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Show By GEOftGE JEAN NATHAN. word "season," applied to jj the recently inaugurated theatri-cal theatri-cal year in New York, may be apropos in the sense that it designates desig-nates a period of time, but it is assuredly as malapropos in the sense that it designates desig-nates pepper and salt as would be the use of the word entertainment in connection con-nection with nine out of ten of the exhibitions ex-hibitions current upon the New York stages. For, in good truth, the theaters of Manhattan have thus far been almost utterly empty of anything to whet the tonsil. Banality and platitude strut the boards and wave valiantly their little tin swords iu a mighty endeavour to amuse the spectators, biit without prosperity. pros-perity. A heavv dumps is the sad portion por-tion of the local Muse. As an exception to the prevailing megrims, though in critical view the exception ex-ception is by no means signal, we envisage en-visage a presentation by the Messrs. Winchell Smith and John Hazzard called "Turn to the Right." Built after the formula favorite of George M. Cohan, the play, which has proved immensely beguiling so far as the box-office box-office is concerned, orchestrates into a popular entity the rural motif of such pieces as ' 1 The Fortune Hunter ' ' and the redeemed rascal motif of such pieces 1 as "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford. " In- deed, the play is but another edition of j the latter with the Owen Da vis-Jules j Goodman mother-love stop pulled out and tooted at top wind. But a broad , humor has been visited by the authors j upon the ancient materials and. as a re- 1 suit, the evening is made vastly more entertaining than the evenings spent bo- fore the illuminated steppes of the playhouses play-houses to the left and right. Lively Stuff Injected. The story of the Smith-Hazzard jinks is of the boy who has been sent to prison as per stage custom for a crime committed by another, of his effort upon his release to keep the secret from his mother's ears and of the manner in which the lad's two erstwhile cell cronies cro-nies help him and his mother lift our old friend tho mortgage from the old farm. Obviously enough, a fable as old as the chorus girls in the operetta now on view at the Casino. But the playwrights play-wrights have themsolvea laughed so hard at the story and have injected into its dry old bones so much lively theatrical theatri-cal juice that even the most nosey beholder be-holder is cajoled into submission. The onrtain to tho middle act in which, bv a triple Fortie, the boy getsthe funds to pay off the village skinflint, is merry theater stuff. The presenting cast is capable, including Forrest Winant, William Wil-liam Meehan (who was a taking zany even back in the days of "The Runaways"), Runa-ways"), Frank Nelson, Ruth Chester and Loise Putter. Typical of tho sweet mush of the contemporaneous con-temporaneous theater are "The Man Who Came Back," by Mr. Goodman from a story by John Fleming Wilson; "The Silent Witness," by Otto ITnuer-bach, ITnuer-bach, and "The Guilty Man," by Ruth Davis and the late Charles Klein from the well-known fiction of Francois Cop-1 Cop-1 pee. The first named exhibit, is of a I piece with the motion picture literature 1 a caterwaul of sloppy heroics and yellow-back sentimentality. Disowned by Father. A dissolute young man, disowned by his wealthy father, goes to San Francisco, Fran-cisco, seeks there to sardou a singer in a cafe, is shanghaied and put aboard a steamer bound for China; meets the singer several months later m an opium dive, repents and marries the hussy, goes td live with her in Honolulu, has a fight with her, makes it up and carries, car-ries, on generally until eleven o'clock j comes round and it is time for the old 'man to forgive him. A tale to bedazzle the boobs. The company, including Howard Hull, Edward Emery and Mary Nash, enact the play in so stentorian "a manner that tho proceedings gradually accumulate the air of a Salvation Army meeting. Mr. William A. Brady produced the play and evidently painted the scenery "for the fourth act. "The Silent Witness" would have been a more likely theatrical investment bad it been divulged a dozen years ago. Presented at this late, day, it seems just a little like a bustle or a novel by Mrs. E. D. E. N. South worth. A queer compound com-pound of the sort of scientific mince vouchsafed th- illitterati in years agono bv Augustus Thomas, and of Conpee, Rida Johnson Young, Bisson and Francis Fran-cis X. Bushman, the affair is scarcely one calculated to begem the modern theater. The prosecuting attorney who in his bold, bad nonage sported indiscreetly indis-creetly with a wide-eved sweet one and now recognizes in the accused young man before the bar of justice his own son there is the iaunty conte in all its pristine gauds. The performance of the opus is of the species regarded as excellent ex-cellent in the Corse Pavton belt of Kul-tur. Kul-tur. It is to be recommended to all such persons as admire the kind of acting act-ing associated with mantel-pieces, the arms of chairs and wigs that leave a couple nf inches of real hair showing at the back of tho neck. Are Fond of Plot. "The Guilty Man" drops with a thump into a pocket with this piece. The tale is tho same. Our producing managers would seem to be as fond of this plot as they are of the story of the poor little orphan who, merely by believing be-lieving in God, saves the bank from ruin, heals Cousin Roscoe of the smallpox, small-pox, reunites the estranged elderly lovers and causes the Duke (who has apparently appar-ently been in love with the wealthy and haughty Christobel) to jilt that proud beauty and enfold the orphan in his arms. Every other time I go to theater, I seem to encounter either one or the other of these saucy poems. "The Guil- m ty Man" enjoys the. presence in its cast- of Miss Irene Fen wick, an attractive at-tractive performer. But otherwise it is rather dreary potatoes. "Cheating Cheaters," on view upon the elevation in the Eltinge Theater, erstwhile home of that engaging farce "Fair and Warmer," is a product of Mr. Max Marcin and may be classified as a so-callod crook play. Reminiscent of O. Henry, the piece spins a tale of one group of knaves ranged against a second, of their efforts each to outwit the other and of their final undoing at 1 the hands of a lady detective who hag masqueraded as one of their number. Saving a small dosage of humor which the playwright has contributed to the manuscript, there is little in tho business busi-ness to pique the sophisticated theater patron. These crook pieces, as they aro called, are beginning to pall. As I have observed in another quarter, their ingredients in-gredients are ever largely indentical: the vulgar woman crook who is made to act the grand 0 dame to deceive prospec tive victims possesses 01 socuu position and who lapses periodically into the argot ar-got of the beer saloons; the handsome crook who is marked to reform in th last act: the crook who seizes the middle mid-dle of the stage and defends his profession profes-sion bv alluding to the trusts, John D. Rockefeller and Francois Villon, etc., etc. And the Marcin labor does not greatly depart the established recipe. The company com-pany doing the play is efficient. Alice Brady, having finished work ns the Ptar of the " Bought and Paid For ' ' production for thA World-Brnd World-Brnd v pictures, has begun work unon ' ' Loneliness. ' ' in which Arthur A hley has the " opposite ' ' role. Willard Mack is the author. A start line Cuban dance, called the "ruirha." will be introduced bv Richard Rich-ard Walton Tully in his new play, "The Flame. ' J To perf orm this dance M r. j Tully has brought to this country La CI a vol i to, a great favorite in Havana theater?!, and her dancing partner, M. Pena. A auartette of Cuban n,-uicians will furnish the necessary musical accompaniment. |