The New York herald., 1921-11-13

cies that soon began to pail. She II
curls flying behind her like younl
traits did not blind the hero, at least
perficiality, vanity and insincerity of
her. Nineteen was at the end Of the
Gulgcnt twenty-one, who took her bs
SO it usually happens in life. Mems
above a certain age may temporarily
suffer from the astigmatism caused by
what David Graham Phillips called
specll of dust in the eye. Usually
they get over Z. The baby vampire
the Hattons ranged" as the French
put it if they did not invent her, has
become synonymous with the flapper
Her day is usually brief and the man
Of mature years glad to take refuge
in the society of some woman who
offers him more than the beauty Of
extreme youth, the audacity of igno-
rance and the interest which knows
no other ambition than the desire for
admiration.
Mr.. Harrington shows the flash Of
interest which the youthful Delilah
awakens in the man approaching the
late thirties. 1t is scarcely more than
flash of interest. 1t is little more
enduring. But for her aggressive
tactics she might have been altogether
neglected. AS it is she bowls him over
It is from this point OF departure that
the novelist begins to build the little
fable that his play contains.
There is faint surprise on the face
Of Miss Burke when she observes that
in spite of his recent declaration of
love he has sensed the youth and
beauty OF the girl in knickerbocSers.
She sees him led off to the front seat
OF the motor with a certain wonder.
1t is in the invention of her scheme
of revenge that the actress attains the
highest mark of her histrionism in the
play. She is not flustered into nervous
rivalry She will not endeavor to meet
the flappcr niece on her own grounds.
But the man who was so Enthusiastically
in love with her and now feels so
moved by the presence of the young
girl shall suffer for Il while before his
final release from suspense.
Quite f-possessed. the well bred
woman of the world, Miss Burke as
heroine allows herself no apprehen-
sions as to the result of her little
comedy. He shall think her very
old, altogether too old for an appropri-
ate wife. OF course, she is nothing of
the kind. Yet he shall be led to be-
lieve that she is In reality his suffer-
ings are doubled.
AoI- -. ff.z4f h 1sr11f IN
realize that the woman he has fallen
IN love with is the woman for him.
But her age? She win talk as if she
were so advanced in this vale of tears.
Miss Burke, still as heroine, puts him
to further confusion long after he has
come to his own conclusions as to the
comparative desirability Of the two
women. He is through forever with
the flapper. She and her bobbed hair
and her knickerbockers are already on
his nerves. Whatever her age may be,
the aunt is better.
Thus MIR. Harrington disposes of the
flapper In his little corner of society.
lie shows what he thinks of her. In
"a way, his solution Of the question
seems probable enough. Her capacity
for upsetting people for little while
is much greater than her power to
cause any enduring impression. But
she can, under certain conditions, be
tmdeniably a speck III the eye. She
does not happen in this entertaining
comedy TO assume such Importance,
but Mr.. Harrington has well sketched
tho overwhelming personality of the
flapper In modern social traffic. May
no another playwright will try to show
how evil an Influence she may be
when her power is exerted more en-
duringly.
The Earlier Vampire.
The woman who intervened in se-
ries of plays such as Lillian Bradley's
'"rhe Governors Lady" which David
Belasco produced was always younger
than the wife she supplanted, whether
II was i'm "Just a Wife" or THE Lady
From Oklahoma" but was not at all
In the flapper class. That was before
the day of such extreme youth as the
siren of the day must possess. The
women who almost stood in the place
OF tho -vife and In some of the plays
of that family did usurp her post, were
well beyond nineteen. Most of them
were founded on a certain celebrated
sase OF that period In which the cer-
tain person. although still very young,
was more than twenty. The drama
tist who deals with the situation as 1t
exists to-day must devote his study
to, the flapper in her present incarna-