"He--'Isn't your husband alive?'

She--'But he isn't here' ".

These two lines from the "Pursuit of Pamela", a sentimental farce (on the program they call it a comedy) now playing at the Copley give the gist of the plot. The Jewett Players are never quite so delightful as when that farce is tinged with a certain amount of real humor of line and situation, the production is sure to be excellent indeed.

"The Pusuit of Pamela", as has been more than suggested above is not comedy--the plot, the characters, the procedure are all too outrageous for that; but played as a tremendous joke with a little serio-comic sentimental trimming, it succeeds admirably. No-one could take the adventures of the unsophisticated young American girl, who leaves her aged husband five minutes after marrying him to chase around the world after a penniless Englishmen, too seriously. The rapid geographical movements of the characters--from Hawaii via Japan, China, the North Pole, and Russia to Canada--are in themselves too preposterous for anything more than an amusing outburst of somebody's dramatic imagination. Unfortunately as played at present, the company is inclined to give the piece too serious a performance, when it needs tremendous lightness of touch, and occasionally at least, riotously humorous treatment instead of a realistic interpretation.

In Miss Cleveland, Mr. Jewett has made a distinct "find". Her acting in the title role, though somewhat unpolished, shows clearly the result of her conscientious study during the past year or two. In many respects hers was a difficult part to play; it could have easily been made ridiculous or unduly stiff, but with the exception of her song in the second act, which was poorly executed and entirely out of place, her performance was far better than could be expected from one of her limited experience. When time and conscientious effort have added polish and artistic discretion to her by no means insignificant personal qualifications, great things may be expected of her.

Mr. Joy as the impecunious Britisher was at his best, the possibilities of the part seemed to appeal to him tremendously, and it was a pleasure to watch his enthusiastic performance, unfortunately slightly marred by a poor final act, a weakness not of his, but of the author. Mr. Turner as the deserted husband was very, very weak.

The scene designers and painters at least appreciated their chance to do some unusual sets and made the best of their opportunities. The sets for the last three acts would do credit to any production