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Show Gowp of the Ng T I Gotham Tla.yhotj.ses. H (Special Correspondence.) K It is about time the managers of theatrical H attractions awakened to the fact that it is the American play that is wanted in America, and acted accordingly. There have been two instances in the last three months that should teach them m that they could spend part of the summer profit- ably in New York looking for good material for succeeding seasons instead of going across the water and endeavoring to dig up new foreign'sen-W foreign'sen-W sations. Most of them, however, will continue" to j consider that a play from the French or one Mat has made a success in London is a better vehicle H than an untried American product. K The first of the illustrations of their folly was given by "The Earl of Pawtucket," which was m put on by Kirke La Shelle at the Madison Square theatre, merely as a means of filling the gap H occasioned by the failure of "Gretna Green." This farce had been offered "all along the line," h M they say, and almost every one of the established m managers had found it would not do. La Shelle, m however, had reason to believe in the merit of the work of Augustus Thomas, for it was "Ari- zona" that made his fortune. The fact that the other managers rejected "The Earl of Pawtucket" M had no terrors for him, because they had also rejected "Arizona" .in the same fashion years H before. M Well, if this latest play had been put on at M the beginning of the season, it would probably m be running yet. As it is, the fact that its time m ran out at the Madison Square did not end its life M in New York, for it moved over to the Manhattan and is enjoying a very prosperous run there. The Madfson Square" has also scored the sec- ond of these successes. When Elsie de Wolfe found herself unable to fill the time she had taken for her venture in "Cynthia," George H. Broad-J Broad-J hurst seized the opportunity to give a hearing to a farce he had written called "A Fool and His j Money." Mr. Broadhurst had done nothing very H successful since his hits in "My Friend from India" and "Why Smith Left Home," but had used K the interval to good advantage in putting together this humorous piece dealing with the adventures K of an American young man who disinherits him- self, finds his true friends in fiohemia and justifies the good blood that is in him by making a for-H for-H tune of his own with an invention. There isn't K much substance to the plot, but there is a good lot of Americanism in the dialogue. Mr. Broadhurst took the farce "along the line." B , He offered it to everybody from Charles Frohman down, and all refused it as of no account from a commercial point of view. Mr. Broadhurst, how- ever, had faith, and as he had money also, he determined to put on the play himself. He gath-H gath-H ered a competent company of players who were' at "berty for the spring and produced it. The re-M re-M suit has been a hit akin to that of "The Earl of m Pawtucket." Mr. Broadhurst is rejoicing, because m ho will get not alone the vindication and the royal- ties, but he will also have the profits from his H venture, and they will be a snug sum. Some of H the managers are doing a great deal of thinking. I j & & g Another of the oddities which Klaw and Er- H danger have been compelled to call in in order M to All their houses this spring is "The Starbucks," one of Opie Read's plays, which they picked up JH somewhere on the road after James T. Powers fB had. failed to fill Daly's with "The Jewel of Asia." ,Wm It deals with the mountaineers of the southland IB and is oe of those truly rural dramas with which H the Foi' fienth Street theatre is wont to delight I. the servant girls and others of the lower middle class- who furnish its patronage. It was with gasps of astonishment that the regular first nighters at Daly's beheld the unfolding unfold-ing of the drama they went to see. The first nighters there do not pay much attention to what is on the bill before they go. They give their orders for tickets for every new performance, and would rather miss their church service than a first night. When they found themselves in the presence of a truly rural play in the house that had been made famous by Augustin Daly and Ada Rehan, they realized that indeed a new dispensation dispen-sation had come. Daniel Frohman figures as the manager of Daly's, but the fact is that he has little to say about the policy of the house. When Augustin Daly died a peculiar thing took place. Klaw and Erlanger discovered that Nixon and Zimmerman, who form the Philadelphia end of the theatrical trust, were endeavoring to secure the playhouse secretly. It is an indication of how closely these members of the syndicate are attached to one another that Klaw and Erlanger immediately set out to get the theatre for themselves. They did get it by virtue of offering a high bid. When the deal was completed, however, Charles Frohman and Al. Hayman called the fact to the attention of Klaw and Erlanger that the syndicate agreement forbade them to have a house in New York. So it was agreed that Daniel Frohn an should be put in charge at Daly's. Since then Klaw and Erlanger have ridden rough shod through that agreement, by getting the New Ybrk and the Kferald Square and putting 'up the New Amsterdam, as well as arranging to put up the Liberty for the Rogers Brothers. Once entrenched in the metropolis, they insisted in-sisted on their rights at Daly's, and they now obsolutely control it. Daniel Frohman will probably prob-ably move out as soon as the new I yceum is finished, fin-ished, which will be this fall. J JX j A substantial sucess that ha sent tne limits of the Rialto at one bound from Forty-fifth up to Fifty-ninth streets is "The Wizard of Oz," now running at the Majestic, In the Central Park circle. cir-cle. When Stair and Havlin decided to erect a popular priced house in that district two years ago, there was much laughter among those who H thought they were "wise" on theatrical matters. H It was said that the site was too near the regular H theatrical district to make a house profitable as H art "outside" proposition, and too far away to let H it come on the "inside" among the Broadway the- H atres. M It happened, however, that when the theatre H was finished early in the season, the Hamlins of H Chicago were looking for a chance to place their H musical comedy, which had made a hit In Chicago. H The syndicate houses offered no encouragement H and the independent houses wore ail overcrowded. H The Hamlins determined therefore to, take H chances and go Into the Majestic The result has I been such prosperity that the other theatre man- H agers have been scolding themselves since for H making such a formidable rival. H "The Wizard of Oz" is based on a story for I children, which tells of the adventures of a girl H and a calf, who were taken by a cyclone into a H distant and strange land. Two men from the I vaudeville ranks, Montgomery and Stone, are called upon to furnish the fun, as a scarecrow and a tin woodman. The calf and the lion and the I little girl aid them effectively, and' Julian Mitchell I who was so long the mainstay of Weber & Fields' " H as stage director, has given a background of seen- H ory and chorus that makes tfie production one of I the most taking seen in New York in many years So far as can be told at this time, they are I there for all summer. H j je H The success of Millie James in Mrs. Frances I Hodgson Burnett's "The Little Princess" has brought a revival of "Little Lord Fauntlercy," I which is being played for matinees at the Casino. I When It first came out, of course, it 'was a rage I for several years, and- drew the great and the I small of the country to see it There is not a H duplication of that rage, but enough little ones I who have read the book and want to see it per- I sonified on the stage to furnish a profitable pat- I ronage for the new venture, and the Casino is I being packed at every performance. Of course, I the hot weather will put an end to its engage' I ment. R j y M |