New-York tribune., 1920-12-28
''Miss Lulu Bett''
Is of Fine Fabric
Though OftenCrude
iona Gales Dramatization of
Novel Presented at Bel
mont Theater With Sever
al Striking Performances
THE CAST
By Haywood Broun

Miss Lulu Bett" Is not quite gooe
play, but it is Of the stuff Of which
great plays are made. Although otter
crude and sometimes tedious the play
is q living thing. 1t may, in fact ii
does, take it's own good time to pass s
given point, but, like the soul of ole
John Brown, it is marching on. "Miss
Lulu Bett" is reflection not of some
play of last year or the year before
but of people and talk and happenings
observed far off the track of Mair
Street, N. Y. c., and brought into the
theater In the face of ale footlights
these folk seem, perhaps, a little awk-
ward and not quite up to the brisk
demands of the New York stage. But
they are new and true and it seems
to US that our form Of greeting should
be decidedly, Now that you know the
way come again."
Zora Gale, who has dramatized her
own novel Miss Lulu Bett doesn't
quite know The way. Her play con-
tains scenes as delightfully."- amusing,
and others as genuinely m~ving as
anything the stage has seen or is likely
to see all year. Nor is there any lack
of an absorbing story. But there is
still too much of the novelist in her
Bett had an amazing pace and pre-
cision A somewhat too literal devotion
TO the novel sometimes results in
dramatic dawdling for even the most
madly galloping Of novels may seem
the most sedate sort of single foot trot
in the theater. A minute in novel
IS at least half an hour on the stage.
One or two things have been brought
into the play, to its dctriment. not be-
cause they are needed but because thew
are in the book.
The credit side is longer With the
exception of Frank Craven no other
American dranatist has loomed up
so promisingly as Zona Gale as ma
tive champion TO be set against St
John Efvine, perhaps the most adro t
Of living Brit sh realistc Miss Gale
ls not good enough yet to stand the
test, but she belongs among our all too
few white hopes. Her humor is easy
and almost free from formula She
sees people and makes them seen. She
still needs a create. simplicity in tell
ing & story for the stage. Once an au-
ence becomes interes ted in any little
group of characters t becomes so ex-
ceedingly exclusive that it wants no
one else on the promises. Mere blood
relatlonsHip ip is MT enough With the
story Of Lulu Bett IN full swing, iona
Gale should abandon all but the most
casual consideration of Diana Deacon
and her affairs.
As for tnc story Of Miss Lulu
3ett.' everybody ought to have read il
N the novel. but, Of course, some
haven !. For them it should suffice
that Lulu works for her board and keen
in tie home OF her married sister, Mrs
Ina Dwight Deacon. The only compli.
meAts she ever hears are those about
her cooking until one day Dwight's
brother. Ninian, comes to call, and be-
gins fuss over Lulu. In fact, in fit
Of banter they 90 through a mock we'd
ding. only to find that it is real and
binding. However, Dwight says that i
IS just what he wanted anyway, and
Lulu goes away from home for the
first time goes away Is far as Sa-
vannah, Ga. Then suddenly she re
turns. and reports that Ninian con
fesscd to her that he had married onc<
before and that perhaps his wife is
still alive. Dwight Deacon impresses
on her that she mu It tell no one about
this. He fears a scandal and says thai
It will be better to let people thinl
th?t Ninian just got tired Of her. II,
aAa's that probably this is tho true ex
pl nation anyway and that Ninian JUS
Invented the story OF the other wife.
This is the one thing which Lul,
cannot stand. She insists that Dwieh
write t. \ in sn, and when he doe
proof comes back of the earlier mar
riaee. In this there is freedom an,
release for Lulu, for it. makes he
know that she was not left simply be
, cause she was not wanted, and at tn
. end We find her declining an offer 0
marriage from man she likes becaus
]
whicn enables her to 60 out to fac
> the world and to live her life for hel
se.f at least person and nc
merely as a maker Of good meat pies.
The most exacting role, that of Lul
Bett, falls to Carroll McComas, know
for the most for her work in music
comedies. She does exceedingly we
So we'll, indeed, that nobody has
right to use the patronizing 'surpri
ingly we'll" She is just little t
conscious at first of her own positis
as pathetic figure and almost a shat
too beautiful at the enA but she ris
to the moments when Lulu finds he
self and strikes out like free woms
with splendid vigor and makes the
tingle like trumpet notes.
Fine and satisfying, also, is the Mr.
Bett, old Grandma Bett, Of Loui
CLOSER Hale's. This is perforrnan,
"hich IS calcuiated not only to satist
those who como to Miss Lulu Bet
for the first time in its play form b,
also for those more exactinp persor
who have read the book The other cor
pletely and entrancingly satisfactol
performance is that of Lois Shore ,
Monona. This comes close to beir
the best performance of a child's pa
which we have ever seen on the stag
wv,nich may be because Of the fact TIN
Miss Shore is not a child.
Dwight Deacon is somewhat deaa+,
as ne steps from the novel to the pla
wnere he is portrayed by William
Holden and Catherine Calhoun Douc
overac,S as Ina Deacon and has mo-
markedly Southern accent than We a
willing to accept from the Mjdd
west, Brook Pemberton. who presen
the play, has also staged it admirabl
earring the fact that lie is still lit
=. 700 slow in shifting the scenery.
New O'NeiII pIav proJ,,oo