The Billboard (1920)

f35;«P'» 14 «&i£ %3» J, Mr JL MM aim. JL ML$ THE WALK-OFFS. Mary Carter . .Frances Underwood Sonla OrloS Fanla Marlnoff Carolyn Rutherford Robert Arnold Peter GrandJn Charles A. Stevenson Schuyler Rutherford William Roselle Judge Charles Brent Perclval T, Moore Mrs. Alicia Elliott..; Janet Travers Kathleen Rutherford Carroll McComaB Murray Van Allen Fred L. Tlden Robert Shirley Winston Bdmond Lowe George Washington White.Eramett Sbackloford ■ Ah Foo » Elmer Ballard "The Walk-Offs," presented by Ollvsr Mo- rosco at the Morosco Theatre Tuesday night. Is the latest play of the Hattons—Frederic and Fanny. Like most Hatton products it is start- ling, clever and unconventional. But while billed as a comedy, it takes on the dimensions more than once of just plain farce, and 16 played in this vein by some of the members of the cast, while others stick to the tradi- tions of light comedy. To tell the main plot is like unravelling snarled threads, there is so much that Could be told, bo much that Is intertwined. To a set of frivolous, shallow, fast-living "walk- off a" (a term explained by a negro servant In the piece as persons without brains) Comes Robert Shirley Winston, of Tennessee, to visit hit) cousin, Mary Carter, a sculptress. He has been reading on the train the unsavory details of the divorce of Carolyn Rutherford from Schuyler Rutherford, In .which the name of Schuyler's sister, Kathleen, Is more or less Involved as one living the same sort of life as the rest of her friends. Expressing him- Belf to his cousin in no mild terms regarding these people he Is overheard by Kathleen who In a rage determines to punish him. This she proceeds to do by becoming Mary Ford, a typist, and winning his devotion for all time. Then she founts him with what she has done. But, reckoning without her host, she has In the meantime fallen in love with him. So when the man of her own set, to whom she is engaged, proves easily susceptible to the advances of an artist's model and the South- erner suddenly turns cave man and breaks her Rpirlt, she 1b willing that the tables be turned. In the meantime the divorced couple have l>ecome engaged again, and another see- sawing pair have settled things satisfactorily. The cast on the whole Is excellent, and they all have something to do. Edmond Lowe, as the Southerner, is forceful and virile, it a bit priggish withal. But that is the fault of the part. The scene In which he forces Kathleen to forswear cigarettes, champagne and cards, and even declare her yellow gown to be red because he says It Is, Is rather far-fetched. Carroll McComas Is charming as Kathleen and acts admirably, despite some strange lit- tle mannerisms and gestures with her arms, faintly reminiscent of musical comedy. Fanla Marlnoff docs splendid work, as a little Rus- sian model. She is spry and chic, and has mastered an adorable .accent. It Is a pity ber part does not mean more. Frances Under- wood and Charles A,- Stevenson are another pair of lovers. Roberta Arnold, as the di- vorced wife, sets the nerves of the audience on edge with a piercing nasal voice and plays her part according to the standards of the most roaring farce-comedy. William Roselle plays fier drunken husband. Janet Travers Is a vamplrlsh and disagreeable co-reBpondent, while Perclval T. Moore plays a flirtatious Judge. The dialog Is always sparkling, frequently startling. Several of the best laughs could scarcely have been Intended. And as a factor to the success of the production should be mentioned the two very pretty sets, notably the one in the last act, showing a roof garden over a studio. "The Walk-Offs" Is diverting enough to enjoy a respectable run. THE GIRL BEHIND THE GUN. Robert Lambrlssac Donald Brian Pierre Breval Jack Hazzard Georgette Breval Ada Meade Colonel Servan Frank Doane Lucienne Lambrlssac Wllda Bennett Harper Wentworth Bert Gardner Eileen Moore Eva Francis Brlchoux John E. Young Zellle Virginia O'Brien Edna ....) [Florence Delmar Ppllie ... f American Girls J • ■ Elaine Palmer Margie ..[ ]....CIssle Sewell Carrie ...J I June White Klaw & Erlanger offer for metropolitan Judgment this week what they announce as a "new musical comedy" by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, music by Ivan Caryll, the dialog directed by Edgar Mac- Gregor, ensembles by Julian Mitchell. If the authors make any claim for originality of plot or will deny the story wasn't adapted from v one—or more—of the numerous Bala- clous French farces of the past decade they ha.e a nerve that should stand them In good stead when collecting the royalty. Mmo. Breval, whose husband Is In the army (the locale is France), adopts a pollu godson by correspondence. She Is an actress. The pollu's friend in the trenches is a playwright, anxious to have her read one of his pieces, and persuades the pollu to let himself be Impersonated on leave. About the time the playwright calls Mme. Breval dis- covers her husband is having an affair with another woman, and she determines to get B evcn by flirting with her godson. As they are kissing, enter madam's uncle, an old major, Just from Algeria, who mistakes the playwright for madam's husband and Insists on visual evidence of domestic felicity. Madam Is visited by a school companion, who has mar- ried. She tells of having met a charming major on the train, who had paid her much attention. Needless to add she is the wife of the playwright. Madam must, perforce, dis- own her husband and the playwright must Ignore bis wife. In the original this must have given full scope for Innumerable risque situations. It will be perceived the Btory Is built around two married couples, permitting no opportunity for any romance, as has been the case In big musical successes. . With this fatal handicap the American authors failed to create anything original in the matter of humorous dialog, the dialog In- cluding such ''released" Jokes as "I don't know you—you've nothing on me; I don't know you either," "what was your first bat- tlo? It wasn't a battle. It was a little argu- ment about a hat," "Have you .got a wife?—• The Jury 1b still out," and so on plentifully sprinkled with "devil," "hell" and "damn." Then there is a musical director who apes the eccentricities of the passe Creators and who turns to the audience for approval of his methods, detracting from the stage pic- tures. There are also several unhappy, selections for the personnel. Donald Brian Is woefully miscast. He has a role for which he is totally unfitted, that of the playwright. It gives him small scope for his dancing, the thing for which he depends mainly for suc- cess and on which he built his reputation. Ada Meade as Mme. Breval is ponderous, with little or no singing voice and devoid of histrionic talent. Wllda Bennett as the wife of the playwright, sings well and dances fairly, but Is cold and non-magnetic. The hit is Jack Hazzard as the husband of Mme. Breval. He has a travesty philosophical song In the second act, "Women Haven't Any Mercy on a Man," the only number receiving any hearty applause. The chorus Is not much In evidence, em- ployed principally for opening numbers and finales. They are pretty, beautifully cos- tumed and well drilled, in Julian Mitchell's best style. A backdrop used in the first two of* the three acts, is painted in the effect of tapestry and the production on the whole is in good taste, but the general effect was such that Tuesday night a number of .people left after the second act while others straggled out all through the last Interval. Donald Brian's name and the general repu- tation of the Amsterdam for presenting big shows there may serve to keep "The Girl Be- hind the Gun" in New York for a limited en- gagement. The piece, however, cannot be set ' down as a success. jioio. AN IDEAL HUSBAND. Lady Chlltern Beatrice Beckley Mrs. Marchmont Elizabeth Delmel Lady Basildon Merle" Maddern VIcomte De Nanjac George Hayes Lady Jane Barford Dorothy Clay The Earl of Caversham Cyril Harcourt Mr. Montford S. V. Phillips Mabel Chlltern Gretchen Yates Lady Markby Alice Augarde Butler Mrs. Cheveley Constance Collier Count Strellc Vincent Sartori Sir Robert Chlltern Norman Trevor Lord Goring Julian L'Estrange Phlpps Henry Crocker Mason Alfred Helton Undlmmed through the yearB shint " i epigrams of Oscar Wilde. At the Comedy Monday a fine company gave an admirable performance of "An Ideal Husband," the third of Wilde's possibly three best plays to be given a revival during the past few years. Times have changed so : during the past generation that few plays of more than a few years back can be found which do not seem old-fashioned and even tedious. The plays of Wilde suffer as little as any In this re- spect, possibly because they really belong' to no particular era. Always studiously arti- ficial, so many startllngly clever and amus- ing characters as he brings together were probably seldom at any time found in the same drawing-room. The action of the piece under consideration Is never rapid, and the plot not aa absorbing as say "Lady Windermere's Fan," but it is sufficiently interesting, and taken in con- Junction with the splendid lines makes a comedy of a type far too rare in these days. It has been modernized by the substitution of the word "car" for "carriage," as Oscai Wilde never even heard of an automobile— a rather unnecessary detail, as carriages are still far from obsolete in London. Taken all In all, the play is as virile and vivid and "smart" now as when first produced. The story deals with Mrs. Cheveley, a bril- lant and unscrupulous woman, who seeks to blackmail Sir Robert Chlltern Into advo- cating a certain swindling scheme before Parliament. This she proceeds to do by threatening to make public a certain com- promising letter written by him years be- fore. She very nearly succeeds when- Lord Goring, a friend of Sir Robert's, discovers In her possession a Jeweled bracelet which she had stolen from a relative of his years ago. Fearing exposure and arrest Mrs. Cheve- ley surrenders the letter, and happiness Is restored to the Chlltern home- It must be a Joy to the actor to get such parts, when even the butlers gets laughs. And yet It Is not fair to call them actor- proof, for they are of a texture so peculiar as to be ruined In the hands of any but fin- ished artists. And It is a company of finished nrtlsts indeed which John D. Williams has provided for his revival. As Mrs. Cheveley Constance Collier gives a remarkable performance. Suave, Insinuating, clever and cruel, she is the embodiment of the woman she typifies. Norman Trevor as Sir Robert also docs splendid work. He is a compelling and dominant figure from start until the final curtain. Beatrice Beckley, the antithesis of Miss Collier, Is convincing as Sir Robert's high-principled and unworldly wife, while Julian L'Estrange is equally good as Lord Goring. Others who-should be men- x Honed are' Gretchen Yates, a fascinating In- genue with wonderful red hair; Alice Augarde Butler as a talkative dowager, and Cyril Harcourt as the father of Lord Goring (Julian L'Estrange/. The performance went along fairly smoothly, although several of the company did not seem quite sure of ^thelr lines, and some amusement was caused when Gretchon Yates said, "Why, Gertrude, how pale you are," and Miss Beckley walked cm With her make-up obviously freshened and very plfiE. "An Ideal Husband" should prove welcome in the list of the season's successes. THE UNKNOWN PURPLE. Those In Prison: First Convict (Hawkins) Number 1137 Second Convict Number 1408 Characters in the Episode as related by Convict Number 1137—as they appear: Hawkins, a thief .Convict 1137 Jewel, wife Helen MaoKellar Ruth, Jewel's sister Lorraine Frost Bonnie, friend of Jewel's.......Marlon Kerby Peter Marchmont, Jewel's husband, Richard Bennett James Dawson, Marchmont's friend, Earle Brown Phelan, from headquarters E. L. Duane Characters in the play:' Bobby Dawson. .• Arthur Le VIen Ruth Charleton .' Lorraine Frost Richard Bradbury Edward Van Sloan James Dawson ■ .Earle Brown George Allison Frank McCormick Bonnie Allison •. Marlon Kerby. Mrs. James Dawson vHelen MacKellar Johnson, butler... Herbert Ashton The Stranger. V. Cromport, Burton, Allison's head man Curtis. Benton "The Unknown Purple,"' presented at the Lyric last Saturday night, is a very good play and it is not.. That depends altogether upon the angle from which you base your judg- ment. It is palpably theatric but, nevertheless, absorbingly interesting and full of suspense for the layman. If one were asked to conjure the method 'employed in assembling "The Unknown- Pur- ple" he could readily Imagine jthe authors patterning their situations after well knowh stage successes, past and present. Messrs.. Roland West and Carlyle Moore have un- • doubtedly read or seen a great many plays, in- cluding "The Vendetta," "The Silver King," "Monte Crlsto," "Arsene-Lupin," "Raffles," "On Trial," "Peter Grimm," etc. The afore- mentioned plays Were all successes, so If they have fashioned "The Unknown Purple" along the lines of former hits they have done wisely. As playwrighters they have fared far better than as playwrlters—in other words, their* construction far surpasses their dialog. Their play will not go down into history as a speci- men of erudition. It is a crook melodrama with flashbacks. A motion picture director with any sense of Imagination could make of it a most effective film feature. It opens with a drop In "one," showing the exterior of prison cells; Two prisoners are behind the bars in adjoining cells. One Is a cokney Englishman who has no faith In women. The other, a more super- ior individual, says there is one—his Wife— who is struggling for an existence for herself and their child, and who is waiting for him to complete his term. Cockney reads from a newspaper a society event and rails at the married couple who are giving It. He proceeds to relate the history of the pair, saying th*. man is a crook who hired him to pull off a job and double-crosed him, two years previously. The drop Is raised and the episode Is visual- ized. It is the event in the other man's life which caused his incarceration. He had been Jobbed by his own Wife and the other man and not suspecting the real motive he had stood for the crime and gone to prison to protect his wife. The drop is again lowered find the cockney Is concluding his narration. "What would you do If that was ybur wife?" the second convict asks the cockney. On re- ceiving a reply to the effect that if it took 1,000. years he would wreak dire vengeance, the other says: "That's Just what I am going to do." The second act shows the culprits in their luxurious home, seven years later. There Is talk of/'|a wealthy business acquaintance of the husband and you know it is none other than the released prisoner bent on vengeance —a modern Monte Crlsto. The victim is an Inventor and has perfected a formula that will render one Invisible. The guilty couple are systematically robbed and the man's business ruined by on unknown Implacable enemy. The modern Monte Crlsto even para- phrases the speech of Snydey Carton in "The Only Way" ("A Tale of Two Cities"), when he tells the false wife's sister he Is present on "a far greater business than I have ever known before." He has written the man he will call . that evening to steal the wife's necklace, a la "Arsene Lupin." By render- ing himself invisible the safe Is opened and valuables extracted, while a detective Is on guard. The'thlrd act visualizes what occurred up- stairs during the latter part of act 2, In which the husband, while Invisible, ■ talks to the man who ruined him, poisons his mind against the woman now his wife, the wife enterals being choked by her guilty accomplice, the hero makes himself visible, reveals his identity, is cornered by the detective, again renders him- self invisible, escapes and takes with him his son and the sister of his faithless wife, who had devoted her life to bringing up his child. That admirable actor, Richard Bennett, con- tributes in no small measure to whatever sue- des* the play may enjoy. He Wakes "of the theatric hero a sympathetic individual, Helen MacKellar Is excellent as the faithless wife and Earle Brown as the villain acquits himself creditably. At tile concusfdn of the prolog there was promise of a great play to come, but, instead of being cumulative, it seemed to peter out. It will be no half-way success—the public will either takeito it en masse or not at all. Jolo. THE MAID OF THE MOUNTAINS. * Baldasarre ■. William Courtenay Tonio Bert Clark Beppo. Carl Gantvoort Carlo. .....Jackson Hlnes Andrea. .'. M. La Prade Pletro Victor LeRoy General Malcna Wiliam Danforth Crumpet Al Roberts Lieutenant Ruglni ...John Steel Mayor of Santo ; ....William Reid fcacchi Louis Le Vie Teresa Sldonie Espero Vittorio , ^Miriam Doyle Angela Evelyn Egerton Gianette Gertrude Hamilton Maria Mlna Davis Marietta. .Marguerite May Beppirla Eva Newton Peplta Patricia Frewen Time was turned back a generation or more when "The Maid of the Mountains" was pre- sented at the Casino, Sept. 11. The book is by Frederick Lonsdale, With lyrics by Harry Graham and music by Harold Fraser-Slmson. The program goes on to state that there are additional lyrics by Clifford Harris and Val- entine, and additohal numbers by James W. Tate and Lieutenant Gitz Rice. "The Maid of the Mountains" is an old-fashioned Eng- lish comic opera, strongly reminiscent of Gil- bert and Sullivan, with injections from later English pieces. But it lacks the originality of these older Works and the sprigh-.linesa and delicacy of some of the newer ones. The first scene, reminding »ne of "The Pi- rates of Penzance," is laid in a robbers' fast- ness. Here is Teresa, the maid of the moun- tains, loved by Baldasarre, the leader, and adore-d by all his followers. She subsequently goes aw&y and is captured and is taken to the capital city of the island, where Baldasarre goes, Impersonating the new governor, to res- cue her. , The masquerade Is followed along the old comic opera lines, with the usual. situations and complications. The daughter of the present governor falls* in love with Baldasarre and the poor Maid is f6r a time forgotten. But the Jealous Te- resa exposes her fickle lover and in the last act they are, of course, united. The second scene is laid in tho governor's palace and the third oh an Island. All three scenes are vivid and cheerful, and In keeping wth the era in which the piece shduld have been written. In William Courtenay there is a songless Baldasarre, although surrounded by melody. It seems to he the fashion for dramatic stars to invade the musical stage this season, it re- spective of voice or previous experience, but Mr. Courtenay has not added to his laurels In the present venture. In this old-fashioned part he is hone too dashing, while he has done far more difficult thngs in his own field inuoh better. Sidonle Espero, the picturesque Te- resa, gings delightfully and makes a romantic and alluring picture. She Is one of the new light opera prima donnas of the season. Will- iam Danforth and Bert Clark are really funny In the comedy parts, while Carl Gantvoort adds to the performance with his fine singing. As the governor's daughter Evelyn Egerton Is , very winsome, while Miriam Doyle proves herself an admirable comedienne. The music Is lilting and often beautiful, but there Js nothing that stands out as being of unusual merit. The success of this piece Is problematical. It Is healthy and sane, and It makes the war seem very far away, yet, in spite of our eternal harking back to other days, it is a question if we have not become just a bit too sophisticated riot to find that f'The Maid of the Mountains" is inclined to drag a bit.and seem a little long. MR. BARNUM. Mr.. Barnum..... Thomas A. Wise Nat Morley Richard Gordon Kid Bailey...... Clyde North Daddy Price ...Harold De Becker Con Lonergan Jay Wilson Props Leavltt James Luclen Forterre Gaston Glass Mr. Gerrone Albert Sackett Henry Scran ton (General Tomb Thumb), Herbert Rice Cody Francis La-Mont Arlstlde Letelller Albert Sackett Sheriff L. Melton Clodagh Alonzo Carter Luray Butler Colonel Mnurel. ; <..., William Seymour Buckler Genln Luray Butler Bill Collector L. M, Glodagh George Washington Gibson.. .Charles Jackson Cutty, a negro slave George Ford Ticket-sellers....John Pratt and-J. N. Gaunt Jeanne Letelller; Phoebe Easter Adellna Bonfnnti Carlotta Monterey Zulelka Ethel Cadman Emma Morgana Adeline Mitchell Lavlnla Warren Qucenle Mab Jenhy Llnd f Frances Nielson If the incidents in "Mr. Barnum," a comedy of circus life, written by Harrison Rhodes and Thomas A. Wise, presented by Charles Dillingham at the Criterion, are historically correct, the entertainment Is merely a visual biography of the life of the late Phineas Tay-