“Polly with a Past” is a merry though thin piece of farcical fooling, which owes its exceptional success--it has already run nearly an entire season in New York--to the attractiveness of the setting provided for it by Belasco and to the earnestness and zest with which it is played. It was written by Messrs. George Middleton and Guy Bolton and then rewritten under the direction of Belasco. Its plot is conventional, though familiar stage figures and time-tried devices are handled in it with considerable breezy dexterity. _Polly Shannon_, an orphan, the daughter of a poor clergyman of East Gilead, Ohio, desires to study music in Paris. She makes her way as far as New York and there, having no money, she secures employment as cook and waitress in the service of two young bachelors, _Harry Richardson_ and _Clay Collum_. A friend of theirs, _Rex Van Zile_, is violently in love with a young woman, _Myrtle Davis_, whose purpose in life is the reformation of the abandoned waifs of society. _Myrtle’s_ attitude toward _Rex_ is aloof and cool and he despairs of winning her. _Harry_ and _Clay_, who have heard the story of their pretty little servant and become interested in her, seek her counsel. _Polly_, premising that though a minister’s daughter she is familiar with French novels, suggests that the best way for _Rex_ to win _Myrtle’s_ love is for him to pretend to become the helplessly fascinated victim of a notorious Parisian adventuress. Finally, after much persuasion, _Polly_ agrees to assume the part of the adventuress and, introduced into the ultra-respectable _Van Zile_ home, she does so with such entire success that not only is _Myrtle_ inspired with jealous interest but that _Rex_ is really charmed by her winning ways and transfers his affections to her. Various complications occur, incident to the attainment of this result--all of them amusing although transparently artificial in contrivance--and as a whole the representation provides an unusually agreeable entertainment. “Polly with a Past” was first acted at the Apollo Theatre, Atlantic City, on June 11, 1917; and, after a brief fall tour, it was produced at the Belasco Theatre, New York, on September 6, with the following cast: _Harry Richardson_ Cyril Scott. _Rex Van Zile_ Herbert Yost. _Prentice Van Zile_ H. Reeves-Smith. _Stiles_ William Sampson. _Clay Collum_ George Stewart Christie. _A Stranger_ Robert Fischer. _Commodore “Bob” Barker_ Thomas Reynolds. _Polly Shannon_ Ina Claire. _Mrs. Martha Van Zile_ Winifred Fraser. _Myrtle Davis_ Anne Meredith. _Mrs. Clementine Davis_ Louise Galloway. _Parker_ Mildred Dean.