New-York tribune., 1922-11-08
The 1heaters-By Percy Hammond
RAIN as Played by Miss
jeanne Eagels ar,d Others,
Is One of the Best

Corporal Hodgeson. ...... Harold Eeaiv
seIssant oHara .,..-,s.... Robert Elliott
pr. McPhail. .Fri.s wilnanss
Mrs. Dayiason. ,r f,.,nsr SHIRLEY King
ouartermaster Bates OF the orduna
Sadie Thompson .jesnne Eagsis
NV 14trsa paSidson. Robert Kelly
The ceremonies at Maxine Elliott,s
Theater last evening were of kind to
evoke enthusiasm. Even those Of us
who are apter In expostulation than In
eulogy found ourselves rather feverish
In our contemplation Of a good and ir.
resistihle play, and the remarkable act
ing Of it by Miss Jeanne Eagels and
her associates. Lest one forgets to
say SO later on, it will be set down
forthwith that "Rain," SO far as this
correspondent knows, is the likeliest
drama that has been cast upon these
desolate shores since he, too, was cast
upon them; and that the playing Of
Miss Eagels was as flawless an exam
pie of vivid Interpretation as he ever
encountered in a New York theater.
-
That minor function having been
performed, it is time to give you the
information that "Rain" is about some
interesting troubles that happen on
sleepy island in the South Seas.
Miss Eagels, impersonating waif
from the bad lands of San Francisco.
gaudy, but with fine heart, comes
to interesting grips with fanatic
missionary (Robert Kelly) in a Poly
nesian port called Pango Pango. He
is one Of those honest, cruel, witch
burning ambassadors Of g merciless
god. Enjoyment is anathema to him
and he thinks that the Darwinian
theory ought to be prohibited by law.
One Of his pious ideas is to make the
native women wear Mother Hubbards.
She is Of the good kid" type, the
hapless product of Kansas farm and
the cabarets Of Honolulu and the Bar
barry Coast. En- route from her ruddy
past to Apia and a virtuous Job she
lands at Pango Pango with a quart of
hootch, Victrola, little money, a stout
heart and an aspiration to be good. But
her unconventional conduct with some
lonely United States marines, in her
room at the hotel, enhannes the mis-
sioner to dire deeds Of reformation. He
forces the weak American Governor of
tho island to order her to be deported
back to San Francisco, where, having
been framed" for a crime she did not
commit, prison sentence awaits her.
Their battle is graphic one, with
the girl, wildly indignant at the mis-
sionary's hard injustice. alternately
pleading with him and cursing him in
picturesque argot. Among the names
she calls him, and that may be re-
ported in Home Paper, are "hymn.
hound" and "witch-burner." AS you
may suspect, the evangelist's magnetic
hot-gospelling eventually fascinates
her, and she repulses her adoring Ser
geant OF Marines for the rigid luxuries
LOT atonemenS. But in the process Of
this fascination the missionary, too, IL
influenced by her white throat and her
yellow hair, and he dreams Of noun
tains in Nebraska, Which, interpreted
by the Freudian DR.. McPhail (perfectly
done by Fritz Williams), indicates that
the preachers inhibited mind is
browsing about the breasts Of a slim
blonde.
So the scarlet girl is disiliusioned, and
the holy man, discovering that he is
human, gets comfort in q tragic retri-
button. Miss Eagels's portrait of the
distraught lady in the play is marvel
of eloquent and explicit reticence; and
if you care for illusion in your acting.
here it is at its highest point. The
story is dramatized with an admirable
economy of theatricsl device, and Mr..
Williams's stage direction Is one of the
cleanliest things Of It's kind. All Of the
characters are interesting and acted
with intelligence. Particularly the lazy
trader of Rapley Holmes. an opulent
role; and the Marine Sergeant of Rob-
ert Elliott. "Rain," in my way of think
ing, is sight to see