Show PERCY HAMMONDS HAMMOND'S LETTER I BY RY PERCY Plater NEW EV YORK Jan George Georg IB the tho critic and cell celi cell cell- celibate Jean Tean Nathan owned 0 I If It he bate says Mya that daughter he shouldn't care to have her see seo The Captive That ut- ut utterance utterance ut utterance terance from so wanton a pundit arraignment the thi Is the severest toward to fire lire anc and current tendency brimstone has suffered When a I scholar of Mr Nathans Nathan's freedom freedon and expression Admits ot of belief that a masterpiece of ot the drama dram discomfort to a 1 might bring minded broad parent It Is a a sign signal about b the 1 for tor forthe us to orry bachelor an A of o the theatre world wh who a 1 man roan of ot the Tele The Morning boasts in rive give S a that i- i ihA ho he hA t graph damn damn About to orals Mr Nathan confesses that his hie pet art In ono one one onela ot of Its most esthetic postures h Is ot of wrong doing Anxiety Anxiety'S capable evangels ot of holler holier to 1 la S common their outcries ot of the stage and whis mere have become alarm arm of sermons and In a 8 desert pens pers of of when a devil play juries But caliber turns turm turmin jaunty Nathans Nathan's Mr In dread from the horrors of the theatre It Is time to be afraid pupils who Bit alt at Mr Nathans Nathan's have sometimes sus- sus suspected suspected sus suspected spats that he has remained comparatively com com- comparativelY single because ho he feared offspring might become I that his bis goers play As one of his 1 addicts I have often orten won won- wondered wondered dered what hat his answer would be i Nathan Inquire 1 junior If a 1 Daddy what show shall of him will j I Igo go 0 to this evening Which willi do me the least harm se Sex harm The The Constant Wife Ite Lulu Belle AbleS Able'S I Irish Rose Wooden Kimono Honeymoon Lane Ghosts or v Is dan dan- dangerous dangerous 1 Chicago If The Captive how about Now New e York Ex- Ex Exchange Exchange Ex Exchange seductively ad advertised ad- ad change which 1 Is A newspapers as In the Captive Since Mr Nathan Male Mals shivers at the J prospect of his little joinIng all Captive the other how fright fright- frightened frightened little girls girls at The Captive ened he must be at the chance that she might be bo lured Into Junk or Miss MIS Eva Le Civic Chic Repertory theatre I wish that Mr Nathan would dream dream- daughter Invite me to take Uko his would daughter to a 8 1 play lay that amuse without Injuring her Abright A AbrIght Abright brIght sophisticated ted cleanly satire that would make her laugh Inno into Innocently Innocently not and Intelligently though tinting her ber virginal checks cheeks with the ruddy hues of shame or vulgarity vulgarity vulgarity garity If It be he will III place her In my charge for tor an evening at tho the theto the the- theatre the theatre atre w wat we e e shall go to see Tommy at the Gaiety a sly youthful and humorous little fable table written di- di directed directed di directed and acted smoothly and ily clous sagaciously I 1 promise that It wll wIl neither bore nor a abash bash q M Nathan who I presume 1 Is as III hard to please as her papa papa- 1 apa It will w be bea bea bea a night of o innocent merriment and andI andI x I shall return her to the tho Nathan hearthstone at 1130 1190 p m happy unsullied and content with her fathers father's prudent forbidding of The Tho Captive Tommy Tommy f Is just some skillful sk oking about puppy love love puppy In the metropolitan suburbs suburbs a cunning essay In tn shrewd characterization and Incidents A pretty real girl 1 1 oil Mis Peg Entwistle is the object ot of pursuit by two village swains one a graceful g breezy automobile salesman the other an awkward and embarrassed heir to the local banking house Her parents who Are In the unprofitable livery livery- stable livery stable sable e business favor the richer J boy and are excessive In la their hostility to the handsome scamp Resenting their Interference with wHit her romantic life she turns from the youth she really loves to the theother theother theother other Her lIer predicament Is disen disen- disentangled disentangled tangled by her crafty crany old undo uncle Sidney Toler who Is la the Mach Mach- Mach 1 avel of the tho neighborhood political machine With much humor and astuteness he lie waylays waylay the situation and at the end reduces It to happl happi- happiness nees ness There Is scarcely an Inex nex inexpert Inexpert pert moment in the comedy which s is by Howard Lindsay and Ber Ber- Bertrand Ber Robinson It Is a minor entertainment and It will 1 teach Miss alias Nathan nothing except that adult amusement Is sometimes pos pos- possible possible pos possible sible In the theatre without the aId of mystery murder adultery 1 perversion or or other oily infractions Infractions of the moral code Also It will enable her to tell ten her ber father that In Mr Alan Bunce Bunco who plays the airy suitor he may find a faithful comedian and that de- de despite de despite spite William Janney who was only last year rear a child actor Im fm Im- Im Impersonates Impersonates personates personate a Billy Baxter boy with mature Intelligence Despite all the shrieks of Indig indig- indignation Indignation nation against the vices of ot the drama I have never seen a New Yorker walk out on a 0 a dirty play I suppose that many of ot us Are re ISO so petrified by the brazen goings on goings that we are unable to leave our seats ere the final sin ln I la Is com com- committed committed At Tommy we can stay until the curtain falls fails without the excuse that we are struck horror horror It permits us to exclaim with th Mr Nathan and Confucius I wish to tn tobe tobo bO be virtuous and lo virtue Is la at hand Here Hero Is a gay sanctuary In which the sodden lover drama drama pure At lit heart may recover from the remorse of his hia debauches Almost as aa much can bo be claimed for The Devil In la the Cheese a chaste and entertaining fantasy by Tom Cushing Gushing presented by Charles Hopkins at the Charles Hopkins theatre In it a skeptic can bo en- en encouraged en encouraged by a whimsical visit Into the brain of a debutante discover discover- discovering discovering ing It to bo be unblemished It I Is a whit white spectacular humorous ex- ex exhibition ex exhibition And nd thought a bit slow ts is another outlet for tor those who are not fond of blushing Mr Henry W tV Tatt Taft addressing one of the N Y V Improvement bunds bunda sug sUi- suggested to its members last week that they do as he ho does and re rc main away from the drama By such absence said he be they would undergo neither ennui nor disgrace dis- dis disgrace dis disgrace grace I should like to modify Mr Tafts Taft's sane Bane aspersions by recommending recommending The Silver mending Tommy r Cord The D D- DIn D 1 In the Cheese The Pirates of Penzance and other like lamb entertainments which I have han not had the leisure to attend Among these Is not Junk a pious composition by Mr 11 Henry B Self a Dayton rubber-man rubber with laudable aspirations to bo be a play play- playwright playwright playwright wright as well as a 8 wheelwright Mr Ir Selfs Self's Ideas are fine tine but his illustration of them Is as aj Incoherent incoherent Incoherent ent as ss a performance of otan an ama ama- amateur amateur charade In a 0 Park Avenue drawing room It Is a 0 naive jumble of all the ancient rattletraps and although It contains a bank rob rob- rob rob- robbery robbery robbery bery a couple of murders much sentimentality and a great deal of wholesome It Is to employ the Inevitable pun tire tire- tiresome tireSome tire tiresome some Mr Self Is distinguished In Inthe Inthe Inthe the literature of transportation be- be beIng be being ing log a 0 J persuasive advertisement ex- ex expert ex expert pert for a tire factory His Ills failure to move mon the delicate wheels of the drama with their customary vel- vel should not deter him from further experiments This happens to be not a good year for floundering floun floun- floundering floundering dering entertainments Even such as C Channing Sidney Howard IIo Samuel Shipman and Eugene ONeill O'Neill have had their troubles And look at them now Junk was more or less popular the they say BY during the tho week eek of ot the Automobile show |