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Show H "DRAMA H H "THE LILY." B Belasco Play Dealing with Parental Despotism m Should Be Seen By Every man. A Lesson M to Children to Rear Their M Parents Properly. ' H By Merrill Adaire. 1 To that class of parents which makes the mis- Hf take of assuming unnatural authority to the point H of taking every bit of freedom away from their Hi children, not realizing that it Is best for them H to go to the deep of things in order to find a way H to the higher Ideals, but instead forcing them, H through a form of slavery, to climb to the clouds H only to have them cut the rope the Belasco Hj adaptation from the French, by Pierre Wolff and H Gaston Leroux, of the "The Lily," preaches a 1 powerful sermon. I Of course, to narrow thinkers it will come as ' a shock to be told that the child is not owned H body and soul by its parents; that it owes no m duty, not even obedience, unless those parents H ! have made it love them, for, sad to relate, there H are thousands of misguided ones who, thinking Hll they are doing the right thing, treat their chil- m I dren as though they had asked for an Invitation H ! to come Into the world. H Briefly, the story of "The Lily" is that of a H household wherein a domineering Comte, with two M daughters, is attempting to guide their lives ac- Q cording to his standards, and all the time he is 1 very secretly (manlike), carrying on an intrigue H i with a married woman elsewhere. Of course, the m old, old story of moral disparity of why a man J should and why a woman shouldn't enters in, for H who would dare predict success for a play of 1 this kind unless the o'd question were hinted at, ml at least. m The Comte has succeeded in ruining the life H of the elder of the sisters by shooing away the H only man she ever loved. She, "The Lily," has H grown to pretty nearly a hopeless age, with Hi heart-strings torn and bearing her grief with a H calm exterior, taking the dead mother's place in H the home so far as the household duties are con- 1 1 cerned, and watching the little sister grow up fl and doing what she can to protect her from a m similar experience. H The little sister has a few feelings and emo- 1 tions that are her own. She falls desperate'y In M' lpve with an artist, and her clandestine meetings f with this man, the subsequent discovery and the i attending denouement make for "The Lily" one H of the strongest plays of the New York season, H which, however, is pathetically lacking in the H number of productions worth seeing. The play H itself drags a little to begin with, but in contrast, 1 this only adds to its strength as the interest M gradually increases, and the final impression is B I one that is lasting and one which should sink M deeply into the hearts of those who are trying H to mould the lives of their children by an intol- m i erant coercion. H Mr. Belasco has selected a company for the H production of "The Lily" that could hardly be ex- H celled by any set of mummers I can think of. Wm The Comte De Malgny, as played by Charles H Qartwright, is a splendid piece of work, and his H daughters, Odette, "The Lily," in the hands of H Nance O'Neil, and Christine, portrayed by Julia 1 Dean, deserve all the praise that can be bestowed H'j upon them. Of course, Nance O'Neil id the par- H ticular star, and in makeup, in which her indi- H yiduality is almost completely disguised, she H gives a most remarkable performance, though H she has in the entire play only one great scene. WM Julia Dean is no more the little girl who first H made her appearance at the Grand Theatre In HB Salt Lake, where she lived all her girlhood, than Hi fnl another person. That Is, on the stage. She has developed into a remarkable actress, and at last has a part eminently suited to her particular talents. Bruce McRae well remembered by Salt Lakers as Huzar, the friend of the family, who does his best to smooth the troubled waters, is excellent. William J. Kelly's Arnaud, the artist, 'is a sincere and finished study. Bernard, played by' Leo Detrichsteln; Plock, the merchant, by Dodson Mitchell; Lucy, Plock's daughter, taken by Florence Nash, and, In fact, every part down to the least important, is in the hands of a most capable actor or actress in this all star aggregation. aggrega-tion. Of the stt t ing in the beautiful new Stuyves-ant Stuyves-ant Theatre, all that need be said is that it was done under the direction of Belasco. A half hour's work with a managerial pruning knife would greatly improve the Orpheum's bill this week. As it is, there is much unnecessary rot jumbled up with much that is unusually good and the two mix about as well as oil and water. Mr. Fred Lindsay heads the program in a really marvelous exhibition of using and controlling con-trolling a twenty-five foot whip lash and the act is as novel as it is interesting. It is so obvious, however, that Mr. Lindsay is a gentleman and that the stage has been his avocation but a short while that it is rather difficult to see the necessity of the everlasting billboard, program and stage announcements of the two facts. Two colored men, Harry Fiddler and It. B. Shelton give the bill most of its music and fun. Both are clever and their voices are excellent. To get back to the shank of the evening with the Reed Brothers, Broth-ers, they are strong-arm artists, art-ists, somewhat above the ordinary. ord-inary. One of them attends strictly to bulness with such good results that he pulls the act up Into the spotlight with some remarkably good tricks. Brother, however, spoils the good work with too many warmed-over chestnuts. Salt Lake's altitude has had to stand for a good many things, and while It may have been partially responsible for F. Watson's voice early in the week, it seems a little unfair to hold it to account for the rest of "the student's" act. Nature ought to take its share of the blame. The Lavine-Cimaron trio play "Imagination" nicely, getting everything possible out of the sketch. In the Lincoln J. Carter playlet, "Won By a Leg," a little of Gordon Eldrid's vivacity vi-vacity goes a long way. His definition of a come- I -ff StJBHHHHgBiHHBkJ v m ft- nHHjHHHlE V ' H iv. HlHm ffiHK! f V MKHHlaMllHMWiF 1 ; MWHHHlPWlwPlllfc 1 , MADAME SARAH BERNHARDT IN "LA BEFFA" The New Play by Signor Benelli, the Famous Italian Writer. The Piece is a Tragedy of the Italy of the Renaissance, in Which Madame Bernhardt Plays the Part of Gianetto Malespinl, a Young Florentine Nobleman, Who Wrecks a Terrible Vengeance on a Gallant of Pisa Who Has Played a Joke or "Beffa" on Illm. dlan would probably encompass some sort of an acrobat with the ability to twist his face out of a'l semblance of naturalness. The sketch Is poorly acted. "Superstition," presented by Charles Bowser, Edith Hinkle and a youth by name of Moore follows fol-lows "Won By a Leg" and is infinitely worse, tho' there is the making of a clever act in the skit. The lady of the trio is about as emotional as an Indian and the youngster who plays tho reporter presents the character in the perfectly" , lady-like manner typical of the majority of stag versions of "the star man from the city room." Mr. Bowser's fine acting, as the politician, goes far toward making "Superstition" enjoyable and. worthy a place on the bill. it $ $ A The announcement that Maude Adams will appear in the American presentation of "Chan-tecler," "Chan-tecler," playing the role of the cock, now being acted in Paris by Gouitry, the French tragedian, will scarcely come as a surprise to those of us who have kept apace with Frohman's plans for his talented star. At the close of her present season in Barry's comedy, "What Every Woman Knows," Miss Adams will begin rehearsals on the Rostand fantasy, and it will be produced in New York in the early fall. Miss Adams declares she has already decided on her interpretation of the role of the cock, and says that to her "Chantecler" is a poetic lesson of the doctrine of faith and hope through work. The very clever performance of Miss Jeanne Russell Alford in "Cousin Kate" at the Colonial this week has made that show an unusually heavy drawing card among the theatres since Monday and the friends of the star have been profuse in. their tributes to her success. And Miss Alford richly deserves the attention atten-tion her work in "Cousin Kate" has won. While there are many other 'roles in which she could be, and undoubt dly will be seen to as good and" better advantage, her conception of the role which helped Ethel Barrymore into stardom is distinctive, clever and at all times good. Her talent "is so marked and displayed to such excellent ex-cellent advantage that it must surely lead in the immediate future to a play in which Miss Alford 'will be starred as exclusively hers, and which will provide a better opportunity for the exercise exer-cise of the originality in work that is at present one of the dominating features of her artistry. Miss Alford has gained much in personal charm and stage presence since her last appearance here and she Is decidedly the entire show in "Cousin Kate." ft ' , V,' David Higgins at the Colonial Next Week The supporting company, with the exception of one or two members, is poor and by the same token Miss Alford is given an added burden to carry in making the play a success. Wlllard Mack supplanted R. F. Brandon late in the week as leading man of the company and the change will probably be for the better. a |