Evening star., 1920-04-06
ADJUSTMENTS
GARR1CK-'The UnWanted
One

The Unwanted One" new Chinese
American romance, built up of old
material by Forrest Halsey and Clara
Beranger, was presented at the Shu-
bert-Garrick last night. 1t is a wom-
ans lay, in that. of the eleven char
acters, Rodney Sturgis. the graceless
young husband of Princess Tea Flow
er, who had saved him from himself,
is the only important male role in the
cast-and, frankly, things would have
gone much better without him, except,
| of course. there would have been no
play. Also, the women are somewhat
disappointing for the reason that they
look so personally delightful while
acting what the slangy little princess
would call "the other thing" When
Rodney, the prodigal son of the Stur-
gis family, introduces his bride to his
people. 1t is obvious that China and
New Jersey do not blend. The mother.
la sumptuous sample of the beauty
parlor, feels that the house has been
disgraced. and walls it with varia-
tions that no oriental daughter-in-
law could fail to understand. A domi-
neering elder daughter, uniformed in
"sisterhood." does her duty as she
sees it. with the bitterness that brand
of virtue usually calls for. An elder
son registers anathema and takes
! himself out of the situation, and a
younger daughter. as bad as the 9TH
ers, to begin with, finally develops
into a regular human being. To these
new relations the tiny slip of wife
smiles and bows until. realizing their
insults, she aims her own little slangy
ord-javelins that strike the mark
and elicit sympathetic chuckles from
the audience that is obviously stand
ing by. A
The one beautiful exception is
Grandmother Sturgis. who literally
takes the boy to her arms with an
aIl-embracing love and forgiveness,
which for silent seconds keeps the
house still enough for the traditional
pin-drop. 1t is recorded that the ideal
grandmother died to the stage with
Augustin DAILY, but she had her res
direction last night in Mabel Burt's
Interpretation of the role. The sec
ond act owed much of it's charm to
the old gentlewoman. with her en- |
. broidery. listening to the pretty, !
wistfui tea flower" kneelinE by. her |
chair.
1t is a good play, from a moral |
viewpoint. allowing for the 1uxu-
riously handsome siren. sympathy
for the oriental is an acquired taste. f,
and it may be that the theater-going |
public in New York, for which point
the new venture is bound. may al
ready have exhausted its good feel
ing on the Chinese heroines, who
nave Deen OenduuiHS II LOT quito d
long time. On the other hand. to
be "unwanted," at some time and un-
der some circumstance. is hurt
which average human nature is called
on to bear. 1t may be ridiculous to
look back on, but self-pity is a thing
that 1ever dies, and. as audiences
are n6 de up of average human ma
ture. and self-pity is the intimate
emotion of life. the success of the
play should be assured
Forrest Winant is very real type
of young man who follows the line
of least resistance. and one considers
that the Chinese wife is doing the
wise thing in taking him back to
China, where sirens are not con-
venient. Ivy Troutman. as the young
er sister; Frances Nelson of the old
Columbia Players. as the elder; Made
line Delmar. as the quaint and pretty
oriental, and Marguerite Leslie as the
stunning vampire, were excellent in
roles that must have irritated them
personally.