It was very unsatisfactory. One woman was a cat, with whom we were supposed to sympathize; the other had many of the characteristics of a fool. Why label Vassar for the latter? It was, however, the married woman who was the “heroine,” and a key to her character was never supplied. I like a key to complex ladies, and am not a bit ashamed to admit it. I want their motives a-b-c’d for my use, in the case of plays like “The Firm of Cunningham.” When complex ladies figure in masterpieces, than the key is unnecessary, and what you don’t understand, you can always ascribe to the “psychological.”
Miss Hilda Spong, a clever actress who is always miscast and who is rarely able to display her fine qualities, was this contradictory “heroine,” while Miss Katherine Grey, usually assigned to dark melodrama, was the white-muslin girl with the Vassar mis-label. William Lamp, as the boy who kissed, was possibly the best member of the cast, that also included William Harcourt and Henry Bergman. “The Firm of Cunningham” scarcely seemed built for “business.”
A SEA SHELL
Behold it has been given to me
To know the secrets of the sea,—
Its magic and its mystery!
And though, alas, I may not reach
The clear communicable speech
Of men, communing each with each,