Evening star., 1922-03-28
ADJUSTMENTS.
-"Gold pieesr,."

NA44VNAA- V0lo ulBK6Ib.
Avery Hopwood's and David Bslas-
cos we'll known Gold Diggers' came
back to Washington last night and was
accorded q welcome home reception
something like the greeting at the vii
lags station to. the town cut-up who;
went up to the big city and comes
back home famous.
1t was q cordial, wholesome sort of
reception. inspired. however. not SO
much by the return Of play that
made Its debut here in Washington as
by the merits of the thing itself. For
the majority Of the unusually large
first-night audienees at the National'
had never seen the Gold Diggsrs.":
Anent its graduation, most enjoyable
time was had, etc,
The Gold Digger" whose past
success need be mentioned only
comsdies whose charm lies in an orig.
| inality and cleverness not duplicated
often In productions Of its class today.
Given fair subject, Avery Hopwood
ussay wor whs ws It to And do sSs dos
| Disgers" is a large, embracing sort
Of subject with ali kinds of possibili-
| ties. Avery Hopwood has avoided one
OF then-thank goodness--and doesn't
! UiiHH HI AUy pI0pdSAH0A IOT INC poor,
down-trodden lady Of the chorus. On
the other hand. he shows her more or
less as she is. taking the opportunity
to shower her with some pretty spicy
and cynical bouquets the while. You
9H tn: .ne;.s o,s psfsrs ...s It's :; name ,ns
foetlishts who put their. spare time
and Eve-given wiles digging for gold
where the diggtng's good-prospectins
SO to speak. with mankind In general
| staked out as a common claim.
/ Avery Hopwood shows his diggers
l at work, and, to- make it interesting,
| he drags in the rich-but-innocent
youngster in love with the poor-but-
pure-as-gold lady of the chorus. Then
4 the uncle, who says mo. by ginger.
and the queen gold-digger herself
who. after last analysis isn't a gold
digger at all-who sets out to bring
the the two S. love I've birds birds together by winning
tell how she does 1t. But>you should
see; it's worth while.
! To those who did not see Miss Ina
! Claire, who originally graced the role
there is 9 natural curiosity about
| whether she could have been much
more attractive than the very charm
Ing little lady-Miss Gertrude Van
derbilt-who is now playing that part
II she was. then the reputation she
Z
| we,i deserved, for Miss Vanderbilt
! makes a most delightful Jerry, and
the management Is to- be congratu-
lated on It's ehniee of fit successor
to Miss Claire. We must blame the
playwright, and not. Miss Vanderbilt,
| if the role she SO ably portrays does
| not quite coincide with Z true-to-life
character.
Bruce McRea gives a finished char
acterization of Uncle Steve, and Jo-
bynR Howland's Mable has q lot of
real humor in it that comes from q
clever understanding of the character.
Ruth Terry is an attractive Topsy st.
John. and H. Reeves-Smith is a cen-
vincing James Blake. While Day
Manson and Beverly West as waily
and Violet, the two love-smitten
youngsters, are commendable in their
parts. Their roles make one wonder
again why 1t is that love, youth and
innocence must always be portrayed
on the stage by such a lot Of tommy
rot that doesn't exist anywhere of
the stage. The. cast, which for the
most part, is made up of the original
company, Is commendabie throughout,
Tunis Dean. Mr.. Belasco's well
! known representative, is here with
the company