| Show I I r i DOING IN uN JI I IU U j L BY FRANKLIN FYLES PYLES j t N EW YORK May 21 The largest village in the world with its r inhabitants is Brooklyn borough in the city cit of ot New w York and andl Ocil l eIl Spooner is that villages the cut up Cecil once came over ov r JI i d Broadw Broadway ay with a costly play calcut 1 t plated sated to let her do the cutest and andA A stunts that had made her herra hert ra t 1 a pet in a Brooklyn resident compa i a ny but Broadway rejected her in disdain Yet this week of an afternoon I was one of the men W who nho ho with 2000 women crowded a Brooklyn n church that had been turned Into an opera house to see Ce Cecil Ceil cil til il darling act Cecil Celil had written a play pla and I 1 Dished shed to describe to you u the heroine that she had created for herself she not net have fitted a crown to toc toa c a swelled head he d and seated herself on ona on ona ona a throne Or put on the airs and gowns gonns of a belle Not ot either She Sh those to be a rural maid who ran ran away awa to be a soubrette in a luckless 1 10 arid and came back penniless hun kiln hungry gry r and hidden in a box car Peer Pe r ig Jg out O t when the train stopped at daylight she heard hens cackling That means eggs g for tor our ur breakfast said sahi she to her song and tance anc partner you OU go rob the nests hUe hile I light up my alcohol al ohof lamp Jamp Seen in Scant Dress Cecil emerged in the scant dress of ofa ofa ofa a dancer cancer The long stockings were not nt ed though but white ike Ake the short sh frock Cecil knew k ew her herb b Besides her moth r is js pres president presIdent presIdent ident of the Brooklyn Brool I A Church and age ag society To pop Jop out of ot o that car ear caron carn on at n pink tights would have hae alarmed tic tc propriety gf those 2000 admirers oat out In the colorless rig she se looked to them hem pure as S a tv child Moreover the costume made It apt pt for tor herto her to repeat a doll dance for her accumulation of ot r things thin Caught by the early arly stall statIn in agent So do you jOU see how ho natural und nd reasonable that he mistook her iier herf f fr r a 1 mechanical doll d U And nd the doting IIa shrieked in hysteric ecstasy To weeks ago I gave gae an account of a feminine Brooklyn audience in ioa a rhapsody over oyer the unaccustomed of favorite stock tock actors ii is an in extravaganza but wilder still sun sunu uia u a the delight when Cecil Spooner a sheet across the car aj f to shield hield her from Irom the stage vil villagers agers lagers while she cooked the egg eggs eggIa ta Ia gac c the B g villagers a knee nigh view of her legs below the doth iloth Indecorous In our Cecil The Th j idea dea Not ot a maid mald was afraid nor a matron dismayed disma ed when she said she was vias as changing chan ng her dress dr ss and tossed out her hobery hoi e to a handsome handsom young oung stranger and cried mistaking ml king him for her partner Hang up my tights to t tair air she our own artless artles Cecil Art All 11 Artful Cecil Artful Cecil too Does any anyone one else elle gEt a chance at the applause or the I laughter Not that I noticed And she takes no risks of novelty noYel The I character introduced in The I fortunes of Betty Is a stuttering gir ir The second is a youth who has been made a detective by mail man for I five tIve dollars and shows a big tin badge badget t 1 ti prove pr we it This The third is the town constable with whiskers on his chin The fourth is I Mrs Irs Mala Ir t with love loye and ignorance of ot og words The fifth fth th Is the devoted a lg and dance partner whom she loves loses ss rs a sister and who comet comes com with her heL fr irni irm m ue le stranded stran d show Tried aLl arl an true these lh se seThe The plot Is f no IIO il re x kleBS a hazard either Bettys father tather Is s an an old veteran ar at ad J there is a mortgage on his home homeTh Tl Th f rich village skinflint t hates him ar erd ard d means td to t sell him out He I likely also to lose l se his job as post Jost raster master on a false charge haie of robbing t the ie malls mails The Tile real is i the skin Ints son who persecutes par Betty with i f fol ol lust The secret service agent nt to investigate falls In th love with her but almost breaks her heart by proceeding against her father Cecil Spooner know her Brooklyn villagers ever welcome acquaint acquaintances ances And who is it takes the words out of or their mouths when about tp jj 1 say Sa something good i Cecil Who does the talking tal ing for tears In the father and daughters pathetic passages Who Vho does the constables duty dut in infighting infighting fighting the mall mail thief the detective detectives work In sleuthing out the truth and J her lovers wooing of or herself herselt Why demure little Cecil CecH Who knows her hr buIn r The Cecil Spooner whom t Broadway disdains The penultimate act of The Fortunes of Betty a aI I climax It is at a ball ballI I Bettys lettys father goes there to meet some old soldiers although the mortgage is isto isto to be foreclosed ed on his home next I day and he is f 5 to be te Jc arrested as a mail rob robber robber ber her Suddenly nl he gets the debt money from Bettys show chum an appoint appointment appointment ment to the pension office as a vindi vindication vindication cation obtained obtain d by b Bettys Bet 3 lover loer an apology from his enemies and the ac an cl claim lm of his friends But who Is it if that when the band plays The Star Spangled Banner Bann leads him to the center of the stage and declaims a patriotic tag Wily Wil Cecil Do I blame her Not at all I have writ written written ten solely to let you know how one shrewd actress has put t play to her own ow advantage ada t g gHer t tHer T Her Husbands Wife VUe Neither Grace Elliston nor Laura I f Hope Crews is permitted to dominate Her Husbands Wife Wire nor Is la the rolE rola taken by the starred actor of ot the cast Henry Miller Uller forced out of proper proportion but the author in this case wrote for no ones purpose of his own The title suggests a farce from the French Frenc and you JOU know what that means but It is of American make and clean as a childs primer It comes out too at a time when farcical filth has caused nausea and the suppression by the mayor of The Girl With the Whooping hooping Cough Is 15 approved gener generally gen r rall ally all Perhaps the purity of Her Hus Bus Husbands Husbands bands Wife made Henry Hen Miller lImer doubt that a comedy without song dance or smut yet et dealing humorously with wedlock would be regarded as enter entertainment He produced it in Philadel Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia phia as a test without himself taking a part in it but on bringing it into New York his name Is big in tile the t e bills although his share in the acting is moderate The gist of this play the first by byE A AE AE E Thomas to get onto the stage is that a young oung woman picks out ut a suc sue successor successor cessor to herself as her husbands wife She Sh is a Daft to the t e extent of believing herself an invalid although healthy health she expects to die of her Imaginary maladies She loves her husband and very fondly and thinks he would be unhappy as asa a widower so o she s1 e chooses an acquaint acquaintance ance to be his hs ensuing bride This odd wife is a cheerful lunatic to the limit of her one but beyond that she is a quite normal person of the feminine sex for she selects a plain almost ugly old oil 01 1 maid for her to marry while she orna m her own beauty m However r Grace Elliston person I I I e I i i i w clA i 1 4 i i 7 i yc j i 4 4 r 1 i t I A v Scene c le fro St Elmp 9 at Colonial Colo ial All This Week 1 ator of ot the unlovely woman is of her herself herself I self as pretty prett as Laura Hope Crews of the wife and those who whose see se her in the guise es especially those of her sex observe with keen keei interest the ways wa s in which she destroys her comeliness The process consists of smoothing the fluff of her hair bair and the frills of her garments giving to her face a bad complexion and arid putting on an unbecoming hat Soured by estrangement from her 1 I sweetheart she has let her voice oice get gel rasping and her manners harsh She I perceives why the wife has fixed on I her as a successor and Is wroth ex exceedingly but she dissembles her re resentment resentment and resolves on vengeance An Object Lesson I I I The ensuing act gives gh es an object les IEs lesson If s son In personal adornment to women I at the theatre who dont try t to be bei j sightly When Miss Ii s Elliston reappear I she is a modish belle eHe and she e sets out ons outI 1 I to fascinate the husband The change chang I is remarkable remar considering that th t her first guise nan as not at all aU a caricature nor is the he second cond s exaggerative in hi em embellishment embEllishment Her lIer voice too goes goe from fromI J I blue jeans to silk velvet elvet and her man 1 I ner from to t I The Tile husband is bewitched by this os 00 ostensibly willing wife wiCe in prospective I while the present wife Is l cured of ot her herh hypochondria h by jealousy Her Husbands Wife Ue was several s s v veral I kinds of ot a surprise to its first New NewYork NewYork York witnesses Hardly any an of them had ever hear heam the authors name and an many supposed he was a mere adaptOr adapter of a Parisian farce So the bright clean and plentiful fun was unexpected ed Then too they had never heard of Robert Rober Warrick or Orme Caldara the and facile light com corn comedians comedians who Miller had brought from somewhere or other oUter to be the husband j jand I I and the old maids lover I regard i Miller MUter as one of the cleverest dozen i American stage directors He knows know I how to get bright acting a ting from persons p who left uncontrolled are apt to he be tc I dull In this case he obtains better service from the Misses Crews and anil I Elliston than r I have hae ever eyer seen them j i igie to else He that give gie anyone an one gets I oi of action commonly 5 eh r rIn in London Paris and Berlin but b t not i as often orten as It ought to be in ii New N Ow w York YorkA YorkA A third surprise on the opening night was Millers own on halt and lame lam performance He assumed a character demanding de a mellow old pH comedian an uncle of the disturbed family a awit t twit wit and humorist who after being for fora a while awhile a marplot meddler brings bring j jabout about all round Per Pert Perhaps i haps he was too engrossed in makh others do their th ir best to do well him himself himself self i iA selfA A cafe in which eating V and drink Ing was as jollied by theatrical in inthe inthe inthe r the manner of the cafes of the Paris boulevards was a weeks we ks I passing pasing sideshow At each of several visits afternoon or evening alike aUke I found the place crowded by men and women of and gayland inhabited by merrymaking merry making i and Goulds and were I among the social celebrities at the ta tables tables a bles bIes dramatic were plentiful in the throng and i ret retty retti girls from the footlights were there thereas th re reas as waitresses President Taft was one of those I saw drinking and he was chatty with the soubrette who brought his bottle of ginger ale Performers on the small stage of this uncommon resort at times when I i was there included such newl ad adjusted teams as Francis rancis Wilson tilson and Mabel Barrison Raymond Ra mond Hitchcock and Marie Marle Dressier Theodore Roberts and Alice Fischer r Burr and Fannie Ward Yard in familiar songs but somewhat uneasy dances A Chant ChanU deer cleer ballet however having been rehearsed for repetitions by relays of young actors was a smooth and comic affair by human fowls from the Rostand drama dr nia Once in a while someone in the au audience audience was incited to do something on the stage as when Julia Jula Arthur Che Cheney Cheney Cheney ney the actress who retired into affluent affluent ent eat Boston wedlock ten years ago re recited recited recited cited garden talk as she looked down over the back of a chair for tor a balcony balcon rait rai at an Imaginary Romeo whose share of the dialogue she gave gac gacas as asides Real Swells Sells Attend Among the applauders of Mrs Che Cheney Cheney Cheney ney was another of dis distinction distinction Unction Mrs Ge George rge Gould in whose who e table party were Mrs Mrs Belmont Mrs Mackay and Mrs Drex Drexel el matrons all In multimillionaire ism Along came caine sauntering two vet veteran veteran eran stage beaux John Drew and John Mason matinee Idols still and on oU their pedestals I r dare you yoa two said raid one of the ladies ladle to ito go on u and do a stunt as the Jack Brothers Drew and Mason They took the dare You have this cafe cate at the A Fund fair of course course where wl ere ered during d a week and a half a full thou thousand thousand thousand sand actresses were gathered and half as many more were actively on view for charity They The made a a beauty show of ot exceeding interest and drew drewa a dally daily attendance starting at ten thousand and ending at fifteen They The did with vim all that is done usually Us ally at charity bazars and naturally their wheedling was far more potent by byl reason l ason of their expertness in witchery I wont undertake to name even eyen those who led most brilliantly in the work at the booths and on the floor lI or for in inevitably inevitably there was as Jealous rivalry be beneath beneath beneath neath the surface of buoyant pleasure Quick wit and keen nerve chanu charn these actresses else they could not have hae repelled smilingly as many man 1 il Bt th o ln Ts fv fi f i ur among the many II wW Were ere to them A renowned beauty was ws as coax coaxing r ing tag a rounder to bu fa a bit of of a bou at a dollar doUar Til rn give you five forthe for the flowers I and a kiss said he I Agreed she smilingly replied only y I am to give the kiss not take tak takone one I V A Clever I The fellow was too eager to note n to toI 1 I the conditions and a hundred persons close by watched to see if she would break the decorum that controlled the levity leUy generally The bouquet and a banknote changed change hands He lowered i his lipsto alev a lev l with where he lie ex expected expected expected them to t encounter hers but they were w re not there for she bent over oer also to ta deliver the tle kiss on his hand Laughter and und applause I A demure hired Cid herself her elf out for five dollars as a guide to a too forward for or an hour bUt b t at the end of the she sho had steered him up against so many raffles lotteries and anti worthy worth flimflam m mes that with witha a rueful grin he called her a con and I capper and an aI l let her ner go Not a few shrewd provided them themselves themselves selves seles with lines of repartee re artee to meet almost any anye emergency and they were acting as truly as those members of the Twelfth Night club and the Actors society who kept vaudeville going in inthe inthe the Garden ard n of or Versailles or gave gaYe por portions portions portions I of ot plays in the Fund theatre The only misbehaving girl posed in an j I open kimono that uncovered a corset t tand and not much other clothing She was 1 I si 7 H Hc c III IIII c c 4 t j I I IV V Lv w T 1 j t l tji c HANEY Who Is Featured ddn in The Leading lady L dy the Comic Operetta Which Will V Be De the Principal Attraction ion This Week n n |
