Variety (November 1921)

1« LEGITIMATE Friday, November 25, 1921 BROADWAY REVIEWS MARIE ANTOINETTE l.ouln XYr.. Ki!'K "f Pram.- Frofl Krle Jut- r>i II., KrriM-nor 0 f Au.-tin Walts* Kinghaui Duo <)'• )rl' ,-i s .DomkIhh Wood «'onnt .\vl hVr>»i) IVrlro «le <*onl©t»a t'naplorrc, a »>anh*r., Itasil W.at Hacnui'.i. a i-ab driver Herbert Asbton Ma.ill.-r: J. a n -voiutKinifil John QrOB*W*N l'iniKi ihUi v.i!':; «1« ch»ml*rt! Marie Ar.!o!:i~tt.", sii-c: T.eoirir»l. n ha.'rffr'VMer H. Paul Doucwt Toatun. ihU'f UMber Craig Ellis Augtar.l, lntuniiiiMi of Uiu Fiiian<vn.... Austin Hohmi ■>i^-~ :,{ JYanr* Ornce Gturge Jl.idiirn-. Jc ';culK .1 I.eJy of the court.. Ilitrda Danbe Count** <\r- Noaiil** Florence Kdney JVliK' s.t J-- l.umballe. La.iy of Honor.. Hetty Wal«ss T>e H<*auvart \gnes Dunpby JxiuLm, Duk*: oT Normally, the Dauphts: Jack Graltaa Mario Th«!t'«ae, the Princess Iluyal Ix>rna Vataiv M\\l«nio Moucby, a fiah wife Frances Young Swiss C)uar<ld f Hoy A<Un»w I Henri ds 3tatrr* Ushers t > . H. W. Halbkr I Victor I .a Salle f ,l>'»n Eastman r J"i•■•• weiu >n • ' Kloria dc Martjmpr«y I ) Iii a special frame reducing the proportions of the proscenium arch of the Playhouse, William A. Brady presented Graco Georgo Tuesday evening in "Mario Antoinette/* writ- ten by Edyro&r. Before the curtain rose on the first act one or two of the daily newspaper critics fried to wheedle out of Brady the identity of "Edymar," each meeting with the game reply—"I can't tell you. 1 * Variety's reviewer hasards a guess it is Theodore Kremer, famous a dec- ude ago as our foremost writer of melodramas. There Is nothing upon which to )>aae this guess other than a "hunch" from a conviction some day Kremer would write a "two-dollar play" that would be talked about in laudatory terms. If the mysterious "Edymar" is Kremer he probably feared to face comparison on the part of the critics with his earlier work, which earned for him a competence that places him in comfortable circum- stances for the remainder of his days. Also, if it be Kremer, he can afford to stand "the gaff* of com- parison, for "Edymar" has turned out an exquisite piece of writing, possessed of the utmost literary merit He has taken for his subject a fictitious incident in the life of the unfortunate queen of France which led to her undoing and that of her family, culminating in her being dragged to the tumbrel and brought from Versailles to Paris to be guillotined. The play is in three acts, the first laid in the queen's bedchamber in the Petit Trianon, in 1777, and la- beled "The Queen Dances"; the sec- ond In the gardens of the Trianon, showing the Temple of Love, dubbed ""The Queen Gambles.** and the third the queen's ante-chamber hi the palace of Versailles, titled "The Queen Pays.'* The piece opens with the atmos- phere of the period carefully visual- ized via scenic and sartorial detail, showing Marie Antoinette slept in the "infamous bed" of Madame Du Barry, the mistress of her late father-in-law. Her brother, Joseph, Kmperlor of Austria, arrives incog- nito to attempt to counteract the scandal attaching to her alleged amour with Count Fersen. When the lady in waiting draws aside the canopy to waken Her Majority it is discovered the bed had not been occupied and she enters shortly thereafter, revealing she had been out to a dance all night. Emperor Joseph commands Count Axel sail for America with Lafayette the fol- lowing day, to save his sister's rep- utation as the Hue d'Orleans, cousin of the king, is plotting the queen's downfall and using such an innocent affRir to make her unpopular with the populace. Denounced Uh' his plotting in the second act by Count Axel. d'Orleans is banished from the court by the queen, which results in the ultimate overthrow of the monarchy some years later. Throughout Marie An- toinette is idealized in her pure love lor Count Axel, with Louis XVI, al- though a weakling, standing by his queen to the tragic end. In a scene with the count she reveals to him her love, protesting she has no heart for court intrigue- -"Take me away. 1 want to bo a woman." lust prior- to that Kmpcror Joseph has said to the nnnit, "1 rely on the honor of a common* r, Count Axel (the count has protested he was merely a commoner). The fute of a kingdom in in your hand*.." The refusal of the count to take her with him to Aiiuiii'a inspires the queen to break lor word to the king that (sho» will never gamble again, and d'Orleans makes use of this action to poison the minds of the populace against Marie. The last act is laid on the d.iv when the mob breaks into the pal- pee and seizes the queen, ending with a tableau showing her before the guillotine. There is insullicient plot to make an entire play, with the result the pit ee is too talky. It also lacked conviction through the necessity of recruiting Pedro do Cordoba at the eleventh hour for the role of Count Ajtel, causing a stumbling in his line* and consequent unsatisfactory reading of many of his speeches. Miss Ucoiac-w»ui, ~ u anything, more charming than in any of tho many characterizations she has re- galed the publio with. Her beauti- ful, musical voice, her charm of per- sonality, her exquisite delineation of a role that ranges from the light- Hexford Konduck est of light comedy to the most poignant tragedy, reveals her once more as an artist of tho very first rank. Her largo following of ad- mirers will enjoy her latest produc- tion, but when they have been ex- hausted. It is likely the general the- atre-going public will bo meager with its patronage of this typo of semi-historical costume play. The piece was produced under the direction of Miss Georgo and John Cromwell, intelligently east, bril- liantly and lavishly staged, Jok>> EVERYDAY Judgw Nolan Frank Sheridan FMiinte Nolau , Minnie Dupree Vhyllis Nolan Tnllulah Hankh«;id Mm. Raymond I^ucile Watson May Raymond Mary Donnelly T. D. Raymond Bon Hurrough* John JJacfarlane Henry Hull , Jaue l'ag> Wan Kirkpatrick openly espouses this Rachel Crothers comedy-drama, after being under cover in several earlier productions by the same au- thor and with some of tbe principal players, notably "39 East." The Shuberts are interested in this one also. It is at their Bijou, which has not been luckily Itooked so far this season, and that takes in the pres- ent occupant. "Everyday" is conceived and exe- cuted along lines similar to "A Bill of Divorcement," though it far ex- coeds that success in sanity and en- tertainment. It will probably do well, too, to draw half as much as the British accident is* getting, if "Everyday" were British, It might be called weighty, earnest and pur- poseful; being only American, it rates as wordy, tedious and nebu- lous. Miss Crothers has gathered Tallu- lah Bankhead, who scored in her "Nice People." and Henry Hull, who was made in "39 East," and sur- rounded them with other excellent players, and put them through their artistic setting-up exercises and all thi drills of the manual of dramat- ics, in pursuance of the vicissitudes of a patchy, disordered, frequently incoherent and never important book. The first act had comedy—the "Main Streef sort—and rather well written and done. It looked then as though it would develop into a hearty laugh show. But suddenly it veered, even before the first curtain fell, into a mess of "serious" mush, and waded through charity and ethics and love and art, and finally led into a morass of maudlin mouth- ings about honesty. And it was in- tangible dishonesty that dragged the heroine from millions and a big man to go broke and walk out in the middle of the night for a butchers son who, she thought, could sketch, and who profaned wealth and tho bread and butter ho had been eat- ing. In this day and age—and in this town—if an audience or many audi- ences can be thrilled by a diatribe on altruism, a jeremiad against making a lot of money within the law, and a panegyric on conscience —well, tho town has been hiding something from the undersigned. And this is such a wanton blurb against inferential thievery that even a holy and high-minded yokel from the West failed to be sold with It. For almost a whole act Miss Bankhead and Hull and Minnie Dupree rave 1 ' and swore and defied and wrecked families and threw away what looked like very sub- stantial and desirable, futures over a flimsy point of commercial integ- rities, which had been settled in a hundred better plays, and which Kobert "Louis Stevenson dismissed in one line: "There are not three ways of getting money; there are only two—earning it or stealing it." Miss Crothers may have tho line by crediting Stevenson, as this reviewer does, and savo half an act and help save her play. Miss Bankhead is beatific as the daughter of a mid-West politician, just returned from live years abroad, where she absorbed "ideals." Why ideals are any better in immoral Krance, apathetic England, brutal < Jermany, drunken Russia or gypping Switzerland than they are in the wholesome Middle West, Is not ex- plained. Anyhow, she returns with ethereal notions about honesty, so much so that she makes a heel of does his role needlessly throughout, ovcr-emoting, looking distracted all the time, and shamelessly angling for "sympathy." Mary Donnelly, as an Interpolated **flapper/* with no significance in the story* stole the comedy honors with ease and re- vealed prospects, though her stature Is scarcely suggestive of the ingenue type. Minnie Dupree, In a weepy, then eccentric, then declamatory role, registered heavily and "came back'' conspicuously. "Everyday" sounds as though it had been rewritten in chunks. The scenes are not smoothly knit to- gether, and some start so abruptly that they seem out of another play. But the principal flaw beyond this and the uncompelling central theme is the constructive error which causes one Wyman, a principal fig- ure—more so than any of those who appear except the Bankhead char- acter—never to show. Therefore, most of the arguing and far-fetched squabbling is over some one the au- dience has not seen and never sees. The play was originally named after this character. NoW he doesn't even get a chance . to say a word in his own defense, though he Is the main victim as well as the main hero, and the bone of all tho voluble conten- tion. It seems scarcely likely that this play will Imbed itself firmly in this lean and therefore hypercritical sea- son. Lait. OUT OF TOWN REVIEWS THE DREAM-MAKER Marian Brace Miriam Sears Dave Brue*.' Charles I,aite Frederic Farrar William Morris Rena Farrar . Myrtlo Tannehill CJeoffrey miTu. Frank Morgan Dr. Paul Clement William Gillette Nora .Marie Hayties Finch I.arwen Harry B. Humphrey Uuck Wataon Arthur J. Wood Joseph C. Bates Arthur Ehenhack William Gillette wrote this four- acter from a story by Howard E. Morton, and produced it at the Em- pire. The Empire has seldom seen so utter a failure. Mr. Gillette seemed to sense it, himself, after the third act, and before the act which killed all hope, and addressed the audience in clever phrases and HER SALARY MAN Atlantic City, Nov. 23. Bubbling over with humor and teeming throughout with irresistibly droll situations, "Her Salary Man" at the Apollo la the latest produc- tion of John Cort, made in associa- tion with Alex Aaronson. It is a comedy by Forrest Rutherford, and there is much to commend it. The plot reveals a high spirited young girl, heiress to a large fortune and striving vainly to free herself from the leading strings of her puri- tanical aunt, a self-constituted guardian. Rendered desperate by the boredom of her surroundings at a Southern California resort hotel, she advertises for a husband to whom she is willing to pay a hand- some salary on condition that he live at a point not less than 2.000 miles distant from her place of abode. Offers of marriage immediately como pouring in by mail, by wire and in person, greatly to the dismay of the venturesome young miss and the indignation of her scandalised aunt. As it appears, the quest is hopeless .there arrives a figure of sterner mould, wealthy and ignorant of the strange situation into which he unwittingly stumbles. The girl does the wooing, sweeps him off his feet into matrimony and then banishes him in accordance with the agreement, after handing over a check for $10,000 as the original Instalment on his salary. From that time onward the chain of events leading up to the denouement is fast enough and funny enough to suit even the most blase patrons. Ruth Shepley as the girl is happily cast. On a par with her excellent work is that of Edna May Oliver as Aunt {Sophie Perkins, ui>on whom falls the burden of providing the lion's share of the comedy. A. H. Van Buren as a confirmed bachtdor who falls victim to the BULLDOG DRUMM0ND Baltimore, Nov. li. Capt. Hugh Drumuoaa A, E. Mat Algy LongwortU Geoffrey Mil Peter DarreH U. Franklin " Carl Petersen 3am Dr. Henry Laktagton. .C. H. Crocker-] James Hnndlej St. Clafr Dayfl< W. Hocking William W. MnMe Hiram G. Travsrs..........George Barraua Denny Edward M. Favor Derbyshire Thomas Glllen Marcovitcn •• Wallace Hickman Bronlow James A. Boabell Attendants at Dr. Lnklngton's Nursing Home..John W. Albaugh. Jr.. J. H. Hunt Phyllss Benton , Dorothy Tetley Trma Petersen .«• Mary Rehson Maid ................,.....' yntola machinal girl is capital. This melodrama, now at the Wyndham, London, bad a success* ful premiere here Monday. It baa all the embellishments of that style of entertainment—guns, drugged] cigarets, choloroform, etc.; in fact, everything Blaney and Kremer used to delight In. Tho story, briefly, is of ono Hugh Drummond, who returns to Eng- land a captain after service with the British Expeditionary Forces in the late war. The honorable cap- tain, tired of the humdrum exist- ence of civil life, yearns for adven- ture. He inserts an advertisement stating he craves excitement, and as he has a handsome income, he gets his desire when a young girl answers his ad. She, the heroine- to-be, tells of a hospital next her home where things do not seem to run according to Hoyle. Setting forth to investigate, the captain, who has been nicknamed "Bulldog Drummond" by his comrades in Flanders, finds himself enmeshed in all sorts of scrapes. There Is enjoyment In ."Bulldog Drummond," for it furnishes all the thrills of the old-timers in modern settings which Chas. Dillingham has given the American production. The cast is an English one and gives satisfaction. The work of A. E. Mathews In the title role. Ssm There is considerable pruning to be Livesey as Carl Petersen. C. H. excellent observation when he said ?.°T e ■"* m, "Jf «o be clea ed before Croker-King as the villainous doe- A . ,. »,._._,. Her Salary Man" takes its rightful I tor. Miss Tetley as the damsel in that the audience was doing the bet- ter acting—and that it must have come hard Oillctte is a grand old gentleman of the American theatre, a tower for its finest functions. But in this lamentable effort to surround him- self with a whimsical character who turns out a hero—so everlastingly done In "Llghtnln*"—he not only miscast himself, but created an un place in the spotlight, but the .ma- terial is thin. Scheuer. distress and Miss Mary Robson as thy adventuress, is outstanding. FOREIGN REVIEWS Intended farce. When an opening I PC f\pi IV M ACni ICQ night audience at the Empire, the; 1-1 - -3 ***-ViV. rarUj^UU very atmosphere of which is redolent of dignity, plush and standards, laughs despite its handkerchiefs at what are intended for dramatic scenes, little need be added in de- tailed narration of tbls premiere. The story switches from a domes- tic episode to a crook yarn—an im- possible, impracticable and incred- ible crook yarn. Oillctte plays an ex-convict physician who once loved the heroine's mother, and he saves her through four acts of implausible words and events from a*band of ridiculous badger-workers who "frame" her to get some oil stock. The dramatic "punch" is in his forcing them to act before her as though nothing had happened, to convince the girl it was all a dream so that her heart should not be Uroken. It couldn't happen—even In a play. And efforts to make It happen Mon- day night were futile, despite some superlative acting. The audience Paris, Nov. 12. This house Is running as a sort of opposition to the Grand Gulgnol and giving a similar program with equal success. A new bill was of- fered to habitues, but lacks novelty i.aues to make him presents from the allowance of the supposed pro- tector (paid secretly by Andre) who is under contract, as it were, to be always too busy to visit Simone. Finally the subterfuge is discovered, when, to the astonishment of the doting Andre. Simone Innocently confesses she loves him sufficiently The principal item is "The Monkey's! to at * ct 'Pt him and his millions. This Paw" of L. N. Parker and W. W.! '»»Khly Parisian comedy is well acted Jacobs, adopted by Robert Numes " n(1 n»ite diverting. "Simone est as "La Main do Singe." The dra- (,()mm « c *" Will surely have a long matlc story was given in French by ', ,un - particularly a:; the Capucines Antoine several years ago and the *' such a tiny house and it is snob- revival seems to please the present ' }rn to "frequent such resorts. Kcndrcw. generation. The supporting Items include M Le Diagnostic." one act drama by E. M. Laumann and Paul Carrlere, being the tale of a bac- teriologist who, deceived by his wife, leads his domestic rival to believe he Is suffering from a.. In- curable disease and so causes him to ; original belnc n. m,in f ir ! ,'„ 111 ni,-^ commit suicide. The subject is not luy^^^^^^^^^Si fresh, and moreover, not partlcu- ; ,»f jts failure to urtAiAt ^, v ivl7i larly well developed. "Isidore" Is a ' t„ a farei^/Aubcrg? l™AdZ£» ROBERT MACAIRE & CLE. Paris. Nov. 12. There are several theatrical ver- ions of the famous pickpocket, the well, but they were too few to sus- tain a success as a comedy. And tho programing distinctly pointed it as a drama. And the story on which it was based was a drama. If Mr. Oillctte should choose to retire from this play and turn it into an honest farce with a comedian who would descend to tricks and tactics of which he, himself, would neve- be guilty, even to save the property, he might sell it to the public. This is not suggested in any sense of raillery, hut as a sincere alternative. When people want to laugh, let 'em —that is one of the rules of the the- atre, as iron-bound as any; and when a drama works as a farce it should be one. George Cohan did it with "The Tavern," and that w:<s not the first Instance; It had been done before and after llrst perform- ances. In the east Miss Tannehill stood the author, ot which there Is little , cape from Lyons prison, pursued by o say beyond the fact the man is ( the police, and put up at the^Adrets in pajamas and the lady in a night , Fnn while a wedding pory i^lng attire. It is not as humorous as In- ; merrv Thov ma^ ^/hISL. 8 tended. out as snappy, vigorous, clnrming her doting and seemingly decent ! and technically excellent. William father, caust s a rupture between her I Morris, always a polished player, parents, double-crosses a man of carried a colorless role with per- importance whom she has promised ! sonality and high lights. Miss to marry, and leaves her father I Sears, ns the lead, was underweight, broken and humiliated, to go out Gillette was eccentric and at limes into tho night and marry a foul- effective, but he committed himself mouthed upstart who villiflev his j to a nervous execution that could birth, his ' ome, his calling, his not endure through four full acts, friends and his benefactors. I with tho result which he undoubt- Miss Bankhead looks ravishing I edly projected for it. ;md has a dramatic quiver in her "The Dream-Maker" will probably larynx that should be worth a. for- , live a few weeks while the Gillette tune in a reasonable play. Frank draw continues, and it might go on Sheridan, as the father, in sturdy. I tour and slip along on his name. As dominant, true and convincing, even either a vehicle for him or a play on when he has to take the unneces-I its own, as it is now revealed, it sary and inexplicable defection of I will never quallfv to bear the name his ideal-mad daughter. Hull over- of Charles Frohnuin. Lait. An.tt. .. *. » # *. i merry - They meet some unscrujru- suras a„fvrswaa; ss^sr^j^-wS farce of the same category. As I : policyholders, theTVompalS^thSe^l-' Meu? a Hv at n M V ^T '? X?™** »»■-i ^.i.ig premium, without losal The tlcularly novel about the new pro- . popular crook's sagacity leads to his Action as a French Congressman, gram. pro- Kctnlreiv. SIMONE EST C0MME CA Paris. Nov. 12. Rerthoz, on taking charge of th_ k Capucines for the winter season, presented a three-act farce by Ale;; Madis and Yves Mirande. Simonne is like that. Such is the title, de- picting a demi-mondaine with two lovers, the one who pays tho bills and the gigolo who docs not. But Andre, the latter, is a rich young man, and accepts the gifts the large hearted young lady insists on giving him because ho realizes it is part of the game of an amant de coeur. However, the wealthy pro- tector discovers the situation by su prising the couple one night anil ho forthwith quits. Then Andre is perplexed until he lots on the bril- liant idea of furnishing funds to an impecunious painter to pose as a rich suitor and nef protector of Simone. He Is a psychologue and convinced his mistress would not love him in the same manner if he could o\ enly visit her. Andre wishes to be the preferred, forbidden fruit being the sweeter. Consequently Shnone con- nd he Is put at the head of the De- partment of Justice. But Robert eecomes so disgusted at the actions of tho respectable crooks around h.m that ho dons his former attire. makes a pretense of suicide, and turns his back on society. Max Dearly is applauded In the title role, but the success of this irony is mod- erate. Morton, a French comedian, who has played much in London for Alfred Putt, is a sympathetic Ber- trand. The m« anting, true U the period, is interesting, but the Porte St. Martin theatre does not hold a trump card. Kcndrew. SHOWS IN FRISCO San Francisco, Nov. 23. Ruber* B. Mantell's business at the^* '"iimbin theatre here this season^ fell about 20 per cent, below what* it was last year. "Aphrodite" at f the Century took away about $28,00' \ on its week stand. • The Harvey Minstrels did not b'ay to expected receipts. The reo* son is said to be the exceptional).' light billing done by the attraction