Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-02-19
Belasco-'The Lady Killer

The Lady Killer a farce In three
acts. by Alice and Frank MandeI, who
also wrote The High Cost OF Low
ing, delishted q very large audience
night.
Theatergoers who have enjoyed
Merton of the Movies" "Lightnin
and other clean comedies. whose ap-
modern libertinism. Will serve good
end by patronizing farces Written
along the lines of THE Lady Killer.
which entertain. amuse and really oe.
light. without leaving a sense OF guiit
removed from the Avery Hopwood
type as the sunlight from abysmai
darkness.
THE Lady Killer" relies for its
qualities upon loan
originality will cause her TO be long
remembered. She is typewrttist
whose habit Of day-dreaming and tn
diligence in romatic imagination first
forced her out of her fathers home
to enable her to live her life as she
liked. then caused her to be fired ten
times within six months from Jobs
i that were too prosaic.. until finally
testy, writer of scenarios for the
movies. She at once enters into the
spirit of his story. and imagtnes
herself it's heroine, Lenora Leaning
gest!on. She Is creature of lovable
assurance, conf1ding and insinuating,
and In the person Of Claiborne Fos-
ter. who impersonated her. beautiful
and charming.
\ novel twist is given the farce
when Henry Meecham. a young law
yer who admires himself and ability
very much, undertakes TO establish
the value Of clrcumstantial evidence
by staging fake murder. with the
scenario writer's son as the guilty
party. Thus the farce apparently
takes on the appearance of melo-
dramatic tragedy, made more realistic
by the discovery that the butler in
the writer's home Is crook, and that
the young lawyer who has threatened
to expose him has mysteriously dis
appeared.
The stage detective appears, and
when things look pretty dark for
Jack Kennedy, the writer's son, 10
and behold, Leonora bennington. in
the person of Joan Smith, follows ing
an idea Of Jacks father concerning
listed detective force and everybody
else into CONSERVATION by confessing
that she herself murdered the lawyer
because he tried to kiss her. The
farce returns, of course, in the cli-
max, to relieve tense situation. but
it is present in every phase OF the
story in Joan Smith, who never
permits the smile to leave the face OF
of laughter at seemingly the most in
upportune moments. Joan Is simply in
describable as she Is presented by Miss
Claiborne Foster, and 1t is no sur
prise to find her at the close in the
arms and folded close to the heart OF
Jack. for whom she endangered her
own life, although she had known him
but two short hours.
The supporting cast is admirable
throughout-John Craig as the writer
Paul Kelly as Jack his son. Ethel Jack
son, the original Merry Widow" as his
mother: William A. Morton as the rnelo-
dramatic butler. Lucille Webster rs
Il very human maid, Harold Verrnilye
as the self-confident lawyer and Stan
ley Jessup as the detective, standing
out in more important roles.
There was much pleasant comment
In the Hobbies between acts due to a
rumor that l.. Stbddard Taylor. who
once lifted a lowly amusement house
into the Belasco Theaier with an air OF
culture and refinement. had been re-
. stored to his former position as Its
manager, a post from which his trans
fer more than year ago seemed in
cxplicabe to those who admired and
patronized the theater.