The Washington herald., 1919-06-03
Last Night at Theaters
By EARLE DORSEY.

The nrst presentation of the new
Harvey o'Higgins-Harriet Ford
comedy. "on the Hiring Line
production intended for Broadway
presentation by George c. Tyler
next autmn-reveals such a number
dramatic assets and liabilities that
one Is forced to believe that the flu
tire handling and revision of the
piece will largely determine its des-
tiny as a first-class Broadway play.
"On the Hiring Line" is an Amer
lean comedy-in places a downright
brilliant comedy-and the cast OF
players which participated in its
presentation last night INTERPRETED
its atmosphere and its draDfa in a
fashion that is nearly Nameless.
The trouble with "On xhe Hiring
Line" in its present form. is its
top-heaviness. Another trouble Is
its interminable wa%s between acts.
Act One Is whT Archie Jameson
used to call banal. It's nice and
pleasant bat there's much obvious
planting of this and that. Act
Two speeds up a bit. A private de-
tective has been hired as a butler
by a Jersey suburbanite, who wants
to show his wife that he can hire
servants that stick. And the sleuth-
butler is beginning to discover that
the daughter of the family Is in
love with the chauffeur and that che
suburbanite's wife has some sort of
a mysterious passion for a visitor
actor friend. It's beginning to
grow creepy. somewhat like a crook
play and everybody's beginning to
suspect everyone else. Then comes
Act Three, like a summer thunder
storm. 1t is a full act. 1t roars
with comedy. 1t crashes with vivid
flashes of satire. Situations simply
pour and the audience, caught some
what off-guard. hurriedly advances
it's mental spark to keep up.
Mr.. O'Higgins and his collaboration
have given the stage a rare bit OF
writing in ''On the Hiring Line" and
at one point in the last act 1t per-
ilously approaches comic greatness.
There Is a scene where Mrs. Fes-
sender, the wife Of a suburbanite,
apparently detected in an affair with
visiting actor, manager to shift
the evidence in such a manner that
Mr.. Fessenden, admittedly virtuous
in all his matrimonial dealings,
seemingly stands convicted before his
entire household as the principal in
a guilty liaison. Another high light
that scales the heights Is the scene
where the butler-sleuth. victimized
from beginning to end and ashamed
to face his fellow-sleuths, decides to
stay on as butler and solve the sub
urban servant problem, only to re-
turn in a few minutes and restore
. .ff ~ f. 70
tus by announcing that Mrs. Butler
Sleuth will cook-but not in the coun-
try. E
To our mind, there Is no outstand-
ing role to be emphasized at the ex-
pense of the rest George Howell
was delightful as the harassed
householder ante who vainly
dreamed of a suburban existence.
Miss Emily Stevens, as his wife, did
not appear to the same advantage.
There was a certain theatrical glib
nes about her work that Jared.
Helen Hayes, she of Dear Brutus."
is still the same delightful Helen.
though in a new role. She seemed
a bit nervous and hasty last night,
but after all. Helen Hayes is not
a veteran of the stage, and too much
is not expected To our mind, Sid
ney Toler, in the role of Ritchie, the
butler-sleuth, gave the best per-
formance of the piece. HIS inter
probation of the moods and atmos-
phere of his role were unerring.
He brought a simplicity and a di-
rectness to the piece that was dig
nant in its comic appeal-an appeal
attained by methods anithetically
opposite to the result. Alfred Lunt
also gave a performance that raced
Mr.. Toler closely for first honors.
An actor is Mr.. -Lunt. Fania Mari
off. last seen here in The Walk
offs" is not quite suited to the part
she played last evening. Fania
should have a part that more close
ly approximates the role of Sonia
in the Hatto vehicle we spoke of.
In fact. when one speaks of Mr.. Ty-
ler's cast. one can only praise and
included in this paen are the names
of Miss Josephine Hall. Harry Mes
tayer and Glenn Hunter as well.