The Washington times., 1921-12-18
NO." Cried the Lead
Lyric Theatre. "Rs
Resign Than Play That
Worthy Leading MAJ
Face in Shame at
the Lines He Refused
to Speak
THU very righteous little city Of
Asbury Park. New Jersey. has just

Asbury Park, New Jersey. has just
= escaped the fate OF Sodom an0 Co,
morrah by very narrow margin. many
of its inhabitants believe. And It certainly
was 4 close squeak!
Sodom and Gomorrah, s,as everybody
knows. were the two Old Testament cities
SO wicked that fire and birthstone we're
sent from above Tor their destruction. a
city has to be pretty bad before this hap
pens, So far their fate il the only In
stance of the kind on record
But Satan Is always about like q roaring
lion. seeking whom he may devour: ano
he likes nothing better than 70 sneak into
g model little community like Asbury Park.
and commence to work
This time his wicked plans were nipped
right in the bud by-whom do you think?
None other than the Lyric Players. AS
bury Parks stock company OF professional
actors and actresses!
This. certainly. Is something new and
refreshing-a bunch ot stage folks banding
together for righteousness and defyine the
onslaughts of wickedness But n IL the,
truth. All of these worthy players agree
that there is a limit to all things. and that
the theatrical limit is reached oy Mr.
Avery Hopwood's three-acf farce. Our ut
tie Wife," which was sent to Asoury Park
to be produced by the Lyric Players
Our Little Wife,, Could any title be
less free from guile or more suggestive OF
a busy little home-oody. With he hair done
up in curl papers. innocently burning
lamb chop for her husbands evening meai'
Or course. Il mad already been pro
duced in a New York theatre Bu' lots
OF perfectly awful plays are welcomed
and encouraged by Broadway theatre
gers The good people OF Asbury Park
neve, 60 to such theatres ana the high
minded manager OF the Asbur' parR
playhouse doesn't bother to know TOO
much about such plays
The name of the play Our Little Wife
certainly sounded all right Ano mere ID
the explanation of how It almost slipped
into the Asbury Park theatre
week before. the company had pro
duced an innocent little play also written
by Mr. Hopwood In earlier days and niieo
with the kind OF treacle that everybody
had liked. The success OF the nrst play
had been so marked that the company de
cided to have another just like It. oy the
same author
Now. Mt Hopwood has backslidden
great deal since the days when he wrote
that other play He is the playwright
who first saw the full possibilities of the
stage bedroom. and he has employed u
without ceasing in his later works He
has become an expert In staging scenes IN
which husbands chase young men through
their wives bedrooms. loudly shrieking
that they intend to get divorce IN the
morning. Among these sprfghtly scandals
are sup in Mabel's Room" Getting Ger
ties Garter" up in the Haymow.' The
Demi.virgin" and other works vaguely sug
gestive OF their content
OF course. nothing very naughty ever
happens in these amiable tarces even
though vast audiences have attended them
in the expectation that something would =
The Lyric Players had entirely forgotten
about Mr.. Hopwood's authorship OF these
seIf.evident indis ,retions. and when the
manuscript of 'S)ur Little Wife came
through the mail they imagined u was
something like the agreeable achievements
of his past-like that other play How
could they know that the Our In the
title referred to the plurality OF eager
males who were trying to steal the hero
inc away from her long-suffering husband?
Or that four wives were compromised by
one man in one scene?
While H. Is definitely proven In the last
act that the wife's presence in the bed
room Of her husbands best friend merely
signifies that she had been teeny-weeny
bit indiscreet. and that her husband was
too Jealous for anything. still that was no
excuse for the original situation. and the
Lyric Players did not have to stand for
that sort Of thing for minute. III.
The fact that broadway had tolerated u
and that the show has been successfully
produced by stock companies In other
cities made no difference whatsoever.
Other cities and other actors and act
resses could do as they pleased and go to
the hot place II they chose to. The Lyric
Players of Asbury Park had son'S above
such degradation of the noble drama.
No Miss Edna Peckham, the pretty
and charming leading woman. is not that
kind Of an actress: nor Is Viona Wynd-
ham nor Florence Rowan nor Nina Tenn