A Thrilling Melodrama
H e l e n M a c K e l l ar B l o s s o m s "The Desert Flower," by Don Mullally, Well Acted at the Longacre Theatre r \ O N MULLALLY, who spread • I 1 turpris* over Broadway with the •™T ....
...W. L. BERTHA GERSTEIN, a leading member of Maurice Schwarsz' players, the Yiddish Art Theatre...
...H e l e n M a c K e l l ar B l o s s o m s "The Desert Flower," by Don Mullally, Well Acted at the Longacre Theatre r \ O N MULLALLY, who spread • I 1 turpris* over Broadway with the •™T . Hidden euccete of "Conscience," bai been taken in tow by both A, H, Wood* and the Shubsrt*, at the Longacre Theatre, for his eecond venture, whjrh rivet tome competent nan and eolhe excellent woman a ckane* to shew all tkat'i in them...
...is a caustically good-humored f r lit n d. Eltenor Williams And especially Mildred Southwick contribute to th* irrelevant but excellent comedy momenta...
...Be-, tween the first moment w* *e* him make love to her, and th* last, th* pu>y several timet seems headed for a study of Nevada roughneck condition* that is genuinely valuable and powerful, but something, usually th* sail ot sentiment, sidetracks th* toe docile author, and we are left with an excellent theatrical piece instead of a good play...
...at th* end of th* play the shoots him...
...Mullally might have found a better way of supporting his main plot...
...When WUl He Diet" a »cr*amingly funny comedy, « the current bill...
...Yet the emotion of the play is the kind that, even while one's brain tails one It la artificial, is drawing full wet tribute from one's tear-duets...
...D«spite all th* limitation* w* have indicated, th* play remains a moving performance, keeping the audience long guessing, and working to an effeoiiv* close—epnt ov*r by excellent actio...
...McQuade (Yon can tell from , a deal of th* play that th* author1...
...th* rett of the cast helps nobly •long...
...Maggie Fortune has been blessed by what sometimes wears her last name with a stepfather one would not wish en Old Nick...
...The play itself runs a rickety court* from a bin** first act through two more that need a deal of padding between th* moments of what becomes Increasingly sentimental...
...What cornea nearest to redeeming the drama it the unfailing swing of the dialogue...
...always natural, and frequently lightened with a deft and not too obvious humor, rich with th* vernacular of the mining camp, the words of the actort hold ns even when thtir actions delay the development of the story...
...Robert Amti and Robert Cummingt make a hero and a villain of no mean calibre, but Helen MacKellar as th* dainty "desert flower" heroine showers the fragrance of her •miles sad the dew of her tears with delightful impartiality over good and evil alike, while Dorothy Walters, as dear eld Mrs...
...On* might suggest that a tightening would improve th* play, if it were'not almost too short already, for an' •verting'* *ntertainments Mr...
...partial to the Irish...
Vol. 1 • November 1924 • No. 45
