| Show The Stage In Gotham I Arthur Crispin Writes a Breezy Letter on Theatrical Matters of Interest at the Moment New York March sir the Vaudeville craze In this city continues much longer lon-ger tl ere will be M legitimate slurs left The managers of the continuous houses are constant on the lookout for novelties und realizing that moor mo-or the regular variety acts are Just about the same as they Mere several years ago they adopt the plan of em ploying legitimate stars of good repu r 1 gnl = hear ooo rt fallen > ns the head liners of their allows i and then nil In nlth the old timer who really supply all of the en ertalnment that Is worth seeing It Is a fact that any one Mho has watched there hybrid shows mill admit that the legitimate off rlngx are re cehcd with much less favor than the moat commonplace of the vaudeville turns but without the latter the mange would have nothing with hlch to do the hurrah advertising In the way ot preliminary announce merits and Interviews An a natural consequence In the present condition of the amuseiiientmarket where the com petition Is I fiercer than It has ever been heir houses would soon drop out of the public attention It Is I for that reason that I they are willing to pay an nor moon amount ot money for a Iegltl mat act which their patrons think so lilt IS of that they scarcely deign to applaud ap-plaud It at all There are those who Are ot the opinIon opin-Ion that high grad dramatic offerings ought to be genuine successes In tht vaudeville houscelt find they are unable to account for the reception mlilch ha thus tar been Accorded most ot tile layers who have ventured out of theli usual field of work It Is I however a simple matter to explain The fault Is I really not with the performers but with he plays which they use The exigencies exigen-cies of the case are such that It Is I neces ary that any drama which It Is desired to present be cut down from more than two hours to lees than halt an hour of acting time Naturally tho work out form especially as those which are mot frequently selected are classics of their kind and cannot wlI be abridged byanr one much less a tyro without seriously Interfering with Its dramatic quality At best however this fashion of pre i ntlnft legitimate people In the vaudeville vaude-ville houses where they do not belong to a fact and It Is for that reason If for no other destined to he short lived The recent semiofficial announcement that the Triple Alliance composed or Illlan nu sell Delia Fox and Jeff tie Angell would terminate at the clothe clo-the prencul eaon has bad at let one unlooked for effect It has served to lemonotrat among other things thai Illlan rtusselle popularity has con rary In the general Idea Increased In the estimation or managers or prominence promi-nence As soon as it became known thnt she would lie 1 open to offers for next eaoon they I began to pour In upon her One or them from a thoroughly responMbl man Is I rumored to have Included a weekly salary of 11 000 In addition to ail a-il percentage of the gross receipts Then there were also overtures from the other able or the wateranifinz them being a imposition for the airy fairy one tn sing only In concert Miss Ha ell la l very beautiful but she Is I nlao very hrwd when It comes to rL matter or luMners and she positively refused to Unit I herself to any one without glv Inc the subject prolonged consideration Inally the upper roadway rumor factory worked Itself down to one tory hlch was to the effect that ex Sentor llesnolds of Brooklyn would have the mallagement of the queen of comic I opera op-era next eaon Inllmueh as pe Angel An-gel Is Is opularly l supposed to have > een tie one who secured him os a backer for the Triple Alliance thin won naturally nat-urally regarded 1 an being somewhat re mnrknble especially as In addition to that tact Reynolds was knoian to be I a > arm admirer of Miss I Foxs artistic ability Still the story hung on and It appear e1 to hills some foundation Later there was developed a new turn t It was nothing less than that I dna Wa I lace Hopper was to le starred Jointly with Miss Itusaell under the management manage-ment of the senator and that Is the 1 resent 1 status of the affair According to Ihe Itlnltnltca Ansuthlns that theme building supporters have at last made one good guess And that the two ladles will really go out together next season It would appear that from Mlsi HUB sells standpoint It would lave been much better ror her to halo continued with the Triple Alliance tr not even Mrs Hoppers most ardent admirer would have the ten crlty to claim flint she can draw as much money Into a thenler as either Miss Fox or Mr tie Angelli Mrs Hopper Is l a armlnu little ac tress title bas few BUI erlors In legltl mate corned and she Is I more than Pet Isfactorj In comic opcrv until Itt come It-t the singing part of It and then asmuch therefore no In o comic F 1 opera easy I o I understand 1 that tint particular line or work Is I not I cr forte rerl ir s hon e ver the parties at Intetest In tie et roblematlcnl coalition have figured hat t rs Miss Russell Is I strong on sing It B and shy on acting while Mrs Hoper p > Hop-er Is I strong on acting and Shy on sing pIn m a dual combination might lave the ffcct of evening up matters pallsfac t rllj When the tour of Wilton Lackajc was brought to a termination recently one or the whole Fouled friends whom you 0a re apt ti meet In I the theatrical ex a nangcs of tills city remarked That she aI s-he last of lAcka as a star Then he P roceeded to explain why WI lien never I e as In It wherein Wilton made his into I take what advice he had given to WII ton which by the way Wilton had v cry sensibly refused to follow and amore lot I a-more In the same ridiculous strain T his fellow Is I but I one of a typo and In c denlally It l In about as contemptible a typo as one cn Imagine It he had a ianced to meet Mr acknye ten min u tea after having delivered himself or hi Is commiserating pronunclamento he ould 1 ave bowed so low that he would have been In Imminent danger of ac q ulrlng a ease of curvature of the Spine < An offer from the actor to become a member nf his company would be con a derbd a full warrant for the expend I ure of at least 15 cents for beer lie know Mr Lackaye as I know President McMnley and to carry the Illustration a bit further Mr Lackeys knona him just about as Mr McKinley knows me Yet this fellow wanders about the exchanges ex-changes seeking1 to Impress all who will listen with the fact that he Is I on such Intimate terms with most of the loadIng load-Ing light of the stage that he never thinks of addressing them or referring to them asIdr or Miss As I have said this Is I not one Individual There are 200 or 300 of him to be found any fair day between Twenty eighth and Forty second streets though of courso only along Ilroadvtay That Is I the only street In the United States the exist once of which the aver New York actor Is I willing to admit As a matter of fact Mr Lackaye will lie a star next aon and polbly duro ing the latter part of the present one II he can secure the right sort of play He realizes fully since his recent expert ence that ShAkespeare kneiv what he ASS talking about when he declared that the plays the filing Mr Lack are cn always command an enormous salary as a leading man but he very properly tl Inks that his record of successes suc-cesses warrants him In feellnr that ho 1 la I Justine 1 In considering himself of stellar stel-lar Let him secure the proper vehicle and he will speedily become one of the best I Paying stars In the United Slates The success of The Girl From Paris started u regular craze for plays of rather questionable propriety and there Nviks an Inormoux resultant crop All or nearly nil of them had title which were Intended to suggest that thy had more or less to do with Parts or at Sport l France Strange us It may appear ap-pear to the exploiters of many of these ventures something more than a name Is I needed to make a successful Iht lice pro uctlon and more too than plain vulgarity for It the latter quallty were ill that was required there would now be on the road a number or shows which are Instead Sleeping the oleep which know no awakening In man gem desks and Iorehotoe The ma nla for these things has dle < l out In tho reputable theaters and unleno n ploy I or this type possesses more than or I Inary merit It stands no chanco or making money I 111 Is well too that this Is I so for the high priced houses went In moral cnnes setting a pace In coarseness which made It almost Impossible for those queer re sorts tnown as vaudeville burlesque heaters to keep up with the procession and ns tbe Initiated are aware when Such a condition Is I reached It Is I pretty nearly time to rail a halt In this case fortunately the public has seen fit to call the halt Itself by I withholding ISO I Patronage I Mint In the world can have com over Henry I mean Sir Henry Irving lie has been pitching Into the dramatic critics of London without gloves I It ever there fan ILn actor In England shi las been Heated with the utmost consideration ly the dramatic writers hat man Is I Irving Frequently produc Jons made bj him which have not been all that they should have been havi been t commented upon lenlentlj ant its shortcomings In lUanj oil er directions direc-tions have been considerately glossed over And jet he has now followed the example or some or his foolish brethren or the Profession by attaching the mail vlo made him No matter what may be responsible for It there can bt no question that there Is I u very general Impression that the head of tile English stage has pad pa-d tho zenith or his powers Irving never wa 11 really great technician ai Booth uns lie IB I mate like our Lawrence Law-rence Darrett t although of course hIs < h-Is I the latter superior both as actor and student of dramatic value and effect ef-fect Irvine preemInence on tho rag lllh stage Is due primarily to the fact tl at at the time of his rise to fain there raa not 11 Ingle commanding competitor In sight Then too lie uns so conscientious a performer and pro u ucer that the actor mas onrJookod In the artist He was never foolish enough to icrlnlt himself to think that It was Irving whom the leoile wished to nee He knew that they pal 1 to look at nn Irving production with Irving In It and that the combination wall effective while neither elen ent or It ould have been so without the other rorbc noberteon appears to be the grant London favorite Just now nr bohm Tree an actor of Ihonomonal subtlety anti Intense artistic temperament tempera-ment denplte the prestige of his nw and magnificent tier MJestj theater I 1 I IrA 11 000911 ZA C ieep 4 7 9 I J I I I 1 r I I ipt 1 I I t I I I WIDI 1 11 L 11 t0z 0 I 0 R rtirR I i ii 0 i tc V f 0111 11 N I FT Nt 0 N I al I I I 4e I fl WE 11 r I N I 111 11117rmli111 5 k 1011 I I I I tl k VQ 14i I Ill 0 I I I I i 1 N I Na0D15ADA i I 1i 1 i Tov D y ik I t D 1 I I V Zu T I I J has not ben able 10 turn the tide mark edlytowardlilsoisithouse WhenItob orton put lIamlet on and wa laughed at for his pains he surpried everyone by making a phenomenal hit In the title role He kept the tragedy on for months and then Tree made an elaborate production ot Julius Ciesor which was successful but failed to croat cro-at the furore which had fallen to the lot of Itobertson much less I pretentious presentation of Hamlet Meanwhile Irving has been unable even to get on anything hlch woultl last lone enough to set people talking about It He Is I thinking ot doing anew a-new play by a hitherto unknown Frencjj author and It certainly does begin to look as though the once mighty Fir IIonry must now do as ordinary mortals mor-tals do In other words he must offer of-fer new material or he will soon find that his pinnacle Is I rapidly melting away from under him blmGodt 4w Godt c |
