Variety (September 1918)

LEGITIMATE, 15 lor Barnum, creator of "The Greatest Show on Earth." There 18 hardly enough plot In it for a 20-mlnute vaudeville eketcb. As entertainment It la a rar« treat to old- time show folks and those In the- allied the- atrical trades. Average theatregoers of the preseqt generation know little of P. T. Barnum and bis clever schemes tor humbugging the public. He Btlll lives in theatrical history and only in that way. The "Barnum" trade- mark attached to circus entertainment hasn't the magic financial potency it enjoyed a gen- eration ago. For that reason, employing the late circus Impresario as the central character of a series of incidents In hia life for stage purposes In not 'strong enough to attract paying patronage —at least not In New York. Thomas A. Wise Is oast for the titular role and a better type could" not possibly have been selected. Those of us who personally knew the great showman will appreciate the fidelity of the'interpretation. The only criti- cism on that score Is that the original spoke slower and with more of a drawl. According to the play In which be is being presented, James A. Bailey operated a shell- game with the tent show when Barnum made his acquaintance, which later developed info a' life partnership. In the various Incidents Barnum is given -credit tor having created "pink lemonade," "the wild man of Borneo," "General Tom Thumb" and a' number of his other famous attractions merely by accident, the result of sudden Inspirations. According to the slay when Jenny Lied arrived In America to ap- pear under his management, Barnum was in- volved in a land deaf In Bridgeport and waa "stone broke." He gave "the Swedish night- ingale" a worthless check for ber guarantee, whereupon she handed* it back and arranged to play the tour on a partnership agreement. There is shown bis practical adoption 'of a young New Orleans girl who ran away from her drunken father to Join his circus, which culminated in ber marriage to his secretary whom he looked upon as a son. No mention is made of the circus man's wife. Types galore are shown, such as on old clown, boss canvasman, midgets, the skeleton man, the fat woman, female circus rider, snake charmer, eta They are all adequately portrayed, but the plot is so flimsy It fails to hold interest: "Mr. Barnum" so far as New York Is con- cerned, is destined for absolute failure, with the probability of a similar fate If sent on \ tour. itolo. CROPS AND CROPPERS. Annie. Irene Daley Janle Wimpole Eleanor Fox Margot Marbrook Louise Cook Peter Weston Ben Johnson Allison Marbrook Eileen Huban Ray Parcher.. Thomas' Mitchell Stetson J. M. Troughton Jean Georges Flateau Mrs. Bradley Madeline Valentine Or. Truesdale Vernon Kelso Stephen Marbrook Henry Stanford Mrs. Spencer. Helen Wescluy Mrs. Pray Maud giuclalr Pete Cobb Charles Kennedy If you are earnestly desirous of doing war work and have a definite Idea of what you want to do, before starting, acquire some practical knowledge of your undertaking otherwise your efforts will be unavailing and will end disastrously. This is the lesson con- veyed from the amusing little comedy by. Theresa Helburn, presented by the Iden Paynu company, at the Belmont, Sept. 12. "Crops and Croppers" is really an idyllic farce on society farmerettes, who are strong on purpose but short on practice. This is what the ultra-fashionable heroine of the play was up against when she took up farming to help win the war and found- an the old Con- necticut homesteader put it, "farming was standing on the brink of o' hell and throw- ing checks into the hole." The plot 1b light One is always under the Impression the girls are out for a lark *nd are treating the whole thing as a novel ex- periment In which there is "lots of fun," rather than seriously and this lmpresion re- mains until the last act, when they really get down to business. Having renounced society, Allison Marbrook (Eileen Huban) buys a farm, for about three times what It Is really worth. Having the property, she. promptly proceeds to misman- age It. Financial ruin descends upon her and Bhe rents the house and goes to live in one of the cottages. Her love story parallels her war work. In the first act, which, in- cidentally, is slow, she is writing letters to seven young soldiers, one for each day of the week, at the same time being formally en- gaged to one of them. By the last act she is sincerely In love with a French officer, who has been sent over here to recuperate from wounds and is working as a farm hand on the place. Eileen Huban played the heroine with a natural grace, while Georges Flateua ro- venled a gift of robust comedy which was re- freshing. Ben Johnson was quietly effective as a mater-of-fact uncle and "near guardian." Louis Cook, sister to tho farmerette-ln- chlef, was exceedingly clever as a breezy and . likeable young thing, but totaly ■ Irresponsi- ble. Her witty remarks were accountable for many laughs. The rest of the company per- formed creditably. The three scenes were simple, but effective, end Miss Helburn's piny Is smart enough In dialog to survive for at least a time. SOME NIGHT. John Hardy Forrest Wlnant Robert Chaa. Welsh-Homer Mrs. Hardy Camilla Crume Marjorle ., Grace Edmond Daisy Anna Fredericks Bobby Harry Lambert Joe Louis Simon Dorothy Wayne Roma June Madden...........\.' ThoB. H. Walsh Joe Scanlon .......James C. Marlowe Henry Spiffens Chas. W. Meyers f Chas. Hall Constables { J. W. Willlnghana I... Charles Fulton Neighbors—Elaine Landau, Llndley Lenton, Jeanne Dare, Virginia Roche, Dolly Alwin, Helen Halpren, Edna Richmond, Laura Lyle, Billy Vernon, Catherine Hurst, Blanche Terrell. > The main thing lacking to the complete success of ''Some Night" Is a more experienced producer. Of Harry Delf, who wrote the story, words and music, one might say: "The kid is clever." Token in hapd by a good play-doctor a great deal more could have been gotten out of the production. It starts/off with snap and ginger and finishes cleverly, but needs a lot of girding of loins In between, revision of the plot, recasting of several of the principals and so on." The show is the initial production made by Joseph Klaw. A young girl comes to a man's home In the belief he is s, private detective, and hands him 151,000 in bonds to bide for her, as she. is followed by the police. She Is, a few moments later, and the sleuths demand the wealth. Both refusing, the man and the girl aire locked in the room until they "came through." This scene is laid in the man's bouse where reside his mother, sister, etc., and although they are only kept prisoner for one hour in the afternoon the lncandescents are switched off and they light a candle and are supposed to fall asleep on chairs under stress q( such a situation, where the girl be- lieves she Is in the den of white slavers. As the young man ls° an artist—a painter—why not have made the scene his studio where his family visited him and. have the detective lock the pair up oyer night? How very much more romantic and giving scope for comedy and just a little spice. The first act finishes with an anti-climax, also the fault of inadequate direction and quite obvious to most people. The second act resumes where the first left off, with the couple locked in the room. Through one of the doors locked by the de- tective comes a half-witted, deaf and dumb gardener of the place. How he opened the locked door Is not revealed." This gardenor, by the way, admirably played by Louis Simon, should be rewritten to give him lines to speak and make of him only a shrewd chap who pretends to be deaf and dumb in the presence of the detectives. It's never quite funny to watch the antics of a human being bereft of any of his senses. Simon got a lot out of the part through most effective pantomiming. The outstanding hit is the chorus—a bunch of 11 handsome girls who sing, dance and play musical instruments with a spirit and dash that earned for them innumerable encores. Forrest Wlnant as the leading man, sang well, but was a trifle stiff and "unyielding." Roma June, the leading woman, was the weak- est member of the organisation. She con- stantly permitted her scenes to drop and was wholly unsympathetic and out of the picture. Anna Fredericks and Harry Lambert, juvenile and Ingenue, pleased very much with their singing and dancing.specialties. The lyrlca are clever, the music pleasing but unoriginal, and the plot, suitably revised, more than adequate for a musical comedy. If kept qn the road a few weeks longer until "fixed up" it would have been a certain suc- cess. In Us present form the result Is doubt- ful. Jolo. had teen for six weeks recovering from a railroad accident. He regains consciousness soon after the curtain arises and makes it known he Is In a strange place. His wife Is either a dream' or some pretty creature about whom he has no definite knowledge. He In- sists that ho is Dick Tront and his home town, Glenco, Nebraska, where he worked on the "Herald." He tells the doctor this, but when the medico asks him questions about his early life, Dick falls to remember details and es- pecially figures. He cannot recall he 1b part- ner in a business In New York In any way. Dick Is sure that they picked up the wrong man In the wreck and attempts to leave his bed. Dick has explained that the last he remem- bered wbb taking one Enid White, to a dance In Qlencq add that be was sort of keen on Enid. In the second sot he Is strange to his wife, Dora, with waom be is deeply In love. Rather than hurt her by continuing to im- personate Craven, he would rather depart.,But the doctor, who cannot understand the case, tells Dick that Dora is to become a mother and that he should take no chances by leav- ing and thus shocking her. Dick has a pe- culiar sort of sneeze, which Is recognized by an electrician who comes to fix the bells. The man demands hush money, saying that Dick is Trent. Craven told the doctor that In Glenco he had won the enmity of the town toughs through exposures In the "Herald." He had asked the physician to write to Glenco to certain people, but the letters came back and It' also de- velops that Trent is unknown there. Thus In the final act, when the babe has come, not alone does the audience know whether Dick Is Craven' or Trent, but he doesn't know himself. But it comes out, when Enid appears, through a letter that had followed ber. She relates to Dick, the doctor and the others that after the dance, Dick Tr.ent had been struck op the head by a stone by the toughs near the rail- road. The men had piled him Into a freight train. He later recovered in a Chicago hos- pital and had apparently gone east,* having taken the name of Craven. The recent rail- road accident had deprived him of part of bis memory. When he asks why be was not known In Glenco and why be was not Trent, she further explains that the roughs had struck him twelve years ago. Dick swoons, but as be recovers calls for Dora. Which makes everything alright and apparently leaves him as Craven after all. Lionel Atwlll as Craven gives a very care- ful and effective characterization. This is Mr. A twill's third year in this country, bo drawing attention to his playing in "The Lodger.'" Elsie Mackay. pretty and quietly clever, furnishes a likeable Dora. Miss Mac- kay 1b an Australian girl. She appeared as a lead In the Beerbbbm-Tree season at the Am- sterdam a season or bo ago and last year was the feminine lead in the western company of "The Gypsy Trail." George Backus made a clever doctor, Lucia Moore truly played an irritating middle-aged lady, while the other role's were well taken care of. The play is tastefully produced and Its stag- ing shows the skilful hand of William H. Qllmore. IbBe. ANOTHER MAN'S SHOES. Dick Lionel Atwlll Miss Fodmore Ethel Wilson Mrs. Wolfe Lucia Moore Anno Carol Lloyd Hughes. .• Paul Porter Dora (Mrs. Craven) Elslo .Mackay Dr. Worrall George Backus Slade (atlas Crouse) Richard Taber Mr. Wolfe Aubrey Beottie Dawson Ervllle Alderson Miles Cyril Raymond Mrs. Milson Gilda Lcary Frederick McKay has been reaching for something in the legitimate production field for some time, and at last he has been re- warded with a play that should make a fair bid for favor, although "Another Man's Shoes" Isn't a piece that will break any rec- ords at the 30th Street theatre. The play showed out of town for ono night last spring, came back to New York, then went to Wash- ington for a week. "Another Man's Shoes" Is a comedy drama of the mystery type, succeeding without sensa- tionalism in keeping an audience puzzled un- til the last minute. It Is founded on a story entitled "Craven," written by Laura Hlnkley, which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in the Issue of March 1G, 1012. At that period the peculiar affection known as aphasia was popularly supposed to be uncommon, that be- cause the dallies dug up many a tale on such cases. But Miss Hlnkley went them ono bet- ter by writing a story keyed on what Is known as doublo aphasia, which, as the physician In the play explains, Is "dlsuKsoclntlon of per- sonality" or an "alternating complete nm- nesln." Mabel Ferris collaborated with Miss Hlnkley In fashioning "Craven" Into a play. It opens with Dick Craven in bed, where ho take your choice. The leading lady must be Margarite Fields—her name is in the heaviest type, but if they ever hold a voting contest on it, the chances are it will be an even break. Margaret Pitt is the villainess, Eveta Knduesen has a small role this week; that helps some. Bernard McQuarrie is the hus- band of the sinning wife, and next week, "In Old Kentucky," which Mr. Dixon says will be the first time in stock in New York that "Old Ken- tucky" will be played. How Broadway can keep away from the Third avenue stock company is a mystery. Perhaps it doesn't know of it. But what better way to ruin an evening? THIRD AVENUE STOCK. "Why Not Me—A Woman" is the play of the Third Avenue Stock Company under the direction of Martin J. Dixon at the Third Avenue Theatre this week, at 10-20-30. For the scale much -can not be looked for and much is not re- ceived; including the play itself, written by the business manager of the house, Stephen Champlin. Mr. Dixon had the Third Avenue some years ago and has it again. The house has tried everything but car- bolic. Mr. Dixon has an idea for the stock run or walk. He wants to give budding authors a chance and will produce new plays. That's a good scheme to save royalty. Besides what do they know on Third Avenue of Broadway. It's even money that there are as many people east of Third ave- nue who have never been west of it as those who have. And the city gave Third avenue an awful slam this week when the # traffic authorities decreed only trucks could use that street. Who- ever that traffic guy was he knew Third avenue almost as well as he does Riverside drive. All the props of the old styled mcller are in the "Woman" play. It's about equal rights, or wrongs. If the man can do it and get away clean why should the woman be daubed scarlet for the rest of her sinful life. The dialog keeps harping on it. After awhile you vote for equal suffrage in every thing and declare, if elected, in the hope the play will end, but it keeps on, right on to the finish, through a drawing room scene, where they say, "I'll lay for you," "I'll get you* and a number of other inelegant expressions that are not inelegant, however, on Third avenue. The show is chatter and business, 'GLORIANA' IS BRIGHT. Atlantic City, Sept. 18. "Gloriana,".at the Apollo last Friday night is certainly charming. As back- grounds to achieve this result the new John Cort production offered scenery by Joseph.Urban that was bold in its severe outlines and expansive blues; costumes attractive in the lightest fab- rics; music by Rudolf Friml, as whis- tleable as any he has written; girls who were pretty and a cast ably support- ing attractive Eleanor Painter. ' "Gloriana" as a play is not yet per- fect, but the long expectation which made an intended Monday opening oo cur on Friday night proved that prep aration did its best for the public win packed the Apollo. The first act is in need of much swifter action, but the second and third fully sustain the promises of the enterprise. Wit and humorous pleasantries about commonplace things have a large place in the book of Catherine Chisholm Cushing. The audience laughed and laughed again in spontaneous enjoy- ment of the brightness. Specialties are numerous throughout the perform- ance, though it must be admitted they do not fit quite as smoothly into the combination of story and song as in "Fiddlers Three," which the same man- .agement recently offered here. Among the special events are Gilbert Wells and Balfour Lloyd as 'two por- ters. Their cleverly agile dances pleased as much as did the "dance of the servants" or "Chianti," another trio number. The chorus was not noted for voices,' but for good looks, the charming gowns they wore and the pleasant steps they took. The music has a few especially attractive numbers of the usual style of Mr. Friml's compositions. "I Love You Dear" proved the most at- tractive. "Why Don't You Speak for Yourself, John?" was not only pretty, but well staged in imitation of the famous Puritan saying. Somehow Mr. Friml's music did not occupy as promi- nent a place in the importance of the evening s success as it might have. Besides Miss Painter as widow were Dorothy South as the real wife; Jose- phine Whitall as a costumer with fetching gowns; Ursula Ellsworth as • a withered squeaking aunt; Helen Marqua in the pose of a daughter with ancient costumes; Curtis Karpe as an Italian grocer; Joseph Lectora in the hero role of naval attache; Ralph Whitehead, the husband returned from the army in France; Alexander Clark, a woman hating solicitor; and James Dunn, a clever butler. Jessica Brown danced and sang under the title of "Jessica." The cast made up in voices for any deficiencies of the chorus. "Gloriana" was announced for a New York opening, Sept. 23, but owing to the inability of John Cort finding a desirable theatre for it by that date, it will play two weeks in Philadelphia before reaching Broadway. "'Gloriana" is in Washington this week. It was reported that the show in which Klaw & Erlanger are inter- ested with Mr. Cort may play at the Amsterdam or Liberty, when reaching New York.