The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-05-10
TUESDAY
(Review).


 '1Ty al fit or not to drift-thats the question was the paraphrase up pe<m OSt in the mind of at least one person who saw Alice Brady in her
 new play. Drifting at the Park theater last night. For although the more or less aimless condition in tended in the title was proved to be a dangerous one. the ends justified the means" and Cassie Cook of the Yellow Sea, Queen of Sheba'' was finally beloved of Bad Lands Me Kinney soldier of fortune and. we are led to believe, lived happily ever after-which is as it should be.
 Drifting" as a play can well be Hkened to- a beautiful and satisfying picture full of highights and deeper tones It is thes tory of the degenera- ton of a little country girl. full of the love of life and nature In spite of sordid surroundings the miracu- lously retains a rare philosophy, which, though warped in spots. still keeps her "carry1ng on-" It is a ser mon on society and lesson in the responsibility of a parent for a high strung child
 Cassie Cook lived in a typical New England village. narrow in its creed, stfing in it's outbetS for innocent di- versions Cassie is a spirited girl who grows tired of doing the same old things in the same old way. so she plays 'fhookey" with a boy friend, thereby mourning the wrath of her father. a straight-laced church dea- con whose idea of life is that if a thing is pleasant, it's evil. Cassie leaves home, to the despair of her mother who at least understands her
 The next incident is more or less of a shock, for the audience is carried over seven years to q combination ca baret and ''hop joint in Shanghai. Cassie is there. a little ruffled as to p1unage, a little sobered by contact with the world but still joyous, still S,,-a 1 <rr1 fl0n rfas4l plot of the story gerTninates-the ma c1inations of the Russian government to get control of the ChineSa hill country by means of map in the possession of Dr. Lii Shen Kueng a crafty yellow man with an American efftfcation, who speaks in aXioms and hasa itching palm. Lady Beamish, q high-born English woman with read sense of hunor and an exquisite enters here, and be gins operations, with the help of Bad Lands Mckinney, a soldier of fortune. to get possession of this map which threatens the serenity of the Chris efan world.
 The scene shifts to Tung Row, a Chinese province farther north. Here is made known the possible rising of the hill tribes of the fana:ticaI yellow men. and here the chase of Bad Lands after the notable Chinese doctor is carried on. Here is Cassie, who has left the cabaret, driven by the unrest that is so prominent a part Of her mental makeup. She is found posing under another name so as to be re- ceived friend in the family of a whose child. Jenny. she loves Here comes also the doctor. 1 wearied of his journey to deliver the map into the keeping of the Russian. ! Kos1off, and wearied also of the pur- 1 suit of Mckinney. who. as Captain l Jarvis, is hot on his trail. This is a 1 scene of much dramatic power. It l ends with the hill tribes almost at the | doors. and Mckinney, Cassie and the l rnissionary's family in danger of their 1 lives. It is here that Cassie begins