Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-18
FERGUSON IN
A NEW AKINS PLAY
Star Appears at Broad in Vary
ing Shore and Wins En-
thusiastic First-Nighters

Broad-In spite Of the fact that tell.
! ing a story backward robs it very
| largely of the element of dramatic sus'
pense. Zoe Akins' experiment. "Th'
Varying Shore" does succeed in hold
ing interest and imprcssing itself upor
the memory of an unusual bit of crafts
manship. To begin play the day after
the death of the heroine at the age o
ninety. with people telling what :
notorious woman she had been in hel
day and limiting at her romanccs anc
then. with each succeeding act. to e
backward n decade or two and relate
those romances until finally you get t.
the start of hcr unsavory career isn't
exactly according to Hoyle, and even
this play will not prove it Il good
method for the stage.
Miss .Akins has been extremely for
tunate this year in having both Of her
plays carried through by the PERSONAL
tics of their stars. Ethel Barrymore
made "DcclasSe. and it would be diff
icut TO imagine any other actress sue
cceding in 1t so well. Elsie Ferguson.
by her own exquisite personality and
her broadening art, makes The Vary
ing shore almost convincing. though
no actress will ever quite smooth over
its many talkativc and rambling spots.
The story is frankly that of Il woman
who never was any better than she
ought to have been and was almost nH
bad as people thought she was. 1t
harps upon her generosity and self
sacrifices and seems to try to convince
the audience that each time she fell
from grace it was n noble fall. but
when all is said and done it turns out
that she simply tripped up and lost her
balance because she wasn't lOOkin.
carefully where she was going. or per-
haps like that unique charwomnn in nm
earlier comedy. she didn't have to look
where she was going. sh" knew.
But Miss Ferguson unquestionably
glosScs over most of the shortcomings
with her all -pervadns charm and with
the richness of her physical endow-
ments. never better displayed than in
the quaint costumes of our grandmoth-
crS' days. Her art has ripencd and
there are moments when she is quietly
fine and where. with splendid rcpreS-
sion. she gains her points tcnScly with
little more than her facial expression
and a gesture or two to aid her. In the
last act. which shows the girlhood mis-
take of Julie Nenablc. she totally
changed her personality and the sophs-
ticatcd. brOodlng, rich voiced woman
of the world. became n vcritablc meek
voiced. half scared girl-but the girl
even at sixteen, had gone hunting
with the predatory instincts of her
kind.
Charles Francis does II thorough bit
of work as the faithful friend who
always comes to her rescue in each Of
her periodic difficulties and is with her
mt the end. Geraldine O'I'ricn, as her
Negro maid. is another carried through
the episodes. Naturally. such Il play.
like THE Wandering Jcw.' requires
Il large east to cover the various char
actcrs of the different episodes. but
Paul Evcrton, the last name on jules
long list. stands out as particularly
notable for his work.
The most remarkable part of the
whole performance was that it began
promptly at SID. Consequently most
of the audience missed the prologue.
which gave the key to the whole scheme
of things. Those who came in late
seemed Quirc annoyed at the manage.
ment for starting on time.