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Show NOVELTIES ON NEW T0RM "Interior" Charms Audiences by hs Simplicity TINT PLAT S BIG HIUFWEEK Production Cost $30, While "Maid in America " Opulent Extravaganza at Winter Garden ' Necessitated an Outlay of 75,000 ' By VANDERHEYDEN FYLES New York. Februarv 27, 191T.. MAID IN AMERICA A revusical production pro-duction in two acts and eleven scenes, one cues and lyrics by Harold At-teridge. At-teridge. Music rewritten by Sismund Romberg and Harry Carroll. (Winter Garden.) Made in Amertca Song Writer Harry Carrol! John Gray ..Hal Fo'-de George Rival Charles J. Ross American Made Comedian Harry Fox American Made Vagabond . . . . Joe Jackson . American Made Coat-Room 1'oy 7" Lew Brtce lgnatz Sam Adams American Made Dude "Will Stanton Frederick James Clemons American Made Diner Bert Clark Slage Manager John Sparks Stage Hand Harold Robe Iguau the Second Carl Dellorto Appolonora Blossom Seeley Nettie Nora Bayes Gaby .-. Yanksi Dolly Anna Gray Maud Lambert Miss TVise-Un Belle Ashlyn Alexandra . . . Rubv Heider Romanca Mlie. Dazle The Belaseo Girl Lois Whilnev A Chorus Girl Eleanor Brown Tile Friend Minerva Coverdale Cabaret Entmainer Yvetie iJlana Marguerite Beriza THE TRAP A melodrama bv Richard Harding Davis and Jules Eckert Goodman. Good-man. (Booth theater.) Edward Fallon Holbrook Blinn Martin Xullv Marshall vulUatn Graham David Powell Henry Carson Frederick Burton George Anderson Robert Wayne Butler George Berliner Messenger Albert Wolfe Jane Ca-son Manila Hedman Helen Carson Elaine Hammerslein THE DICKY BIRD A comedy in one V;, b.' Harriet Ford and Harvey J. OHlggins. (Park theater.) Sff!F Stneanrvilhw Btwen Chrystai Heme ilM Marie Hudson LICENSED A special comedy in one act. b Basil Lawrence.' (Bandbox theater.) Reverend John Tanner WRansome:::;;:;:!86 Mrs. Ransome. .. JosephirA jjlyc? ETJGENICALLY SPEAKING, a satire bv hdward Goodman. (Bandbox theater ) The Jt Wt Frank! Sviat,'er Martha"'.'.'. Ba'!,'-e 'Savem 'I" lie Mother i ...Ruth ivian Younger Daughter Marlon Ballin AEad'oIr' ,hl"h-... Floyd Dell A Cocktail ,r!f"" Barry A Hog Albert iloni An ttibi9'ieue!::::H,;u!n A Sauce...' 4H",:'!' Vestlcy Another .Josephine Gotscli Another Lorctia Macguire Josephine, Xvessol ND con,d ask for a wider va- ' ranlnV from ."mS?8 bl'.ousht forth, to tootS lw iianin "how "d Ihu'dVnR Davis ' n , Ml' of I!kl'-'ostumes. I!kl'-'ostumes. scentnv , J ",f.w'- Vor Hie Washing, ev,,vllS. It cost o produ " " "iif l",1! Players WO 'iiilate to . ;. " moderate es-?T5.10O. es-?T5.10O. 6 tlnush" Vl' """ cost naal opulent ex- Cardei, wVln VBpacl?113 Winter thousand mis ,i atlct many for itself .,', , m."r Persons to pay 'iKian frag'nent -ft T,k,? than tie 'louse; b I the lll,e Play. sreater pliur tZ 6!f as feat or tious trifle f,om u,e uupreten- tric Hh' , fa1'''' with !. simple beauty of ,;' lcv ,U',rily 11,1,1 naturally count? ill frem-h, Whicb Kngllsh" tran latin,? P0"""- in ll'e sPiration fo? i I " 1,c,'"d an in-guage, in-guage, it "vould he tlualil"'s or tbe Plavs charm be,,.hiird 'P explain den in the early , f "rc lu a Ci"'-broad Ci"'-broad wlndo'yA"'';?' T"' blg"' - Peasant's !C ft of hThonia!s ',amp' iile"t wit" hearV wod Vel ?'' " lleVer Pi'e twr, T, father smokes his sa-niems htere sen- on homely Kf, e T"ey speak of a dead girl oi.nd floating , the ,,-ater. Villagers are carrymg bocly l0 The n onian was the mother ot the sleeping baby. si,e had gone to her aunt s to spend the night? lie par- Z. '."r at peat'e; h """1,hi,,',saf lMU"S in on n--.il, sa hered about the family hJ'lpi n.;ltller n the garden cab break the news. More neighbors come. But they, too, look In on the Peace and sense of security and cannot speak. The shuuffling feet of bearers of the body can be heard. ' I someone must go in and speak. We watch with tense anxiety, tt'e hear no words, but see the messenger endeavor en-deavor to prepare the family, to so:ten the heavy, unforeseen blow. The mother is the first to apprehend appre-hend the purport of the 'visit. Th-Mi the sisters', then the father. Anguish, consternation stir' the little bonie in wl (eh only peace and trust resided. -"Only the baby in its nraiilc." says a watcher in the garden, "sleeps on unknowing.'- With m to spend, the Washington Square players have produced this trifle with more sympathetic under-stbnaing under-stbnaing and imagination than is expended ex-pended on more than say. half a. dozen pr;ys produced in a good season at Broadway theaters, where expense is no consideration. It would be absurd ab-surd to pretend that where unlimited money lias been at the disposal of equally artistic persons Margaret An?lhi, Granville Barker. Winthrop Ames, when at their bestfiner re-su'is re-su'is have not been achieved; but tb:s organization is making air unendowed un-endowed beginning and the start is highly creditable. The producers have studied tiie Irish players, from the Abbey theater. Dublin, to advantage. advan-tage. Plain surfaces depending for effect on lights and shadows, an almost al-most stark economy -of furniture and "properties." a keen eye for suggest-jye suggest-jye colors these things take the piece of elaborate investiture and expensive ex-pensive fabrics. THE first programme presented by tho Washington Square players wi:s not by any means all good. The organization is a group of artlKts. authors, actors and other sympathetic souls who live or have their being fn that hallowed circle of lofty dreams and Italian table d'hotes thai takes fn some of Washington square and Urn' neighborhood ri .be- -riSlHii1 portraits, oiganuc slPW ,n veal lessons. eooW -c flhe always rents J c ml,nlt public T-Sr 10 a" 0,'d"'ary commercial thea ei' an amis .The evening lie n H, t;,e audi-inp audi-inp "inipronip 0 ence. when a ,,r""..ncss f beu-Mitdng Pliiinetl at t,lc answered by a tl. iierformani . dipnee. and woman kmtt n- in ' " eey to ,,, finally attraett-d he irlwn,. A stage to ll,!l .,, off with some wit this was carr e, o m h... and much pood 1'"" 11 ,pn,S' of the nil.- cxplnme'1 (li.-posit'OU that enterprise in , .elll;eJ It from imniediatelv ' 'ilH f,-l. bunched most schemes : of ' wf and u- SJifemnse '. th'ri ridiculous- by Ensll th:.,"e first plv- A' , ,thrr to that La wrcnce-he!o"C ed h , . class. 11 .''ctnelalistlr. but It ,' "and iniP" ""rVoni l"'rrt ""J- y?rta5c '. '"rrr The vouni ;LU"1"f cenln.l hears before fo1' 1 " ,, .lied just n worldug man 1"", in a 1 ,.' bis roa" -;- was T-ev had "'tl ,n become a. mo-'rrvinc he-was he-was to nf' ril trnni f wagev been PThn s"r le-ns , be " ,,,e girl f " i,e clrrByman vyiien ,n54l(, ,,,-ces . , ,',e rere-situali""' rere-situali""' .onh ,ye P'-'f"'" as thong, Jic. tbe r"Vbis n"v consent lo f porKiH; pr;iv?rhonk curtain to llR pie who, I venture to believe, know or care lesa about what she Is raving about than that it is somehow opposed op-posed to organized society and therefore there-fore to be commended. The next play was called "Eugen-Ically "Eugen-Ically Speaking" and was a relative of another risque piece by the same author. Edward Goodman, "proauced a year or so ago at the Princess theater the-ater but was much wittier, lu brief, the daughter of a "traction kmg" has been inspired by a magazine article about eugenics and feminism by Bernard Shaw to go to a oar barn and bring home a huge and husky motorman to marry her. Ultimately she learns that he is already married mar-ried caught up in the same way at a settlement house by the equally eugenic eu-genic daughter of a clergyman. "Perhaps,' "Per-haps,' the disappointed girl reflects, "Shaw and I go to far." "On the contrary," says the disappearing disap-pearing motorman, "you don't go far enough. You only asked mc to marry you." After the Maeterlinck play ihe "W. P.'s evening wound up brightly with a novel pantomime. "Another Interior" its author was not named had as its scene the inside of a man's ttomach: or. to quote the programme, "Keen, inside Mr. Smith; time, during dur-ing Mr. Smith's dinner." We heard Mr. Smith's voice ordering an indigestible indi-gestible dinner, but that was the only sound. The walls of his stomach were draped in red and black, and five striped figures lay on the bottom asleep Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulphide. Sul-phide. Butyric Acid, Hydrochloric Anid and Time. Then an unseen voice said, "Your cocktail, sir." And Cocktail, Cock-tail, iin the person of a vari-colored voung man, bounded in among the dissolvents. "He stirred thpm from their slumbers and generally ruined the dickens. Oyster, Hog. Threo Sauces followed, some to Chopin s fu neral march and all to the disturbance of Mr. Smith's stomach. But the climax came with Irresistible "Liquer, which kicked and chased and pum-meled pum-meled everything that bad goine before, be-fore, until the curtain fell on all of them clamoring to get out. OF all theatrical entertainments that come to New York, the easiest easi-est to see and hardest to describe are Winter Garden shows. The very glitter and variety and vastness of them leaves one with a confused senso ot everything in general and nothing In particular. After three' hours of "Maid fn America," I have nothing but a dizzy recollection of girls, girls, girls. At no theater in America are so many beauties to be seen at once; and nobody knows better than Melville Mel-ville "Ellis how to dress them to please the Tired Business Man. Though clothed chiefly in powder, t hey also wear many changes of bizarre costumes; and If all the dresses are not quite so pretty as Mr. 11 lis has accustomed - us to expect, the loss is due to frantic effort for novelty and the sensational. In these days, when women in private life dress like burlesquers of a gentler dav. ' it takes some going for the stage to outdo them. Shyness is not the most conspicuous conspicu-ous trait of Winter Garden girls. In- dismaved by scantiness of costumes, they spend 'much of their time wandering wan-dering through the audience. Of . course, there is the runway of old, lighted from beneath, but that is quite too formal and remote. A circular raised path, between the musicians and the first row of spectators, helps a little; but it seems so cold not to come down in the aisles that the girls do no less, and frequently. Some even venture up into the balcony and boxes, so that none need feel neglected. neglect-ed. For one of thesR invasions, the girls sing a song with the refrain. "I'm booking for Somebody's Heart," with its obvious possibilities to arouse the T B. M. A more direct appeal is made with "Whistle and I'll Come to You." Tn this song the girls-clear girls-clear ingenuous lUtlo things are dressed as little white puppies, though not to such an extent as actually 1o make us think them dogs; and when genial gentlemen take the hint and whistle, they patter over to them, wagging their tails behind them. Such is art and poetry at the Winter Gar- Cll!esL vou think "Maid in America" is all girls, let me hasten to say that there are about a dozen comedians, with as many more female enter-tninfu- Mosi of these are from -inde ilie. There are Xorci Bayes and Blossom Seeley to divide the best ongs be I ween them, with Ma ud I ambert. EpIIc Ashlyn and Minerva Coverdaln on 'hand to lake what is left Yvett brings her familiar violin vio-lin '"spe.ialtV up to date with new tune- Mile. Pazie leads a bizarre and effective ballet, and Yan?n Dolly is quite the life of the evening with her iovous dancing and her snniwhut less "attractive confidences about being be-ing H.irrv Icon's wife. Mr. Vox exerts ex-erts himself considerably and sometimes some-times amuses the audience almost as nnirh as he does himself at all tins. Among other things, Hal horde contributes con-tributes a very clever hurlcsoup of William Faversliam in "The Hawk. ( "-arles J Ross appears on the runway run-way as Marc Antony to show what rnanlv beautv Is that is. if your idea of m.iniv beauty is a fat old man with white hair and a wobbly stomach in a pink shirt. I-wever, the audience of hardened' Broad wayites applauded Hip snectacle almost tn the pomt o: hppr- nnd take it from me. those White T.icht celebrities are more sympathetic sym-pathetic 'judges of a Winter Garnen show than I. There were specialists In all lines. TVcmond J:m Brady m bl usual first-row seat, could t-'MI vou about the weis (and just pos-Mblv pos-Mblv about the girls): Mrs Pa id IVdasco, in a box with ueraM.nQ Farrar. should be the best uc.ire cu Mr Ro's imitation of her busan-l. Miss Farmr Is said to know sonie-tiurg sonie-tiurg about singing and. Ma? or Miuhol who was smi'ing m a enx across the way, Is New orks fore- most authority on the modern dances. Each time a Winter Garden show is produced, -everybody says the limit of opulence and spangled gaiety has been reached the next must show a falling off. Yet the next is not a falling off. Nothing bigger or more bewildering of its "kind than "Maid in America" has been seen. The "v"mter Garden really is a marvelous institution. A LTHOUGH Richard Harding Da-vis's Da-vis's name appears before Jules Eckert Goodman's as co-author of "The Trap." the natural deduction is not .quite fair to either uramatist. Several years ago, for vaudeville, Mr. Davis wrote a twenty-minute scrap uf melodrama called "Blackmail," and for two reasons it was a winning card in this country with Frank Sheridan and in England with Guy Standing. Probably it would be fulfilling ful-filling its purpose as successfully as ever had not Arthur Hammers tein deeided it should be expanded into a four-act melodrama, secured the rights from Mr. Davis and arranged with Mr. Goodman to make the longer long-er version. The result is really a play by Mr. Goodman, developed from a suggestion by Mr. Davis, for the first, second and fourth acts are wholly by the younger writer, and even the third has been altered at vital points notably the climax from the "Blackmail" starting point. So had "The Trap" aroused enthusiasm. enthusi-asm. Mr. Goodman would have had to share more than half the a credit for a drama almost wholl' his; whereas the piece having been received re-ceived with "modified rap Wire." Mr. Davis has to bear in silence the charge of having deteriorated lamentably lam-entably in literary style and fresh -iiess of invention. Then there is Marion Fairfax (Mrs. Tully Marshall), who was called in some months ago, after the play had been tried tentatively tenta-tively in Boston and found wanting. Sleeping and waking. Mrs. Marshall keeps her kit of surgical Instruments near at hand, to answer a call without with-out delay to aid any drama that has gone lame. Just what portion of the writing of "The Trap" was done by Mrs. Marshall. I cannot say. Perhaps Per-haps ft was Martha Hedman's gowns, which, though she was supposed to be a poor school teacher in the Yukon, Yu-kon, must have cost a thousand dollars dol-lars apiece. Miss Hedman had the misfortune to be cast for the heroine, which not infrequently, and especially in this instance, is the same as saying she was cast for a darned fool; and though Miss Hedman has shown herself her-self an artist more than once, her d. f. was not a. complete success. However, she was so wholly charming charm-ing to gaze upon that we forgave her almost anything. You see. the idea still prevails among American commercial com-mercial managers that a heroine must be as spotless as Little Eva; yet the need is clearly perceived of placing her tn the predicament of being persecuted perse-cuted as relentlessly as the blackest villa iness. The situation of Little Eva blackmailed through four acts is a hard one to pull off. Either the blackmailer must know something hideous to threaten her with, in which case she would no longer be Little Eva. and, therefore, to the American managerial mind, would deserve no svmpathy, or she must, be such an Idiot that she shakes like a ielly and pays over countless sums of money rather than -have it told that she ate eornmeal mush for breakfast. THE latter course appealed to Mr. Goodman, which is a reason why his play was produced with an "all-star "all-star cast" at a. leading theater and with every id to a "run," instead of at a dark-green Monday matinee. But if the masses of playgoers are not ready for common sense on the stage, they just as surely are through with the old bunk for all time. Mock marriages are as out of date as bustles. Miss Hedman had been the victim of one in the Yukon, where she taught school, while father (Frederick Burton t hoped he would strike it rich and sister (Elaine Hammers Ham-mers tein) kindly refrained from bursting into song, though .she seemed on the verse of 'it at any moment. Tully Marshall, than whom no actor can blackmail with more complete success, was tiie persecutor; and Holbrook Blinn and David Powell Pow-ell were rival suitors for her hand. The former, saint! v brother for th wicked mock-husband who had passed on to the Grea t Beyond, was reipc'ed, but remained the faithful friend that Is. until the last a-t, when he married 1 he heroine's in-crenup in-crenup sister, but fnr no more evident reason than that it was done, in th d;iys of Belaseo and De Mille. when v'n play was recrardpd as ended until un-til all tiie characters had ben mi'ted nff. By the time tho third tho "hla--k-tn:i jl"n had bfen reached. Miss 1 led tr.ii n was the happy wife u' Mr. Powell ; Mr. Marshall was still ex -tnrtinc money from her on the threat of proing that she once put a e!o r in a '"inarv's bov. J of bird sped : and Mr. Blinn was befriending everv-1 everv-1 H vj v Bv m pa ns of an cln bora ' e pint tK-it Involved marked bank iiot. .nmi.b-ntia! frnme-urs .th Hotel St or hous detectives and batik presidents who rould b r-i.-'-.M mi the tfiprii.rnp at anv tir:f f meM. ;n' exnlanaT'-u-v le-turf (with pvp;--. -thin- but bbie .r;n;s1 a w.ire This, that and th- othr df.or led, -,i p, an ost en' a t .ous curtain in a rt crvis' .-urU'.inb'ss ro;.u. v ;.i--h fairlv shnr-ked ai"d "I am '. rc :r,T 1.,-roiiv to bid1 bc:i;''d'". Mr. j-Ui.-.n f-pallv c.-mtriW to s'o'-l hitr,-,f hitr,-,f in the wrist a:.d tr.us ur.on himself ihe .-,:!, ff th K:;- kn.a:...:-. -v0, Mjss H niHn invpnl.-uv y -J,,',,..',-;.. H-,v.,S.;Sf HH; ni.Tii If tiovr tmp-ill-A. pwerfls-.i. a"'1 as r"'vr'r; .ortlrs " gofP. ,, only on Tuer-'iy vs. Thursdays and Saturdays, Mr. Marshall having to drop dead at other performances of some unnamed un-named complaint, this scene is not Hlw-HVfj convlncinfT. But at tho performance per-formance 1 sn.v, The gun did play its part ; Mr. Miirsln.ll. relieved of the necessity of developing symptoms of d ropsy or some other malady at a moment's notice, died to hearty ap-pln ap-pln use ; a nd tho scene would havo ended thrillinsly had not Mr. Blinn. in on ahsciit-minded moment, turned the key in the one door that it was essential es-sential should be opened at tiie climax. f(TV you remember the night t A-' loft you?" says the divnrced husband In "Tim Dicky Bird." the latest play hy Harriet J7ord and Harvey Har-vey J. O'Hi'-ipins. "Wc had bn to the theater. Do you remmbcr wliat the piny was? It was 'A Doll's House.' Ar,d as 1 listened to it I realized that 1 was a male Nora 1 alwavs had hn, and T jul disappeared dis-appeared into the night." Mr. Ri-I.ard 1'. Bo wen has married a sfi-ond li:nc. and he and his wiff nv- lo-.kiut: for an apartment. An iHvMMc-m.-iil "f u,e to h virt I, ids tt-'in t the first wife s i i,f i;".- no calk-d her Ki'n rd -j,.- r-ird," who cavr- his i.'iihr directions, vhn ho-,;?: 1 hats to :uit her own ts!". wi.n poured out on him lh" wraith o;' u.u ; ei i a t ion ;tr,d :-oi. . i! -hi- :-a.r ad 1,0 - r.'.; d:en to iiivi-i, i: on or uog to v.vMo jt en. TutU t1'is :' cn'Out;'-r. Oe never knew w..y 1." f.'d iron 1 M-d in tiie ,.r,fi. we f::--d : he H. nnd v.':fe ,i: f-.r.y.int: the same f.n-,;e:-'. fo- i i:u. The r ' ' IS H 1 rif in r, e ;-.. v ri'-' ri'-' n- Mr i -11;--:: and M:ss F'.-d ri e f' al vi:d tr s. ; ,:v 1,1) s.,::i.- u-a;al la i - . i- r J o a n S',w 'i.-'". : -:,:' ;'i "T..e kv la:d ;" ;-nd c ro? r ;" has- r,a;;. :!.. oiM w; fe a r.d : -y M.i riu Hau-..n. |