The New York Clipper (December 1917)

10 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER December -12;:-19-17 > w^^P^^™^" mm r STG TELLEGEN SEEN IN "BLIND YOUTH" AT ! REPUBLIC THEATRE "BUND YOUTH"—A play In four acta, by Wlllard Mack and Loo TeUe- gen. PrcJnced Monday evening, De- cember 3, at the Republic. CAST. Loua Selaar Paul Pom* Tobbj Mathewa Hark Smith Bobo Basel Turney Conny Cbandoee ....Marie Chambers Maurice Monnler Lou Tellegen Henri Howard Lanxe airs. Wilton .Jennie Eustace Harry Wilton William Conrtlelch. Jr. -Mora ......•• Jennie DomoDt Fraacea Oranser Grace Carlyle Lou Tellegen, actor, has been known to as lor some time, bat, in the roles of author and producing manager, he disclosed him- self to us for the first time on the above date, when he played the star part in "Blind Youth," a drama on which Willard Mack was called in to pat the finishing touches. . . ■• • - The #Mory of the play has to do chiefly with one Maurice Monnier, an art student. Maurice haa sank to the lowest level of dissipation because of the heartlessneaa of a woman, who had been his companion for fonr years in the Paris studios. Her treat- ment of him, which at first is a severe blow, finally proves bis redemption, for he U brought to see his folly in bavins; cen- tered his. affection on a woman of her kind. When he arrives at this conclusion, he re- turns to New York, where he meets with success, and later, happiness. Then he dis- covers that his half-brother, a headstrong youth, is about to marry the woman who came so near bringing ruin to him. To prevent* such a catastrophe, Maurice lores the vampire to his studio, intending to expose her to bis half-brother, but the woman refuses bis invitation and disap- pears. In the last act virtue triumphs over ▼ice in the good old-fashioned way. "Blind Youth" is purely an ''actors*" play, written from an actor's viewpoint- It is theatric and conventional. There is no element of suspense and no effort to depart from the obvious. It follows the lines of the old style melodrama, in which the chief characters always "played" to the gallery. But, in spite of this fact, the acting is better than the play. Mr. Tellegen for the most part, gave a good performance. He possesses a certain amount of charm, and acts with much dis- cretion. At times, however, he permits him- self to lapse into the trickeries and arti- ficialities, learned on the foreign stage and, before he can hope' to win foil praise for his unquestioned ability be must forget his old schooling and confine himself to the methods Of the stage of today. Jennie Eustace, Hazel Turney, Mark Smith, William Conrtleigh, Jr., Grace Carlyle and Marie Chambers all did cap- able work. WHAT THE DAILIES SAT. Herald— Well receive*. Sun— Old-fashioned romance. Tribune—Acting better than play. American— Talky scene* retard action. DAVENPORT REOPENS THEATRE Butler Davenport has reopened the Little Theatre with "The Silent Witness." The piece was written by Davenport, pro- duced by him in his own theatre and the star is none other than Davenport. The piece is in fonr acts. Among those in the cast are Catherine Calhoun, Margaret Campbell and Paul Doucet. "DESTROYER" REHEARSALS BEGIN Rehearsals begin this week for Garland G a den's Co-Workers' production of "The Destroyer." The play is taken from the French and in its original. form enjoyed a run of seven months. TITLE CHANGED AGAIN Cohan and Harris have decided to call the latest play of Harry James Smith "The Teacher of Goshen Hollow." The piece was originally tried out under the title of "The Bight Angle." The piece opens with Mary Ryan in the stellar role ( in Buffalo Christmas week. It is. planned to bring the play into New York late in January. "Neighbors," by Zona Gale; "The Critic's Comedy," by Samuel Kaplan; "The Girl In the Cofiln," by Theodore Dreiser, and "Yam Cbapeb." ' a pantomime, by J. Garcia Pimental and Beatrice de Holtholr. pre- sented by tbe Washington Square Players, Monday nlgbt, Dec. 8, at the Comedy Theatre. "THE GYPSY TRAIL" DELIGHTFUL COMEDY AT THE PLYMOUTH AUSTRALIANS TO SEE "FIREFLY" Through their American representative, Jack Hughes, E. and J. Tait have ac- quired from Arthur Hammerstein the Australian rights to "The Firefly." WASHINGTON SQUARE PLAYERS SEEN IN INTERESTING BILL The Washington Square Players pre- sented their second bill' of the new season last Monday night to a representative audi- ence. Tbe program was made up of three one- act plays and a pantomime. "Neighbors," the first on the list, a comedy by Zona Gale, is a realistic sketch laid in New England. All the characters are poor country folk, with big families and big hearts, who are all willing to do their bit and help clothe and feed an orphan boy sent to Miss Carry Ellsworth by her city relatives. Katherine Cornell made a good characterization of this village spin- ster. Marjorie Yonnegut looked and acted the 15-year-old girl that Inez Abel is sup- posed to be, and supplied much of the comedy. Kate Morgan was good as a philosophical grandma, and Robert Strange and Arthur Hohl made excellent character bits of Ezra Williams and Peter. "The Critic's Comedy," by Samuel Kap- lan, was the second playlet. In this, there is a young husband and wife who is his senior. The latter being a dramatic critic and the former a lounge lizard, who sponges'on bis wife. Helen Westley and Jay Strong played the leading roles well. "The Girl in the Cofiln," by Theodore Dreiser, was the most ambitions offering, but gruesome. It is a tragedy of life in a mill town during a strike, in which the centre of the stage is occupied by the coffined corpse of a girl who has died as the result of what was presumably an illegal operation. William Magnet, a leader of tbe strike demands revenge. His comrades call for him to come and speak at an all-important meeting; but he is de- termined to watch that night by his dead. Finally the chief, Ferguson, appears and pleads with him. Ferguson. himself has that night lost the woman who means most to him, but be is willing to stifle his- per- sonal grief in tbe cause of their comrades. Magnet conquers bis mood and gpe&.out to speak to the strikers. It then transpires that Ferguson was the dead girl's lover. Frederick Roland as Magnet, and Arthur Hohl as Ferguson, were effective. Marjorie Vonnegut, Kate Morgan and Marjorie McClintock were seen as the strikers. "Ynm Chapab," the last of tie quartet, was a pantomime and dancing sketch, which enlisted the services of the entire company. WHAT THE DAILIES SAY. Herald— yew biU tcins approval. Tribune— Most interesting biU. Tiroes— Ably contrasted biU. Sao— T«po o ffer in g s of merit. World—" Girl in the Coffin" interesti. "THE GYPSY TRAIL"—A comedy in three sets by Robert Hoasam. Pre- sented on Tuesday night, December' 4, at tbe Plymouth. OAST. Frank Raymond Robert Cummlngs Miss Janet Raymond Katherine Emmet John Raymond Prank Longacre Stiles Charles Banna Frances Raymond Phoebe Foster Edward Andrews Roland Young Michael Ernest Glendinnlng Mrs. Wlddimore Bffle Elialer Ellen Margaret Sams . Robert Housum, who will be' remem- bered by a few as the author of "Sylvia Bans Away," presented by William A. Brady several years ago, has in "The Gypsy Trail" a new piece produced 'by Arthur Hopkins in his own playhouse, a play which will be long remembered by many, for its freshness and humor are truly delightful ■ The little play is in three short acts, filled with undeniable charm and novelty, and with the irresistible appeal of romance aa its theme. "The Gypsy Trail" cleverly depicts the contrast of the conventional with the ro- mantic. The story deals with a roving adventurous youth and a girl whose sur- roundings have been most conventional, yet deep within her from childhood has lurked a desire for romance and adventure. She is loved by a conventional young business man, who having had it brought home that the only way he can win her is to display a romantic aide to his nature, engages the adventurous youth to act as chauffeur in a prosaic, kidnapping affair. Careful that his actions may arouse no scandal, the unromantic lover brings his grandmother to tbe country house which was the scene of tbe adventure in order that she might act as chaperone. With such care and forethought one might be- lieve that the plan would work out to a nicety, bnt as so many carefully laid plans go astray, this one did likewise. The result is a foregone conclusion, al- though the uncertainty lasted until nearly the end of the play. The girl was irre- sistibly drawn to tbe youth of adventure, and he to her, in spite of her conventional- ity, which in the end ruled both. Phoebe Foster was the girl, and she made the character delightful. Roland Young was the young man, bound by con- vention, yet longing to be the dashing lover, and Ernest Glendenning, tbe rover, with romance always in his blood, gave one of his finest performances. Miss Effie Ellsler, as tbe conventional young man's grandmother, herself possessed of wit and the spirit of romance, scored an individual hit, and Frank Longacre as the young brother of the girl was most natural. WHAT THE DAILIES SAY World— IAght and lively. Sun— Full of potent humor. Times— Pleasant comedy. Tribune— Delightful comedy. Herald— Pleases and putties. "A NIGHT IN SPAIN" OPENS Cocoanut Grove, atop the Century The- atre, was opened for the season by Dil- lingham and Ziegfeld last Thursday night with "A Night in Spain" as tbe attrac- tion. It is a musical show with plenty of melodious tunes, written by Quinito Valverde, dancing, pretty costumes and scenery. The company is beaded by Ray- mond Hitchcock and includes: Mario Marco, prima donna soprano; Luisita Pucbol, Amparo Sans, Carmen Lopez, An- tonio de Bilboa, and the Muses Doloretea and Maxzantinita. The Cocoanut Grove opens at 10.30 P. M. for-a public dancing and refreshments and "A Night in Spain" begins about midnight. OPENING DATES AHEAD "Words and Music"—Fulton, Dec 22. "Lord and Lady Algy"—Broadhurat, Dec. 22. "Flo-Flo"—Cort, Dec. 24. "The Lady of the Camellias"—Empire, Dec. 24. "Why Marry"—Astor, Dec 25. "Cohan Revue, 1918"—Cohan & Harris, Jan. l. Shows Closing "Tbe Very Idea"—Astor, Dec. 15. •.■Midnight Frolic"—New Amsterdam Roof, Dec 22. "Misalliance"—Washington, D. C, Dec 16. "OVER THE TOP* IS GOOD VAUDEVILLE SHOW IN DISGUISE "Over the Top" is a- good vaudeville show, strung together by a thread of a story run in to allow for the appearance of beautiful' Justine Johnstone. Possibly it has a superfluity of pretty stage settings for such ■ a performance and a patriotic final to the first- act that could hardly be expected to be found in tbe Palace. De- spite them, however, the idea that strikes one as they leave is that it is a good vaudeville show. The first act opens' with a tenement house exterior in one that serves to bring out Aleen Bronson and Joe Laurie, Emma Sharrock and Craig Campbell, all of whom have been seen in vaudeville. Laurie and Bronson run away with the scene, the for- mer putting over some original gaga that went well. Miss Johnstone appears also as a little girl who dreams fancifully of the land of frocks and frills, to which her tenement bouse purse has never allowed her admittance. Tbe second scene takes her to that land, which is presided over by Vivien Oakland, of the Oakland Sisters, also not unknown to vaudeville. She is supremly charming in the part. She shows tbe little dreamer about the place and makes her acquainted with Mr. Plot, in tbe person of T. Boy Barnes. likewise a toiler in tbe fields of the two-a-day. Fred and Adele Astaire, "big time"-' entertainers,' appear at this point and also- do their vaudeville dances. Charles Mack, for years a member of the team of Swor and Mack, was noticed also in this scene. After a song with Ted Loraine and the Oakland Sisters, down on the programme as scene three, Laurie and Bronson did a specialty entitled "At the Railroad Sta- tion." A big scene showing a score of pretty girls in an impersonation of some well- known beverage, article or utensil, was then unfolded, to be followed by Rolando's Neo-CIassical Dancers, long a vaudeville feature This, with a big patriotic effect, in which hundreds of aeroplanes are Been filling tbe horizon and sweeping on "Over the Top" ends the first part. The second part has five scenes, entitled "At tbe Theatre," "The Golden Forest," "Pas De Deux," "In Algeria," "The Old Stage Door," "The Eyes of Youth" and "In Chu Chin Chow's Cave" They are carried along by Laurie and Bronson, Barnes, Campbell, the Oakland Sisters, the Astaires and Mack. At their conclusion come Harry and Emma Sharrock, who present tbe same mind-reading act they bave been offering in vaudeville. And, like its appearance in the two-a-day, it proved mystifying and highly entertaining, even though it had been made part of a so-called production. They were put to the most severe tests by the audience on tbe opening night, but were uniformly successful. T. Roy Barnes has a hard time in the piece, his main duty, as near as could be ascertained, being to stall around and keep tbe piece going while scenes were being changed back-stage. The Astaires, always clever, did noth- ing to lessen their reputation as graceful and entertaining dancers. Judged by their performances both in this piece and in vaudeville they have a bright future ahead of them.