The Washington herald., 1919-03-18
Chatterton In seThe
Merrfe Month of May"
Nv EARLE DORSEY.

finally found, in The Merrie Month
of May" a real dramatice runabout
for her talents. "The Merrie Month
OF May marks Miss Chatterton's, or
rather Henry Miller's third and ap-
parently successful attempt of the
season to find suitable play for
the star OF Come Out of the
Kitchen"
There's a certain sophomore glib
ness about the dialogue of The
Merrie Month of May" which causes
one to squirm about now and then,
but the undertone of the piece is
serious; II has a story to tell and
II proceeds with fair enough direc-
tion to tell 1t. Miss Chatterton has
added her own piquancy and de-
licacy OF manner to the telling and
all in all. The Merrie Month of
May is, as old George Marshall
would gesticulate. a purity fair
opery."
In its opening stanza the play
raises the dramatic question:
What is charity?" and for the rest
OF its action. it proceeds to the
demonstration OF the theorem. If.
at the end. we find ourselves as
dubious as when we faced the So
luton OF our first problem Of alge-
bra, We have at least the word OF
the playwright that his solution is
the proper one and at 11:t5 of a
busy March evening, there is really
little time to fall into an argument
with him.
The Merrie Month of May" is q
Ara d., n~N9 HNy
Scarborough. The pauses between
acts are solely for the purpose OF
permitting the gentlemen to smoke.
When the curtain rises on each sue
cessive interval, the action and the
dialogue and the scene begins just
where II left OF. This is entertain
ing.
Judith Baldwin Is a Senator's daugh-
ter faced with the problem of answer
ing the proposals of three men. One
is a dude, one Is a member OF the
Lower House OF Congress and the
third is a ranch manager from Ju-
dith's daddy's Arizona ranch. Ju-
dith's aunt does a bit of romancing
about an indiscreet affair of her own
on an evening in May which pre-
vented her from deceitfully marrying
any other man. Judith. the much
sought-after, puts her suitors to the
test by appropriating the story as her
own. The Congressman and the dude
both fall by the wayside under the
test while. for purposes OF play-act-
ing. the heroic young man from Ari-
zona indicates, rather inprobably.
that he is not interested particularly
in initiating Christopher Columbus
where Judith is concerned.
Two-thirds OF the way through her
plot, however. Judith is suddenly con-
fronted with her own test in the per-
son of Mrs. Langley, the fiancee Of
her widower dad, Mrs. Langley hav-
ing rather casually intimated that she
told the truth to one man about ar in
discretion of her own. but that she
never spoke about 1t to her first hus-
band nor to Judith's dad. Judith is
here confronted with the situation Of
her own deah fawther marrying
lady with a rather vague past and
how she might have finally solved the
problem is never really diyulged be-
cause Judith says fatty she doesn't
believe the story about her step-mama
whereupon step-mama confesseS that
she was only romancing. just like Ju-
dith did. In the end, the young nan
from Arizona is prevented from shoot
ing the dern rascal that seduced his
little Judith, but he isn't told Of Ju-
dith's snow-white spotlessness until
the latter part of the last act, where
the love scene comes in.
Even Judith's aunt wasn't telling
the truth about her own affair, it
proves. she being just an old maid by
destiny. So, when all is said and done.
we don't hear, to our mind, the real
- ~I,N l. -, ri 70 hn
necessity therefor was carefully re-
moved by the playwright.
Personally, there will have to be
bit of patching done with THE Merrie
Month OF May" Doesn't Miss Chat
terton know that his Britannia Ma
jesty's Embassy at Connecticut ave-
nue. and n street is not at all referred
to as "the British legation?" Doesn't
Mr. Miller or Mr.. Scarborough or
somebody know that there is-Or was
very recently-a real member Of the
lower House of Congress named Ham
i'll? Doesn't everyone know that the
term Congressman" smacks more or
McKeesport, Pa. than OF Washington,
D. c. Doesn't Tim Murphy know that
Senators, even playful Senators, rare
ly act quite so jejune-ly as Tim does
in that role. And finally, isn't it per-
fectly plain to everybody from cleo
trician to water-boy that Lawrence
Eddinger's wig looks more like a ban
danna handkerchief than negro wool
and that no decent. self-respecting
butler of the old school and the color
ed persuasion ever talked so loudly
and with such perfect enunciation of
his ''r's" as Mr.. Eddinger.
Outside OF that. there is nothing to
complain OF. The situations are firm
ly buttressed in logic and stagecraft:
the dialogue. except here and there.
is pointed and witty. II a bit bromide.
and the lightness OF its truly appre-
ciated comedy is not permitted to
overshadow the story the play has to
tell
The Lord hates a dude" and "I
envy the bees for the sweetness of
your lips" are snatches of dialogue
that are funny. even II they don't
sound so here.
James Rennie gave a refreshing
touch to the role of the young ranch
manager. even though he does look
like a heavy" Sydney Booth. as the
"silver-tongued" B. c.. gave an in
terpretation OF that type which will
live for its authenticity
Charles Trowbridge was the ideal
dude to our mind. Others whose
work was effective were Flora Shelf