Life — April 21, 1904 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

SiS es The Playlets That Bloom in the Spring. TRANGE th the New York stage about this time of year. The New York stage man- rs to survive the shock, but the strange things have their little moment and then pass away into the drear nothingness of eternal oblivion, Only the angels mourn for them—the angels whose bank accounts have been atrophied by the insati- able pecuniary appetites ~ of ma agers, actors, scene mers, stage- bill-posters, and s of the countless rely on the spri angels for their summer luxu- ries. A spring production has everythii st it—a_public with jaded and hypercritical ap- Jes of the desire for temperature, the growin! than in-door entertainment, and the general feelin ntent that The best combinations of playsand players might well comes with the vernal equinox, shrink from fac such odds, but the str things con fearlessness worthy of better causes, . ® . 66TPHE Superstition of Sue vent that lady's facinj It would have been better for her and her creators d sponsors if superstition, or some It would be hard to conceive of a play of equal length ad dimmed her courage. containing so much of crudity and so little of expertness An infantile plot with childish situations and kindergarten lines, depending on its humor for frequent explosive noises repre- senting blasts in the subway, could not be expected to interest New York al the most propitious time of year; in the spring, the produ herent medley was too utterly a fatuous proceeding aces at ion of such an in N African Millionaire's” fate was also a warning of the same kind, although that piece was far more expertly constructed, and both in acting and manner of presentation was free from the amateurish crudities of the ill-starred “Sue.” The play bore an unfortunate likeness to the successful “ Rafiles,” in having for its hero a kentleman with distorted ideas of property rights, and the long and profitable career of Mr. Hornung’s burglarious hero took away a good deal of the novelty of the late Grant Allen's creation with similar dis- honest instincts, The fine abilities of Mr, Reeves Smith were wasted in attempting to gain the sympathies and interest of the audience for the confidence man and thief with many aliases, Other members of the cast gave good bits of acting, notably Zefersou D, Hord of Chicago, a typical western American millionaire by Mr. Rapley Holmes, and the English Co/ove? Clay of Mr. Beresford Webb. Not even such a surprise as brings “ Raffles" up from the com- monplace to a successful end could have redeemed “An African Millionaire.” * . * Agee AR more pretentious in plan and pro- duction was * The Shepherd kK with Mr, Wright Lorimer as David, pictured in the days before the son of Jesse became Kil In fact, it is not often that New York sees a play so ed and done with ness in intent. David, Biblical character, combines the heroic, poetic and emotional, and it would seem that he and his career might lend themselves admirably to. stage portrayal. Unfortunately, the author of “The pherd King” did not bring to his language the literary genius to make it great, cr the literary sense to keep it from being tiresome, The mere use of the ccond person singular as a mode of address does not carry an Old Testament atmosphere with it, nor give to language the telling value of iv Also, too much of the text is allotted to Saul. Lear may be a great creation, but not even Shakespeare's ius lends to the study of senility enough to make it attractive. { Israel, lavishly me ch impressive more than any other 1 speech. thi THE | meanaeeay BEAUTIFUL LADY IVR jj) BUTTERFLY 1 (SEALED ALIVE SNIN AN AIR-T ye casetae tt FOR More THA aS Monn | for words. But The Superstition of Sue” passed away quickly, and its fate deserves mention only asa possible warning to other persons as misguided as its backers and producers. TEN CENTS. Show Barker AGE. STEP RIGHT UP, LADY-BUGS AND GENTLRMEN-BUGS, AND GET ¥ A SIDE SHOW IN THE INSECT WORLD ALIVE! ALIVE! ALL BUGS AGOG AT THE ASTOUNDING PHENOMENON TICKETS, ONLY comicbooks.com