The New York herald., 1921-10-05
Miss Marie Doro in
Lilies of the Field"
'Lilies Of the Field Tries to Be
Witty and Is Only
Coarse.

The gold diggers continue to arrive In
serried ranks. new colony settled
last night on the stage of the Klaw
Theatre. They were in o play called
Lilies Of the Field" Presumably this
Is to Indicate their leisurely habits
They may not usually toll nor spin. yet
most Of them worked hard last night to
be witty.
Never was the strain after the laugh
catcher more evident. They all sue
ceeded In being lnspeakably vulgar. In
evitably from so much effort an occa.
siopal apologetic chuckle was bound tc
result. Yet the talk about the mon
with money and the spenders and the
tight wads and the rest OF the themes
that make no the conversation OF the
chorus girls and worse has come TO
have the faint echo OF a phonograph.
Dramatists other than William Hurlbut,
who Is the author Of the new play. seem
- have forgotten that the Gold Diggers
was acted more than two years ago.
Stylss In stage humor are soon out
moded.
Mr.. Hurlbut, however. had a .varia ton
on the theme. Against this background
OF stale cacklc he presented a seriou,
motive. A fond wife and trusting
mother for no better reason than the
presence Of her lover in her bedroom
while she was clad In a kimono was
cruelty, divorced by her husband. He
also got her child. although he was no
better than he might have been. He
was even In the habit of meeting his
well beloved In the apartment mousse In
which he and his wife lived, owing TO
some oversight on the part OF the Tene.
ment House Commission. The gold dig.
gers, to be sure. lived on lower floor.
as well as lower social niveau.
still firm In her virtue. this deserted
wife listened to the proposals of a man
OF wealth who would have made her the
luckiest little digger of them all. She
listened and then thoughtfully refused
the offer. 1t was not until the false
report Of her child's death made her
more Needless that she turned a business
ike ear to the plans her lover outlined.
This heroine Is interesting chiefly be-
cause she was the representative Of un-
sullied virtue among Mr.. Hurlbut's lilies.
She was lucky moreover for she had
still better fortune later.
Most OF the talking fell TO Miss
Josephine Drake. who had a part that
might have been written for Jobyna
Rowland. Miss brakes facility In vo-
ciferous speech never faltered through
out the long evening. Miss Marie Doro
was the pure wire In the kimono who
revealed an incomprehensible delight IN
the society Of the crew that frequented
.Mdiste's. Miss Alison Skipworth sup
piled most Of the good acting among the
guests that haunted the flat and Miss
Cora, Wftherspoon had most Of the dis
tinction.
Miss Doro was simple in the expres-
sion OF her emotions Norman Trevor
had no serious task to pose as the rich
est OF Matste's guests. Most of them
were women and they were all astonish-
fngly like the chatelaine herself Even
the other actresses suggested Motsle and
80 did the furniture. It was all Maisie
1t was. indeed. rather a Matsie play
throughout.
Mrs. Alfred N. Beadleston took n
large party that watched the perform
ance from three Of the boxes Others
at the opening were Mr.. and Mrs. Rob-
ert Graves, Mr.. Gianni Bettini. Mr. and
Mrs. Sumner Gerard. Mr.. and Mrs. AL
len Gouverneur Wellman. Mrs. Conde
Mast. Mr.. and Mrs. Griswold A. Thomp-
son. Mr.. and Mrs. Z. r. Thomas. Mr..
Chester Alan Arthur, Messrs. Marc
Kiaw. Daniel Frohman, Frank Crownin-
shield and Reginald c. Vanderbilt. Mr..
and Mrs. Joseph Shea and Mr., and Mrs.
Henry Stanton.