The Washington herald., 1918-07-28

CONTINUED fhOk fASb oNA
others. Miss Jean stuart. last seen
here as Tisha. the vampire In The
wanderer." plays the role of Lady
Mary Heather.
Pretty Wanda Hawley, one Of the
youngest and most pleasing Of MIN
players, interprets the difficult role OF
Kedzie Thropp. Anita Adair." In the
picture, I'VE Can't Have Everything"
by Rupert Hughes. the screen version
by VIM. c. De Mile, and the produc-
ton staged by Cecil B. De Mile for
Aircraft, which will be shown At the
Strand Theater beginning today.
Miss Hawley was seen to advant-
age In "oid wives for New" an
other De Mile picture. and also In
"Mr. Fix-it." Her role In the new
picture calls for a novel characteri-
zation-that Of an utterly selfish young
person who climbs over others shoui.
ders to q high place only to be still
in the photoplay within q photoplay
are absolutely unique.
t1dITy IkauQtE mas IuIlllatCu tuoN ~
Is his intention to seek election as q
Member Of Parliament He thinks he
could do some good in the House OF
Commons. II he could introduce lit
tie humor into some Of the debates
they would certainly make less dry
reading. He would, Of course, stand
for a Scotch constituency.
Sir Alfred Butt also wishes to be-
come q British legislator. He is to
seek election to the House of Com
mons as the Unionist member Of q
North London constituency.
The genius Of Barrie has come to
the fore again with two new playlets
both gems Of dramatic literature.
They were staged last week at Wynd-
hams Theater on behalf OF charity.
II must be inevitable that they will
be seen again.
"a Well Remembered Voice." which
the Times describes as art of ex-
quisite delicacy and reticence, an art
which might be called quintessence Of
Barrie" tells of a spiritualistic Sc
ance. A mother tries to get into
communication with her dead soldier
son, but Is unsuccessful because the
father IL an unbeliever. He is looked
upon as being Indifferent. but the
truth Is that his sorrow Is too deep
to indulge in what he regards as
'trickery.
Then he Is left alone, and the voice
Of his boy calls to him from the Great
Beyond. And his dead son cheers him
up, tells him not to grieve, because he
Is happy with the many other young
people who are out there with him.
He cracks Jokes and induces his ia
ther once again to fill the old pipe
which he had neglected since his be-
reavement. finally he promises to
speak to his father again when he
can get the password. And the pass
word that night was love bade me
welcome"
1t is a beautiful trihe OF Barrie's
best, and 1t was beautifully played
by Forbes-Robertson. as the father
and Gerald du Maurier as the voice,
The other Barrie gem was a light
hearted playlet called La Politesse."
Two escaped prisoners Of war, both
London cockneys. seek refuge with
young French couple. Not understand
Ing each others language It is difiicult
TO explain matters. But It gradually
dawns on the cockneys that they have
intruded upon their host and hostess
on their wedding night. Approaching
the circumstances. and despite their
hunger and misery, they delicately
solve the somewhat embarrassing sit
uation by retiring to rest in. the pig
sty.
The war continues to have one alb
normal effect upon London theaters.
There Is now no midsummer interval
Before the war things were different.
When toward the middle Of the year
play lost its grip on the public, it
would be taken OF and the theater
closed until the fall. and the manage
ment and the company would take a
vacation until such time as rehearsals
were due for the next production. l
am not referring to musical comedies,
reVues and vaudeville-they went on
as usual. But for legitimate play
10 run right through the summer was
exceptional. II half a dozen legiti-
mate theaters were able to keep open
through that period the arrangements
counted themselves as lucky,
What Is the position today. PLAYS
follow each other upon the stage of
every theater in rapid succession. No
soon Is one piece taken of than re-
hearsals for its successor are started
right away. At the present moment
twenty-four theatres-not counting
the music halls-are offering straight
plays, revues and operas, and three
ether theaters are to open in a few
days with new productions.
American plays occupy the stage at
seven theaters. They are Soldier
Boy Going Up" The Lilac Domi-
no." "The Naughty Wife," Fair and
Warmer" BE Careful, Baby" and
The Knife" All of them are going
strong There are seven musical plays,
I've comedies, FIVE farces. four serious
or romantic plays, two revues lex
cluoing those running at vaudeville
theaters) and, at Drury Lane, the
Beecham Opera Company.
There are several reasons for the
unusual activity in theaterdom. First
OF all there are the boys from the
front home on leave. They must be
entertained, and, of course, they take
their friends-female and otherwise
with them to the theater. There are
also thousands of troops from over
seas-Americans, Canadians, Austral-
ians and New Zealanders. They, too.
want entertaining in the evenings.
And in this matter the theaters are