Evening star., 1919-04-28
Belasco="Dark Horses

Ozark Horses" hrand-new comedy
and story of the latest winning 1on-to-l
shoe; made its first start at the Shubert-
Beiasco Theater last night Written by
Samuel Shipman and Percival Wiido,
produced by William Harris. m, anG
aGt6d by a uniformly strong cast. 1T was
aa-sdds-on favorite before the curtaii
rose. and romped home an easy WHINE
amid the plaudits of the spectators
Brsdes being new comedy, ''D27
ItuyeS'' has in its favor novel idea.
Nine college studentS-in these days ol
equal rights the weaker sex is natur-
aIlS S-inCluded-pOol their chances of sue
ceSS in life the last night of their col
lege- career. Al the end of three years
they are to divide their tangible assets
acCnding to the percentage of proba-
hft-.es AS agreed upon in their contract.
While the entire entry may be classed
sS-'Iark horses" in the race of life,
t%+>-horse of the most sable hue. the
college poet. proves at the end of the
three years to have been the most sue
cessful.
-1-re lines are clever. witty at times,
arc- the repartee of the most sparkling
vintage of 1919 The story is imposSi-
bie-So is every loh-to-1 shot unit ! 1t
gees over-but it is amusing. There
is = laugh in almost every line Like
many first productions. the pruning
knife IS needed here and there. The
h"ne. if she can he called so. who,
heSIEeS being in love with the class poet.
invents a popular doll that wins a for
tlttt- for them all. has an. unSracious
part. 1t requires a stretch of the magl-
nation in these days of high cost of liv-
iag..fo picture any woman who insists
tifar'A sine qua non to the winning OF
her hand is that her lover shali be
falUSe.
sHov,eyer the comedy gets across
The co-authors have picked col
1ege fraternity house Tor the open
inE act and fortunately the nine
principals all look young enough to
lie college grads Besides the class
poet, there is the honor man, who
and athletic. and expects to make
Morgan look a ''piker" in the realm
of finance. II happens that he and
the poet love the same girl. The
college "vamp' is one OF the girls.
and another is an heiress. Others in
the group are Il law student with
presidential aspirations, an engineer.
who aims to bridge the Atlantic. and
ii future composer of the great Amer
lean opera.
s''Here's to dreams. may we never
wake up is the toast of the class
poet. The awak ening comes at the
end of the three-year period. Then,
only one the class poet. has made
G55od financially. Casting his ideals
and poetic aspirations to the winds.
fa has become a garbage king
;isd the possessor of half Il million
dollars. The honor man is bank
rsnner a $l2 week This is life.
and the professors are different, he
acknowledges. The composer OF
operas is d tuner of pianos. "A bis
cdit for breakfast, a glass OF water
for lunch. and just swell up for
dinner is his description of keeping
body and soul together.
The poet has made his pile, but, ceas-
iug to be a failure, he loses the hero
inc. So he agrees to divide his
Worldly goods with the others. but
5 beetles another interval of two years.
How he loses and at the same time
wins is left to the third act to un-
fold
Doug" the class poet ordained by
his fellows to be a failure, is admir-
ably and smoothly acted by Roland
Young. Madge, his lady love. has
heen intrusted to the charming Phoebe
FSster. and the college "vamp'' to
Cathleen Nesbitt. who is very clever
in the part. Phil. the dow and-out
musician. is played by Mckay Nor
ris, and the engineer, who turns out
to be a taxi-driver and husband of
the ''vamp." with five babies by Ed
ward Robinson. Arthur Ashley is the
oeerconfident honor man, and Curtis
Cooksey the law student. Frances
Underwood and Helen Sinnott are 9TH
ers in the very able cast.