The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-12-14

Brandon started so violently that
Yvonne and Kenilworth shot
glance at him. When they Looked
back upon the stage they saw why.
Unuuestionably he was among
those grotesque figures, for one of
them walked with exaggerated grace
and his head was bandaged!
And just then, as if a common
realization had swept over the men
and women, the puppets and mamie
quins, the pierrots and Colunbines
| in the audience, there was the
sybilant sound of pent-up breath
| escaping hundreds of lips. Almost
every one Of those who had come
to the revel Of the Golden Girl recog-
nized, in one of those weird, WHITE
faced figures on the stage--himseh
or herself!
Betty Weymouth saw that Joanna
had caricatured her. Prince Michael
saw himself. as surely as Brandon
had recognized the graceful form in
the bandage. John, who stood at
the back Of the pavilion saw
masoue of himself. Everyone else
saw something Of his or her repre-
sentation in the silent city's IN
habitants as they trooped down INTO
the market place around the almost
nude girl who leaned against the
column in the center.
The girl raised her head and shook
the long strands of her billowy corn
yellow hair. When she saw that
the witches had faded away from
her, and that she was among the
people of the city-the people OF the
world in which she found herself,
her body Strengthened. The orchestra
burst into a joyous rhythm. The
girl leaped into the throng of mas
cues and danced among them
danced gaily, her filmy draperies
flowing in utter abandon.
watch the witches!' Brandon
murmured. He spoke to himself, but
Yvonne and Kenilworth nodded in
Acknowledgement that the thought
had come to them, too.
A little company, in the masques
of morose solemnity, assembled at
one side of the stage. Up to them
and around them the girl danced
ecstatically. They swayed back and
forth in time with the young feet
that seemed to dance as If slippered
with quicksilver. A note of mourn
fitness crept into the music. The
girl danced slowly, more heavily.
The witch with the yellow lantern,
MISUNDERSTANDING, fell into step
behind her. The girl shrank; re-
lentlessly the evil witch pressed
upon her. An eerie lamentation
shrieked from violins and reeds; slow
ly, mercilessly, misunderstanding"
drove the lovely girl back to the
pillar.
Again the dancer escaped her bale
full guardians and moved merrily,
hopefully, carelessly. She was
driven back from the group that
gathered around her, by Envy" A
third time she tried to spread her
rhythmic doctrine Of carefree youth
and grace and vividness, and
again
In the audience a woman uttered
woman rose to reach over to her. A
man stood. In an instant the
puppets and mannequins, the pierrots
and >Columbines were on their feet.
Many faces were as white as those
Of the mute characters on. the
stage. Now the three witches, all
of them, were bearing down upon
the girl, who fought so valiantly to
overcome the misunderstanding the
distrust, and the envy of those white
faced people who stifled her.
The music quickened. The girl, in
panic, sought to flee. The witches
penned her in and drove her, step by
step, while the silent Mosques
circled and swayed monotonously
back to the watertrough post. The
orchestra burst into a discordant
crescendo. The dancer helpless, dis
couraged, backed against the pillar
and flung out her arms in mute
appeal The witches raised their
lanterns in hideous glee. The green,
yellow and scarlet rays pierced the
! filmy covering Of the young body
and bathed it in a mellow glow And
by some weird trickery of a hidden
electrician the rays from the lantern
of misunderstanding, distrust and
envy, made a shadow against the
CITY, a shadow black as night-the
shadow of a cross.
This time it was Yvonne who
whispered softly: "Crucified by. those
who don't know"
With a common impulse Yvonne,
Kenilworth and Dorminster, and,
even, Betty WEYMOUTH, made their
way through the silent, thoughtful
throng Of departing guests, to the
door that led onto the pavilion stage
the door through which Yvonne
had seen Joanna disappear before the
actors began their play. The direc-
tor of the company of performers
shook his head:
'Mademoiselle left with me the
money to pay my troupe, and Their
went away" he said. She was most
generous, and we would speak more
Of our gratitudes to her but she is
not here
John, his face as white as had beer