Variety (October 1922)

18 LEGITIMATE Friday, October 6, 1922 I countries where he has never ap- j)o;ire<l. llin American tour will end Fob. 12 at San Francisco. The Lauder show, assembled by William MorriH, con.sists, as in Hea- sons past, of ;i ptraipht vaudeville bill of live acta that appear before Lauder, Gintaro, a Japanese Juggler, ©pons. Ho has sonjo novel top spin^ nine and diablo tricks with .si)(.cial props and effects that take the turn away feom the usual. The finish is a kind applause bit witti a top run- ning up a cord to release a flock of flags of all nations. yVnothcr elToct was a top entering a miniature liouse, climbing up a circular stair- way, ringing chimes and making a clock strike, leaving the houj^o on a string'and rob using tlie niochaniKm of a large fountain disjday. It was a fast interesting iS-mii.uto bill t tarter. J,)e l*aco. second, proved to be a male mandolin player in Pierot costume and clown makeup. He wa.«j formerly - of the De Pace lirothers. A sterling routine al- lowed him to display hia versatile tochnic on the stringed Instrument. The repertoire ran from pop selec- tions to classical. "Winona Winter, third, was the class of this portion. Miss Winter was a featured member of the last Harry Lauder show. Her present offering, barring new songs. Is about ' the same. Opening before a pretty red drop, Miss Winter sang two popular numbers and did a song recitation. "Lemonade." Sh« finished with her ventrlloQulal specialty. The "yodeling" of the dummy and the near-duet were sure-fire. The Gaudsmith Brothers con- eluded a strong first half, despite the absence of a comedy turn. The clown's ground tumbling and the assistance of two French poodles clncned it for them. Th«y have a smooth routine of hand-to-hand, ground tumbling and acrobatics that interests. After intermission Unitah Mas- terman, a pretty brunet girl with a winning smile offered a whistling specialty that was on a pjir with anything of like nature heard iiround. Her bird Imitation? were flawless. A mocking bird inter- mezzo and "Annie Laurie" also landed. The Lexington, with about 3,300 capacity, scaled to a |3 top, should start the Lauder show oft with eibout $38,000 on the week. The liouiio is reported as certain of capacity, with a strong buy from the Scottish Societies. The Lauder show plays matinees Wednesday, Thursday, P'riday and Saturday. Con. YANKEE PRINCESS PriTife Radjamt Thorpo Baton Napolt'ori St. «.'Ioche John T. Murray I'hilllpe Ia Tt-uretto ItoUml Uottoinley Mnnaifcr Trebixonde Itoyul Tracy I'lmjirlnctt^ Fnink Doane Colonel I'arker <ieorfC« Ornhiinu' I>rwa Singh IJotkI I'hnlmrra Th<! Rajah .Moriinier Wlilte l'<j?';li' <.\)lin cami)b'.ll < thief I'shtr Valentino Wlntrr «Kjritf> Darioiondc Vlvicune S^pal M:«rlctt:i. .. } Viviun Oakland Kin , Uuth LoQ .Mt i<» n»}l!o MllJer Yvetto El.-^io Drcllor l'riiKO!.« Odya Jano Canull A. L. Erianger in transplanting tlii.s operetta went about it with much care, and with the aid of a crew of skilled showmen It scored a really impressive first night (Oct. 2) at the Knickerbocker. "The Yankee Princess" is of the true Con- tinental type of operetta, a Viennese product that doubtless recorded a jnelodious record that found its way to Ameri'^an attention. Emmerich Kalman, whoso "Sari" before the war brought praise here, tooled the ♦^core, and he, too, won praise for hl.s composition of "Miss Spring- time." Whether William Le Baron was at his best in adapting the book of "Die Bajadere'' is a matter of opinion. The love story of an op- eretta seems always a certainty, and there is a touch of novelty in this one, the ■original book being by Julius Brammer and Alfred Gruen- wald. Fred G. Latham and Julian Mitchell attended the staging. Vivicnne Segal of a cast that was International in Its makeup shone forth gloriously In the title role. It was bfr first Broadway assignment of real Importance and her per- formance was of blue white bril- liance. When the little Philadel- phian made her debut several sea- sons ago in "The Little Whopper" Hhe won favorable mention. She was then in her 'teens. The advance- ment vocally of Miss Segal and the finish now attained in her acting make prediction of her a<lvancement to stage heights very clear, if Indeed »5he Is not to be greeted as arrived now. Music sharps attending the pre- miere were as much if not more Interested In the api)earance of Thorpo Bates, an English baritone- tenor of real excellence. His playing of the male lead may not be exactly ■what the American standards de- mand of a stage lover. He Is a big chap and a bit ungainly, but he jios- jsessi's luc and his ringing won inuch enthu.siastic applau.se. At the conclusion of the second act (there are thieo) Miss Segal saw to it that the visitor had a curtain to himself. The response left no donlit of the Impression made by Bates. It was a very nice compliment too from MIsfl Begal. "Bajadere" will likely become •equally well known as "The Yankee Princeas." The name Itself is sup- posed to be that of an East Indian operetta, presented with gr«at suc- cess in l*aris. In the lead is a Yankee girl with whom an Indian prince falls deeply in love. "My Bajadare" Is Mr. llates best vocal contribution and it counts, too, very brightly for Miss Segal, who sings it as a duet with the English bari- tone. The Bajadere costume worn by'MIsM Segal is a confection of net and jewels, and It is bound to at- tract much attention pictorially and otherwise. So far as the story goes, the Prince asks for an introduction to the little American song bird. He U'Un her he will win her hand against her will by hypnotic power. She permits him to think ho has won and then renounces the tilled wooer who she told every girl In her land is a prince. But without the mystic influence of the East, it is a case of true love after all, The first a<t is played on the mez- zanine or box floor of the theatre, that well simulated by the stairway entrance from beneath the stage. Fun is poked at the claque system, probably more of an Institution in operatic circles than in other divi- sions of the stage. Frank Doane as the master of the Chatlet theatre claque is lightly amusing. John T. Murray as a beau who fabricates experiences of tiger hunting in India In order to win a girl who gets a divorce to marry him has the the principal comedy Job. The girl Ig the pretty and graceful Vivian Oalc- land, and, so the book runs, she Is given back to her first husband who has won a diplomatic post In India. "Stars of the Stage'' afforded Miss Segal her first opportunity, although she duetted off-stage In "My Baja- dere" with Bates. The "Stars" num- ber was carried to a high register finale by Miss Segal with confidence and excellence. "Lovely Roses" had the two leads again in pretty duet, with the second act double number "Eyes So Dark and Luring," another splendid contribution. Miss Oak- land Murray with "In the Starlight" had one of the show's most spright- ly songs. Murray tickled with nut dancing to "I'll Dance My Way Into Your Heart." That was a melody that was somehow overlooked. It certainly sounded worth emphasis, but was not heard after one verse. "Friendship," a comedy lyric han- dled by Miss Oakland, Murray and Roland Bottomley, was amusing. Miss Segal in a dance number in the thirdd act added much to the score' piled up by her singing. The num- ber was "Can It Be That I'm in Love," Miss Segal then waltzing so prettily as to encore several times. An unprogrammed youth assisted. Miss Segal then wore a white di- rectolre gown that was a beauty. It permitted the flash of bare legs as 8h« whirled about. "I Can Still Dream" was another of the duet.s of the singing pair. Miss Segal and Bates. One of the odd bits in the show was thu dancing of Princess White Deer, an atractive American Indian maid. She was twice programed but ai)peared but once, then doing an exotic number which was short. There was no other opportunity in sight for her. Joseph Urban sup- plied tJie three setting.'', all designed to impress bigness. The company is quite up to operetta limits with at least two-score girls in the chorus besides a dozen men. Doubt- less some of the girls were chosen for their voices, though there was a goodly quota of dancers. "The Yankee Princess' ran until 11.25 on the opening night. One or two of the minor numbers would not b© missed, but the charm of the music and the singing of the leads should liold audiences overtime. i Ibee. THIN ICE romrdy drnnia In lliroo acts by Perclval KniKlit who al.«() j'lny« th.s prlpcipal p.irt. I'rt^BontPd by the Shubcrta at the Comedy. Sopt. 30. Whitney Nelson Felix Krcmb.s Alan AVoodrulT II. Dudl»>y llawlfy r*>(lro do Carbille '. ...C. Henry Gordon Fuji Mr. T. Tamainoto .Ml', llurbrldjre IVruival Knight i:di*|) Sattfrly OllV Wyndham Helen Whllney Nelson Gllda Leary home wrecker has taken advantage of his absence to play upon the wife's emotions, and just as the efficient butler has shown the in- terloper the door two muffled shota are heard outside. Husband rushes In waving a smoking revolver and raving "I got the swine. I got him!" A situation made to order for a lot of stago fireworks, you'd say. Not at all. This delightful butler merely takes charge of the reeking pistol, as he would remove an entree, and the curtain falls on his casual observation, "I wouldn't worry about that, sir." Instantly you know in six words that Bur- bridge the beneflcient schemer had foreseen tho shooting and blanked the bullets. An exuberantly melo- dramatic situation is twisted in a twinkling to a deft comedy. That's the kind of play It Is. Every moment has its unexpected touch. Maybe it's only a neat turn of speech or an odd angle of obser- vation, but Its always interesting. There is a flavor of sentiment, too, brief and natural, when the soldier- butler makes a plea for the for- gotten and neglected veterans of the war, not in the familiar "kind- applause" vein, but quite naturally and sincerely. The play has some good comedy as well, growing out of the relations In the household between the English butler ( a man of family down on his luck, as it turns out) and a Japanese servant with a comedy part that is honect humor and not burlesque hokum. That nothing to make a comedy- drama perfect shall be lacking, it has a touch of romance. The scene (all three acts are the living room of a country place) takes place in a Long Island bunga- low. A new butler is expected. He turns out to be "Blighty" Burbridge, ex-Canadian captain and pal over there of Whitney Nelson, head of the house, although unknown to Nel- son's wife. Nelson and his wife have been estranged and Allen Woodruff, society tame cat, has laid siege to the wife. Here is the triangle, the domestic life of the pair being "on thin ice," when the watchful Bur- bridge comes on the scene. He works out their reconciliation with- out overstepping the limits of con- duct that hedge a butler about; ex- poses and puts to flight a crooked fortune hunter who schemes for the hand of Mrs. Nelson's sister and in the end wins the heiress herself. That's the bare bones of the plot, but it doesn't give the faintest idea of the electric crackling of amusing dialog or the fast moving succes- sion of mild surprises kept going like a Juggler with lour billiard balls in the air at once. Mr. Knight is a finished player. He has the delicate art of emphasis without noi#, an incisive actor in a clean cut char- acterization. Olive Wyndham is a graceful opposite as the wife's sister, manipulating her several daintily wrought scenes with naivette and the five other players fill in the picture smoothly. It would be a good bet that the hoodoo that at- taches to the Comedy lately is broken by this newcomer. Rush. One of the most satisfying theat- rical entertainments of the young season slipped Into Broadway on Saturday evening, an off night for premieres. Here is that rarest of all created things an actor-written, actor-produced and actor-played offering that is thoroughly engaging and Interesting all the way. Its special charm is that It Is a naively theatrical play, acted in the most casual and suave manner imaginable. If you can imagine Mrs. Pat Campbell playing "The Heart of Maryland" In her best drawing-room manner, you get something of the fascinating mood of this clever performance. Some quite startling and arresting things happen, but the performance goes on in a monotone and therein lies Its high powered kick. It Is unique entertainment. Tlie spirit is distinctly English with a curious American undertone. On tlio .surface all it quiet and or- derly, but beneath there surges the play of emotion that at times is quite exhilarating in a theatrical waj-. Not a word is spoken in a tone above a polite conversational pitch. but the aetlon reaehes astonishing tension nevertheless. For example the climax of the second act is a triumph of dramatic aplomb. "The cnrage<l husband has gone search- ing for the homo wrecker. The MALVALOCA Pres-onteJ by the Equity Player.-? under the HUi>|>ices of the Actor^i' Equity Asao- ti.Uu):» at the Forty-eighth Str«pt, ().-t. 2. I'lay from the Spanish of Bf^rafln and Joaquin Alvar«z Qulntero. Tr{in.sl«tod by Jacob 8. Fassett, Jr., and ulaged by' Augusiia Duncan. CAST Malvaloca Jane Cowl Juanela AnKolica McCahlll Muriquita Mariette Hyde Si.ster I'icdad Lillian Albertson Tr'tt^Bona , Jessie Ralph .Mfonsa I-enore Norvelle Dona Knriqueta I^oulse Closser Hale Uionisia Margaret Farolcigh SisttT ('on.«melo <irare Hampton Sister Dolorea I^alivc Hrownell ."lister Carmen Edith Van Cleve I.c/nard') Hollo Peters Salvador Frederic Burt Martin Marshall Vincent Harrabafi Frank I. Frayne T|o Jerome Claude Cooper I<oblto Edward CuUen A workman John Parrisb EXECUTIVE BOARD Francli Wllron, president; Jano Cowl, flrst vlro-prealdent; Orant Mitchell, second vice-president; Katherlne Emmet, secretary and treasurer; UeorRO Arllss, AuKUstin Duncan, John Emerson. Gilbert Emery, KIhIo FerRuson. Frank Glllmore, Jryscphlne Hull. O. P. Hefcgle. Joseph Rantley, Paul N. Turner. Edith Wynne Matthtuon. KQiriTY rL.AyER.S STAFF Augruslln Duncan, general director; Wood- man Thomp.fon, scenic director; Katherlne Emmet, general manager; Anna L. Fallftr, business manager; Edward Rroadley, otage manager; Michael Rico. asHistant •tag« manager; Hondurant O'ShauRhnossy, pres-t reprrsentatlve: Hheldon Cheney, as!iistant prefg representative. HOUSE .«;tafp Charles A. MUler. hou«e manager; Mar- garet Wheeler, hostrp.s; Mrs. Edward Field- ing, assistant hosteps; Fanr>le Lcvlne, theatre treasurer; Dorothy HlgKins, aaatat- ant theatre treasurer; Morey Nltwe!, car- penter; DanloU J. Carey, electrician: Uurtr Hall, Rsulstanl electrician; Ernest Darr>', property man. morals, but they ms,d« no pretenao of aiming at anything but box ofRce prolitM. Equity assumes lofty artis- tic and moral purposes, but the first production does not bear out those aims. In purity of Intent the play la a reverse of the pose. From begin- ning to end it plays persistently upon the theme of illicit love; its heroine is a self-confessed wanton and glories in it until meeting a new lover; she falls victim to the wild passion ahe herself has so often played with lightly. To satisfy this unrestrained passion she is ready to go any lengths. At the final curtain they stand unregenerated before their little Andalualan world whleh cries shame upon them, the woman who delles all social law and the man who brazenly supports her in reckless disregard of the moral code. Stub- borness against accepted standards of conduct is the perverse theme of the play. Where the Equity author- ities found the elements of popular success in such a story Is a my.stery. The prospect of public support is not discernible. Malvaloca, the heroine. Is perhaps more unmoral than Immoral. As the story begins she has a five-year-old natural child by Salvador, but the couple separate. She finds him again and at the same time meets his business partner, Leonardo, younger and handsomer, with whom she falls violently in love. This new lover is warned that the love of such a woman will ruin his life, but he Is carried away by his pas- sion and remains heedless of all consequences. They defy the world to'wseparato them, and make their defiance good to the end of the play. The argument to alibi the twisted moral is the specious, literary meta- phor of a bell which is being re- paired In the foundery of the part- ners. Just as the bell can be re- moulded to restore Its purity of tone, a great passion may purify and glorify the soul of a wanton, the argument runs. It's a big bite to swallow and it won't go down. It is not an exhilarating play. Everybody weeps in season and out, a melancholy evening. The play would have us accept Malvaloca as a daring sport, but she wails in- terminably. Leonardo does a good deal of heavy self-pltying, too, al- though it Isn't quite clear why, un- less it is that these tense emotional scenes provide opportunities for highly colored acting. In this re- spect the proceedings are typical of actor-producing. The whole' affair is blatantly of the theatre theatrical. A really worth-while piece of character playing was done by Mar- shall Vincent as the blind bell ringer, Martin. His vigorous play- ing marks him as an artist. Jane Cowl, as Malvaloca, and Rollo Peters, as Leonardo, brought all the abundance of their skill to their part.s, but the parts were not there. Whatever may be said for the play, the scenery was an unqualified sueceKs. What appeared to be tlu-ee separate sets is in reality only one. The same arches, columns and pil- lars are used In all three acta, but by skillful arrangement and manip- ulation they are made to appear a.s different backgrounds. The trick is cleverly worked. THAT DAY Oerajdlne Duquesne Hedda Tlopper Dr. Eric McKay George McQuarric r- oyd •••;.... Agnea Ath^rton Elinor \V yndham Helen Holmea Robert Sinclair Alfred Swenson Sylvejiter Truesdell Frederick TruosdeU Mrs. Sinclair Frances Ncilson Mrs. Dunham Retty Llnl»y S.'ymour Spfncer Edward Fielding Roy McKay Robert Harrigan The selection of "Malvaloca" as the flrst vehicle of the Equity Play- ers' experiment in the production and managerial field is a misstep. If the idea was to demonstrate that the regular commercial managers are not essential to the theatre, the venture Is a frost. No established dollar and cents manager would have chosen this pliiy. Various par- tisans of PJquity have avowed that the undertaking would "show the fnanagers up," but the outcome is a long way from the accomplishment of that design. * The play hasn't oven sound lit-, erary ethics and Its fundamental morals are awry. It does se<m that a body offlcially representing the actor community would be proof against this error. "Commercial managers' have erred against high This play opened In Los Angeles as a tryout In Moro.sco stock in 1917. At that time Bertha Mann, now doing such excellent work In "Whispering Wires," led the cast. She gave it an air of distinction and sincerity, despite Its endless ver- bosity. It was then voted a bore- some, heavy, draggy essay on the thin shadings between ethical rights and wrongs and moral and social minutiae. Morosco did not think enough of it to ever show it east and forfeited his rights, which then reverted to Louis K. Anspacher. the author. Mr. Anspacher Is or was the pro- fessor of dramatic literature at Har- vard or Columbia or Yale or some equally formidable university. He had written and seen produced un- der the Morosco banner "The Un- chastened Woman," which gave a good account of Itself, and "Our Children," which was a failure. For several years after Morosco aban- boned "That Day," Prof. Anspacher evised and rewrote and polished and buffed his work, and now it is pre- sented by R. G. Herndon. It was shown last spring in Atlantic City, again with Miss Mann heading It. Between that showing and the pres- ent metropolitan premiere she se- lected another engagement, and Helen Holmes revealed the role of Elinor to the Creat Market, l»rof. Anspacher Is so good and so bad as a craftsman that It is difll- eult to write a definite verdict now. The probahHitlPs are apralnst the survival of "That Day," for his er- rors are the sort that kill dramas whereas his virtues are not those that always make them. If "That Day," a work of years, conceived and seen and rebuilt and seen again and once-more reconstructed. Is fair ex- ample of the professor's opus, then the chair of dramatic literature means as much to the atago as the chair of Journalism means to the press—zero. No amateur scribbler should hav* been guilty of the preposterous er- roB"8 of story evolution that made "That Day" at the Bijou Tuesday Jumpy, talky and so often off the track of its progress. At the same time so much fine material—true literature in many spots—poured out of it that it might almost be fur* given its crudities in others. It is In many ways a vastly Im- proved play. It has comedy now, and excellent comedy. It has a new first act since this reviewer eat through it in Los Angeles five years ago, and the flrst act Is not only strong of Itself, but builds a fasci- nating suspense for what is to come. It comes and gives promise of growing. Then it is flopped with an anli-ciimax at the end of the second act that seems scarcely t« have coma from the man who wove the splendid texture of logical and intricate com- plications Into what fs fundamental- ly ono of the best stories dramatized In recent American stage history. It then continues through a third act which, when everything is ten- sion, insists on winding In an incon- sequential minor love Interest that Is valuable only In one spot—and there It could be dismissed as a prop In a minute—then goes into^ speech by the leading woman that is as long and didactic as Portia's de- fense, then goes to a finale that is so abrupt and hysterical and unfound- ed by any preparation that It drew a laugh—the more so because just before it came an utterly unimpor- tant Incident was brought in to dis- tract the big situation. Prof. Anspacher cannot complain of his company. Miss Holmes is slightly overcast, but so would any young actress be. It requires a ma- ture woman of Shakespearean expe- rience to use the academic word.si given to the part and to sustain the lengthy monologs. Hedda Hopper, In a fine comedy role, scored throughout; Frederick Truesdell in an unsympathetic but superfine role as a silk-llncd blackmailer tri- umphed, and George McQuarrie was wholesome and effective. The story begins with a girl living with a married man. A doctor loves and wants to marry her. The lover goes to keep an appointment with another woman. The girl sends bia» a farewell letter renouncing and de- nouncing him and committing her<< self. She marries the physician. The man's wife Is killed while run- ning to trap him in his appointment with the third woman. (There is a scene in the flrst act in which the three women arer together.) A year after the physician and the heroine are married two superbly conceived coincidences meet and tangle—the physician's brother be- comes engaged to the third woman, the physician tries to warn him. the brother gets the di\?brce records of the lover to prove his fiancee's Inno- cence and unwittingly proves his sister-in-law's guilt. It is one of the most airtight dramatic plots ever conceived. That it is ruined by an abrupt "happy ending" after melodramatic progress that holds Is due entirely to shabby dramatization and woe- fully amateurish placing of en- trances, exits and scenes. This play had a great chance still to be a hit up to its last three minutes, despite some faults. But the final straw—i laughter at the wrong moment—^ made the opening performance, at least, an embarrassment to a well- wisher. It could be so easily mended —15 minutes with a lead pencil In the hand of any of 50 playwriters, none of them as learned as Prof, Anspacher, could turn It yet. Ln'J. ANDERSH (IN YIDDISH) "Andersh" ("New Worlds'), a four-act drama by H. Lelvick, is tho vehicle Maurice Swartz, managing star of the Yiddish Art theatre, finally selected with which to inau- gurate his new season at the down- town Yiddish playhouse. It is a highly sentimental meller of the pathetic-humorous sort S warts seems to revel in. Last season Swartz abso did "Rags," by the same author, an equally depressing play replete with pathos and soulful sorrow. > "Andersh" is a war play. It dates from the time Mlarcus (Maurice Swartz), a fairly well-to-do mer- chant, enlists In his country cause. The ravages of the fray react pro- foundly on the dry goods dealer, who returns home expecting to find everybody art<l everything "differ- ent" (the word "andersh" In Yiddish Is a literal translation of "differ- ent"). Marcus stalks through the action dramatically and sorrow- fully, cllihaxing It after the "sur- ^ prise party" by his friends and rela- s lives, by Instructing his wife (now that they are alone for the first time' since his return) to make his bedl^I^ separately on tho hall lounge. H» -; perceives that ho, not they, is "dlf- S ferent." Their general course of daily existence has undergone but..i,.pii.i slight change. ; A grea^ thought Is back of the ^ author's and Swartz's attempts to portray .a fiensilivo soul's reaction to war and human suffering. As far as could be gathered It Is a deep- rooted, sincere study In psychology of how tragic occurrences like war- fare can transform a man into * (Continued on page 36) •i-i-i^'* -•■ j*i_