The Washington herald., 1919-10-27
~ EARLE DORSEY.

Marjorie Rambeau made a bow at
q four-ton truck for dramatics and
q Gghtrope act for suspense The
script contains the name OF the
Creator no less than fifty-seven
times and 1t manages. in four acts
and seven scenes. to get told a story
about a man who loved a woman
more than his life. For purposes OF
entertainment. the playwrights have
not required him to make good on
that score, but they bring him so
close to II that last nights audience
was thrilled enough to know il, not
withstanding more than the usual
frst-night run of incongruities. as
perities and misadventures.
There's nothing especially novel
in its theme, and aside from the star
and a character or two. 1t calls for
nothing particularly sensational In
the way of Interpretation Miss
Rambeau Is cast in a role that gives
her much more Of a chance to act"
than did where Poppies Bloom" I"
her last localIy-witnessed part.
There are several other roles of dis
tinctIon found here and there in the
-
in this winter Of discomfort.
The Unknown Woman" is the story
of a rather merciless fellow with de-
signs on gubernatorial honors. He is
married to a woman who stands re-
vealed as q lady with a sorrow. She
doesn't love her husband and he
Ioesn't love her. That's Joel Emerson
and his wife, Margaret. On the other
side Of the frame stands Gerald Hast
ings. welded to a female who takes
done and seems to hate him. Hast
inTs is kind to her, but by the end OF
Act | he has laid aside assisting the
ambitious politician long enough to
tell the politicians unloved and un-
loving wife that he, Gerald Hastings.
has been crazy over her since child
hood. Which great love. duly recipro-
Gated, Is put away by Margaret Emer-
son, for the time being. as an un-
worthy thing.
Then ensues the discovery of Emer-
sons willingness to sacrifice his wife
on the altar OF his ambitions as well
as the revelation OF his affair with a
woman one doesn't commonly refer to-.
In the meantime Hastings narcotic
wife has worked herself into such an
unreasoning hatred Of that gentleman n
that she shoots herself and swears
with her dying breath that he did 1t.
In the meantime Hastings and Mar
garet have put the world behind them
and fed to the Catskills for belated
IL illegal Honeymoon.
There, however. the woman de-
cIines to go through with the pro-
gram. returns to New York and
her absence is discovered by her
husband Hastings. meanwhile is
headed toward the chair. The poll
tician, Emerson. has finally been
made governor and he declines to
pardon the man he believes to be
his wife's lover. Then ensues some
OF the tension that characterized
Grifith's Mother and the Law" in
the movies and Hastings is granted
an eleventh-hour reprieve simply
because he Is forced to when faced
with proof of election frauds by
his wife.
That's the story and while many
greater stories have been revealed
over local footIights. it afforded
fair entertainment for a Sabbath
evening. Miss Rambau rioted in
dramatics. which doubtless seemed
convincing TO the majority. Lums-
den Hare played the role of the
nuch-beset Hastings with a simple
sincerity that was cheering. AL
lowing for the Vagaries of his role,
which broke through here and there.
Felix Krembs was an effective viii
lain. The rest of the cast. even
including Jean Robertson. as the
dope-f1end wife, was decidedly steT
reo-typical in their characterize =
tions- George Cameron. as the inn
porter. had a character role that
might have been funnier if were not
overplayed. Someone ought to stop
Florence Burdett from making her
speeches to the bull-fiddle player in
stead of to the character. Her
speeches sounded like vaudeville
monologue.