Evening star., 1925-10-04
Seene Horx Is ZAT SO ?" Belasco
The Nation Capital
and 1t S Theaters

| measuring crime responsibility. The
| stage becomes the outSpokcn advo-
cate OF the underworld, and mission
| Mary is supposed to stand side by
side with her sweetheart as worthy
examples, because. rather than see
the mission closed for lack OF funds.
they return to the old ways OF life
where money could always be got
somehow. ii necessary, at the point
OF pistol. The effort to apply logic
to sentiment is blunderingly made.
The white e-haired gentleman who
conducts the mission is made to sui
fer at the hands OF authorship. as
has many stage clergyman before
him. When Hall Cain wrote The
| Christian" he created furore by
portraiture which would now be re-
garded as conservative. The head
of the mission reveals no lapse of
personal propriety. but he is made
bv his extravagant credulity concern
ing the manners and customs of a
group OF habitual crooks to appear
a trihe silly.
1t is the privilege and probably
pose a more or less clearly defined
epilogue. There is always more
story after the fall of the curtain.
The epilogue in Mission Mary
which here suggests itself IS that OF
kindly white-haired gentleman who
| finds himself utterly unable to cope
with the oblique urges OF his sinful
CONGREGATION and finally discovers to
his horror that while he thinks he is
| running a mission he is in reality
| conducting ''ience" for the safe ex-
change OF stolen property. The cpl
loeue could be made even more har-
rowing by letting the police take
hand by conducting the mission
leader to a place of safety, where he
| would be no longer in danger OF TALL
ing a victim to his own sweet un-
worldliness.
1t is a pity to find cynical atti--
tude so generally in evidence toward
the theater. The attitude OF the
theater itself is uncompromismgly
! cynical in assuming that the pubhc
! not merely demands the coarse and
| ungainlv. but thoroughly admires 1T.
A much more hopeful theory is sup
| ported, by the lavish patronage
which always awaits the competent
production of merltorlous work
It is possible to like play winch
does not measure up to the stand
ards OF proper proportion, Just as IT
| is possible to fall in love with a
strabismic lady. The attachment
however. is in spite Of and not be-
cause of the strabismus.
The presentation of Puppy Love
was not a congenial dogtown expert
ence. The play has its frolicsome
moments and may endear itself sui-
| fcieutly to avert the melancholy.
though humane, attentions OF the
| Animal Rescue League. The an
nouncement OF Ann Nichols as the
producer gives rise to heartfelt
wish that hereafter she would write
her own plays. "Abie's Irish Rose
is still making large sums OF money,
and some of the. producers who nave
been putting together one alter an
| other plays whose invariable tag Is
az two-week notice to the actors.
have the sublime assurance to make
fun of it!
In order to see tendency toward
conservatism in feminine attire at
tractively manifest it is necessary to
90 TO the stage. Irene Bordoni. the
most chic Parisienne of them all
was outdone by every fapper in the
audience on terms of brevity of ma
terial. and yet she remains an &C,
cepted model. a personally conducted
stvle show. So ostentatious is her
charm of apparel that the spectator
is in danger of overlooking. the ex-
cellent performance that she gives
in the play bearing, for no visible
reason, the title Naughty Cinder-