A FEATHER IN HER HAT AT THE MAYFAIR.

Upper Hutt Weekly Review, Volume I, Issue 11, 28 February 1936, Page 3

A FEATHER IN HER HAT AT THE MAYFAIR.

Because Clarissa Phipps' one overpowering- wish is to see her 11-year-old son, Richard, develop into a gentleman, she encourages the drunken and worthless Captain Randolph Courtney to live in the back room of her bookshop home in London's East End. She feels that the captain will teach Richard that there is more to life than the sordid, Cockney surrounding- in which he now lives with his mother. Ten years later, Richard has arrived. He is a gentleman—in everything- but birth. He is interested in play-writing-; the captain who still lives with him—has had a g-ood effect upon him. But Clarissa is not finished. On the boy's twenty-first birthday, she informs him that he isn't her son, that his mother is a very famous actress. She tells him it is time for him to go into the world and claim his heritage of gentility. She presents him -with a thousand pounds, representing the gift to be from his "mother"; in reality, it is the result of long- and arduous saving- from the tiny bookstox-e's profits. Through some letters he finds in Clarissa's trunk, Richard is led to believe that his "mother" is Julia Trent, once

the toast of Piccadilly. He finds her retired from the stag-e and in financial straits; a boarder just at the moment, would tide her over her current difficulties. He takes a room, and meets Pauline, Julia's stepdaughter, who is immediately interested in the lad. The interest ripens into mutual love. The boy writes his first play. A friend of Julia's, the only producer who might present the play, is handicapped throug-h lack of funds. But the money makes an appearance: no one but the Captain and Clarissa knows it is the sale pi-ice of the bookstore. Despite a heart ailment, Clarissa is desperately striving- to hold on to life until she has seen Richard's success. The doctor warns her that excessive excitement will prove fatal. Opening- night of Richard's play arrives. Julia Trent is playing the lead. In the gallery sit Clarissa and Captain Courtney. Richard comes to the gallery to see her. The curtain rises—enthusiasm mounts—the play is a success. In answer to cries of "Author, Author," Richard steps before the curtain for his honours. But the excitement is proving- too much for Clarissa. She falls—but before she dies Richard learns that Clarissa is his mother and that she has sacrificed everything to make him a gentleman.