The Washington herald., 1918-05-28
Last Night at Theaters
The NationaI-SPenrod.v

The National-'Penrod.-
Perhaps the well-known Hoosier.
Booth Harrington. seeing that the
time was drawing near when the most
truly drawn and the most delightful
of all the creatures OF his fancy,
Penrod Schofield, must be transferred
from the printed page to the stage.
and realizing the demonstrated limi-
tations of his talent es q playwright,
said to himself:
II will let others do the work. II
it proves q mere caricature Of the
boy that have made, then the fail
ure will not be on my head"
As 1t turned out, however, at the
National Theater last night. the stage
"Penrod" is something which Mr..
Harrington himself. as a realist, will
delight in. When the Job Of adapta-
ton was turned over to Edward E.
Rose, Messrs. Klaw and Erlanger
and George Tyler knew their man, for
all the Harrington characters are
shown truly. realistically-they are
not thrown out OF focus or twisted
out Of shape to fit into the strait
jacket Of a closely-knit plot.
The play Is q series Of the Penrod
stories strung together more or less
loosely. but with absolute fidelity to
the original and as a genre portrait
of Middle West life of ten or fifteen
years ago it is one Of the most re-
freshing things that have been seen
In Washington in many a day. II
any lover Of the stories fears that the
dramatization will tarnish the delight
full memories which he holds of them,
let him abandon such apprehension at
once, for Penrod, Sam williams. Mar
Jorie Jones and others Of the merry
Juvenile company have not been re-
touched or conventionalized in any
way. The characters are thrust upon
the stage with the refreshing freedom
that characterized the earlier George
Ade comedies.
AS children's play "Penrod" is
unique. All the leading charac acters
are juveniles. Here is Penrod him
self. played by a youngster whom
the program calls Cornish Beck. and
who apparently is a regular PEN
rod Schofield himself. and who
knows how to get his hero over"
Then there Is another clever little
fellow named Andrew Lawlor. who
plays Sam Williams just as YOU
would have him played. And there
are two colored boys, who play Her
man and Verman with such artless
Verisimilitude that they run Pen
rod and Sam a close second for the
comedy honors of the piece. All of
the children do extraordinarily well.
and justify the faith of the man
agement in them. Since their fame
is bound to spread far and wide.
doubtless the busy-bodies will be
on the job again before long agitat-
ing this cruel form Of child labor.
Miss Helen Hayes. whom wash
ington knows so well, makes a yery
real and charming girl out of Mar
garet Schofield,, and Thomas Ford.
as Robert Williams, affords one of
those irresistibly comic pictures of
puppy love" which Harrington
knows how to draw SO we'll. AS to
the horse thief" Herbert Hamilton
Dade. whom Penrod tracked to his
lair in the Y. M. c. A., he is very
adequately played by John David
son, and the elder members of PEN
rods family are competently done
by Edmund Elton and Adora An
drews.
There Is a long cast, all of them
playing real people. In fact, out
OF the rich drollery and comedy of
Penrod. in which a large audience
took such unaffected zest and de-
light last night. comes one impress
sion that stands out in sharp re-
lief after a seasons thsater-Eoins.
involving largely machine-made
folks, that here at last are real
neutrality-suspicious. human beings,
OF the kind that you and I knew.
and were, when We were young
and we are still young, Allah be
praised.
b. r. keithe's-Fritsi scheH.
To say that there's no one Just
like Fritzi Scheff 10 quite banaI.
But the audience at Keith's last
night realized anew that the flute
like voice and strange, unpallins
charm of the little Hungarian sing
er have q niche of their own on
the American stage.
Miss Scheff sang five or six num-
bers. including the wonderful kiss
Me Again." and other selections of
light operatic caliber with her usual
comsummately finished artistry. Her
gown Of scarlet brocade Is far too
beautiful not to be mentioned in
connection with the act. As one
mangler of English and meanings
remarked. she looked "all lit up"
THE Viol-lnn" is q hostelry filled
with musically inclined maidens,
and incredible guests that get away
from the hat boy. Herman Tinrbers,
without bestowing the customary
largesse. The act opens with a.re-
nearsal Of . half doxen cabaret girls
Of 100 per cent pulchritude and
pep" and continues through q
series of snappy. taking numbers.
'Cloakroom Boy. I'm q Ragtime
Numbering Man." and "Jazxeritis."