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Show Lionel T&arrymore as Giuseppe. "Do you know, I am really becoming quite famous fa-mous now as the sister of Lionel Barrymore." That is what pretty Ethol Barrymore remarked a few days ago, and It Ib one of the best of the many lovely things said about the young man who has made his first big hit as the Italian organ grinder In John Drew's "The Mummy and the Hummingbird." Humming-bird." And these isn't one of the flattering things that have been said about the young actor that isn't deserved. His work as Giuseppe gives a new Italian character char-acter to the stage, a real character, a creation, a different stage Italian almost as striking as War-field's War-field's Simon Levi. He is the great hit of a rather foolish silly play, and a redeeming feature that makes this "Mummy and the Hummingbird" bearable. It is an emotional play with no surprises, and you know the whole story very shortly after the curtain goes up. Briefly, it is this: Lady Lumley (Margaret Dale) resents the apparent neglect on the part of her scientific husband (John Drew, the Mummy), and HDMk . l EHl-Rln- ' Sfffi9S9-B ' Lionel Barrymore. finds love and devotion in the big arms of Signor d'Orelli, an Italian litterateur (Guy Standing", the Hummingbird). But d'Orelli, before meeting Lady Lumley, has been busy in Italy ruining the home of Giuseppe, an organ grinder, whom Lord Lumley meets and interviews in the most improbable manner, and then begins to suspect the clandestine meetings of his wife and the Hummingbird. Lord Lumley becomes detective, assisted by Giuseppe, saves his wife, traps d'Orelli, and leaves him with the organ grinder and the usual stilletto on his path. Lionel Barrymore's great opportunity comes in the first act, when in a very stagey manner, Lumley Lum-ley sees him out in the cold, invites him in, and asks him to have dinner, during which he learns that Giuseppe is in London for revenge on d'Or-eille. d'Or-eille. It is unreal, but the scope for tragic acting is great and Barrymore makes the most of It. His hesitancy in entering, his utter ignorance, his horrible hor-rible manners, his powerful expression, and broken sentences, combined with signs in telling the story on the man who had ruined his home are effective in the extreme. His future should be very brilliant if the critics do not combine to spoil him. |