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Show !AT TO WRITE PUZZLES CRITIC )p o' My Thumb' Slow Entertainment 18 AMERICAN "PUNCH!' ax Was Too Weak to Put Before a Public Educated Ed-ucated to the Wonders of the New York Hippodrome. By Vanderheyden Fyles ! i New Yorh. Doc. C. 1313. r)' MY THUMB" A fairy talc. In two ' 15." George H- Sim. Frank Uls ami Ar-"f Ar-"f Collins; American vendon by Sydney Ilo-(J; Ilo-(J; music by Mnnuol Klelti. (Manhattan Tof Mcnmonlca DoWolf- Hoppor 'f ltalpli Austin , i i Wallor S. Wlllln ' I ' . Ncnl McNVal -U .r Albert Hurl ,? Charles M. Ulnton ' " Viola Olllotto 1 Bvt F!,lloa Jit ?,lt0 Texas Gulnan iljiarlo' Marlc Clifford ii Chicot Ko". Snow 1,' ' Mr Thumb IrLs Hawkins MISLEADING LADY" A play by Ch.irlef. 5 i (trd J Paul Dicko'- (Fulton theater ) crtlMn I"Ij Stono 3'il S. f,ancl! William It. Sams iit Trirey ol",rl Cnln Ca Farmer Albert Sackott iA m. WfUhorbco Jo!'" Cumberland .3 Flttpttrlelc William Koran ! Frank SylvcMor i'.i UfMtiion Albert Snckott U, au Hoary Thompson rrlll" Coorge Abbott "fBL" cjutKjrn Rohort Gravis. Jr. 'IWftr.l Inez Buck (OlSKan W. Cannell Alice Wllaon Hntworth Gladys Wltjon pjf Jane Qulnn Buchanan Frances Savage 1 , INNER SHIUNIV A play in four acts by jjjS Pollock. Adapted from tho novel of umo cimc. (Bronx opera hour.o.) ;'Evtlcth Harry V Waple 'jjum Albert Andruaa -.Van Tromp Edwin Dudley iraaU da Bloiivlllo William S. Phillips fipplDgcr Frederick Bond. .Ir. !jHIIr Hoy K. llolllnfrshead id'llautvlllo Arlhtir Newberry Fitnclcr Cr.arlos Wocxla Marlow . , . Jack Molroso Bornard P. Wldmann KvIcth M. Jnstlnn. Wayne float Kvoleth Jorephlno Cms t Prurn . . Hazel Harroun tVaa Tramp Ceello Ycomons Sin Wappingcr Millie Buttertlold 1 Grlmfcon Zola Tcnuart j. Iolln. Carton f" HPT" A play In four acts, by Uoraco f aol T. Wlgney Percy vp.1. (Wallack'e r- ,s4r Eullivant Cyril Maude rft Heron Edward Coinbermerc A. John Hnrwood ink Montagu Iovn fu Wolfe Lennox Pawla fe Erfarwi . Hunter Ncabltt A, Arthur Curtis n lev , James Dale n Porclval Younc il la Bulllvant Marficry Muirtc llaclaren . Iiia Halllday j ; Maud Andrew 016 t 1J IT HAT is one to say about "Hop V o' My Thumb?" For jnnny years I" i Idea lias prevailed that "The Vj wlc Crook" was no longer up-to-OH te; that punning rhymes were as rjt id and reverently buried as their i tstor-makcr, H. J. Byron: that ulamo Bomfantl was an old, old ly, teaching dancing to girls who V have been her grandchildren :r creat-granddaughters. But all this rot E u delusion. Several niunagcrs v I twice or thrice as many authors y I composers have come forward f ;h 'Hop o' My Thumb." One old i'tsltleman, who came to the theater ;an invalid's chair, said the piece is: 6 "out-of-duto by several seasons"; let M'eat of us were dumb with won- nu3 Cvery Christmas-time. so-called on! Jtomlmes, faithful to the fashion b rvalent for more than half a con-jld: con-jld: y, are put on at Drury Lano and .J ft Kr London theaters. Tlioy are y popular, Repeatedy. the effort cm 1 been mnde lo gain America j-sf w for them. When the ventures W led, faithful Britishers and still re vehement Anglomaniacs linvc Sen to declare the pieces had been tpclcsaly Americanized." "Hop o ' Thumb" has not. Barring a haif- 1 !en political allusions, thero was Jilng American about the long cn-lalnment, cn-lalnment, which Is as slow as jus-W jus-W i and as soggy as stcak-and-kld-P ?. pudding. tfter an overture by a largo and fj 5y orchestra that almost made S jme" 11,0 Peanuts, the theater was 1 2 rened and two female figures Mi ' BVVUnS ihrouc'n :dlts at cither side m ithe curtain Thev verc dressed the most respected modo of Chrlst-1 Chrlst-1 s"tree fairies, each with an elec- C light in the front of her blonde tifc addressed us alternately rnymed couplots, made in Blrming-w. Blrming-w. Their voices and enunciations, however, were stamped "Pittsburg, I a. It was a case of rhymes R In season. Then the fairies were ueakod back, on revolving runners, into their grooves, and the curtain ro3. Bad lighting may have been responsible re-sponsible for the dingy, shabby looker look-er practically all the scenery. Some of it could have passed as a relic of the days when Henry Irving, L,adv Bancroft and Charles Wyndham cut lip antic:; In Christmas pantomime. H he first, scene introduced us to a wood-cutter with seven sons and a wicked heart, which was, in fact, so stony that he planned to take the hoys into the forest the next day and lose them. When all but Hop o' My I numb, the smallest, were asleep, a curtain was pulled up back of a gauze well ana revealed the fairy queen, a Ine flguro of a woman and filled up to her diadem with sage adylce. all reduced to ready rhymes. Having had considerable experience hi this sort of thing, the fairy queen counseled Hop to save his piece of bread and drop the- crumbs along the path when his father took him through the forest. TN the next scene. Prince Charming, Charm-ing, on this occasion known as Earl Hilarlo. came in at the head of a hunting party or outlaw band or something else In green tights. The Earl was a buxom inutron. with mar-velously mar-velously tapering legs and a contralto voice. He-she changed Its tights for every scene, whlch must have meant a lot of work for an carl of he-she's age. Of course, the carl fell Immediately Immedi-ately Into vocal love with Mlrabulle, who appeared 10 be a princess In disguise, dis-guise, or in distress, or something. Nobody seemed to have an idea who her father might be or to what kingdom king-dom she belonged; but no one had the least doubt she was a princess. She sang frequently on this point. Accompanying Ac-companying her was an unsightly baroness, imporsonatod by a man, ao we would know it was a comic character. char-acter. Then there were a couple of agile, graceful dancing men with feathers, on their clothes. They were birds (I am not speaking In the slang sense!) and hurried onto the stage whenever they found it otherwise unoccupied. un-occupied. Having hitched up with the tightcd earl, the princess in disguise, dis-guise, the ugly baroness and the bird-men, bird-men, Hop sent his brothers home and set off on a tour of pantomime ruins, more or less "personallv conducted" by the Fairy Queen. This got them to Castle Grim, where the Ogre lived. That terrifying man had the tastier morsels that came his way cooked for dinner and the less to'othsome put into cold storage, so to speak, in the form of being turned into statues. Hop was regarded as too small a mite to be worth cooking; but, my. oh, my. what a spluttering and spitting there would have been If the Ogre had fried the Earl Hllario In hls-hcr's own fat! But the earl was spared to live a life of many more tights. Besides, the six scenes of the first act 'had to come to an end with the Garden of Statues, Stat-ues, a ballet in which some good effects ef-fects wore gained by throwing changing lights on dancors dressed and powdered In the marble white of statuary. But this climax was a poor and paltry business to put before a public that has had the wonders of the Hippodrome before it eight or nine months of every year. "TVE WOLF HOPPER'S name prom-Isod prom-Isod something moro diverting in the second act. Up to that point, (he best thing In tho piece was Iris Hawkins, an astoundlngly diminutive diminu-tive actress, brought front England for the title-role. Though unnaturally small, she Is well-formed, und has a piquant, -rather than a pretty, face. Its ability to express changing moods and emotions is exceptional; often It has a wistful, sad look that gave a sort of Peter Pannish charm to a character that really was as enrpty as the others. The entertainment was half way on the road to midnight, the hour nt which the first performance ended, beforo a cast Including Eva Fallon. Texas Gulnan fof "get thin quick" advertising). Viola Gillette. Flavla Arcaro, Albert Hart and Ross Snow, was utigmented by De Wolf Hopper. His good voice and fine diction brought out the imbecility of the "topical" lyrics allotted to him in all Its nakedness; but he contrived occasionally occa-sionally to inject some of his own bright fun-making Into tho British gloom, notably in a dance with tiny Miss Hawkins, In which she pretended to lift his great bulk into the air iSteifcy a. Clifford in "Behove Me," at tUo Salt Luke tlioater next Friday . jBBaturday, with Saturday matinco. ?1 Honry Miller and Ruth Chatterto n in a scene in his latest success, 4 ' The Rainbow," at the Salt Lake theater on December 15, 16 and 17. and to twirl him about as though he were Genee. Unfortunately, however, Mr. Hopper-got no chance to make a ' speech: and Hopper without his cur- tain speech is as unsatisfying as "Hamlet" with the soliloquies omitted. I The managers, of the Manhattan I opera, house made a great and dc- ! served success with their llrst venture, ven-ture, "The Whip," which ran throughout last season to exceptional prosperity; and there is reason to hope they will succeed as well with I heir next melodrama from Drury Lano! But they have inado a mistake mis-take in "Hop o' My Thumb." If this Is a typical London pantomime, the style of entertainment is too archlac for America. It had begun to grow old-fashioned before the Russell brothers lost their girlish laughter. BESIDES Shakespeare, the week has brought us an entirely new play from England and two of American Ameri-can authorship. As one of the latter lat-ter Is by Channlng Pollock and Basil King and the other by Charles God-dard God-dard and Paul Dickoy, there was reason rea-son to expect good entertainment. The latter authors, who are entertaining enter-taining thousands with the wild, un-trammelcd un-trammelcd nonsenso of their bur- lenque melodrama, called "Tho "Ghost-Breaker," do not shy at Incredible In-credible extravagance. Indeed, they ' cat It alive. Their new piece, called "The Misleading Lady," and acted at tho Fulton. Is all about a girl named Helen Steele. though she might better have boon christened Helen Blazes. At the samo lime. Steele would not havo been a bad name for Jack Craigcn. who carries her off to the mountains. I happens hap-pens this wayr Jack has had live j vcars of It at far-off Patagonia. Returning and joining u house party j on the Hudson, ho Is easy prey for j Helen, whose sport In life Is bringing susceptible man to her feet. She has no trouble whatsoever with her j latest victim; that Is, until he discovers dis-covers she is merely amusing herself. His resentment only makes her on- j tirlalnmcnt greater. She laughs at his Ignorance of women; suggests that he put a specimen under glass and study her, and winds up by declaring de-claring he will never capture a woman wom-an except by the Patagonian caveman cave-man method of a, knotty club. A I which Jack does no less than take hpf at her word Switching off the lights, ho rolls her In a motor rug; binds her securely: throws her Into his machine, and carries her off to his camp In the Adlrondacks! Thr rent of the house- party pursue- the caveman and his captive through the remainder of the nlay. but do not overtake ' them until he has given a spirited, if wholly un-SMiakcspeareon performance of "The Taming of the Shrew." Pitch a plot delights the ladies In the audience. 09 per cent of whom, at heart, cherish tho desire de-sire to be brutally abducted. It was nothing less than painful, therefore, to see them when the play was over being gently and respectfully taken home- In trolley cars or on foot CHA'NNIXG POLLOCK, who turns out plays so numerously that, presumably, he writes them with both feet as well as with both hands, went to "The Inner Shrine," that popular novel of three or four seasons ago, for his latest story. He has stuck close to the narrative which Basil King published anonymously, In a rather unworthy, but successful, effort, ef-fort, for advertisement; Indeed, Mr. Pollock might have made a moro compact, dramatic play had he been less faithful to the original. On the other hand, readers of 'the novel and there havo boon many, many thousands of them doubtless would resent any vital deviations from tho story. The opening chapter of tho novel becomes the first act of tho play; really, rathur more a prologue. The scene is Diane Eveleth's drawing draw-ing room In Paris; the body of the act concerns itself with Diane's entertainment en-tertainment of her gay and shallow, frlonds; the climax comes with tho unnouncemnt of her husband's death, shot In a duel Jn defense of his wife's good name. Dlano falls over th3 telephone: tho curtoln falls to the stage: and the audience falls to chattering chat-tering of the outcome. The next two acts pass in Derek. Pruyn's home in New York; and tho tawdry, ted, rod scenery strikes tho most tragic note of the piece. Diane is a member of the household, acting an cha"poron to Derek's daughter. The wicked Blonvllle conies Into her life acaln, this time as Derek's guest. Thenceforward, as in the novel, all the other characters endeavor to mako the Frenchmnn retract his lies about TJluno. The end comes oti the veranda veran-da of the LakevlJIo Inn. an admirable "act," when difficulties are swept away bv Derek overhearing a conversation conver-sation between Diane and Bienville, In which he speaks the truth. Tinr fourth character to be brought forward by Cyril Maude in the uourca of his interesting season at Wallack's Is not from his London repertoire. In fact, "Grumpy" lias never been acted In that city, where It was Intended for the Playhouse thin month, before Mr. Maude do-clded do-clded to sublet that fashionable theater thea-ter to Marie Tempest, presenting Henry Arthur Jones's latest play, and venture a tour of America. . Until tho other ci'oulng, "Grumpy'' had l been acted only twice, once in Glas-gow, Glas-gow, the week beforo Mr. Maude sailed for this country, and once In Montreal, Immediately after his ar rival. It Is a. blend of comedy and melodrama, written by Horaco Hodges and T. Wlgnoy Percy val, two of the three actors who', while playing play-ing minor roles in the company of tile late Wilson Barrett, collaborated in the making of "Sunday," which was popular several years ago, with Julia Xeilson hi tho title role in England, and Ethel Barrymoro over here. The character called Grumpy is our old friend and favorite with actors of the John Haro-J. E. Dodson school, tho elderly, gruff, crusty gentleman who docs his utmost to hide his kindly heart. Tho moro he barks the less he bites. Mr. Maude may be accepted ac-cepted as the ultimate successor to tho dignities of John Hare when that fine old uctor makes his "retirement" permanent. Instead of intermittent. In the classics, ho has gained cordial cor-dial recognition In several roles Identified with Sir John Sir Peter Teasle In "Tho School for Scandal," Sam Carrldgc In "Caste," which role Hare "created' In his youth, in the first performance of that play, and Ecclcs in tho same piece. When, twenty years ago, Sir John became afraid of popular opinion and decided de-cided to produce "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray," It being taken over by the more courageous Alexander, Mr. Maude was engaged . for Cayley Drummle, tho character designed for the older actor-manager. And presently, pres-ently, during his American engagement, engage-ment, Mr. Maude will court comparison com-parison with Hare again by undertaking under-taking to impersonate Goldsmith's Ingenuous In-genuous Vicar of Wakefield. Without With-out going Into the question of how high or low the place In histrionic art belonging to infinitely elaborate, wholly artificial acting. It may be said that no finer exemplar of It than Mr. Maude lias appeared within the memory of the present generation. A NDREW BULLIVANT, dubbed Grump, is a retired lawyer, famous fa-mous in his day for his success In criminal cases. A robbery, with violence, vio-lence, occurs In his own houso; and It rekindles In him all his old-time enthusiasm, keenness and alertness. He Investigates the case himself; and, ultimately, runs the thief to Scene from Victor Hugo's "Les Misorables," the immortal story and 1 itorary masterpiece, tho first series of which, in five reels, comprising tho boo ks of "Jean Val jean" and "Fantino," comes to the American theater Monday, Mon-day, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. earth. This miscreant Is none other than an unsuspected guest In his own house. Tho man had contrived to got Insldo as '.art of an elaborately laid scheme. He and his pals had watched the return of Bulllvant's . nephew from Africa, whence he had been sent by his firm to secure a large diamond of great value. Reaching Reach-ing his uncle's houso, which he deems safer than a hotel, the young man receives a telegram, arranging for a meeting with his principals next morning. Lato that night, when sitting In the library, he sees a shadow on the window blind. Ho cautiously proceeds to Investigate, but the next momunt a gloved hand slips In at the door and switches off the electric light. (No. this play is not a reversal of "The Misleading Lady." with a suffragette bugging the sightly youth and carrying him off to n Pankhurat cave.) A tight in tho dark emvues; indeed, the blackness black-ness Is so dense that wo ourselves arc unaware who knocked out tho young ninn, robbed him of the pro-clous pro-clous diamond, and left, him prostrate on the fleer, whore presently a streak of firelight reveals him. From that point on a genuine mys-. tcry Is worked out bit by bit before our eyes. Grumpy gets his first successful suc-cessful clew from a flower. The In-Jurod In-Jurod man was found clutching a white camellia In his hand, whereas a maid servant remembers posltlve-lv posltlve-lv that he was wearing another sort of flower in his coat that evening. She Is sure bocausfi she helped him ' secure It, when, lacking anything else, she lied the stem with a long hair from her own head. There Is j a subject concerning Margory Maude, who appears as her father's erarri-doughter. erarri-doughter. Tho thief, In order to avert public exposure, in caso hl3" I robbery Is" found out, attempts to compromise the girl. 'IJfTITH the press of worthier onter- ' prises, T could not got to see "The Rector of St. Jude's" until its week at Hammersteln's was nearly over. I should not havo been brokenhearted broken-hearted had Hid press been Just a Httlo presslnger. Having edified us with Evelyn Thaw, the "Shooting Showgirls," a guaranteed peeress of Great Britain In bare feet, tho Half-Woman, Half-Woman, a warbling nobleman from Scotland, etc., Mr. Hammerstcln now entertains us with an amateur actor possessing t'h prefix "Reverend" to his name. The Rev. Alexander Irvine Ir-vine used to bo "night preacher" at the church of the Ascension, on lower Fifth Avenue, but lost his position because of the socialistic tendencies of his doctrines; or. as the Rev. Percy Stlcknoy Grant expressed It. because of a nervous vestry That may explain why the villain of "The Rector Rec-tor of St. Judc'3." written by Mr. Ir-vlno Ir-vlno and ostensibly based on his own cxnerlcncc. Is a wealthy vestryman. The programme announces "From Pulpit to Stage. First appearance Rew Alexander Irvine and company (formerly rector of the church of tho Ascension)", The scene Is the office of the roctor of St. Jude's, and Mr. Irvine. In his vestments, enters to the tune of church bells. Presently, we learn a strike Is waging In the mills owned by the villainous vestryman. The state militia has been called out and a striker's daughter killed. The owner appears and orders the clergyman clergy-man to drop his socialistic views, or lose his church, and Incidentally, the hand of his daughter, with whom tho minister- is In love. That young . woman bobs Into the plot long enough 1 to affirm her love and constancy to the rector, and to egg him on to more ovations on the working man. Then one of the latter looks iti, nno other, j in fact, than tho striker whose daughter daugh-ter has been shot. He Is for killing tho mill-owner; but the Rev. Mr. Irvine Ir-vine Interrupts him with a sonorous flow of words. He tells the ntlll-hand h( Is us much to blame for the conditions con-ditions as his employer. "You helped elect the governor who sent the militia." mi-litia." announces Mr. Irvine. "You workman placed tho oppressor's heel on your own necks." (Applause from the audience: and such emotion In the striker':-, breast that lie lets his revolver fall to the floor.) "It Is tho ballot-box," goes on the Hergynian. "that will put the whip into your hands as masters. By a combined worklngman's vote you can save tho world." (Applause and cheera.) These words Immediately convert tho vestryman; the mill-hand loses all desire to kill: the clergyman retains re-tains his church and his engagement to the girl: the strike Is virtually at an end: and the dove of peace flutters flut-ters over all. At the end of the playlet, play-let, which was preceded by Van Ho-ven, Ho-ven, the mad magician, and followed bv a team of cabaret singers, tho Rev. Mr. Irvine responded to a demand de-mand for a speech. "I have lived In New York for twenty-five years," ho said, "and have done everything from drlvlnir a milk-cart to appearing on Mr. Hammersteln's stage. And 1 am not through yet. I want to tell you that the world behind the footlights Is as human, us kind ns noble of purpose, as any I have over known." Coming attraction: Anna. IIold'3 Daughter. J |