Salt Lake Telegram | 1916-01-02 | Page 22 | Plays That Do Not Match atres

LAYS THAT DO NOT MA MATCH THE THEATRES THEA TRES YEW V E YORK Jan Tan 1 Does Doe Does ft it not seem out of proportion to produce a musical mu- mu j steal comedy with thirty-one thirty persons in the singing cast and with an orchestra of ot about a dozen pieces in a theatre which has only two hundred and ninety nine seats That Is what Is happening at the theatre where the new musical comedy Very Good Eddie had its us ere last week and seems well established in favor Counting stage I ds electricians ushers box office and executive staff it must take about I y ty y persons to give a performance for tOI fewer fewa than three hundred in hundred in other I Iy one fifth of the seating capacity of the theatre is busy giving the per- per perI I 1 Apart from the financial aspect of the case which concerns no on one but lut ut the the I lucers It seems to reflect upon the oft employed statement that New York Yorka i a too man many many theatres If so so why produce a big hit and successful play In a atIe atie tie theatre Of pt course cours there are cogs within cogs but to the tile person who spec- spec ates upon the whys and wherefores of the theatrical business the promised of Very Good Eddie seems out of ol proportion to the size of the Perhaps if it the musical comedy strikes twelve with the great public I j I producers will move it to a larger auditorium as they did diel with its 1 asor Nobody Home Ii And Dd In this connection Winthrop Ames' Ames small playhouse the Little Theae Thea- Thea e still stUl is closed Mr lr Ames has recovered from a nervous breakdown and even more keenly interested in the affairs of ot the theatre than before his cent illness Accompanied by Mrs Ames he is in Bermuda r resting sting and ading new plays Being a manager of ol large private means Mr Ames does doest t produce foi fo commercial reasons and until he finds just the play he deems for the Little theatre he declines to reopen it As he has not found ch ich a play the house remains dark Mr Ames has a decided advantage er cor the average busy manager in refusing to bring out just any old piece it t it reflects sadly upon the quality of playwrights' playwrights present products that s cannot find a a. play for tor his bijou theatre E. E H. H Sothern has produced only one new pla l' play The Two Virtues in Mr 1 flea mes' es' es Booth theatre and his revival of Lord has been so favor- favor ly received that he will follow this on Jan January ary 10 with another of his faer's fa- fa faer's ers er's successes David Garrick So Mr Sothern as well as Mr 11 Ames seems be h having his difficulties in the matter of new plays C V y I Miss Grace George also is seeking becking high and l low law w for an American comedy here oh where are the American comedies hiding Being a 0 loyal loal American id d established a repertoire theatre at The Playhouse Miss George I arris arns for comedies by Americans and for Americans She opened her present ason asOD with an American comedy The New York Idea by Langdon Mitchell 1 I nd she would like to have another fully as good Will not some American a oblige Here is the much sought chance for the American dramatist When the thear thear thear ar is over and amI when once more the foreign authors are pushing pens and typewriters one is going to hear a lot again about foreign invasion d id the neglect of the American play So let the dramatist make makey y while the sun shines shines shines-or or to be he literal make plays while the guns boom lOom I I