Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-29
"SEVENTEEN' PROVES
A DELIGHTFUL PLAY
Accurate Study of Youth Admirably
Presented by Gregory Kelly
and Fine Cast

y charming play of youth. love and sum
hert'me was shown in Booth Harrington :
seventeen VAT tn" Ad"phi Theatre last
evening hCtOro Il large audience" which fully
appreciated its humOr in tn" seriousness with
which youth takes itself and the delightful
setting Of wcll-to do families in II small town.
III" play is really more than n comedy ::
u IS an accurate but spontaneous study Of
the male OF tho species at the adolcSrcnt age
lh"r" is little plot. rs it is rather II series
ot the incidents which come to every Youth
at tn" particular age specified by the author
!" those who have spent their youth ia Il
country town there are brought back mem
"ricS of the scenes of their own Younger
days; to those brought up amid the sophiSti-
cations of the great city there is II realization
OF the fact that the city. with all its ad-
vantagcs. is denied Il life which is alone uoS-
Siblc to the young of the small town. THE
author wrote of situations which cvidcnl "
he knew personally. as. for instance. the
intimacy of the parents and the close friend
ship of the children of the same families
impossible amid the formalitic> of the larger
communities.
To say that the delightful little play was
we'll acted is to underState the ease. \atu-
rally. the chief honors went to Gregory Kelly
as William SylvanuS Baxter. the youth Of
seventeen. who took himself so seriously aud
was so intol"rant of and sensitive to any
thing. either in speech or action or even in
look. that reelected upon his lack of expert
ence in life Mr.. Kelly has not passed by
many years the age of his stage character,
and he has retained the impressions of that
age to a degree that made his dclinration of
the part seem his actual self His vote"
control is remarkable and his entire prc>rn-
tation of Il character most difficult to assume
was beyond criticism.
Lillian Ross aS Jane. the little sister of
the hero. who played most acc"ptubly the
part Of the "enfHnt terribe,' was II worthy
foil to Mr.. Kelly. Her acting was in
exact accord with the character and ar-
tions Of a child who knows or finds out
everything that goes on. not only in her own
home, but in the entire town Both in char
acterization and appearance, Miss Ross was
perfect in the part
The other parts were equally well taken.
Judith Lowry made n most attractive
mother as Mrs. Baxter, while Lew Mcdbury
was convincing as Mr.. Baxter The other
parts. with tn" exception of Eugene
Stockdsle as Mr.. parrher and Fred
Strong. who was fin" Genesis, the
colored servant were all Juvenile and
were adequately presented by Mc>SrS
John Orr. Ben Lyon. Louis John Bartcls.
Oro IialSey and Misses Henrietta McDan-
mel. Ruth Gordon. Agnes Horton and Flor
cnce Murphy. OF the Juvenile feminine parts
the principal ones were taken by Miss Me-.
Dannel. as May Parchcr, and Miss Gordon
as Lola Pratt. the latter being especially good
as the affected and extreme city girl. with
whom all the young men fell in violent love
Even the pet poodle of Lola Miss GordonD
and the nondcscript ''houu'' - of Genesis
acted their parts we'll and snarled at each
other at the proper moment, as social eX
trcmas of species other than the canine are
apt to do when thrown into to" close com
munication.