was always indicated by dim
ming of the liPhts
Richard Bennett gave a very good per-
lolnahce' or even Two good perform
ances, for the long stay in prison made
HIM g changed man. His best work
was done in the prologue. which ex-
planned how Peter Marchmont was be-
trayed into jail. Here Bennett was an
absent minded and kindly inventor. x.he
part, of course, is familiar enough, but
Bennett put sufficient life into it to
MAKE 1t somewhat different from the
conventionaliZed fguls Later as the
aVenger Bennett was btcomlrgly suave
and sinister. Helen MucKellar did the
evil wife with great spirit and gusto.
1t seemed almost shame for her good
sister to triumph over her. Earle
Brown was q good villain and Marion
kerby handled some comic relief Of
fectively.