OCR Text |
Show tlWX"0i W&r Works iiflll tflkwumted By GEOEGE JEAN NATHAN. THE Stage society of New York, . an organization of estimable ladies and gentlemen who once a year produce at their own expense a so-called non -commercial play which, in their belief, will add luster to the American stage, has recently presented in the Gaiety theater a war theme" by Arturo Gio-vanttti Gio-vanttti addressed to the public as "As It Was In the Beginning." The Messrs. Zlegfeld and Dillingham, a firm of estimable gentlemen who several limes a ypar produce often at their own expense signally commercial music shows which in their belief will add luster to the American male eye, have recently presented on the roof of the Century theater a leg-and-girl theme addressed to the . public as "Dance and Grow Thin." Being a roof-garden show, we shall, therefore, in the interests of the higher drama, concern ourselves first with the latter. Imprimis, let it be repeated that nowhere no-where in the civilized world and least of all. indeed, in Paris may one encounter such exhibitions as this. In the matter of general excellence of taste, color, movement and mood, these midnight seances of Ziegfeld have no equal. Beside the Ziegfeld , witching hour jinkses, the things one runs across in Vienna, for example, things of which high tales are whispered whis-pered to stay-at-home Americans, Tales as of Seutonius's account of the - Roman circuses, beside the Ziegfeld shows these exhibits in the Annagasse, in Le Chaceau Rouge, in the Reclame and in the Prater are bo many garish Coney Island side shows. In Berlin, In Paris, in London, there is nothing like them. In the theaters of Europe cafes aside the Marigny alone is to be compared with them in the way of scenery and costumes. In the theaters thea-ters of Europe the poules de luxe of the Hofopern theater and mayhap, of the London Gaiety in days before the war alone are revealed as contenders conten-ders with the symmterical ladles of these native girliads. Peace Among Noise. The show itself on the Century roof the roof is designated "The Cocoa-nut Cocoa-nut Grove" probably because the only drink one cannot find in it is milk doesn't matter. It is the general atmosphere at-mosphere of the establishment that does. And this atmosphere is more conducive to what the dusty traveler calls "gaiety" than anything else in the town. For here the Weary wanderer wan-derer may find peace and noise, succulent suc-culent dishes, daring beverages, nimble nim-ble kellner. a riot of color that will hit him in tlie eye and distract Urn from til e i n ev i table fat 1 ad y wh o i s always at one's next 'table. Here, the fellow may even forget the bad play he has probably seen this very evening. And while the two hands play, he may watch toothsome minxes kick and discreetly disrobe a la Charmian upon high trapezes, stout and slender lassies prance and cavort upon the dancing floor, Joe Jackson ride his shaggy velocipede, a wild blonde gargle a wild lyric these things and many more. Everything by Its own standard ! And by the standard of midnight music mu-sic shows, by the standard even of Zlegfeld's "Frolic" atop the New Amsterdam, Am-sterdam, this Cocoanut Grove thing is the bet of its kind. It is the sort of entertainment that compensates compen-sates the critic seriously interested in drama for the hours he has wasted earlier in the evening on the latest sample of Broadway neo-Sardou nonsense.. non-sense.. It accomplishes the ends for mich It was designed ; and these ends it accomplishes with a sure s' ;tU and not a little genuine artistic f a-vor. a-vor. The play by Giovanltti. alluded to above, was performed by Mimi A; 'u-glia 'u-glia some time ago in Italian in the ulterior People's theater. It misse-f j of effect because of its unremitting I,r-tlsplmo. I,r-tlsplmo. It is. in short, quite " a dramatization of Robert B. Ma nil-it V a tiling of bulging eyeballs and set teeth and strident veilings. The play opens with the entrance of the Teuton host into a little town in France. In this town live a renowned socialist and his wife. The socialist is against war and preaches violently violent-ly his distaste for spilling the blood of his fellow men. Then the man's wife is attacked by an invader. The socialist is now a madman. He rejects re-jects his former creed and goes forth to murder. The wile remains behind. The months pass. The man returns a soldier of the victorious army. He is blind. He learns that his wife is about to become the mother of a war baby. The end frenzy, tragedy. Modishly Christened. At tho Shubert theater one envisages en-visages a tune show modishly christened chris-tened "Love o' Mike." This, one hears, the labor of the two young sons of the Messrs. August Thomas and Harry B. .Smith. The poor quality of the libretto leads one to believe that these young gentlemen will often be heard of in the future Broadway musical comedy factory. They come well equipped to the task, having all the ancient wheezes at their finger-tips and all t he traditional tradi-tional "business" uf 'he music show stage of the era of Delia Stacy, Yolande Wallace. Nina Farrington, Lottie Gilson. Bettina Gerard, Christine Chris-tine Blessing and Vashti Earl (there, gentlemen, "recall you a. vision !) at their beck. The tunes of the exhibit ex-hibit are the work of Jerome Kern and, one of them a love duet is a rather catchy bit that very likely will be hummed widely on the boulevards. There are one or two shapely misses 1 in the cast and a Miss Helen Clarke i dances in slender and agile fashion. I A humorous finale to the first act. in which a small negro child figures, is the evening's one taking coup. Smirks a Lyric. Lawrence Grossmith, one of the numerous Englishmen who are cui rently bleeding for 'their country ffv. America, smirks the following lyric about the president and so increas.es the number of percons in the audi-! audi-! ence who begin to doubt the acumen of the Zeppelins: r The Schoolmaster highly respected Would row in the boat of state. Some think his policies faulty And others declare them great. We know he's the friend of labor And brotherhood fills his dreams, But somewhere he has a neighbor. Who is capital's friend, it seems. He's a perfectly peaceful person; He writes secret notes himself, But no one gets a peek So that news can leak. And people increase their pelf. There he's a perfectly peaceful person. per-son. But his friends and advisers ara yaps, Who don't care and don't know How the market will go. They are perfectly peaceful chaps. Melancholy Specimen. At the Liberty theater a musical vaudeville called "Have a Heart," a vacuous and melancholv specimen. The inventive and facile-fingered P. G. Wodehouse has contributed some witty and amusing lyrics to the exhibit, ex-hibit, but beyond t'nee I can discover nothing in the affair worthv of mention. men-tion. Whv don't thev hurry up the new Winter Garden show? The latest offering in the French theater is "Le Marchand de Bon-heur" Bon-heur" (The Merchant of Happiness), a tame comedy bv the tame Henrv Kisrmaeckers. The storv is of an opulent young fellow who. charged witli romantic notions and sweet philanthropies, seeks t'o help a novice in the theater, one Ginette Dubruith. This Ginette, no sooner is she in the lap of the luxuries which the young man has provided for her. casts about to make trouble. Learning that her lord is in love with another actress, Monique Merit n. the hussy sets out to compromise the Mcmn and to this end utilizes anonymous letters. fhe traps the Meran in her apartment with another man, permits her lord to glimpse the twain, causes the t young man to denounce the false V Meran and then breaks down ay ) i confesses her deceit and sees the ia -tain descend on the reunited lovers. M. Edgar Becman plavs the central role and is supported bv the Mam'-selles Mam'-selles Yvonne Garrick, as the Meran. and Paulette Noizeaux, as the trouble-making Ginette. The direction of this French company com-pany is still crude. Aj A " & M llVA A ' l ) I y'AA'j A-r A' fJUVTtlt AMERICAN CONSUL fVv : irfjry- M?4Ycsvr K ' At the Paramount-Empress today. |