The New York herald., 1922-09-19
The AWfuI Truth
a Comedy Success
With Ina Claire
Highly Amusing, Though at
Times Artificial, Play by
Arthur Richman.
ny LAWRENCE nEAMER.

Arthur Richman ~ho Is adept at
gfnning diaphanous little fairy stories
for social life for the display of popular
actors, was at work on his specially
again last night at Henry Millers
Theater. One says again" In view OF
his success over at the Little Theater
at the same kind OF task. He seemed
by way OF being even more SUCCESSFUL
last night. At all events, there was
more OF wit than ~ SenPents Tooth
contains, and rather more of humanity.
rather a closer relation 10 life IN some
~ the scenes of 'The Awful Truth
sthan there Is ID the first of his plays 70
pc acted here this season.
- But the piece last night made no
deeper search into the emotions OF life.
II is called comedy and the filtration
of a woman with her divorced husband
scarcely provides material for drama
of any other kind. Even the engage
ment OF this attractive New York di-
vorcee to an "oil king from Oklahoma
did not make the situation really sers-
Gus. 1t only made her the subject OF
scandal Her betrothed naturally
wanted 10 know what all these whis-
perings meant. lie called In his aunt
10 help him in the Investigation. Be-
tween them they discovered the awful
truth. she had only been trifing with
her divorced husband. They loved one
another still Then she was only
twenty-six.
Perhaps the moral Of Mr.. Richman's
play, if there must be one. Is, that girls
so young do not understand the serious
ness of marriage, much less divorce as
its remedy. Her husband. however. en-
ters the play not as her suitor but as
her defender. She will have him come
TO her rescue when the world. just be-
cause she Is divorced. begins To gossip
OF course she may have had other mo-
tives for thus introducing him again so
Intimately into her life. Whether she
did or not. their ultimate reunion APP
pears inevitable from their first meeting.
So she Is to be his instead of belonging
10 the mine owner when the end comes.
Carefully polished and finished to
nicely as Mr.. Richman's little play was.
il would not have shone so brightly but
for the smoothness of its Interpretation.
Good acting even helped to mitigate
some of its elementary impossibilities.
OF course IL was all fairyland. but there
had TO be an occasional Illusion.
Even the faintest vestiEe OF reality
lied with the appearance Of the dubious
millionaire from the southwest who
would have been turned out OF any New
York drawing room by the servants,
when lie came in quest Of proof that his
intended wife was not the guilty party
In a divorce suit. Equally difficult TO
reconcile with any other standard than
tho theatrical necessity, was the visit
Of his aunt on the same quest. Yet VI
ono can swallow the cardinal inpos-
sibilities of Tho Awful Truth" il may
be easy 70 accept these other conditions
The dialogue Is bright, the convention
of the wife and husband together for
4 record time was most amusing In the
first act and most artificial in tho last
II took a mighty struggle on the part
of the actors TO restore the mood of
the play after the first act Its spright-
iness. its hunor and its irresponsibility
made THE Awful Truth" however. a
complete success OF comedy with the
>, sdience which laughed unwearyingly in
eS21as OF its persistence.
Miss Ina Clare has been better suited
than che was as the divorced heroine.
She played the opening act with super
cilious artificiality that was rather diff
flcult to understand. She never alto
gether gave up that manner but her
charm and her natural humor eventually
made her acceptable TO the audience.
Bruce McRae's success as the husband
was complete. Two minor roles were
acted with distinction by George Bar
Tsuld and Miss Cora Witherspoon. while
Paul Harvey was the millionaire from
Gods country" as he called it to the
life. The audience indeed enjoyed an
evening OF admirable light comedy