The Washington herald., 1919-11-24
SUNDAY THEATER OPENINGS
c1Ifts. Crawford. In IN,
Lady Friends-S
~ EARLE DORSEY.

Bel,.>~-C ClIftsa Crawford. fa my
Lady Frieads-S
~ EARLE DORSEY.
Mr.. H H. Frazee has laid aside the
cares of baseball long enough to &C
quire a new show. This time IT'S q
farce. A farce is an element OF en-
tertzinrnent that claims exemption
from the laws Of probability. FIRE.
quentIy. Il Is built around bed.
though that's out. this year. Often
times It has an idea Occasionally it
Is well interpreted. Once in every so
often. its dialogue has a scintiIlant
snap. All these elements. with the ex-
ception Of the bed. have been in
corporated into "His Lady Friends, :"
the production that brought to the
Belasco last night Clifton Crawford.
late Of Three Twins" late of The
Quaker Girl" late of "Her Soldier
Boy" and more lately Of vaudeville.
Mr.. Crawford is the central figure
Of q cast that contrives, with effective
effort to anplify the idea that the
onfy way to keen a married man
straight Is to keep his nose to the
Erindstone- 1t also introduces a sort
of a subthene- This subtheme is ex-
pressed in a line which reads: You
can keep yourself warm on woolens,
but you need silk to keep a husbands
love warm"
The idea presents a man who has
made $4,000 publishing Bibles, but
whose wife, Of economical mind. per-
nlits him no latitude in the spending
thereof This spending propensity
which Emil Nyitray and Frank Man
del the authors. would have US be-
1ieye Is a universal tendency, so
clanors for expression in the mind
Of the Bible publisher that he invests
a portion Of his Bible profits in main
tanning three women in various part >
OF the country. simply to find an out
let for his generosity. There Is moth
ing novel in such philanthropy, but
IT is difficult to swallow the basic
suggestion of the authors that the
gentleman in question was such a
marvel Of credulity as TO believe the
fantastic stories OF thwarted ambi-
ton told him by his fair beneficiaries-
I;ut farce is farce and one accepts.
tentatively enough. the suggestion
Likely enough. his fair admirers
all profess a violent passion for
u.
been kept a secret from them.
eventUaiities are due to ensue. His
wife Is trusting, to the point of
iugs from the cynical wife Of her
husbands associate and it is only
when she is slapped in the face
with the situation that she begins
10 gather that something is wrong
snmr where
Tie Bible publisher pays his law
YER friend S25.0oO to straighten out
the tanEle. but this only results D
a further mixup when the young
women. evidently quite intent upon
LiackmaII and believing the law
ver's statement that his friends
money has all been made over to
his wife. conspire together and
turn on the lawyer. who suddenly
Tnds himself identified as the bene-
factor of the three. There's g
great deal more of this which
makes possible some situations that
are absolutely Impossible from the
standpoint Of logic. but which fur
ish a sprightly group OF lines
which are the most telling asset
of the show. The lines are ex-
cellent in their comedy, though it
is our belief that much of the
comedy springs from a sense Of
shock
Clifton Crawford contriYes, with
praiseworthy skill. to make comically
plausible many OF the situations he
finds himself in He throws his per
sona appreciation of audience psy-
Chology into the breach time after
time and scores when another would
hopelessly fail. Mr.. Crawford's own
performance was splendid. June
Walker is the latest and most fetch
ing of the baby Yamp types. Her
role IS a mere by-path in the plot
md leads to nowhere but as a char
-terization II has all the latent pos
bilitieS of the similar role in Up
airs and Down" and II has been
handled with infinitely more effect
Mona Kingsley seemed TO struggle
with the part Of the Bible publish
er's wife. With such a prodigy Of
character inanity it is a wonder she
was able to struggle at all Frank
Morgan was a bit heavy as the Bible
publishers lawyer; Theresa Conover
has no great part as his suspicious
wife; Robert Fiske seemed to handle
& Juvenile role with the proper spirit;
gins in Leave It to Jane" had
very little chance to amuse, and
Jessie NagIe was the most promi-
nently rolled of the three fair bene-
fjciaries Of the Bible funds, Edith
King and Jane Warrington being lit
tie more than lay figures