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Show IS DOUT DECENT OB NOT? Pinero's Dancing Doll Has Created a Sensation. London. Arthur W. Pinero's dancing doll is the talk of London. "A Wife Without a Smile." the play In which the doll made Us appearance, was produced pro-duced Wednesday night, has been booked for six weeks ahead. All the town wants to see for itself whether what has been described as an erometer Is a high or low, innocent or suggestive, decent or Indecent doll. The doll Is an Invention of Seymour Rlppinglll, the husband of the' wife without a smile. Rlppinglll has attached at-tached the toy to a string which passes through the celling of the drawing-room drawing-room and Is fastened to the sofa of an upper room occupied by Mr- and Mrs. Webbmarsh. two recently marrlod peo ple, who frequently retire there, ostensibly osten-sibly to work, but In reality to spoon. Rippinglll's Idea was that the doll would show whether or not Webbmarsh and his wife were spooning and that Mrs. Rlppinglll might thereby be induced in-duced to laugh. Rlpplngill thought that even a kiss or the gentlest pressure of the hand should produce a shiver of the doll. The nudlance sees the pendant doll, not merely shivering, but dancing up and down and performing tho most extraordinary ex-traordinary gyrations at the end of, Its string. "Perhaps it's unwise," says One critic, "to Inquire Into the mechanics of this doll business which at several moments mo-ments In the play niado the house roar with laughter." Another wrote: "There were a great many laughs In tho play, but If we were to describe In plain, unvarnl3hed Saxon tho cause we are afraid we might be giving an entirely wrong Impression of the piece." A second critic said: "Ono of Rippinglll's delicious Jokes Is the labored Incident of the hanging up of a doll on a string to act as a telltale when couples alt on the sofa and Indulge In kissing, but why the act of kissing should agitate the string and cause the doll to gyrate Is a question in the higher high-er occultism of which Mr. Pinero alone has the secret." And yet when Mrs. Grundy's official representative, Georgo Redford, examiner exami-ner of plays, was asked If he saw nothing noth-ing objectionable in Mr. Pinero's doll he replied It seemed to him to be sheer insolence to seek for an evil suggestion In "A Wife Without a Smile," which he described as "tho work of our Greatest dramatist." "I'm perfectly certain," ho added, "without shadow or a vestlgo of a doubt, that Mr. Pinero, who Is well known to me and whom I highly esteem, es-teem, had not the slightest Intention of what I may call nastlness In the situations situa-tions of his play. Until today, when It was pointed out to me that the action of the doll suspended from the celling might be misunderstood, I had never dreamed that such a charge could be made against the author." Arthur Chudlelgh, who, with Charles Fordham, Is responsible for the production, produc-tion, was asked for his views of the suggestion that the doll Incidents savored sa-vored of Impropriety. "Quite absurd," said Mr. Chudlelgh. "You must understand that the mechanism mech-anism Is so delicate that It would even register a handshake." A friend and admirer of Mr. Pinero gives what he describes as an explanation explana-tion of Mr. Pinero's dancing doll and of tho trivial childish story in which the doll plays the principal part: "In 'Iris,' " this deponent salth, "the great dramatist gave the public of his best. Ho handled a fine theme. Ho laid bare his soul, and what happened? The playgoer, the dear, easy-going playgoer, voted the piece dull. It might not be dull, he yawnlngly admitted, to those who cared about the serious sido of life, but for his part he preferred to gnffaw. Discouraged, yet still hopeful, Mr. Pinero tried again, this time It was with 'Lelty.' Again tho theme was mainly serious, yet he conceded to the gorged playgoer some comic characters and a happy ending. 'Lelty' consequently conse-quently found more favor than 'Iris'; still, however, it was neither a reliable digestive nor a pleasing appetizer." Then the dramatist laughed a bitter, sardonic laugh. "What these good people want," he said to himself, "is a dancing doll. After Af-ter all, they are children In art, nnd they shall be treated as children. I will tell them to blow upon the back of my watch and see It fly open. They shall havo their dancing doll. Setting to trnrlr with rvnlral clpe hf wrote 'A Wife Without a Smile,' always keeping In sight the necessity for the dancing doll. He constructed a little plot that should be a faithful, parody of the artificial arti-ficial 'pretty-pretty fake plots' that tho dear British public has grown to love " A cosmopolitan playgoer with whom I spoke on the subject gave expression to a view which may possibly come as near to the truth as the majority of those which arc being uttered in Mr. Pinero's behalf. "Mr. Pinero," he said, "Is running alilt against Mrs, Grundy. Ho wants to show her how ridiculous she is if sho will accept the dancing doll, and though the Idea is a somewhat gross one Mrs. Grundy has been caught laughing at it. She cannot continue to set her face against the consideration of the realities reali-ties of life. Mr. Pinero Is trying to instill in-still Into Mrs. Grundy some sense of humor." One of the funniest outgrowths of the controversy over "A Wife Without a Smile" is the way in which that stalwart stal-wart and self-appointed keeper of the British morals, William T. Stead, gives himself away. Asked about the dancing danc-ing doll by an interviewer, Mr. Stead said: "As I sat watching the play it seemed to me pure Punch and Judy business. When I came away, however, how-ever, and I thought over what I had been laughing at, I thought it was moral degradation, a moral degradation degrada-tion that I should be made to laugh at such a thing. The whole tone of tho play Is bad bad bad," said Mr. Stead with emphasis. "I would like to see tho play hanged by the common hangman." Yet Mr. Stead had laughed at It. One morning paper devotes a leading article to the dancing doll and says: "There is one course open to Mr. Pinero. He can easily modify the offense, for modification is all that is needed. The play Itself deals lightly with the marriage mar-riage vows, but tho plot is so evidently preposterous that no great harm can be t-xpected to result from what is sheef farce of the most flo grant order. "It Is to be hoped that he will take Immediate steps to bring about this alteration. al-teration. His reputation as our leading dramatist will be a gainer thereby." However, neither Mr. Pinero nor the management of Wyndham's theater has the slightest intention of either withdrawing with-drawing or modifying the play, and In a statement issued In their mutual behalf be-half It Is asserted that Mr. Pinero puts the matter in a nutshell when he says that any indecency that exists exists solely In the minds of those who allege Indecency. New York Heraldi Preparing the Scenery for a Modern Play. When a play has been accepted for production It Is sent to the scene-painter, who goes over it carefully, taking note of all details ot bo reproduced. Then, if the subject Is difficult, he makes a sketch of It in the flat. If this proves satisfactory to tho manager, actor and author, he builds it up in a mlnlaturo model, on the scale of half an inch to tho foot, as perfect in proportion pro-portion and exquisite in detail as the finished scene. An old gentleman lately, looking over a collection of models In one of the New York studios, remarked that his granddaughter would be delighted de-lighted to have them for doll-houses. The proprietor of the studio smiled to himself. The models for a single play cost well up toward a thousand dollars. For an ordinary four.-act comedy the models, scenes, properties and costumes cost, let us say. five or six thousand dollars. The cost of the great scenic productions Is never as much as the press agent says, but has been known to exceed $100,000. When the model Is approved, the stage carpenter takes - measurements for such framework as may be necessary. neces-sary. The clumsy construction of the old days has given way to the solldest sort of building. Windows slide In i their sashes, doors slam, shut and lock. Staircases Stair-cases aro solid to tho tread. Trees arc built up In the round, and columns are turned out of solid wood. But as every show Is Intended to travel among all the great cities of the continent, tho heaviest eceno must bo made up of pieces short enough to bo packed in a freight car. The scene painter marks out the pieces of his model In tiny square, and then hangs a huge canvas besldo the paint bridge with corresponding squares In scale. The draughtsman stands on the bridge with a piece of charcoal on a stick like a billiard cue, and, square by square, conies tho lines of the model, while an assistant raises nnd lowers the cloth with tackle. Then the body paint Is put on, and the details arc added add-ed until the cloth is complete. John Corbln, In Scrlbner'fl. Theater Managers and tlio Syndicate. The contract once signed with tho syndicate people, the theater managers were entirely at the mercy of the syndicate. syn-dicate. Good or bad, they had to take what was offered In the choice of plays. If they rebelled after singing, the syndicate syn-dicate whipped them Into submission by forcing on them willy-nilly a whole fart of "rotten shows." A manager, if ho were ambitious enough to write a play for himself, had no opportunity to produce it. This actually happened, and the unhappy author-manager was not only made to give up his pot scheme, but had to take instead a costly cost-ly production which was a flat failure. And no legal redress was possible the contract had been signed. Furthermore. If the syndicate so desired, It could grab up any theater of any booking value In the country. It has allowed managers throughout the United States to keep possession of their own theaters; because be-cause by so doing, the owner bears possible pos-sible losses which otherwise would have to be borne by the syndicate, and tho percentage feo by this method of business busi-ness has to flow into tho coffers of the syndicate, whether the season la a favorable fa-vorable one or not. It Is "Heads I win, tails you lose." Remember, too, that the syndicate always Insists upon getting get-ting its profits week by week. This means that where there are no profits, the losses are never divided. Leslie's Monthly. The Pat Retort of Pat . In Mrs. Langtry's company which played "Degenerates" In this country a few years ago was an Englishman of tender years, a "younger son" of a prominent English family, who had run away to join the stage, and had been given a "thinking part" In the play, largely because of his name. He was thoroughly, typically English, Eng-lish, and while in New York became Involved In-volved In many ludicrous situations, owing to his inability to "do as the Romans Ro-mans do." One experience shocked him greatly, In one way and another, and as It happened hap-pened in the morning, It was ovening before he fully appreciated tho humor of It. But being fully alive to a good Joke, when once the point had penetrated, pene-trated, he described his experience that night to a group of friends. "Do you know," said he, "I was crossing cross-ing Sixth nvenue this morning and Just as I got to the middle of the street ono of your blarsted fast electric trams came along. Gad! . It seemed a bit anxious anx-ious to run mo down; so I throw up my hand to hold it. and kept on. You know a tram In London will stop and let a gentleman cross In front of it if ho gives decent waTmnTT came right on and pttU! fender and carried v , CWi it stopped. urned,n a Wft "I was deuced v-mi, H spluttered a good bl at !t Jfe J-he J-he came running Up aJ sb man, and ho grlnLt UjI1 ' when he saw l "X mi h ? 1 " 'What do youV f Idiot, by runnCS'". raseous fashion'" i hS1 " 'Faith said he or signal th' car' I .W ride. Phwat -re VPP f S5 far dunno? Fare, ploal. it1' iL If the fellow dKlW ?b -ts.-'-Sunda?t Dramatic Criticism b fc . The amateur entertain Mclnteer hall last fcnt ''r or two exceptions t W I?- of the kind ever a;en fnr?i S5 singing of Mlssri1" g something awful sou.p!; time like a pig T to cat. MssFarllnsonV ' S politeness. Her frlenil ffil J enjoy her singing n & they were bored. The? ?ji to make herself exiS 3l last night, and dldX?S. B? not giving her a hint of tf!1 1 ?mi The Lenderson i S,11 J on the piano for nftwn J5 UwH EE watch, it wa BlSSXtf S audience thought it would StS & not to applaud, and ffi ond attaok, which laS flC? The sisters were probably good housekeepers i by tfiiISH' V kindness of the audlenc? 'tf terson, a youth who Bhojw P0 work, sang one of thos mLrJ3 it lar songs about Sadie tvtaf ,L ' dc home because her faWt keep her supplied with jtrffi ets. Falson loafs around with a (M1 loo much, and he will never. V anything. The violin solo by T cherly was too bad for dwcrl1 the accompaniment was no 3 The recitations by Annie ChS, Alice Polnten were the samJ on the same old subjects. TeUs m& applauded, and their nlnj.ll i from the right channel of ho2 and dishwashing. It was M c' nate and painful affair throat Ui1 no sood can como ot lUAsc o1 Globe. ,nEc |