The Washington herald., 1920-11-09
NationaI-Ofis skinner I'm .At the
villa ROse.0
by EARLE DORSEY.

The late Nat Goodwin, tradition
sayeth, convulsed audiences by
merely strolling across a stage. A
theater cat can take the same stroll
and convulse the same audience, so
perhaps there is nothing momentous
in Mr.. Otis SINNERS ability to hold
together. after a fashion. the shoddy
fabric of AT the Villa Rose" the
American version of A. z. w.
Mason's dramatization of his own
novel, which opened its Washington
run at the National last night.
Mr.. Skinner has come upon evil
times. He cannot get himself a
play. Mister Antonio" and "Kismet'
blossomed but not forever and then
came Horace AnnesleX vachell's
'Humpty Dumpty" fof a brief
enough time. despite several fasci-
mating touches. After that, came and
went the uninspired ''Pietro" and
now comes this Mason play to ac-
centuate the decline.
Mason's play, for all its prelim-
mary fiourishes, is a rather sad bit
of writing. Its vaunted role of great
French sleuth, Hanaud, which was
to take its place with Dupin Lecocq
and Sherlock Holmes. is a rather
sorry creation. Hanaud is far beneath
the professional notice of even OF
Cap Collier and Nick Carter would
unmask him in thirty seconds as
merely Otis Skinner in three changes
of costume.
After all, though, that's only a
! minor disappointment, for Skinner
is always enough of the actor to
beguile an evening. regardless of
role. The shabby workmanship Of
l..
phatically reflected in its poverty
| of Characterization, which amounts
to mere caricature in most places,
| and the effort to snatch the elusive
guffaw is pursued throughout four
acts with shameless avidity that
never once counts its cost to the
whole story.
One thing makes AT the villa
Rose" possible, and that is its un-
blushing melodramatic content.
There's a superstitious old woman
who is very rich, a young girl ward
who wishes to protect her, and a
gang of criminals and charlatons
led by the old woman's maid. MUIR
der in the second act and kidnap-
| ing the heroine follow perforce to
furnish, in the first instance, sus-
pense, and in the second a chance
for Skinner to play detective. To
further bolster up the effort, the
beautiful lady falls in love with Papa
Hanaud, the detective, and personal
stimulus is thus furnished his crime
hunt. There is a vast bit of super
fetal though gaudy questioning Of
suspects, bit of that dearly-loved
wall-tapping for the hidden spring,
and not even the secret trapdoor In
the floor Is neglected.
Naturally the thieves are brought
to Justice by a series OF daring de-
ductions that are as illogical as
they are artificial and in the end
the famous detective snatches his
Hove from the jaws of death on
the shore of Lake Geneva in su-
perfuous but romantic final act. The
mere fact that Mr.. Skinner strides
and wheels and chuckles and sniffs
in his best 1920 manner does not
alter the fact that he still needs
a play. It may. however. explain
the applause. that was emphatic at
the end of the third act.
Miss Madeline Delmar is not cast
to the advantage that marked her
appearance in The Unwanted One"
She Is hard-headed~ and wise enough,
but the. role of the rich woman's
ward emphasizes little of her Pc
culiar talent. Clarence Derwent
struggled earnestly with a villain
GUS role. and Octavia Kenmore was
conventionally acceptable as his ac-
complice. the rich woman's maid,
| The rest of the cast were marion-
cites.