The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-12-10
"SLEEPING
PARTNERS"
Artistic Presentation OF French
Farce by Miss Goodrich
and Company.

He lis as others are) Herman Grips
she us like all "shes"--extraor-
oinary) ........... Edna Goodrich
The Husband Gust husband
with beard) ...... N. Tello Webb
The Servant lis servant) $3.50.
synopsIa
Act. 1.-The flat where she hest
tated. Quarter to four In the after
noon. She came.
Act 1.-THE same flat with the
same hesitation. Nine o'clock that
night. She slept a.
| Act III.-The same flat still, but no
hesitation. Ten o'clock the next morn
/ ing. She awakened
What should be said of players and
plays is often softened out of regard
for the feelings of the people who earn
their living by offering a few hours Of
amusement to the public; and, further.
because so many Of the present-day
productions are of such ephemeral
construction as not to be worthy Of
| serious attention. But after oneshas
seen sleeping Partners" French
| farce in three acts written by Sacha
Guitry and Seymous Hicks, last eve
ning's offering at the Grand, there is
a well-defined sense of relief in real
ization that good acting and bright
ideas are still in demand notwith-
standing the precarious and often vul-
gar type of humor that is being fore
ed upon the present age. type large
ly dominated by exhibitions of too
much Of the female form in all Its
irregularities and curves.
Farce is truly the word for the
exquisite production which cnalleng-
ed the enthusiasm and mtrth of the
large audience last evening. Sleep
ing Partners" has little in the way
of plot; what there Is of that is Of
the most obvious French extraction.
1t carries the spicy aroma that one Is
tempted to associate with the CLAN
destine romance which ends in inno-
cent and hilarious climax. 1t is all
an exquisite bit of nonsense, bright
and witty, risQue at times, but thor
oughly enjoyable at all times.
He" the admirer, thinks, or rather
acts the foolish things that every man,
or to be conservative, many men
think of and say when they have
lUccu ny luc CudI VI liC
other mans wife and imagine that she
is the one woman in all the world.
"She," the wife, makes the foolish
mistake that a flattered woman some
times makes-falls for his florid
bursts OF erotic eloquence. A mistake
saves husband, wife and admirer from
the fatal and final STEP
The wife, for a lark, agrees to spend
one hour with her admirer. Both
through mistake drink sleeping po-
|tion and fall asleep. They wake up
twelve hours later to find the sim
pouring into the windows. The wife
lis distracted.
Then the husband calls and the wife
hides. The husband has been out all
night also-with q fairy-and he is
Idisconsolate and distracted. He calls
upon his friend-the admirer-for ad-
vice and consolation This opens an
avenue of escape for the wife. The
husband is blinded by wife and adj
mirer who cleverly t, IN disastrous
lsituation to good account-at the ex-
pense of the deceived husband. But
the wife has learned lesson-"never
again"
That but four people can hold the
Iunflagging interest of an audience for
two hours Is tribute to the artistry,
ability, of Miss Goodrich and Messrs.
Cripps, Webb and Peyton. But there
was something further than this ac-
icomplished on the part of Mr.. Grips.
He held the stage alone in the second
act with a monoiogue that covered a
period outside of the fifteen minutes
allotted in the scene to Miss Goodrich.
This feat of Mr.. Grips stamps him
as consummate artist; in fact. he
shared the honors with the star and
spoke the greater number of lines in
the play Mr.. Webb was the polished
husband who took chance for night
with a Partisan fairy. Charles Pey-
ton as the servant had little to do but
did that little as satisfactorily as the
principals came to their greater ac-
complishment.
Miss Goodrich, as beautiful as she
was when she used to turn mems
heads, acted the role Of the wife in
the most charming manner and whetn.
er asleep or up and doing she was the
center of attraction; and her gowns
well, beautiful gowns and beautiful
women form a combination hard to
beat, and couple this with an ability
to act, charming personality, and
there is Miss Goodrich.
1t probably will be many day.
mores the pity, before Keokuk sees
another play of such merit as 'Sleep-
ing Partners and acting of such ex
cellence as was afforded by Miss Good
rich and her companions.
,v- Ivy ~-@rx/