Evening star., 1924-03-03
Whose Baby R-U?"

n breeze scented with all the fra
GRANGE of baby's breath waited
world-old influence over an audience
at sthe President Theater last night
putting every one under the spell OF
that emotion which makes the old
globe spin around.
The breeze that danced playfully
from the stage on which a baby star
magne tized spectators by pure,
doFnright naturalness. in Airline Lu-
doviei's new comedy, Whose Bapy
R-E," seemed to act as a fumigator
in Hispelling any malingering RESIDUE e
In Sthe ozone suggested by possible
poHce preSences.
The story is the story of civilization.
which erected it's structure on the
principle that the strong must take
care of the weak. Upholding the pan
neT of the strong in this presentation
Is Burton, bachelor, rounder, general
all l-round good time conoisseur. Ihe
.pennon of the weak is flown over the
baSinnette of young CharleS Lewis
Denver, jr., ten months old, whose
smiles, wonderment ana tae'h1i &C his
parents to the breasts of many a
ht-walking father in the seats;
This baby arrives on the doorstep oI
Buttons residence. He walks into
attention of his audience. 1t took
suoh baby as Charles to make the
production. 1t was easy to see why
Burton reformed. 1t was not dlincult
to follow his transition from rounoer
20 Stay-at-homer. nor to imagine Bur-
tons as the spirit Of discontented mas
cultnity in life and the baby the solu-
tfon of the problem.
-xlcng drifts the breeze, gently.
carrying a foreign scent. at times
Iognes entirely out-of-place and dis
oortlant to the theme. to the climax.
Then Burton finds himself in love
with the baby's mother, who mas IN
serted herself into the household In
the guise of Il nurse for the young
stef She tells a pitiful story-of
thea death of her tiancc shortly be-
fore marriage. Again the strong
complex come to the fore and Bur-
ton spreads out his protectiveness
10 the mother of the baby.
An anti-climaX threatens the nap
piness of the bachelor just as he has
broken one engagement and propos-
ed TO the baby's mother. when the
father turns up--not dead, but very
much alive, due TO a mistake in dis-
covery of the injured and killed In a
wreck. He wants his girl back and his
baby. lie is ready, anxious, eager to
marry. The girl places the baby In
his arms and him in the hall. She says
farewell to Burton. And she says 1t
Just loud enough for the father to
overhear it i'll the hall. He leaves the
baby with the butler and disappears.
ana to the representative of the
strong element. Burton, is given the
prospect OF protection under legal
ceremony of both mother and baby as
the curtain falls to the acclaim of
those i'll front of il.
AS was lntimated, those risque lines
were just enough to cause a bit of a
bunny jar III the smooth running
mechanism that was unfolding q de-
jightfully innocent story. They come
mostly from the mouth of i French
chef, perSontied by Henry Crosby
that the presentation last night was
In The rough, needing polishing for
Broadway-Which can easily be given
tho President Theater seems to be
housing q production running at an
enjoyable tangent from its previous
"ftering. And from the applause that
broke out spontaneously time and time
again it seemed that the alluring.
but rather misleading, title did not
gather in many who were not salts
lied, with comparatively clean COM
The cast did wonderful work in
spots. In other spots there could
have been Improvement, in delinea-
lion and characterization.
June Webster. as young fiapper
with plenty of maternal instinct,
climbed up q few notcheS~, further
toward stardom with natural grace
ana Spontanlety. Robert Grain, Jr.,
loud talking but natural. was ex-
ceptional in II comedy role. Upon
i'eggy Coudray as the leading woman.
the. role of Anna fell with surprising
grace especially to those who re-
membered her aS the yampfng nurse
OF last week. Ralph Kellard made
thes bachelor Il role that formed the
keystone OF the production's success
full Sdebut. And that baby--the real
star, had two big blue eyes, dimpled
elbows and tWitchy toes, Il heaven
sent smile and tip-tilted nose, and
his5voice is Que that gurgling1y coos,
and even his skin makes YOU think
of a rose.
Airline Ludovici has produced a
play with slight mprovements-that
is we'll worth while. The staging by
j. Franklin Kirk is most effective.
The play is en- route to Broadway,
which may possibly find spot in
It's fast throbbing heart for Il simple
baby emulating the world-spinning
imrluISe