OCR Text |
Show fglpf cfli(ryorHs j By GEORGE JEAN" NATHAN". If Irt'S't iM !-:S i:K-r-c:.:-ir!r!y eviflur.t that Coix-. V. Jloh.-tri's idua uf the way lu write a zu:--:--f ul n-w lAuy is to r'-'Aritt; homy u:)i--r f?How'd iivf.HS-! iivf.HS-! fill ol, ,:x v. in -Exi-vif:l-:," Mr. ; Ff'.li.-ii-t a-uri,!,' Wrtlf-r Brown-" "l-v- f ry wnniii n." In ' M '."j 1 i t--h t MaW," he ' r.-.vror.- JarnH Fori-s's "i 'ii'-rus L;kIv.' , And now in ,.fu:-t AroiirM ilie '"orn-rr." has nv.vriti ni H.'j-h.-rt Hall Willow's i r ritmx o( 'i'Yu- K-'fLam: Munt--r," "Aloim' I'iuiM- Hutu." ami tip; re -t i tho pkns of y,-.-l.-i'V'Nir thai. w-r-r r-jfK;rrriil 'villi Hie ov i ni.L-ht tntnfonnrttioii of a I jay stof"' into a "ana niak'-r's. Th Hoharl -V.'iniow opu.s has bff-n on view in i In: LoiatT'j lh'-;Lter ami , Mn!.H as notliintf sav; a flra mat ic tul'l Ilfxii-: U'.'-ck iiiifl IU-uiiinn, in whifh are tritLt..:'J out one. aft-.-r rniothiT on tln-ir vri!trln--s iinl in tluMf wliPi-l-chnirs the hunflro'l and nht '.-n'-ral.(.j, hokums and wht-r.y of the yn,;H coin. dy. -Tho tiling, irnic -d, is a criraltln vlmir do ftrue in the aiu n-ut ih-vir-t-s uf tin; bu-ohc nun-fdy, nun-fdy, wlii.-ri in comos to a Hinall vlllaij an ill-starred X-w "I'orkff. wt'.o injuts' sys-L sys-L in, i)ink-;diad.-'d lights anrl a floorwalker floor-walker into the fiown-nt -the-hf-el general ftore and who Jhus ("inifkly converts tho latter into a manif U'ent 'Fifth avunuo bazaar and makes a fortune. Old Dodges Seen. Onf by one, the 'juuy old dodges are shoved out upon the platform to earn ro.valf iea. And, one by one, there are shoved out to at'conipany 1 hem the minstrel jests of the era of Benjamin Harrison. Maude S. and twelve-button waist eoal s. uur gray-whiskered grand-fa grand-fa iber, the cruel villas a Croesus, duly makes his reaopen i"i nco and roars his asthmatic threats at our dear old grandmother, grand-mother, the you ntc city woman who seeks bold!y to ompote. with him. Other friends of our youth who adorn tho stago are the, stranded and virtuous -horns frh'l, the comh- rube constable, the editor of the village , paper, the haughty wife of the rich villain, the hitter's hit-ter's son who falls in love with the chorus girl, the comic old spinster, the warrant for the arrest of tho hero for -hieh the heroine cleverly substitute? ano t lint paper when the constable isn't looking, t lie joke i.bout the besr book being be-ing a mileage rook back to New York, (he rainstorm, the climacteric nosin-out of the villain's lauphty wife by the heroine, hero-ine, the joke ibout Pompeii (mistaken by the comic spinster for a man) having died of oihe kind of an eruption, the other joke about the robe's thick whisker? whis-ker? needing- not a barbor but a landscape land-scape architect, etc.. etc. Scarcelv ono is missing. The piny is a thesaurus of the stale and obvious, a eyejopedia of tho vaudeville jazbos. Pertinent Suggestions. It is the custom ot" the gentleman who umpire the drama for th local press to urge against an exhibit like "Just Around the Corner" the contention that before the first act is over ono can tell exactly how the whole tiling Is goin to no Just why, in plays of this quality, this should be looked on as a fault, I am somewhat unable to grasp. Certainly If the playgoer can, under such circumstances, leave the theater with two-thirds of the evening set ill left in which to enjoy himself, I see no reason for complaint. 0 The play of this literary quality the drift of wliose plot is a trifle mystifying is a nuisance. Instead of disappointing the theatergoer quickly and in workmanlike workman-like manner, it defers his disappointment until l:l o"clock and thus causes him to waste a whole evening. The best thing about "Just Around the Corner." therefore, there-fore, is that at five minutes of nine one can tell preeisply what is going: to happen hap-pen nt half after rine. ten. half after ten, qua rter of eleven and eleven. Thus when at five minutes of nine the young- widow tolls her girl friend over the telephone that, being: dead broke,- she is going to a small village up-state and take charge, ot her late husband's dilapidated -oun'ry store, on-j knows for a certainty j from .lor.g experiont-e with such p;;vs a.? i ' T.ie' Fortune Hunter, " "ISroadway $ .lorj-.i." "Along f:Miii3 Kuth" and hO or, 'l th'.-.t at hair Li'tt-r nine ono will behold i his h.eroine having a hard time of it w.th u the emporium iu point; that at 30 one u til ! 1-holii !i..r liaving a still harder time; that at half aftr ten oi: will begin to .'. det-.-t tY-.r- love;y sunbeams filtering S t aro ugh tho dark clouds, and that at 11 j, fiie; will behold iho promise of a honey- moon, a million dollar and several babies. Mis Marie Cahlil has the role of the U iieroine and strules nobly to make some- $ tiling of it. 13 ut tne handicaps imposed jr upon her are loo great. In the second ai t she is allowed to sing a couple of J sons and these songs constitute- the eve- E uing's one bright spot. The supporting company is of a distinctly mediocre grade. Mrs. Fiske at Best. In "Mis Xellv of N" Orleans," by Lau- . ren-e F i e exhibited in the Henry Miller i! theater Mrs. Fiske has discovered a very good vehicle for her taients. These tal- ents, as almost everyone save certain of J the papas who write for the Philadelphia and Xevyork gazettes woll knows, are directed logiealiy, not toward the interpre-f tatiou of drama, but toward comedy. In the projection of comedy Mrs. F.ske pon- scsses all the, uncommon virtuosity that her often overzealous admirers erroneous- P lv claim for her in drama. And this tin- f riiistakable comedic skill has never been better attested to tr-an fai the piece in i which she is currently appearing- Mr. Kyre's pi ay is in itself a not en- g tireiy fiiiid piece of comedy writing: it is t often stiff and forced; but the perform- K ance of Mrs. Fiske is instrumental in i. concealing many of the gaps apd holes and k making of the evening a pleasant diver- j sion. The come uy, which borders now -on farce, now on fantastic burlesque, lies in 6 the spectacle of a woman on the frontier k of fifty who was in her day a belle of j Louisiana and who, returning in later 5 years to her otd garden in St. Charles I .street. New Orleans, guides the love affair i uf her 1 oung nieee, as well as her ownWn- f ten-uptcd affair of tlie heart, to a' happy i goal. L The play vouchsafes a number of very l charming moments; and the staging of i the work by Harrison Grey Fislto has been exceptionally well handled. As a whole, the evening is greatly superior to the bulk of thea trical evenings one is called upon to engage. The company selected se-lected to support the star contains Hamilton Ham-ilton Revelie, excellent as o Creole beau of the SO's. Georges Kenavent, a somewhat some-what explosive and Iir.ir-tossing juvenile; Frederic Burt, very good in the role of a man of the church who in the long ago vainly sought the great belle's hand, and a Miss Irene Haisnuirn as a distinctly tardy ingenue. This Miss Haismann is the heaviest blot on the acting company. Her methods are those of the stomach out- poking-, pout-nriaking, curl-shaking vaudeville Ingenue. "The Boy" Is Pleasing. The Shubert theater reveals the successful suc-cessful A do! phi musical comedy. "The Boy," made from Pinei o's "Magistrate," and locally Known by the title, "Good "Morning, Judge." The first half of the first act moves somewhat sluggishly, but i thereafter the piece picks up its skirts -andv gathers speed. The second act, with Us thlee scenes, contains some excellent leg-shaking and a certain measure of very fair comic roughhouse. The star of the occasion is Miss Mollie King upon whose charms I shall lecture further in -this place next week. Charles King gives a composite imitation of George Cohan and Jack Norworth in tho role of the grown boy who is passed off by his mother as a tot; and George Hasseil is amusing' in the role of the magistrate. Two or three of the melodies are of the so-called catchy quality, one in parUcu lar, "Swinging Dorrs," being; even as I write these lines whistled in the adjoining adjoin-ing blue room by the estimable Rocharu-beau, Rocharu-beau, my negro valet. |