Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15
Y YHEN Samuel Shipman makes
a ! q play you may be sure that
~ boisterous evenings are at
v hand for theatergoers. In


play you may be sure that
NM boisterous evenings are at
hand for theatergoers. In
private life q calm, Inruf-
fled philosopher, Mr.. Shipman becomes
explosive on the stage, given to shocks
and detonations. He does not write
dramas, he blasts them. LIES quarries,
he knows, are full of nuggets waiting
for his dynamite, and he, an intrepid
mining man, kindles a successful fuse
or two each season.
Mr.. Shipman's engineerings have
brought riches to him, glory to Al H.
woods and satisfaction to his patrons.
He is, guess, the most solvent OF the
dramatists, vying in income with Eu-
gene O'Neill, Miss Anne Nichols and
Noel Coward. I meet him occasionally
as, deep in thought, we pace the dreamy
Times Square avenues. Now he has a
volume Of Wordsworth in his long. pale
and artistic fingers; then a book by
Rudyard Kipling or Maxim Gork y
What" asked him one evening IN
front of Eltinge-"what, Mr.. Shipman,
do YOU think OF the works of Sir Walter
Scott?" "Immense!" was his reply.
Studious, visionary, fond OF nature,
simplicity and the poets, Mr.. Shtpman
Is not the type from which you would
expect n product SO volcanic as Scarlet
pages" Here Is where Miss Elsie Fer
guson enters as Mary Bancroft, lovely
woman of the bar, renowned for her
proves In succoring criminals from the
abuses Of the law. queen OF litigation,
she SWANS bench and jury box without
resorting to the old-fashioned devices
of sex appeal. She Is so famous for her
victories that 1t Is an admission OF guilt
to employ her as counsel. Miss Fergu-
son defends q little murderess In the
Court of General Sessions and causes
her to be let loose after a snowy trial
more remarkable than usual for Its
shabby burlesque Of the real thing.
Still, II you are slave. as many are,
to Miss Ferguson's aggravating fascina-
tions, you will rejoice in the act wherein
she balks, with no effort whatsoever,
each movement of the district attorney.
In a becoming gown she defeats his
every vicious effort to convict her client.
Beautiful, smart, alert and we'll versed
in the law, she dominates the proceed
ings. Perhaps you will be disappointed
when I tell you that John Remington
CLee Baker,, the district attorney. Is
her sweetheart and that their battle in
the courtroom is blending of romance
and duty.
I think the speech written by Mr..
Shipman for Miss Ferguson as her ad-
dress to the jury lacks the Evolutionary
wallop expected from orations of its
| kind. Here in a play like Scarlet
Pages" should be fireworks-the woman
lawyer persuading by her ardent
| rhetoric the jurors to free from the
charge of patricide representative Of
| the weaker sex. But 1t Is just some
Mandy pamby blah, Of no use either to
| performer or audience. Mr.. Shipman
needs a ghost-writer to add vivid words
| TO his vivid pictures.
Miss Ferguson. serious artistic, has,
| I fancy. been a disappointment to those
who predicted that her career would be
marked by great achievements. Equip
ped with almost everything in the
actresses CULVER. she has seldom hit the
| target. One OF the things that have
| hindered Miss Ferguson is that. nc
matter what role she plays. she is al