The New York herald., 1922-12-03
Stage Neu2s
Mrs. Fiske
in Paddy

TIME dramatic reviewers of Roch-
ester. where Mrs. Fiske opened
= last Monday in her new play,
Paddy" seem to be united in the
belief that this star after several years
at last has something. The critic of
the Rochester Post is most enthu-
siastic, though he finds the play a bit
awkward at times, He says In part:
The deification of woman who Is
a victim of the morphine habit may
appear, on the face of 1t. question
able theme even in these days when.
we are told. so many more are adj
dicted to the use of drugs than for
merly. But the playwright, whom we
unconsciously visualize through the
play, Is not in error here, for she
has the courage to set down logical
denouement for her sordid tale con-
trary to what she knows would please
the popular fancy. What a refresh-
ing novelty to find a modern play
wright who does not seek to manipu-
late the incontrovertible facts of hu-
man existence in Il fashion 10 please
everybody. The dope addict must die
morally and physically, and Lillian
Barrett lets her die thus. slowly, trag-
ically and with telling effects before
her audience
Mechanically the play has its imper-
fections and viii need little doctor
ing" The first act Is too long drawn
out with lot of unnecessary twaddle
and the author takes too mach for
granted in an audience being gener-
ally capable OF assuming that all
Paddy's eccentricities are due to the
morphine habit, single dose of the
drug taken by her being the only
means by which to assume this funda-
mental idea of the whole structure of
the play. 1t Is too subtle. too casual,
as presented to be easily commune
cable.
Mrs. Fiske rs >Pdddy dominates the
cast. With her inimitable skill she be-
comes the very personification of a
material evil In it's mastery of nat
uraiiy noble and generous soul. De-
family flippant to the very end, she
scorns the melodramatic. not grovel-
ing in her collapse with protestations
of despair and prayers for pity and
pardon. but acting quietly and cour-
ageousiy on the seemingly last good
impulse left her, that of removing
her wretched self TO make the way
clear for others. 1t was a difficult
part, but Mrs. Fiske is still herself
and that self is supremely adequate
to meet any dramatic need. The MEM
bers of her supporting cast, notably
Roy Gordon, Henry Herbert and Err
nita Lascelles, were uniformly good.
A clever Characterization of an Ital-
ian vender was given by Francis
Bendtsen.
The reviewer for the Times Union
likewise harks back glowingly te
Tess" Says he
Miss Barrett has furnished Mrs.
Fiske with a role of extraordinary
dimensions-a part so fantastic. so
pulsating with vivid vitality and so
profoundly at variance with life as
most of us know il, that 1t exempli-
Ties, by those very attributes, the in
ability of fiction to outstrip truth.
Just how much of Pat'icia Baird
paddy Is Mrs. Fiske and how much
is Miss Barrett we do not know. Be-
cause OF the degree in which Paddy
made amazing. fascinating and pro-
foundly pathetic by the great and
inimitabie art of the roles interpre-
ter, eclpses the other personages in
the play in dialogue and dramatic
interest, we are inclined to believe
that the larger share In her creation
Is contributed by Mrs. Fiske, In whose
hands Paddy becomes one of the most
absorbing studies in all the long and
distinguished gallery of her charac-
terizations N ardent admirer OF
Mrs. Fiske. who has seen most of her
plays. remarked to the writer thot he.
personally, had to go back to Tess"
to recall part in which she had so
plumbed the depths of human emo
tions.
We know of no one with Mrs.
Fiske's command of the finesse of
acting and we know of no one who
could make Pat,icid Baird so COM
pelling figure as she did last night