COMEDY THE CRIMSON PLAYGOER DRAMA

The Boston Stock Company is reviving this week the latest, and probably the best, of the murder plays which kept the children awake so many nights last winter. "Whispering Wires" is less gruesome, more natural, and far more structurally perfect than its predecessors. We feel also that the author shows admirable rstraint in keeping his finger off the electric light switch. There is something gruesome about a dark stage, and frankly we don't like it. It makes us feel as if the man who was with that girl we thought we knew had taken out his penknife. Fortunately for us there was only one short black intermission. The rest of the time we sat back contentedly and guessed and guessed who had done the awful thing--whether it was the second violinist, or the man who took out tickets, or President Coolidge. For campaign reasons it might be well to say that in this particular instance it was not President Coolidge.

Alleged Soprano Rewarded With Dahlias

After the second act the audience learned back and laughed uncertainly, to prove that it was all just for fun, and that nobody really had been murdered at all. We laughed too--just as long and loud as we could--but we fear the man next to us looked a bit skeptical, as we have faint recollections of having grabbed him violently by the left leg (merely for support, of course) after the first revolver shot had been fired. To relieve the general feeling of uneasiness in the audience further a soprano came out between the acts with "What Do You Do Sunday, Mary"--which didn't make us feel a bit better. She was rewarded with a big bunch of dahlias. At least they looked like dahlias, although we strained every botanical sense trying to tell ourselves that they were chrysanthemums, lilies, or anything else. We are sure anyway that it was a soprano, and she seemed reasonably surprised to get them.

Of course it is impossible to give the plot of such a play for the management would be about our ears in no time for giving away their little secret. We might say for those who can't wait that Montgomery Stockbridge, hard-hearted financier, is definitely and decently murdered at the outset of the play in his own library. Thereafter it becomes a question of whom to congratulate.

Actors Rival Original Cast

The actors do practically as well as the original company in this most satisfactory thrill producer. Mr. Hall carries off principal honors as Montgomery Stockbridge, alive or dead. Houston Richards as the careless trouble-man gives the audience a few much needed laughs. Even Herbert Hayes seemed repressed and much subdued. We can't quite forgive Harvey Hays, as Drew, the detective, for finding the dying Stockbridge and shrieking the latter's name as if we all didn't know who he was. John Collier '24 was no ordinary butler