Show 0 I Iero Nero ero 1 B BY FRANKLIN FYLES mE I New York Dec 14 Shall dramatic dignity be put ahead of farcical value In n this letter Is 19 it for a writer of pos positive positive facts rather than fond fancies to I assume that Ermete actually acting In a tragedy of Nero before a meagre audience In ht a big Broadway theatre is a more readable subject than Harry Cooper clowning In a jig and Joke farce before a hilar hilarious hilarious hilarious ious crowd up Harlem way wa For look here at this and say whether an old Italian play of the Roman despot would be likely to present anything so original orIginal original nal Take into account the prefatory fact fad that Cooper is the German dia dialect dialect dialect lect comedian of a touring burlesque company The show Is a travesty of army and na navy y life both contemptuous ous and contemptible I was about to tn quit it after seeing a heavyweight woman in a uniform lead forth a file fUe of chorus girls in similarly light marching outfit and when they were Joined by the inevitable Israelite Irishman Yankee and German caricatures caricatures caricatures tures for how could anything unique come come out of that assemblage I had slipped into my overcoat and was reaching for my hat when my ny retreat was arrested by b the entrance of a sec second second second ond and heavier weight woman and the upper as well weIr as the lower proportions proportions proportions of this one were skin tight in their encasement The first had bad sung in a gruff contralto that harmonized with her size but the second hada bad a baby babyish babyish babyish ish treble that seemed like a tin whis whistle whistle whistle tle blown by a naval cruiser So I settled back in hh my chair trans transfixed transfixed transfixed fixed by this burlesque out outfit outfit fit tIt of two formidable frontispieces and pretty soon soot a third loomed into view By fixing imaginary angles and at attempting attempting attempting tempting a calculation I estimated her to be six feet long four feet wide and to weigh pounds but buton buton buton on the stages elevation above the spec spectator spectator spectator she looked the sculptors heroic size of eight feet in height and the Barnum fat woman of pounds In weight Her outlines were obscured by the costume of the lady in The Grand Duchess and she broke out in inthe inthe the tho sabre song of that old opera with witha a note which if blown by the steam calliope of a circus parade would deaf deafen en a It whole village The audience re responded responded responded with a roar of laughter then there was applause by b those who felt that thal she might not be meant for a joke and from that time lime to the evenings end there was a division of opinion giving rise to frequently tumultuous disagreement whether she sh ought to bo be ridiculed or admired All that is preliminary to an account of the most elaborately illustrated joke that I ever heard or saw on the stage Harry Coopers German had an enor enormous enormous enormous frontal rotundity and on com comparing comparing comparing paring his false falso fat with the reality of the Grand Duchess he is moved to wonder He asks about her size and weight but she disdains to give those particulars Will you ou tell me your our age he hc asks I have seen sixteen summers she replies That That knocks him over He falls faUs on his round front which responds with the elasticity of or a huge rubber ball balland balland and he bounces again and again with witha a final rebound that lands him on his feet What That were you trying to do the woman asks I was trying the man responds to add to your sixteen summers a few falls faUs and springs Did I lead you ou to expect nothing un unusual unusual unusual usual at all from Ermete in Pietro Comas Nero Then I misled you The first performance of that play In America revealed something more than a classic Italian tragedy tra edy of words and not of deeds for if it ft was like a garden full of weeds still It had room for a growth of astonish astonishing astonishIng astonishing ing whiskers They were red whiskers and they ran from one of Neros ears down under his chin and up to his oth other other er crear ear like the hes of or a Yankee or the of an Irishman No velli has a face of rugged features and when thus encircled by b hair it looked much like an Italian Next morning I went to the Museum of Art to look at a Roman coin stamp stamped ed with Claudio Caesar Neros head in profile and there sure enough was his historical historical historical authority for makeup whiskers included Nevertheless the sight of o an uncouth man in whose hands a shovel would be looked for rather than a sceptre and who guz guzzled guzzled guzzled quarreled and fought in a low was a shock to those whose stage Nero had been the beautifully beautifully beautifully fully profligate gorgeously degenerate tyrant in many plays of early Chris Chrls and paganism In Rome With no ability to follow the Italian diction closely closel through its metrical me ical stretches of loquacity it would be a silly of me meto meto meto to dispute the literary worth of Cos Co Cosas sas composition All I mean to assert and without questioning Its truth is that Nero Is here a completely degraded ed bummer no matter how much he may talk of aspirations in music sculpture sculpture ture poetry painting and the drama Nor is it true to say that this Nero has no deeds along ong with his words He snatches a handful of hair from the head of a tavern keeper whacks a wo woman woman woman man who resists him has a fighting spell of wine drinking maltreats his slave girls robs a u citizen of his wealth and gets possession of a patrician maid maiden en through the murder of her father but none of his evil deeds Is so 50 showy as to celebrate the desecration of a Christian virgin with a feast or to cast martyrs into the arena with lions light a festival with human torches or fiddle while Rome burned He takes his silent lyre and wanders away to todie todie todie die miserably in a hut Bear in ht mind though that Novell is a great actor ador and wonderfully versatile NoL Not often is there fun Cun In the failure of or a play The Lancers Is a ludi ludicrous ludicrous ludicrous crous exception I did it says sas Henry Miller under whose direction it was prepared Being in possession of the tho stage on which Augustin Daly practiced the tile dramatic art I t bethought me of The Passing Regiment Regimen one of or his successes and I remember It as about the tho funniest polite Jare fare I ever saw Theres a chance to exploit Lawrence DOrsay as 85 an English swell army arm Of or Officer fleer said I J in the role once taken by b John joh Drew and why not Cecilia Lof Lot Lottus Loftus Loftus in the Ada Rehan Rohan part Alas times and tastes have changed hanged and 1 I take lake all the blame for The Lancers Duly used to bring foreign farces to America localize their scenes and characters character announce them hem as his own work altogether and get very angry when anyone called attention to their source As lui Daly presented The Pass PassIng PassIng Passing Ing Regiment a It crack militia or organization organization organization presumably the New York YorkS Seventh S Vt on Its way to a summer camp threw a New England village into a martial Je fever cr by Its presence 1 h c Miller er employed two playwrights to tomake tomake tomake make The Lancers from the same game German material They located It in Canada so as to let DOrsay wear the gorgeous lancers uniform and utilize his London but they lost l st stall all the humor of a community palpitating palpitating palpitating tating with military spirit on account of a It passing The Tho new play playas as first tried in Montreal was a plain comedy with no singing or dancing and it was taken to Washington and Philadelphia by which time It was hopeless Why not turn It into a musical comedy said Miss Loftus to Millet Miller and she had some somo songs of her own make to t o put into it so it is as a com comedy comedy edy with spells of extravaganza that The Lancers is dying miserably in iu inthe inthe the theatre that once The Passing Regiment lived in happily Here we have the proof that songs and dances are difficult to put Into a vIa play advantageously advantageously advantageously also that foolery set to mu music music music sic is harder to be graceful with than polite behavior of drawing room roost kinds a big Lawrence DOrsay a beau beautiful beautiful beautiful example of the English I coxcomb In The Earl of Pawtucket and The Embassy Ball Well VeIl the tine girls thought so if you fellows and anyway you let him entertain you with his new Lord To see him now amble in front of a row of or chorus girls and not sing but talk an invitation to come out into the tine moon moonlight moonlight moonlight light makes folks snicker and when lacking the gall to dance he stands swaying his inert bulk to the music while his supposedly infatuated follow following followIng following ing of girls waltz around him there Is such a contrast c of grace irace and awk awkwardness awkwardness awkwardness as makes the tho spectators laugh outright M Cissy Loftus being of the graceful sex have to endure derision but her endeavors to be a sort of comic opera prima donna are strangely fu futile futile futile tile considering her talent in the mim mint mimicry mimIcry of all sorts of singing and dancing dancIng dancing ing comedians Plainly the tho th ordeal of ofa ofa ofa a fiasco is painful to Cecilia C cilia and I Iwonder Iwonder wonder why she fall back on her always diverting Impersonations Perhaps she see any sense in throwing into a tl hopeless venture a specialty worth a thousand a week in vaudeville Once only did I sec per a sign on the tine opening night that she per perceived perceived d the least gleam of comicality in her disaster A big bouquet was thrown at her ller by b friends from an up upper upper upper per box bex She dodged as though it were Yere a missile from the gallery threw out a defensive arm and as she looked up put her face Into Its famous star expression At Atthe Atthe Atthe the next intermission she sent to the box her card with this written on it Thank you ou for the flowers They will willbe willbe willbe be nice on the coffin of The Lancers and they wont have time to wilt be before before before fore the funeral New York does not lack however for fol acceptable stuff and nonsense The first audience au lenee for The Tine Talk of New NewYork NewYork York would have insisted upon speeches from the author and the star actor even had the play been less en entertaining entertaining entertaining George M 11 Cohan and Vic Victr Vict Victer tr ter t r Moore are on the top foaming fizz of champagne popularity But the people indicated clearly that Moore must wait walt for his share of applause until Ul tribute had been paid to Cohan who was hustled out of an orchestra chair up UJ one aisle down another and around to the stage with attendant ac acclaim acclaim claim He was very serious In telling how hot glad he was that Victor Moore was in the place where he belongs and that he himself had made the slang comedian a star Then without warning Cohan became bEame more than usually in his manner of f attitude and enunciation and let himself him himself himsel self sel go gu in the speech which mimics from one coast of our land to the other employ in imitating him I thank you he was saying out of the cor corner corner corner ner of his mouth and my mother thanks you and my father rather but the tine rest was as lost in an uproar The hand clapping cease until It brought Moore out again He became reminiscent remi reminiscent reminiscent The theatre In which he was making his debut as a star made him so he said sai because It was there twelve years or so ago that he made his first New York appearance nearly He was rehearsing there In Jack and the Beanstalk full of or youthful ambi ambition ambition ambition tion and hope ope he said when Abra Abraham Abraham Abraham ham Erlanger came in singled him out outto outto outto to speak to and the distinction was something something like Who In blank is that Thereupon the manager told to him he act never neer would and asked him to go far away But nut I will sa say for him added that he gave ave ae me two weeks salary not to act act Cohan takes twice as many man acts as the usual musical comedy has lies to tell his story of The Talk of ol New York The first of them at Sheepshead Bay racetrack offers little to describe be because b because cause its lively songs dances and col colloquially colloquially colloquially witty patter and familiar lines People who dont care for scenes of intense melodrama sandwiched in between songs and specialties like it ft better bett r than the later acts But that there is a large public to enjoy this Cohan Coh h innovation has been proved by several sev several ral successes I dont None of the acts has a musical finale but each has a dramatic climax The Kid Burns hero a typical good hearted gambling Victor Moore sling slinger er or of slang has been smitten with an innocent young girl of fashionable so society society 0 whose family Is distressed by bya a newspaper Intimation of a betrothal the last time Ill tell my trou troubles troubles troubles bles to a bartender Burns says He Heis HeIs Heis is apprehensive yet pleased when he receives a note from the girl making an appointment at a restaurant but buthe buthe buthe he is distressed when he finds the mis missive missive missive sive gone gene from his pocket He has been the accomplice of a glittering siren who breaks out in beautiful song now and then because she is the vocally excellent Nella Bergen Hopper Hop pr but generally generall she sticks close to the adventuress business She consents to sell the note she has stolen to Burns for a large sum payable In a certified check Burns has known something of or her brilliant blackmailing past but the neatness of o this deal revealed to the audience In all its realistic details with no attempt at exaggeration or comical comicality ity it stuns him When she has tricked him at every ever turn he wonderingly re remarks remarks marks marls All Id like to know is how did you Tor eer ever miss Tom Platt Burns seems down and out but the adventuress conies comes back at him with witha a better one still The girl turns up but she had Imd not written the letter at atall atall atall all Burns now sees the plot vlot from its earliest carefully planned move and faces Its ih resourceful instigator She ex explains explains explains plains that large as the check is it is ismore ismore ismore more valuable to her than the cash casta for with wah It she can substantiate any story she likes to Invent against Burns who Is endeavoring to show her up un to tb the parents of his sweetheart swe theart whose guileless son she has enmeshed in her ebor web of fascination When she has 5 f 4 shown him that she has checked him himat himat at t every turn and quitted him laughing triumphantly he gazes In amazement at the audience and und murmurs as the curtain falls Barnum was right theres one ono born every evel minute to k The third act goes to an extreme of tragic melodrama never before Intro intra Introduced introduced in a musical play presumably meant for light diversion I complain of the inartistic incongruity of the combination but popularity seems to justify justly It A beautiful reproduction re of the tho illuminated veranda and lawn la Wit of Cla mont a summer slimmer evening resort at atthe tho the head hc d of or New Yorks Riverside drive just beyond Grants tomb and und overlooking the Hudson river The costumes of typical comedy merry merrymakers merrymaker merrymakers makers maker are garish in their glitter gUtter but they make the he songs bright In the use of established burlesque Yet be between between between tween those these e songs we are |