The Washington herald., 1920-01-13
Last Night at Theaters
Garriek-~alamma. AnaIr..v

Garriek-ssfammn's Ansirs.v
A comedy in three acts by Rachel Barton
Butler. staged under the direction Of Priest
ley Morrison.
Cast Of characters;
Tommy Hooper. .......,..-...... Little Billy
Henry Marchant George lie Guere
Eve Orrfn. .-................. .lda st. Leon
Mrs. Aarehnut. Katherine kaeired
Mrs. 0rrin. .......,... Effie Shannon
Dr. Brent Jansou. ........,. Robert Edeson
Mrs. Rrndy ..,............ Amelia Bingham
Synopsis Of scenes - Act = The VIII
Iows.' hotel in the hills OF Massachusetts,;
Act "A private sun parlor on the top door
Of The Willows" Act 3-Living room at
Dry Janson's home; Time--rhe present.
by EARLE DORSEY,
We hounds of the press are
som forth in six-point at a. m.
with a complete verdict on a play
like Mammals Affairs" which
opened at the Garrick last night.
On the other hand. we are pre-
sumed to cherish and nurture bud
ding authorial genius by giving the
author the best of the argument
whenever possible. particularly a
nice girl author like. say, Rachel
Barton Butler of the Harvard
school of drama. Ills a tough as
signment.
Miss Butler has contrived to
write a play about a girl who al
most married a man she didn't love
simply because her mother wanted
her to. The girl manages to es-
cape through the providential in
reference of a doctor of forty
years old. who married her himself.
That may be novel or not in theme,
but it's as good a theme as lots
of plays one sees these days can
advance. so will pass on.
Miss Butler has written into her
new play three episodes that live
and move and have their being, and
these she has carefully planted-one
at the end OF Act ], another at the
end OF Act II, and a third at the end
of Act III. She has written in. here
and there, bits OF dialogue Of down.
right unsophomoric quality, which is
another redeeming element. Mr..
Morosco has contributed by giving
her an excellent cast for the piece.
and when you've seen three acts of
IL you rcall what a niece piece of
acting Ida st. Leon did at the end
Of Act /: what a nice piece of acting
Ida st. Leon did at the end of Act
II. and what a niece piece of acting
Ida ST. Leon and Robert Edeson did
at the end OF Act III-and then you
have very near the full tale of pleas
urable reaction.
The play, in its technique, is a most
properly Joined together affair. Miss
Butler, II would appear. has most re-
ligiously followed the blueprint sup
piled by DIR. Butler as a playwriting
model for all aspiring collegiate play
wrights, and from beginning to end.
scholastic and academic orthodoxy. in
1t sapplication to the drama has been
followed in a most painstaking man
ner.
Miss Barton's cup. It would appear,
has reached the splitting point were il
not for the likelihood of Mr.. Morosco.
who is engaged in producing plays
both for money and pleasure, looking
upon Mammals Aairs" as II stands
in its rather perfect technique and
reaching the Grass conclusion that It
needs jazzing up. Most manage pro-
fame plays that way. sooner or later.
to make them pay.
Then the chances will be more
than even that he will find a man
who is rather hazy on the location
Of Harvard University but who
seems blessed with uncanny pre-
science in diagnosing play ailments
and this fellow under the insulting
and ambiguous title of "collabora-
tor" will probably walk in on
Mammals Affairs" brutally hack
into its dialogue and situations, call
for more pep in place of the lib
eral conversation in Acts 1 and 2.
and having made any number OF
amazing and objectionable other
changes in the makeup of the
piece. turn 1t loose under, in all
likelihood, a new title.
And the utterly unthinkable part
OF 1t all will lie in the fact that
maybe two or three weeks later,
Mr.. AL Woods may say to some
friend he meets at the twenty
minute noon lunch interval: "T
hear Morosco is making a lot of
dough outa that Harvard thing he
in a prize"
In spite of all this. Miss Butler
need not despair. It's her first
play, and even IL somebody else
does a life-saving act, she will
get the credit and then. like as not,
she'll be asked to write more plays.
The cast that Morosco has given
the selection is one which will
probably show to better advantage
when the rough edges are worn
off. Robert Edeson brings a power
and an experience to the role of
the middle-aged doctor who even
tually wins the girl that occasion
ally breaks through the rather
weak structure of the play. Amelia
Bingham, as his housekeeper and
general matchmaker. seems to make
her Characterization a bit rambling.
Ida ST. Leon, the sweet young hero
Inc. is the outstanding character of
the piece and in spite of the frankly
farcical and thoroughly neurotic cir
cumstances under which it develops,
she maintains romantic suspense and
interest with a SKILL that never wav-
ers. Katherine Kaelred. as her pre-
sumptive mother-in-law, seems all at
sea with a part that might, possibly,
be tragically funny. Effie Shannon
gurgles and gasps and signs her way
through the character of the girls
mother-another role that s nearly
negative. George La Guerre failed
to elicit full value from a morlycod-
die role, though Little Billy What's
His-Name garnered a collection of
laughs that cheered him.
Kelth's-VaudeyfIIe
Maria CahfIIsa