Life — March 27, 1902 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

American Patriotism Dramatized. V E’REgettingto beastrenuous Nation, sure enough, and with a large N. We want wars, and if we can’t get wars, we want the rumors of wars. If we can't get the rumors of wars, we want plays about wars with heroic or commercial Americans as the heroes. The peace- ful and the pastoral can go to the Dick- ens. We want Yankee Doodle and the Star Spangled Banner, and we want the Yankee and the Spangles emphas The uniform of the United States Navy and the commercial instinct of the United States Yankee, combined, make the quiet patriot- ism of our forefathers who fought, when they did fight, for a cause, look like thirty centessimi. We used to be a peaceful peo- ple, looking mostly to the development of y and the increase of comfort and happiness among its resident and adopted citizens. Of late we have become very Scrappy Dan, and, therefore, we find great enjoyment in a play like “Soldiers of Fortune,” which has just had its first pres entation in New York, A short time ago there was a class of young men-about-town in New York who were always looking fora fight. The late Recorder Smyth sent one of them to Sing ing and that particular branch of industry received a set-back. In the West the ad- vance of civilization put rather a damper on the “ shooting-up” tendencies of some of its younger inhabitants. But the temperament and youthful hot blood still remained and a lot of it found vent in the Spanish-Ameri- can war and is still trying to find a fighting chance in the Philippines. All this makes possible ‘The Soldiers of Fortune,” which a few years ago, notwithstanding its clever- ness of construction and lines, would have been laughed at on Broadway and relegated to the Bowery, where the fighting blood was always on tap. In the new and strenuous light of fighting Imperialism, Mr. Augustus Thomas has our count made of Mr. Davis's book a very interesting and amusing play which is likely to appeal strongly to the popular taste for conquest and American commercial aggression. To these factors the traditional ‘* love interest” is made subsidiary and we have a play of fan and fighting, both acceptable in our present mood. The piece is written ostensibly to ‘‘ star” Mr. Robert Edeson, an actor of the new generation who has shown real ability in several plays. His authors and managers have been clever enough not to make him offeusively conspicuous as against the rest of the cast, with a distinct gain to the artistic value of his performance. Mr. Edeson, under Syndicate methods, would have monopolized the centre of the stage all of the time to demonstrate that he really was astar, but in the present instance the other characters of the story are not obscured, with benefit to the play asa whole and with- out detracting from Mr. Edeson’s excellent impersonation of a young American with a fabulous past and a charming and pictur- esque present. The company throughout is a very good one and thoroughly rehearsed. It gives a smooth and even performance. The defects in portrayal are so few andthe DOROTHY DONNELLY IN “SOLDIERS OP FORTUNE.” excellencies so many that it would be a work of supererogation to pick out from the company any of its members for special comment. About ‘Soldiers of Fortune” there is one thing deserving of particular note. It is American in every sense. The scene is Central or South American, to be sure, but it derives its interest from citizens of the United States. The book was by an Ameri- can author, it was adapted by an American playwright, and it is played by American actors. Notwithstanding these handicaps, Lire is not afraid to predict for ‘Soldiers of Fortune” a success abroad as well as at home. e . . TH number of those burned, suffocated and crushed to death in the recent catastrophe at the Bijoy Theatre is now fixed at three hundred and thirty-seven. There are still a number of bodies in the ruins. The Bijoy, it will be remembered, was a very pretty theatre, but it was not built in conformance with the law. Of course Mayor Low had the power to close the theatre until the proper number of exits were provided, but his other duties were so peesing and took so much of his time, that e was unable to give this matter of public safety any attention. ‘The coroner's jury re- turned a verdict that the burning of the theatre was an act of God for which nobody was to blame, and the Grand Jury has de- cided that the whole matter is outside of its jurisdiction. —Paragraph which is about to ‘appear in the daily newspapers, ° . . Wl a New York Herald, which is pub- ished in the interests of the Theatrical Syndicate, has failed to state in its cables from London that Charles Frohman, the eminent manager, will ‘present’ at the Madison Square Garden, the Coronation with Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra in their original réles, and that packing cases are now preparing for the shipment of the crown jewels to New York. Metcalfe, LIFE’S CONFIDENTIAL GUIDE TO THE THEATRES. Academy of Muste.—" Under Two Flags, with Blanche Bates as Cigarette. Spectacular. Bijou —Last week of “Tbe Climbers.” So- clety comedy by Clyde Fitch. Interesting. Broadiway.—" Beauty and the Beast goes on forever. Spectacular and amusing. Pun, music and ballet. Criterion.—* Da Barry." Impreasive produc- tion of an Interesting pia} Hugo's romance 0 elaborately staged melodrama. Empire.—Stock company tn “ The Twin Sister.” Clever comedy in costume Garrick.—" Sky Farm." Notice later. Garden.—Closed. Next week," Life.” Herald Square.—“ Dolly Varden." Light opera with catchy music. Good of its Kind. = Knickertocker.— The Toreador." Common, or garden, comic opera. Manhattan.—“ Her Lord and Master,” with Herbert Kelcey and Efe Shannon. Comedy of American and Engitsh life fairly well done. Madison Square,—William Collier in “The Diplomat.” “Notice later. Republic — As You Like It." with Henrietta Crosman as Rosalind. An excellent performans ‘Savoy.—Robert Edeson in “Soldiers of For- tune **” See above. Victorta.—Last week of Primrose and Dock- stader's negro minstrels. The tast of the negro minstrels. Wallack’s—Kyrle Bellew tn strenuous and scrappy melodrama, “A Gentleman of France,” Weber and Fields’s Music Hall.—Vandeville and burlesques of popalar plays, Good seats may be had from the speculators at advanced Prices, comicbooks.com