Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-21
PETROVA IS seen
IN WHITE PEACOCK
Star Of Stage and Screen Ap.
pears at Adsiphi In Romance
From her Own Pen

Adelphi--'"The White Peacock" cal
be added to the list Of several play
this season which have threatened Il
talk themselves to death in the first act
only to build up cumulatively in dra
matte force until, at the final curtain
they hold the audience tense md ent
with an effective and sudden climax
But even this does not excuse thu
earlier loquacious inactivity that almost
puts the audience out Of humor fol
what follows.
Nine. Olga Petrova. star of stage
screen and vaudeville and one Of tho
easiest Of women to look at, lent the
interest Of her generously endowed per.
sonality to most of the weak spots oi
the play and thereby made them lest
conspicuous. The story Is from hel
own pen and It is said that she dc.
signed most Of the scenery. II this
lntter is true, it is disinctively a
triumph for her. The three settings
lusciously toned In rich color and Inv.
ishly rich in simplicity, gave more than
a hint Of the Joseph Urban influence
and that Is as high praise as can be
given to settings.
The story is of modern Spain, but
Is Of universal application In Its theme
showing the revolt of woman from the
old position Of chattel and plnything "a
her husband and her struggle for self
respect and the right to give herself
only where her love is given. The hus.
band In this case Is as Suave and
smooth and altogether bclievablc n vii.
lain as has been seen in many seasons,
and Leon Gordon made his cold .blOOdet
cnllousness and brutality SO real that
he was heartily applauded even when
he made the audience hate him most
+. L. Fernandez, as a connoisseur ir
murders, the aide and co villain Of the
husband, did a most notable piece OF
character work.
He is shown half drunk most of the
time, and the actors stimulation OF
this condition was almost stnrtlingly
reminiscent Of days now past and gone.
The scene between Fernandez and
Nine. Petrova, which works up to the
climax. and in which she plays upon
his drunkenness and habitual vanity to
wrest from him the secrets which clear
her lover from the charge of patricide
was the outstanding episode Of the whole
three acts. 1t was q splendid piece OF
work on the part Of both Of them.
Taken MS whole, 1.-THE White Pea =
cock' Is good play to have seen.
It Is too prone to epigrams and phi .
losophy and the discussion Of the struc
ttre Of modern society, the whole seem :
inEly being summed up In the statement
that the solution of woman's problem,
ia business or profession Of her own.
But when It leaves this and plunges
into its own action, and the people
really become involved in plausible
complications. It moves ahead with sat =
isfy!ng speed. and its climax Is we'll
arranged and not too banal In its open :
ness and completeness. All the gore IL
spilled Of. stage. and for this the au /.
thOrcss IL to be thanked.
Others In the cast. which IL evenly
balanced and admirable, are I.udmilla
Toretzka. as garrulOus and somewhat /
broadly burlesqued duenna; Doris Car.
penter, as a maid servant who loved
not wisely but once too often; I.etha
Walters a. the usual American Count
css: George G. Thorpe, as IN English
captain on the "stawff," and Ran
dolph Beckwith, as the hero who man :
nged to get through his lines with ire.
qucnt and audible prompting from
Nine. Petrova. 1t was lucky she wrote
the show or abe might not have known
his mart no well