Life — March 7, 1901 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

77 HIIWNSS The Lash of a Whip UCIL a title as “The Lash of a Whip” —if titles count for anything at all—ought to cover some kind of a horse play. In fact the title has nothing whatever to do with the piece, which is one of the regulation brand of Palais Royal farces d almost literal translation. 1f Mr. Charles Frohman must bring these indecent little plays to America, he might at least spend the money to have them localized and put into speakable English. ‘The energies of such clever actors as Mr. E. M. Holland and Mr, Fritz Williams are in the present case used up in dealing With lingual atrocities which would make even the sainted Ol + in his grave and shudder. Sentences like * Hav k umbrella of my green grandmother?” are classical English compared with some of the tonj Messrs. Holland and Williams have to tussle. It is not to be denied that “The Lash of a Whip” can be laughed at, if one happens to b nd. The French authors have shown greater ingenuity than is their wont in their arrangement of complications for the customary unfaithful husband. ‘This ingenuity docs away with the usual darting and out of closets and doors; likewise the old familiar private dining-room of a restaurant is lacking. All the other accessorie including the deceived wife, accomplice friend, unpleasant mother- in-law and ferocious old gentleman, are in full view. On its first presentation the piece was played with an amateurishness that might have brought the blush of shame to the Brooklyn Amaranth. It is apparent that the Lyceum has yielded its place as the exclusive home of clean, clever and wholesome plays. The house is on the East Side and lies outside the path of those who formerly e into AGILE VALERIE: AN AGILE SOUBRETTE KNOWN A) HER. SLIPPER KICKED CLEAR TO THE GALLERY. THIS RARE FLASH OF WIT PRODUCED SUCH A HIT THAT THEY> DOUBLED Mids VALERIES SALARY. *-LIFE- gave it its fashionable vogue. A few more French farces of the type of The Lash of a Whip” and the Lyceum will become the Palais Royal Theatre of America. ° ° ° OME pundit of the West has discovered that the matinge habit is injurious to the nerves of young girls. Had the pundit delved deeper he might have found that the matinée habit engenders other than simply nervous disorders. ° ° ° HIS concerns Chicago criticistn, of the dailies, whose A writer for one me might be O' Hennessey, ==}, had been its dramatic critic for several years, and his screeds were more or leas looked up to as ex- amples of erudition and critical judgment. Every season brought to the Windy City a pair of comedians, who acted together, and whom, for pur poses of illustration, we will call Robsane and Crone. O'Hennessey’s notices always flattered Robsane highly, but for poor Crone no words in O'Hennessey's bright lexicon were sufficiently strong to express the critie’s disap It happened that O'H sey one afternoon strolled into one of Chicago's palatial dispensaries of liquid joy. Before the preserip- tion counter was a group of his friends, and among them Crone, whom O'Hennessey had been pen-lashing for years. Crone had recognized his critic as he entered, and the actor's usually cheerful face bore anything but a pleased expression. The tactful thing for O' Hennessey to have done would have been to bow to his friends and ordered his medicine at the other end of the counter. Instead of that, he joined the party, saluting them in jovial tones and looking Crone full in the face without the slightest embarrassment. One of his friends said, in the conventional Chicago method of introduction, "‘O'Hennessey, old man, shake hands with my friend, Mr. Crone, of Robsane and Crone.” O'Hennessey’s jaw dropped as he looked into the frowning visage of the actor. “Crone—Crone," he said thought you were Robsane. oval, “are you Mr. Crone? I always Metcalfe, LIFE'S CONFIDENTIAL GUIDE TO THE THEATRES Broadway.—Closed. Republic.—Viola Alien and “In the Palace of the King.” Nelther very good nor very bad. Garden.—Paul Potter's version of “ Cnder Two Flags.” Strenuous and melodramatic. Fairly well acted. Lycevm.—"The Lash of a Whip." See above. Daly's. —Bright and musteal “San Toy." Worth heartog. Empire.—Stock Company tn“ Mra, Dane's Defence.” Well done, but high-ftavored, Garrick.—Ethel Barrymore and “Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines.” Frothy but amusing. Bijou.—Clyde Fitch's * The Climbers.” Interesting and well done. ickerbocker.—Dramatization of “To Have and To Hold." Notice later. Weber and Fields's.— Burlesque at aky-scraping prices of admission, Victorta.—Extravaganza, “My Lady." Pretty chorus but book and music commonplace. Criterion, —Julia Marlowe as Mary Tudor in“ When Knighthood Was in Flower.” She is attractive, and the play not uninteresting Worth aeeing. ‘Academy of Music. —A dramatic novelty entitled ** Uncle Tom s Cabin.” Herald Square.—' The Gtrl From Up There” tson the point of going back where she came from. And she never will be missed. R. BAGBY'S matinées, of which the second series was recently brought to a successful close, have become a feature of the social as well as the musical world. They are an important addition to the winter season. comicbooks.com