Evening star., 1923-06-19
ADJUSTMENTS
BELAsCO--"The First Year"

SDelicately woven. appropriately
psesented and sincerely interpreted,
''The First Year." which opened at
the Belasco last night, effectively
demonstrated that the combination
OF Frank Craven, playwright; Fred
Raymond, jr., artist among Thespians,
ard a few drops of the salty moisture
from the optics thrown into series
OF laughs from the heart can be con-
giomerated into one of the most en-
jayable evenings that folks in thea
ter seats can wish for.
ats no wonder the play ran for 700
nights in New York. 'Twould be
wonder II 1t didn't. Any production
tHat takes the cardial organ OF the
average rational anthropoid. tears
away surrounding tissues and exposes
me pulsations to view. allowing them
to quicken and deaden at intervals,
iS~ calculated to inject a sizable
uaantity of pathos and humor into
the most adamant:
Wonderful to relate, this Is a play
whose title tells Its story completely.
Those terrific tragedies of the hrst
YEAR of married life, which look 80
sTrall in later years ana go sisahec
when they happen the Initial ihuIeiheii'
day-out monotony Of the marital state,
which is in itself overfiowing with un-
se8n dramatic possibilities, are touched
with a master hand in presenting tnen
td, the audience, with the result that the
finished product enters the ranks or
classic because Of its absolute simplicity
THE art of concealing art found
splendid exemplification by the cast at
the Be!asco last night. Scarcely one IN
dNidual in the theater, II Is oeieVeo'
n g 11rr
tiEtt he was looking at a play. was
life getting glimpse of HE, possipiy
home life, in miniature.
The most propelling motive of this
play was the fact that each situation
is$ not difficult to grasp. Everybody
lifting in the married state has been
through something similar. Second
lE memory of events shared by q
couple is recognized to be more de-
leStable than the reality. This bein8
ertce see scenes which have taken
place in real life. memory jogs back
with it's persistent: Isn't that just
like we used to be?" and behold--a
smile or a tear starts romping out.
tor be carefully shielded from the out.
side world. because of the vanity of
the human species.
Fred Raymond. jr., as the awk-
ward Thomas Tucker. husband. could
carry that play through on his own
b3Ck- But when Lucia Gear, nls
nerve-strained, sincere. true-to-life
stage wife, throws in support which
is equally superlative. and every
orher person of the cast fits in their
coEs OF dramatic motivation with
sHch precision that not a single
clanking is heard in the smooth
working machinery of the plot.
there's nothing left to say but that
George Marshall, the impresario of
the Belasco. has brought to this the
alter probably the best-balanced. best
acted and most appreciated work of
the year.
Hattie. personif1cation of servant
girl petrified from the chin up, was
played by Leila Bennett in a manner
which brought out the full humorous
possibilities of Characterization
which would have fallen fiat with too
much or too little Interpretation. Miss
Bennett was with the original pro-
GUction. She shows the reason why
by her performance itself.
There's one thing that should not
be overlooked. That Is the music the
Belasco furnishes. Rich. rare and al
Turing, the orchestra rendered selec-
tions that kept the nicotine fiends
very much in evidence by their fail
ure to seek ozone and tobacco in
the outer air