THE CRIMSON PLAYGOER REVIEWS --- CLUB CONCERTS

That Booth Trakington is a past master, and a popular one, in the art of interpreting the emotions of youth, particularly the youth of seventeen, was again demonstrated at the Hollis Street Theatre on Monday evening, where a large first-night audience enthusiastically applauded the appearance of "Clarence." When Bostonians insistently encore a piece until the leading actor has taken several curtain-calls, and refuse to be satisfied until he has made some sort of a speech, then the success of that play is assured. Wherefore, we may expect "Clarence" to make his abode at the Hollis for some time to come.

Unlike Penrod, William Sylvanus Baxter, or Ramsay Milholland, the main character of the story, has passed the more difficult period of youth and has reached the age where real romance may be his. Clarence is a discharged soldier hero, who in the course of four amusing acts falls in love with and finally marries a pretty governess. But without the element of adolescence the plot would be too commonplace for mention, so the action revolves chiefly on the sentimental affairs of the 17-year-old Bobble Wheeler and his sister Cora, who has just attained the flapper age of sweet sixteen. The play is a comedy of incidents in the life of the Wheeler family; Bobble is burdened with the dark crime of having kissed the housemaid in "a moment of sensuosity," as he tragically confesses, while passionately in love with the governess, Miss Pinney,--"the most spiritual-minded woman in the world"; Cora is obstinately devoted to an elderly grasswidower who uses her to shield his own unwelcome love for Miss Pinney; Mrs. Wheeler suspects her tortured husband to be over-fond of the governess, until both mother and daughter seek the affection of Clarence. Clarence himself, having secured a job as handy-man-around-the-house on the sole recommendation that he "could drive nails without swearing" is the confidant of the entire family, because, as he is constantly being told, he has "been in the Army"; he tunes the piano, repairs the boilers, plays the saxophone and makes himself generally agreeable. By the third act, Cora has switched her love to Clarence and Mrs. Wheeler is evincing absurd symptoms in his direction; the household affairs are finally solved by the hero and Miss Piney leaving to get married. The very effective end finds Cora alone on the stage murmuring with all the pathetic tearfulness of a disillusioned woman, "Clarence! Oh, Clarence!"

Alfred Lunt plays the part of Clarence with great discretion and a humorous touch that is simple and unaffected. Viola Harper is a second "Bab," and Russell Medcraft is quite remarkable as the 17-year-old man-of-the-world; his acting, in a part that could easily, be spoiled, is commendably natural and youthful. Mary Boland is a trifle too sugary as the flighty Mrs. Wheeler, while Phoebe Foster overposes in her part of the ingenue, Miss Pinney; otherwise, the cast is pleasing throughout.