The Washington herald., 1920-07-25

New York. July lo.-The produc-
ton of The Fall and Rise Of Susan
Lenox" tuned out to be one of those
extraordinary things which nothing
you can say Is either quite adequate
or quite fair. David Graham Phil
ips heroine fell deeper and had a
harder time rising than the heroine
OF this play who seemed always
helped out by a providential friend
Il suspect the friend was the
dramatist. But with Alma Tell and
Robert T. Haines the show goes
along snappily enough If you aren't
TOO skeptical-and who can be at
this time of the year?
Miss Tell is a featured player
after four years on the stage, part
OF these being on absent leave with
the movies.
She began speaking. did Miss Tell,
with a road company in Peg o. My
Heart" She jumped therefrom to
Gina in Eyes Of Youth" and by
playing five characters in. five acts
1T was a wonderful part" she sighs
got experience. Then three pic
lures And now Susan. 1t is a ca
reer.
The play called AN Innocent
Idea may have described in part
and you may judge of the innocence
yourself. But you cannot make
any mistake about this pluck OF
Russell Fillmore. who shares nom
ors and other things with the fea-
tured players. Here is a story
which no press agent would dare to
fake, for If he did. Mr.. Fillmore
might have the law on him for
wishing him bad luck all the way
from 1913. At that time Russell
Fillmore was a magazine artist
an Illustrator to whom art editors
used to send manuscript saying;
Please draw pictures: we are send
Ing the script so you can pick out
appropriate lines for the caption;
never mind reading the story: the
heroine is supposed to be blond. -
And such missives. He had in fact
arrived very nicely. Then suddenly
he went blind. He had had a motor
accident some years before, and II
maliciously took his sight from
him. After a year spent in nursing
his eyes he could see again. but
was ordered to do little, and in this
predicament he found his way TO
the stage. via a stock company In
Washington. There he played for
three years. learning a fresh part
oddly enough to the same theater
which he now inha bits. but the play
failed. He went into vaudeville,
hen back into stock. This year
when the producer Of An Innocent
Idea" travelled out to Union Hill. n.
J. there to see a play which was
said to resemble his own, he saw
Fillmore, liked him. and hired him
at once. Fillmore says, in spite OF
the praise which New York has
given him, that his eyes are getting
better. and presently he will be
drawing dazzling young creatures
again.
Helen Hayes. premiere ingenue II
there ever was one, is going to be
a busy young woman this Septem
Der il I may trust all I hear. She
is going to play the name part in
MARY Roberts Rinehart's Bah.
That seems reasonable. for she play
ed ii in Boston a few months ago.
She is also to play in Eugene
o'NeilIs The Straw" which George
C Tyler announces for production.
Perhaps the mystery is merely a
matter of time; perhaps she has a
dual personality. II she plays in
The Straw" and the play allows
her to be as attractive as she al
ways is. Mr.. O'Neil will be showing
q widening of interests, for pure
charm has never been a particular
object of his in writing plays. This
son of James O'Nein will probably
have three plays running at once
which is something new and start
f1ng for an American dramatist, a
young man who is not afraid OF
tragedy Cold" will be presented
with Lionel Barrymore. by John D
williams who will continue Rich
ard Bennett in O'Neilrs Beyond the
Horizon.
\ newspaper account OF a meet.
ing of the board of aldermen doesn't
often give material for a theatrica,
scribe. but one occurred the other
day which has an interest peculiar.
ly its own You must know that g