Life — December 21, 1911 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

From the White House to the Tenements IRST off, a quarrel with the title of “The First Lady in the Land,” the in- teresting play in which Elsie Ferguson is displaying her charms and ability at th Gaiety. Back about the time of the Hayes administration some snobbish society re- porter in Washington applied “the first lady in the land” to the wife of the then Presi- dent. Of course she had about as much right to it, logically or sentimentally, as the President has to be called “the first gentleman in the land.” The lady who keeps house at the Executive Man- sion is the President's wife and is that only so long as the other gentlemen in the land keep her husband in office. There is far more official reason for bestowing the title of “the first Indy in the land” on the Principal High Lady Muck-a-Muck of the Grandmothers of the Revolution or the Chief Royal Water Tank of the W. C. T. U. To every right-minded rican the “first lady in the land” is his own mother, wife, sister, sweetheart, or whatever other person of the opposite sex happens to hold the highest place in his chivalrous regard. But titles don't make or unmake plays, and in the present ceeded in the difficult task of mak- ELSIE FERGUSON instance the author has su ing a most agreeable comedy out of episodes in the early his- tory in the United States. He hasn't tied himself down to ¢ of the play contains some anachro- all it is a cred: bie accomplishment and © new vistas to our native dramatists, Not facts and the lang: nisms, but all in may open up soi the least of the virtues of the piece is that it directs atten- tion to the facts that as a nation we have a history and that cur present government was built on something better than the half-baked theories of the present-day amateur states- men who have a myriad notions of just how the work of the founders can be bettered. Elsie Ferguson makes a charming Dolly Todd and wi give ladies of this era ideas of how it is possible for them etting for the ballot f's clocution at points, to govern the country without t be t ogether so arch and dainty tha Exception ken to the st she seems a but she is nings she caused among the statesm The sup good, notably in the Aaron Burr of Mr. Charles Perry and the James Madison of Mr. Lowell Sherman. It is well staged 1 the diplomatic quarrel at President Jefferson's dinner is an admirably handled scene reasonable excuse for the hear: n and politicians of her time port is -LIFE- “The First Lady in the Land,” both for its interest as a stage production and for other reasons, should be seen espe- cially by those who are beginning to forget that we have a national history and by those who never knew that we have one. I making bread, cake, cocktails and similar products, it is safe to follow exactly the recipe which has already achieved a successful result. But this doesn’t hold true with musical shows, and “Peggy” at the Casino direfully points the truth of that statement, Whoever enginecred the enter- prise evidently was confident that a score by the composer of “ Florodora,” a book by a London comedian, brilliantly col- ored costumes and scenery, chorus girls galore, a cast with names already familiar and comedians who had once becn funny, all stage managed by a man with a reputation for that sort of thing, would be a sure guarantec of success. In fact with everything the second-rate output of every one con- cerned and without any evidence of brains and originality in sight, “ Peggy” is about the worst in a season in which there have been quite a few below-par musical shows. Even the old, reliable, first-aid-to-the-injured pony ballet couldn't bring “ Peggy” to life. 0 Ha OZ UT cheer up, friends. At the Herald Square there is a musical show with a well developed pay streak of novelty. A little while ago a light comedy was produced here under the title of “An American Widow.” For reasons recorded at the time, it just failed of success. Somebody discovered that there was enough to it to make the backbone for a musi- cal piece. That persevering and meritorious artist, Miss Grace La Rue, was put at the head of a pretty competent cor the music was injected into the veins of the former failure and presto! we have “ Betsy,” which bids fair from its originality of treatment to win a good slice of popular favor. It is simply a modern comedy in which at frequent intervals the characters burst into song and dance, concerted, quartetted, trioed, duetted or soloed. There are no chorus gitls and no ingenious mechanical surprises, Gott sei dank. With better singing ability in the company there would be no doubt of the success of “ Betsy.” Its comedy spirit is ex- pany, A LITTLE BIRD TOLD ITER comicbookeun