The Washington Post from Washington, District of Columbia • Page 2

i 2 THE WASHINGTON POST SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3 1908 THE WEEKS PLAYBILLS Blasc BrUu Kallch is Marta Um Lowlanla NaUonsl Eti 1 Barrrmor la Her Barter Colombia Leo Dltrtchsteln In BluSa Chases Staleys Transformations Acafiemy Th Wlttrd of Oa atsjcatte East Lrane Garety Harry Bryants ExtnTStanzs tereuin The Belle Artsua A that by a harum scarum Christian It I wag a splendid bit of retribution and excruciatingly funny Yet on last Wed inefday afternoon the Incident attracted little attention and aroused less Interest I The Bslascp Theater patrons were In I chfted to consider Jessica a most deplorable daughter and Lorenio but little more admirable The laments of Shylock when his friend Tubal tells him how the Christian spend thrift and his runaway child are blowing In the Jews dont forget that money an the bit of news that Jessloa had traded Leahs ring for a monkey and had I waited eiehtv ducats in one night were all screams in Shakespeares day and HE following letter Is evidently A eted the written by one who has given fortm of the embodiment of en telllgent study to Shakespeares ty tJ alJ chrlUan8 plays and seventeenth century MUen more oouid be written along English history His complaint tne earne lines but allow me to say tnl Malnst the Ben Greet ShaTcespeare pro conclusion that I believa the biggest hit Auctions It well founded and he raises a of all and the real climax came when question that cannot fall to interest both the Judgment of the duke was that Shy the drama and al theater fchftJT2Z Toers Who have witnessed Mr Greets the lnsoient infidel daughter interpretation of The Merchant of and 6hould turn Christian That as between Loremo and Jessica spoken by yenice Antonios poetic revenge me poun vi which is entirely lost at the present day eisrated sent of Trillion ktr kith nanerafcU principles hr best feelings a nmu are all displayed Bhe miloUns at first a eaisa a command on sort of carrying her potat la lis end ret Ui palatal neart tnrilltns uncertalaty la which she keeps the whcl court bbUI ns pent verges apon stony 1 sot contrlred for eCect merely it Is necessary and lnerltable Sh has two objects Jn view To dellrer her husbands friend and to Maintain her husblncTs honor by the discharge of hb Just debt though paid oat of her own health tea times orer It Is erident that the would rather owe the safety of Antonio to anything rather than the legal quibble with which her cousin Bellarlo has armed her and which she reserves as a last resource Items of Interest Concerning Plays and the Players PMETHING Washington thaatr Just 110 pound The actor Is required to goers probably have never keen Is carry an armor that tips the scales at the Spanish dance cauea me joi which la Introduced 1ft the first JiirLTL fatigue after his numerous and trylns on wb mora oi uw uuHa inn ninNn Uavweddlngv The JOta It distinctively at peasant dance adanccrof wonderful grace fire andpIcturesQtienssa It will be executed by a native the Catalan province wherein the scene dthepUy set It was reported from Rochester last week that Henrietta Crownan will leave the stage temporarily this spring to go to India to claim a fortune left by her grandfather Charles Crosman Robert Burns who masquerades the lions skin In The Wizard Of Ox wai acting In the same capacity with Montgomery and Stone In the original pro duction of that extra vaganxa Henry Kolfcsr and Josephine Victor have been engaged by Doris and Rosen to play the leading roles In Marguerite Merfngtons play Till We Meet Again ninety five pounds yet the little fellow while apparently greatly handicapped In his work doesnt appear to show any Bert Williams Introduced a new eong Into Bandanna Land last night It la entitled Id Rather Have NothhV All de Time Than Somethln foa Little While The premiere presentation of James Forbes new play of American life The Traveling Salesman with Thomas Ross as starwlll be offered at the Columbia Theater on March 16 Frances Golden Fuller who played Mary Anne In Salomy Jane last season and her brother Martin Joseph Fuller have been engaged by Henrjr Harris for the childrens roles ln the Traveling Salesman Miss Lizzie Hudson Collier appearing In the support of Olga Nethersole this season was a former member of the fa i mous Marry uavis siock company or The lack of scenery and buffoonery Challenges attention with particular force In the last act of Ben Greets Merchant hi Venice The trial scene has Just ended In fact the play Is practically ended That fifth act was written by Shakespeare to quiet the emotions of an audience deeply stirred by the foregoing scene It is laid in Portias garden Beneath the mellow light of an Italian moon two lovers are discovered discoursing in the language of love Portly and Bas sanlo Kerissa and Gratiano enter There is a playful scene between the four wh ch BUOU1U UC CiUTieu UUb IU IS puf ByAll Uli comedy but witnout xne exaggerations or seventeenth century comedians Soft light distant music and poetic surroundings bring the play to a Joyous dose Adequate stage settings could make this garden scene a most effective finale But It requires an early seventeenth century audience to gravely heed the dialogue actors seated on for the success of the new organisation are extremely bright as Evans will not tolerate the use of old material and Jokes more than a week old will be tabooed Simon Wolf of 1T5 street northwest reports splendid progress In the advance orders for the benefit performance to given at the Xatlonal Theater for the benefit of the Washington Hospital for Foundlings the opening night of Kleanor Robsons engagement tin Silomy Jane The hospital is now In Its twentieth year For has bought a country seat adjoining the Knollwood Country Club grounds on the outskirts of White Plains The estate consists of a twenty room house and nine acres of ground It Is valued at 22000 Marta of the Lowlands which is a masterpiece of Angel Gulmera was written for the greatest of Spanishactresses Maria Guerrero She has played It throughout Spain Mexico and South I David Graham Phillips First Play Shocks Even New York Audiences DTF au BY FRANKLIN FYLES New Tork Feb2L TfRLVG the second performance The Worth of a Woman man and a woman In the audience became so heated In their discussion of the ethical Justice of its theme that their argument developed Into a wrangle and they re moved It to the cool of the loony in choosing to present his first drama of the very modern David Graham Phillips Katherlne Grey displayed a defiance of conventionality The cousle who talked their way to the lobby were not unJke only more vehement than their feyow sDectators in finding subject for discus slon in the extraordinary doctrine set forth by the socialistic novelist and Journalist in his Tjrlmarr adventure In drama The night air Instead of cooling their smoldering passions fanned them Into flame and presently the male debater hauled off and struck his companion a resounding smack across her face rer haps a board of students or etnics ana Dramatlo Editor Post I was one of the ani ln Mr Greets Interpretation because of a bare stage Certainly it Is dstress ing to see Portia prancing up and down the boards sacrificing dignity to boisterous humor I have cited but a few instances of the Greet players adherence to old tradtlons In the casket scenes for instance thero is much senseless exaggeration The character of the Prince of Arragon is entirely too broad He was a fop but not such large and Interested audience which saw tr mnpm actors do not emphasize the Mr Ben Greet and his players In The jact that Shylock was a Jew and the Merchant of Venice at the Belasco The vat majority of the spectators in a ater on Wednesday afternoon and while modern audience do not think It a mat I enjoyed the performance I must say ter 0f much moment whether a man is was disappointed It was my first view jew or a christian of Mr Greets productions and I was Qno more point and I am done We led to believe he would reproduce the have strong tradition that the actors drama sa nearly as possible like the orig wnc first played Shylock did iriake it lnal This he failed to do and Instead a comedy part and Burbage is said to fit rtlcrtlv lnctriiMva ovlial rf fhu1 nlr tx Aet Infflliehinff Shakespearean stage I saw merely a ture of which was a hdeous red nose I an impossible creature as Mr Greet fairly good reading of The Merchant of supposed 10 be typical of the race Just would have his audiences believe The Venice minus the usual elaborate aR we represent Mephistopheles whom we low comedy throughout the pay is quite cenery have never seen but about whom we as boisterous as It was made by Ellza To have been historically correct the ave definite conceptions with tail horns bethan players Mr Greet should either Character of Shylock should undoubtedly I on hoofs i give a real Elizabethan production of Jn my opinion have been robbed of Its THOMAS STEh lifc Ms pathetic and sympathetic features and should have been made a comedy If nor In a word my correspondent makes the a burlesque part claim that Bon Greets Merchant of The essential considerations in the in Venice i nrtier An acceptable presenta terpret tlon of Shylock as written are the nor a correct picture nudle before which th piay was rr lot orignal performed and the fact that of Elizabethan production The Ut there is no conclusive evidence that tr would be interesting as a curiosity Bhakespeare ever saw but one Jew who the former should nave the advantage of was Dr Lopez Queen Elizabeths private adequate stage settings and the beet ln Jphyslcla Perhaps the poets on glimpse i terpretatlons of the lines that have been pf Dr Lopex was when that individual ivn hv th students of two cen repcrtolre and it has proved its universal appeal beauty and power by becom ing a popular classic Little Donald Gallagher who won fame with Maxine Elliott in Her Qwn Way will appear at the Rational ln the support of Eleanor Robson ln Salomy Jane Master Donald is but nine years of age The lighting effects in Marta of the Lowlands particularly the reproduction of the purple afterglow of sunset in the Pyrennees show the craftsmanship of Harrison Grey Flske at its best Angel Gulmera the noted author of Marta of the Lowlands is a pronounced radical in Spanish politics At the time of our war with Spain he was one of the few writers of that country who opposed the war as rash and fatal to the Spanish cause in Cuba Miss Louise Drew supporting Miss Ethel Barrymore this season ln Her Sister Is a first cousin of the star Miss Drew is the daughter of John Drew whose sister was GeorglannDrew Barry more the mother of Miss Ethel and the wife of the noted Maurice Barrymore Alfred Kappeler in the cast of Bluffs comes of a Washington family He was nncn natrn In tha Rinftfn and later nlav Vl on the football team of the old Colum bia Athletic Club A tiger and a leopard met ln a fight to the death In the arena of the winter quarters of the Wallace circus at Peru Ind on February 3 The animals were being rehearsed by Trainer Garstang when th tiger without warning sprang at the as busily engaged in being hung after tuties Mr Greet follows the modern Jiavini been convicted of attemnune tnJlmles uecl luu rolson the queen The Jews wie ex scho1 ln hI reading of Shylock lines pelled from England bag and baggage but discards the scenery which modern in the ar 1290 A careful Investigation audiences have learned to require and will show that there were few very few permits the other players to accentuate ii 0f thmUl tte country between the ow comedy to a degree that is ob subject Is that Cromwell undertook to appreciation for the play poetic beauty allow the Jews to return but so intense This statement of facts is indisputable was the popular feeling against them ln Mr Greet once told me ln a converses time sCime 350 years after their ex sation intended for publication that he nobM aSh arlrvalsJ We had no objection to good scenery but mobbed and had to flee back to Holland iki or wherever they came from llad rons objections to the horrible When Shakespeare wrote the Jews had canvas daubs that passed for scenery leen practically unknown to the Encllsh in the average theatrical productions jjeople for three centuries and had be it disgusted him for instance to see come a tradition pure and simple They the so called scenic artists attempt iulnaTnlnairof hav reproduce the vivid green of spring ing sacrificed Christian children at the or the wonderful tlnts ot autumn in Passover which aroused the people to is crudely executed stage mountings a freney that had much to do with their i This answer to criticism is thoroughly Expulsion It was natural under the unsatisfactory No other department fcddrtuftnedKUhvtheuanlmo8Uy the theater has made such rapid una persecutions of the church In coun i tries where they were stU allowed to adnc the domaln of he 8Cn dwell that the Jew in English estima arllst Pessimists may declare that tlon should become exactly what Shake playwrlghtlng and acting have deterl apeare Intended to represent in Shyloik orated but they cannot deny that Diooauursty ogre without bowels of senio effects are every year becoming more beautiful and more realistic Augustin Dalys productions were a revelation to Shakespearean students Henry Irvlngs production of The Merchant of Venice is fresh in the memory of the present generation As his excuse for refusing to ose scenery for The Merchant of Venice Mr Greet advertises an Elizabethan production of the comedy It will be recalled that ln the Elizabethan productions the roles of Portia and the other women were played by boys or partially shaved men Half the stage was occupied by fops who turned their backs on the most dramatic episodes of the play to ogle the orange girls thus proving to the audience In the pit their own Intellectual superiority Most of the auditors were men and boys of a very low order of Intelli gence They probably whooped with delight at Shakespeares coarse Jests Just as denizens of the gallery ln a modern burlesque house ecstatically applaud some choice bit of vulgarity As my correspordent points out they would not have accepted a dignified Shy lock Indeed they would hla driven sn Irving or a Booth off the boards The grotesque caricature pleased them immensely It was ln keeping with their Ignorant and senseless hatred of the Jewish people The only Shylock they could appreciate was the low comedy character whose downfall was hailed with howls of delight and rotten oranges Thev exulted over the conclusion of the trial scene as the least Intelligent of present day melodrama audiences gloat over the defeat or the villain by the German or Irish comedian compassion willing to go any length or suit saennce in order to enjoy th satisfaction of spilling the blood of a Christian Remembering these historical facts hich cinot be denied let us turn to the class of people who attended Shake pearee first nights They were not cosmopolitan men of the world and self lepressed women The pit or lower floor was filled with the burgeols element among whom the London prentices with their clubs and willingness to start a riot on the slightest provocation were a large element the boxes contained euch mistresses of the nobility as had a taste for theatricals while the sides of the stag were filled with young sparks cf the town who did not hesitate to Josh berate or attack the actors as the mood seized them the while predecessors of Nell Gwjxn sold oranges and made engagements An audience of more violent prejudices and more unrestrained expression could not be conceived anl such Shakespeare wrote to please Transcendent genius that he was hi plays were designed to eaten the popular approval and draw money to the box office just as much as George Ades are These uncouth bigoted riotous spectators must absolutely be constantly in the mental eye of the Shakespeare critic if he would avoid ridiculous mistakes in commenting upon the work of the Eard of Avon Now to use modern slang Shakespeare would have gotten fat nit if he had presented to such dueling wltch tournlng sprigs assertive merchants and hawllag apprentices any lofty conception of Jewish character To them the Jew stood in much the same relation that Mephistopheles stands to the modern drama an incarnation of consummate vll which must be hoist by his own petard as a result of Ws efforts to bring about by devilish machinations the downfall of a virtuous end admirable Christian hero When we view the writing and first playing of The Merchant cf Venice from this angle we must see that nothing could have been further from Shakespeares mind than such a performance as that of Mr Greet and others of the modern school They make admirable pleas for fair play for the Jew but careful analysis of the lines will snow that Shylocks defense of his people and excuses for his conduct are met at every turn by the manly conduct cf Antonio and that the very strength of Shylocks arguments recoils upon his own head in the light of his subsequent actton As a consequence of the rawing of Shylock from a comic td a lueaw nsrt many of the strongest lines In the plav IssssssssflsMiH sir FWsStHTyBife iu jjfcJsgajjBJB2KHHBHMSBici5 6JsassssWst i BBBBBBBlHssHBsHsSBsSsHr nflsssBssslPiV eft ssssssssssssssalssssalBSBssi I ZUfA Ul ssssssssssssssssssssssssHl JPZI HrPA ft ISsEselaeSBBBBMSsB I i VVtT 7 LJci laBai mFtk i4l lJ ETtfEh HRv f9 rttiySj2 IssssBm ISIiSllpSlSSPilft a asssssssJSasKi5S24 i feifsMsF SSbsssssssssssBi 1 ImrWiMM tAj 4 II HislsHsMlSSSSSSSSSSSSSsC 1 5iiVrrV 1k si sssstMsPWrJii It vjte JfeYXriily A Ssffe WeaT ltSssssssKSssssssssssssssPfl I issssH fsssflsHk vM1 mUHHKHKb ficMri dBmWKKmy fWl I JssssHl ssssBSbssssssssSsbbsss 3 j3y JBMsnsssBsssssssH SNkSSAT itsssssssssssa iassssssssssk iiJ I aassVT SHslssssHr iK VPrssssssi fT sssr lissssssll SXJ 11 isssHssisH ilnGieKf Wisl I aHsSOssssV immt sm i I btaxI zizzi ropst mttwi tmpi I sssssssssstHHIssBBr rHMissMasWR4asssssssltl Bf xJtA wSfMusWm lssssssasWK9ssm mfmasHfissHHIsssssssssPrl fff Ttik S42FVL QT 02 47 7Z SB IassssssssssssssssssssHsssslBSaDssSBBisssBBSssssssl dasstfy 4K IsisSlsSBHsrssssijssssssssaassBsssBfsm jsyj Vn Wl i iwiei i irfT otaJ MJ I sbssssbHBfsMhS sHilssssssBsSaBBBssBssH WAifflsanBShk BRxlB6 JJB SbsssTssssstBbbhSb I tassti VEBmlmKamM Mtassssssai i jfrnrim i4mcztTSt SSSsa BSssBsTags TaT rjrr 1 IssaaaaaaaiSsHssli I ilVB WtMWSSSA tlaaBsS ssaasaaSBBaBsaKBllT Hfr WXmMTWtk 4 rZlA SfssssaasSBBl Jf i ysaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaMP I wrt VA tS rAsaaaaaaaaaa2wB VjiVjW 4 Jt A 1JB if bMsssT tvnki JtJWs rTiMWW tdhvfjit IJmM KZii 2JbjB f4t CVffcajsjr W72ZM2 QrGz47 7 AALi7Zr Zjsdfr jjBja W0Qim3mSBSWuB My correspondent probably did not expect a thoroughly reallltic picturo of an Elizabethan production He undoubtedly knew that the health department would object to tho decayed fruit Hut If tho old Interpretations of the lines were fol lowed he had a right to expect a low comedy Shylock And to a certain extent the obsolete interpretation of tha comedy is noticeable in the Sen Greet production Too much time and attention are given to the buffoonery of Gobbo In the trial scene Mr Greets leading woman miain terpreed Portias attitude toward Shylock Miss Rooke played the ncena as sre lost and many of the situations are 0f I though she were holding a card up her comparatively utile interest To tle sleeve wnicnsne wouia produce when she erlginal audience the elopenicnt of Lo i had led her vicrm into a complete expo renso the Christian rake with JsiCi sition of his vindictive malice toward An the beautiful daughter of the Jewish ci im i 5 itonlo Such an interpretation wnlla in Snos lan cSntrptb8 8aJ VXTk robT PrtTa saVrmercrof blfgest hits 0f thO play The JevrUloouence As Mrs JamMn paid back In his own coinl The Jew eloquence As Mrs Jameson says St o7his daughtVr 7ZJttJ2JStt There she sblaes torta The Merchant of Venice or accept the modern Interpretation of the minor roles as well as that ln which he himself appears Playing Shylock as he does he should use adequate scenery and frankly follow the methods of Henry Irving and other disciples of the school founded by Edmund Kean MORSE STANDING AT THE BELASCO Summer Company Will Appear at Independent Theater Instead of Columbia Guy Standings stock company season ln Washington this spring under the management of A Page will be played at the Belasco Theater after all Instead of at the Columbia as at first announced There seems to be some question as to Just when tho Columbia passes into the control of Fred Berger Who manages the house next season and in view of Mr Bergers Inability to give Mr Page any definite Information as to when the other theater would be available Mr Page has arranged to present Mr Standing at the Belasco theater Instead of at the Columbia Mr Standing will open at the Belasco Theater on May 11 with The Mummy and the Humming BIrd and with Miss Dorothy Hammond as his leading woman In view of the interest aroused ln Mr Standings prospective appearance Mr Page has arranged to have the tickets for the first ght May 11 sold at public auction in the Belasco Theater some afternoon a week ln advance suwumulatlons at one fell ewoop andaii br diris iir tattiiectou ur counterfeit Iraae Hurt the Waiters Feelings Paul McAllister the well known actor tells this good story I once saw an American order at a cafe in Paris hors 4oeuvre sole agneau pre sale artchoKe salad peche Melba and so on and when the wniter brought him a bill of 30 francs he paid It like a man After his change was brought he counted it and pushed a franc toward the waiter for a tip But the man pushing back the franc said in gentle reproach Pardon monsieur but that Is the which they are preparing to produce on March 2 Mlts Victor is the young Hungarian actress who scored a success ln The Secret OrchardRehearsals of Miss Merlngtons play began last week under the direction of Max Freeman Arthur Shaw has been engaged by Henry Harris for the company to support Thomas Ross in A Traveling Salesman Both Bernard Cavenaugh and Robert Ferguson were transferred from Mrs Flakes Manhattan Company to play their present parts with Mme Kallch Grace Grlswold a one time member of the Berger stock company at the Lafayette Square Opera House now tho Belasco wrote the comedy Billles First Love ln which Valero Bergere Is appearing In vaudeville The engagement has been announced of Amy Ricard and Charles Hanson Towne editor of the Smart Set magazine The marriage will probably take place this spring Miss Ricard will make her last Pittsburg Among the stars that have graduated from this noted stock organization are Thomas Ross Sarah Truax Eva Taylor and Henrietta Crosman The Yankee Tourist closed Its sea son last night Raymond Hitchcock has been ordered to appear this week for trial on Indictments found by the grand Jury last fall Mr Arthur Byron Ethel Barrymores leading man thfs season can recall the time when he Jumped the now popular star upon his knee as a mere tot of a girl Little did Mr Byron then think that some day he would be acting ln tho capacity of her leading man Mrs Maria Ellery Mackaye mother cf the late Steele Mackaye the dramatist died at Parts France on Feb 13 She was severely burned on January 29 Gus Hill has made arrangements to send the McFaddens Flats company to Australia for the season of 190S 9 Harry Smith and Reginald De Koven are writing an opera for Grace stage appearance ln the new Clyde Fitch Van Studdiford in which she will prob nliv that the Shuberta are to tiroduee soon Two more well known cartoonists havo joined the ranks ot those thaV have already come into vaudeville They are Victor Glllam whose political cartoons have beon well known for a generation and Archie Gunn whose specialty Is tho drawing of attractive girls Both artists have prepared turns of a novel character that they hope will prove pleasing to those who have admired their work in various publications Mr GUlam has a Brewsters Millions has passed Its 300th performance in London Louis Caliinan and Margaret CUUIngton both members of the Castle Square Opera Company at Boston were married at Lynn Mass on Feb 1 They will Join the Aborn Opera Company at Brooklyn Edward A Begley who plays the Burgomaster In The Red Mill and Clara Keller were married at Philadelphia twenty weeks contract over the Keith Fa on FeDruary 14 Proctor circuit Leo Ditrichstein author and star of Bluffs began his career as a light Edward Everett Pidgeonfor sometime operi tenor creating ia Europe the lead dramatic editor of the New York Press ing r0ie3 In Nanos The Beggar Stu has been engaged as general mana of dent and Poor Jonathan As a play the Circle Production Company Jeaded wright and adapter ae has twenty by Felix Isman dramas comedies and farces to his i credit Georsre Cohan Is comnletltr a new play which his father mothernd sister Owse Evans the monologlst who Is Josephine will assist him to produce The one oi ne saianea entertainers growled piece will be put on by Cohan and Harris vaudeville will be at the head of a I Die further ur the stage sir at the Knickerbocker Therter ln New bls minstrel company next season tq be Hereupon the Claudius sitting up ob Cohan and Harris Mr Evans leopard and tossed him ln the air The trainer tried to separate the animals but they were both in no mood for Interference and Garstang had to run to save his life and watch the struggle from the outside of the cage The tiger had the best of the battle for some time but the leopard managed to get in some fine work with the claws of his hind legs while the tiger was standing over him and ln a few minutes the larger animal collapsed The leopard was severely injured but will probably recover The tiger will be converted into a handsome rug Miss Elsie Janfs during her engaga ment at the Hollis street theater In Boston was the guests of the students of Harvard university at a reception held especially for her The students came to uie meaier in tne evening and nearly broke up the performance of The Hoyden by cheering Miss Janls at her every appearance Senator La Follette will be an interesting onlooker at the Columbia to morrowmorrow night when Bluffs will be presented The Senators daughter has the leading womans role George Cohan and Sam Harris aie to further increase their field of endeavor To this end the Qphan Harris Music Publishing Co will be In cor porated under the laws of the State of New Tork and will commence to do business about March An early production at the Belasco Theater will be the first presentation of Girls a sparkling new comedy by Clyde Fitch which will be exceptionally well cast and staged Mme Alia Nazimova the famous Russian actress who has been lionized for over a year in New Tork where she has been seen ln several of Ibsens plays and Comtesse Coquette will shorty appear at the Belasco Theater in a range of plays which will display her wonderful histrionic art Macready and Claudius From the Dramatic Mlrro Once when Macready was performing at the theater at Mobile Ala his manner at rehearsal displeased one of the actors a native American of pure Western type This person who was cast for the part of Claudius ln Hamlet resolved to get even with the star for Many supposed offenses and ln this way he carried out his purpose When in the last scene Hamlet stabbed the usurper he reeled forward and after a most spasmodic finish stretched himself out precisely ln the place Hamlet required for his own death Macready much annoyed whispered freely Dleurther up the stage sir The monarch lay insensible upon which In a still louder voice the Hamlet America as the leading medium of her psychology should have hJVcaJ a settle Uie wrangle inauuw i I Author Phillips and Actress urey out instead a policeman waa hailed In on a run from Broadway He refused to enter Into any Phillips Grey discussion of the worth of a woman arguinfcwlth old fashioned simplicity that a man had struck a woman and that there was only one thing to do But a couple who had been drama driven to a point or physical force could hardly be expected to accept so simple and obsolete a solution of the sex problem ln any of Its forms So she returned the blow ln the face with re echoing olence Thereupon with consistent philosophy the Broadway policeman declared It a case of tit for tat and washed his hands of the whole affair The released couple returned to the plays last act to see how Phillips settled the said sex problem Now I wouldnt venture to say what this dispute was about but isnt it likely that the man wanted to right whatever wrong he had done by marrying the woman without delayT That in the new morality of Phillips seems to be the only Insult that would Justify a woman ln unbridled violence The message ot this latest problem play seems to be Tou neednt marry the girl To recount the argument set forth ln the drama with the frankness therein Indulged would hardly be permissible In a newspaper it would bring the blush of shame to the cheek of a self respecting typesetter In the more modest terms of the conventional drama which Mr Phillips scorns an Indiana girl and a visitor from Boston at her fathers farm have loved not wisely but too well That Isnt the way Diana puts it and she isnt much abashed when It becomes known that the marriage between them dated Indefinitely must be hastened She sends for the man but does not tell him this For the Phillips code Informs us that Dianas shame would be less In be coming a mother before she was a wue than in giving herself ln marriage to a man who was impelled by duty Instead of love This point is argued pro and con and every other way thrasnea out on th veranda and in the drawing room dismissed on emoty stomachs before luncheon and on full ones after it Diana moons about It in monologue and groups of two three and four argue it finally the whole cast assembles to decide It Diana is about to submit to the shame of marriage But it Is too much for her She cannot face it She balks at the altar Might Have Made a Sensation If Mr Phlllps had ended the play there he might have made a success of the sensational sort People would have discussed It at length and vehemently Aye even more men might have pelted their women companions or Drainea uwu with canes and opera glasses But even as the couple of the second night whose temper modified so on seeing the last act that they went docilely and smiling to lobster and champagne so the public He might have excited an upheaval he has caused hardly a rippie After ha rantrulnz every one for three long acts Diana suddenly discovers that the man loves her has loved her all the time and meekly even gladly submits to the ignominy of the marriage service It would be unjust to mention Mr Phillips first play only in terms of ridicule Indeed there are several points about It that excite sincere admiration Its failure cannot take from him the credit of having undertaken to write a drama free from trickery and stale stage motives a play conceived on a high intellectual plane His problem is in fact interesting and engrossing but he has not digested it thoroughly enough Such important points as the disgrace to her family and the greater shame to her child to come are hardly considered But It is principally because the author has exposed his theory through argument rather than through character and action that The Worth of a Woman Is worth very little ln a theater When Mr Phillips learns more distinctly the difference between a novel and a nlay he will come nearer to duplicating his success in the former His future ln the theater anoum De interesting he has shown originality sincerity and Intellectual insight three big qualities often lacking ln dramas of prolonged prosperity Must Choose Between Two Evils In the third act the new playwright gets most nearly into the swing of effec tive drama with a scene in wnicn me irirl is about to be married to her lover and it is here that Kathertneprey among the accomnnsned actresses oi our stage makes impressive use of her art The father Is still Ignorant of her pilgnt out the pleadings of her practical sister and of the man ln the case are added to by an ederlr clergyman who urges her to marry because ln this world It Is seidom a Question of choice between ngnt ana wrong but between what is the greater or lesser evlL At the last moment how ever she finds herself unable to face the ceremony declaring that she would rather lose her reputation than her self respect She acquaints her father with the situation in full He declares that she must marry the man or sec him killed before her Father Diana cries If there were only you this man and I ln the word would you doom me to such a marriage No the good old white haired daddy murmurs and the curtain falls amid some applause and much startled chattering and as we have seen occasional pugilistic outbursts The author should have enfled his play here logically having exploited the heroines doctrine that when the girl Is as bameworthy as the man there Is no seduction that he la not bound to marry her and that his offer to do so Is an insult If it is for reparation only At this point she and her new theory are dominant and it seems to me that the first manuscript must have stopped there Perhaps the manager even the actress too sought safety in a happy ending and overbore Mr Phillips to write a fourth act In which the man convinces her that he loves her really and truly for herself alone Then she consents to become a wife Yeats Irish Players The week is replete and toplofty with high enceavor at the Broadway theatre In It is some of Teats Jlfe of Irish nagecraft Yats is the Irish TTa tlcnal Company and It Is he Several clever amateur actors Dublin dl3dples wurruld All I ask of ye Is the loan of a pot wld boilla water la it OIU Jlst drop fn th bit ar enchanted stone and th water wull chanire Into the best av broth Yeats avowed purpose Is to exhibit a genuine Irish character ln reproof of the ordinary stage caricature and this fellow Is named Beggarmanr but he is as frowsy of head as soggy ot feet and as tattered full length as our familiar Weary Willie cf farce and picture However under hla rags he has the wit and humor of the roguish spalpeens that Bouclcault used to create and enact so In speech though not fn looks he is well above the American hobo The personator Fay uses the brogue of Dublin fluently and as our tramps are seldom or never Irish he is different from them ln diction Take him altogether Beggarman Is like a composite ot a touclcault peasant and an OIoott Mack gallant gone to seed yet blooming fresh blarney unimpaired Oh as to that pot of broth Well Beggarman makes the soup with the stone and water adding gradually as rast as he can get them from SlbbyCon neely by voluble blarney a handful ot meal a hunk of pork half a cabbage acd a whole chicken A DArtapiaa and a Petrnchlo Otis Skinner and Olga Nethersole have come to town with fervid diesmas from the French dressed In French fashions when fanciful clothes make the wearers valorous deeds picturesque and authorized by such names as Balzac Scribe and Legrove These plays have been carried through the country ln their present casts and mountings so I wont describe them or the performances although my self Interested by the changes In the matter Paul Potter wrote from th Menage de Garcon story by Balzac the comedy of The Honor of the Fam Ily ln which the perfect elocution of Mr Skinner along with the stagecraft which has come to him with a quarter of a centurys practice renders a Na poleonlo swashbuckler delightful This French colonel a DArtagnan at kllllnu men a Petruchlo at subduing women an a gallant cavalier everywhere ha brought a none too highly appraising actor Into his deserts of popularity if ous Skinner were a man of big an handsome presence he might long ag nave oeen tne leader or the American stage I believe Im king here and Ill die York about the middle of April Charles Wilkins who plays the Tin ubllshed himself thoroughly ln every big wTh7 traiedy1 concluded without much WoodnumlaIhwlzarrofOxwelghclty ta couatry propWt mTro aSl conclual without much Booths other Shakespearean character Izatlon pairing ln superlative merit hi Hamlet was Shylock to my mind acd It is my Judgment too that Henry Lud lowe la giving to us ln this rather confused week of the old roles in new rend tlons a Shylock more like Booths than any between that actors death and now Lurlowe was in the Booth company in ine time wnen the artistic Barrett domi nated the Booth Barrett productions and The Merchant of Venice was staffed In rivalry of Henry Irvlngs memorable acnievement with if Richard Mansflelo made an equally admirable setting of the play but Ms acting of the Jew was gen erally not admired Mr Ludlowe wh has been off the stage for years bought the Mansfield outfit and now he puts an adequate company into Its costumes an scenes and himself undertakes Shylock in a garb like Booths His performance is a good showing of the Booth manner and therefore interesting but It lacks the Booth genius He speaks like an elocutionist rather than a personator and where the impeccable perfection of Booths speech was merged into master ful depiction Ludlowe has the utterance only and none of the soul But that is a too severe standard of measurement Ludlowe is ae much superior to Mansfield as he is Inferior to Booth and Irving Henry livings Shylock Let me halt before getting into Shakespearean criticism but I will tell you something that maybe you dont know and that I have never seen In print Neither Booth nor Irving believed ln th quallty of racial and religious aignlv which both gave to Shylock They admitted that the Jew that Shakspeare drew to use the common phrase if faithfully reproduced from the text was an avaricious malicious vengeful mur derous fiend that his author never mean him to be taken in earnest as a repre sentative Jew but as an embodiment of evil propensities no commoner among Israelites than other peoples that hla presence ln a comedy not a tragedy indicates that he was designed to an exaggeration running toward caricature and that nothing ln the wording really warrants the efforts of actors to dlgnrfy him as an exponent of Judaism Booth and Irving however were not iconoclasts but tactful builders on sure bases and while Booth no doubt followed his fathers example In that as in other roles I dont doubt that the ever politic Irving took Into account the lare Jewish element in London In deciding io niii more exair snylock Instead of degrading Wm Yet la Booths and Irvlngs opinions based on the text Shylock should no more be construed as a typical Jew than Macbeth as a Scot or Iago an Italian or I may add pertinently ln view of the Teats protest for Erin tne stage DaDDoon bogtrotter as an ex cusable travesty of the native Irishman uui i am neglecting Olga Nethersoles renewal of Adrlenne Lecouvreur which is the first that New York has seen of It in about twenty years AugusUn Daly had prepared a version and hoped that Aua sienan would triumph In it when death ended his and her activities in stage I life simultaneously in all probability hi would have given It In English with high esteem for Scribe and Legrove and in harmony with the traditions of the Comedie Francaise The English form that Nethersole uses Is partly of her own extension as It runs from oclock to 1113 ln tedious prolixity How sad It is that personal beauty In at least a fair degree is essential in the makeup of a greatly successful player Just as Skinners lack of the physical aspect of Edwin Booth has prevented him with all his skill of voice from presenting a Boothlan Hamlet so does Miss Nethersoles uncomely maturity prevent her with all her technical ability from recommending Adrlenne to us We who are old enough to recall beauteous Adelaide Nellson Jane Hading Fannie Davenport and Lily Langtry and the once pleasantly sightly Sarah Bernhardt and Clara Morris In the role of that Adrlenne actress of the Comedie Francaise whose entrancing loveliness was the motive of the dramas action while sitting In front of Mlse Nethersoles slow heavy and unattractive personation She Is a talented actress but has taught the public to expect something livelier and racier from her than a Scribe and Legrove comedy almost four hours long Three Minutes of Death Agony All the time isnt spent In prolixity of talk however quite as much is given by the actress to slowly elaborate movement Her death from the deadly scent of a poisoned bouquet is a prolongation of mortal agony seldom exceeded In mimicry No poison deadly enough to kin by being smelt would fall to end life instantly like a drop of cyanide on the tonffue yet so unreal waa Scribe and Legrnves fabric that sufficient lanjroace ws given to Adrlenne to occupy at least seven minutes between her first breath of th drugged flowers and her last breath of life Nethersole byhddlng words and of Ycajs who perform his plays ocea gpadns them apart extends the waiting 1 kitm her A urttH film M4I a 1 lunisiijr iv speii to iweiTtr minuits peiore IM final writnings anu ciuicnuigs ejaculation and gurgulatlona and I can tell yon exactly how long they lasted You see I have been timing soul kisses In the three waltz plays lately and so when Olga Nethersole herself famous for the duration of her Carmen kiss really began to die I took out my watch and timed her demise A few seconds less than three minutes and that is a long while ta watch a dreadful simulation of human three of them make a beginning with A Pot of Broth ln the same bill with a current comedy Most of Yeats writings are folk lore but this is a plain short but explicit half hour ski tch of an Irish tramp Ireland He Is a cunning fellow who undertakes to get a pot of broth from 8Ibby Conneely a very stingy peasant This Is a talisman he says showing a small stone picked from the roadway fc theres none lther lolke it ta all th irony for amusement.