Life — February 3, 1910 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

RAM A. only enough for its selfish bachclor owner. Here is the basis for a rattling good comedy of situations and dialogue, possibilities which its author, Mr. Frank Stayton, has realized only partly. The piece develops a good deal of fun, but some of its scenes are absolutely crude and makes one wonder how an author could manage to let such good chances escape him. Mr. Arthur Byron plays the hero on the whole acceptably, but without the lightness of touch which would have made him more plausible. Mr. O. B. Clarence makes an excellent farce valet, who encounters difficulties not often met by the valet in real life. “The Inferior Sex'’ is a polite trifle, briefly amusing. Gy YD HERE may have been some definite, underly- ing idea in Mr. Wil- liam Vaughn Moody's “The Faith Healer.”’ If so, the author ob- scured it mightily. Just as the audience was becoming convinced that the hero was another Christ—and what the dramatists are doing to Christ nowadays outdoes his Jewish contem- porarics—in his powers to heal the sick and raise the dead, Mr. Moody shifts and shows that he is only another Dowie or Eddy working largely through auto- suggestion. Convinced of this we are again quickly shifted 10 the understand- i that it is not entirely auto-sugges- tion, but an influence emanating from the hero himself and depending on the condition of his morals, Any one of these hypotheses might have been enough if it had been adhered to, but it looks Dus as though the author, when he found himself in dramatic difficulties, did not hesitate to sacrifice consistency to con- venience. Any riddle is easy to make if you are satisfied with “the boy lied ’’ as an answer, but that isn't exactly within the rules for play-making, especially when the play comes from an author who has led us to expect much in the way of scholarliness. VO EA Os hee There's no denying that Mr. Moody writes musical English. In this instance one wearied a bit of the Methodistical tone and imagery, but the author’s theme was taken from the Southern West, pre- sumably in a rural district where that even Days.” Compulsory laugh- Belasco— Just a Wife,” by Mr. Eugene Walters. Notice later. Bijou—" The Lottery Man.” funniest ki Broadway“ The Jolly Bachelors.” Large company in, fun and ‘music Casino—" The Chocolate Soldier.” Comic opera with charming score and book founded fon Mr. Shaw's Arms and the Man.” Comedy—" The Watcher.” Notice later. Criterion—Mr. Francis Wilson In his own very light comedy entitled "The Bachelor's Baby.” . Daly’s—Maxine Elliott in “The Inferior Sex." See above. Empire — Ethel Barrymore 4n Mid-Channel.” Notice later. Garrick — Mr. Otis. Skinner in Humble Servant.” Pleasa ably, acted Globe—" The Old Town." Musical farce with Mr. Fred Stone's acrobatic humor Hackett—Mr. John Mason in “ Non Notice loter, Farce of the Pinero’s “Your nt comedy agree: 205 was the prevalent religious atmosphere ‘There such a combination of bluntness and culture as is shown in farmer Matthew Beeler, student of materialistic philos- ophy, might be possible, but the drawing neless doctor was so untrue it makes us fear the other was equally a creation of Mr. Moody's ap- parently unreliable imagination. To Mr. Henry Miller fell the task of making real the young who thought he was the bearer of a divine commis- sion as a miracle worker. Giving Mr. Miller credit for as good work here as he has ever done, except in some scenes of “The Great Divide,” it remains that he does not seem equipped in person or temperament to portray a character of which the main essential is spirituality. Mr. Miller read the lines with agreeable diction, but his suggestion was of the earth earthy. Not all great inspirers of credulity have been of the ascetic type but for the ascetic quality they substi- tuted either the magnetic or the con- trolling one, and Mr. Miller suggested no one of these. “The Faith Healer" was neither doc- trine nor drama, although it seemed to attempt to be both. If it was simply an effort to depict the strange religious movements that sometimes sweep over rural communities, it was to some ex- tent successful, as the most realistic moment of the play was reached in the almost panic-stricken cry of the child who could not understand the change that had come over her home with the change to the new belief. But all in all the play had no appeal, least of any, to a New York audience. Metcalfe. Herald Square—“ Old Dutch.” Amusing musical farce with Mr. Lew Fields and Ada Lewis in the leading roles. Hippodrome — Circus features, ballet and tank spectacle. Hudson—Mr. William Collier in “ A Lucky Star.” See above. ‘eum — Miss Billie Burke in Mr. Maugham’s Mrs. Dot." Notice later. Lyric—" The City." Tremendously moving and powerfully acted drama by Clyde Fitch. Manhattan Opera House — Repertory of grand opera Elliott's — “ The Floor Tack.” Mr. Jerome K. Jerome's and interesting d faultlessly d by Mr. Forbes-Robertson and London littering Passing of the y ww Theatre — Repertory of dramas a minor opera. Twelfth Night” the newe: Keenan in “The otice later, The maiden lady dramatic in well drama from the French —Mr. WH —R. Warner in Walla Jimmy Valentine.” See above. * Alias comicbooks.com