Evening star., 1926-11-21
PIG WOMAN'S ROLE
OUTR|vALED STARS
Cast by Strange Court Set.
ting Into Part That Will Be
Long Remembered.
BY FRANCES MOVES HART.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
SOMERVILLE, n j., November 90
Read hours later in the non-com
initial garb of black print, Jane
Easton's testimony in the Hau-Mills
case loses some of its spell. The
drama that Is being enacted in New
Jersey is distinctly not of the class
referred to respectfully or con
temptuously as closet drama; it Is
not composed for a leisure perusal
under a well shaded lamp. 1t needs
its little stage under glass dome. the
voices of it's actors rising and falling
faitering and defiant. 1t needs its
stage manager, the callous and gal
vanic Simpson. 1t needs it's audi
ence. sitting laughter or yawns
skeptical, diverted and, time after
time, frankly thrilled.
No report yet given, and there have
been many excellent reports, can cap
ture for you the full force of Bar
bara Toughs accent. of Louise
Geist's insolence, of Charlotte -n4lIs
partness and pathos, Of Simpsons sar
donic impatence or McCarter's bluff
pressing: and the greatest loser OF
them all, IN the transference of the
living word to cold print, is Mary
Jane Easton. who certainly held her
audience last Thursday as no other
star in the world has ever held one.
Helped by Stage Setting.
She was. of course. helped by her
stage setting. even though it was
Elizabethan in it's simplicity. The
only props needed were the black cot
and thermometer. She had the benefit
of having all the attention focused or
herself. Only a small cast was called
for playing, for that day, at least
roles of supreme signif1ca nee
though all were excellent in their
parts, 1t called, to be exact, for two
gentlemen to feed her her lines, one
doctor and one nurse.
1t was distinctly not a costume
part. The faded blue and white bath
robe and the coarse white nightgown
overnight at the throat and wrist
would never have been selected by
any of the artists who have giver
us Lady Macbeth, that other ia
nous nightgown role. She hat
lighting effects that Belasco might
have envied and they were al
focused on her. She had grea
many excellent lines all immensely
to her credit
as SllS COtIpOSSu, DIS well as per
formed, in this piece, she had ar
audience that hung on every wore
that she uttered as though it were
her last, and many were there wh'
thought it well might be. With al
audience that packed the house tt
the doors and would have made :
standing room only" sign seem like
true Southern hospitality. she ha,
everything that the greatest star ir
the world dreams of having or
radiantly happy nights, and mos
superbly did she use and justify this
opportunity-so superbly that only on,
out of ten in that audience ever be.
lieved for a moment that 1t coult
be acting that one had moments o
profound doubt.
Skepticism Returned.
After the spell of that shaker
voice wavering desperately, then still
more desperately steadying, had beel
removed, the spirit of skepticisn
once cast it's dark shadow over evel
the faithful.
What made her so PERSISTENT,
cling to that spot, waiting for thos
hypothetical corn thieves to return
| in a wagon that had already creake
it's way out of her life forever" VIII.
| had she never connected the white
| haired woman utterirg those desolat
sounds in the moonlight with III
! shots and cries that she had fear'
only an hour or so before at th
same spot? Why did she not return
| the next day in broad daylight 70
the moccasin that she so great,
! priced? And last and most impor
tant of all. why were there sucl
startling discrepancies between thi
story and her previous versions O
il?
dere most of us are severely hand
capped by the fact that we are un
able to weigh the evidence. We d
not know exactly how startling thei
discrepancies are. Undoubtedly ther
has been confusion, but most of tn
available statements are newspape
interviews at the time of the murder
and the discrepancies in these, while
regrettable, are not startling.
Story Far From Commonplace.
The most commonplace of occur
rences, when viewed through the eye:
OF three intelligent, ambitious anr
conscientious reporters, may vel
SOulu llhc LII &C SCpdI etCIlt
largely because the emphasis be lai,
on different values.
Jane EastonS account of thu
tragedy was anything but a com
monplace occurrence. She Is woman
undoubtedly richly endowed with boil
histrionic ability and vivid imagina
ton and it is no great effort to be
lieve that her accounts themselve!
may have varied.
Her respect for the press is some
what tempered and it Is possible tha