Time, April 6, 1925

The Little Minister. It was an unpleasant experience all around, this reopening of Barrie's 30-year-old candy box. It was sad for Barrie, because it showed that time has beaten those early imaginings of his. It was sad for Basil Dean, English director, because it showed (as in Hassan and Peter Pan) that he is second rate. It was chiefly sad for Ruth Chatterton, of whom Alexander Woollcott wrote: "Compared with this unhappy event [Miss Chatterton's playing], the selection of Marilyn Miller seemed nothing short of inspired." Maude Adams alone got praise.

For it was Maude Adams who, in 1897, first appeared as Lady Babbie. It was her first production as a star under the old Charles Frohman regime. Both actress and play were deemed discoveries. These facts, of course, made Miss Chatterton's hurdle higher. She summoned all her sweetness, all her coquetry and even a few of the music-hall mannerisms she acquired in the late and unlamented Magnolia Lady. She did not get over the hurdle.