Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-27

There are a good many laughs in "Tha
Junior Partner" and other excuse for ex-
istence it has none. But that is tolerably
good excuse for a comedy, better for a
screaming farce which this is from begin
ming to end. Most people who see 1t will
find that 1t could be boiled down to two acts
without the sli ghtest loss, and a lot OF
meaningless maneuvering and chatter
omitted, with positive gain. Two young
Partisan dentists are the heroes Of the
comedy. Gustave BonteSttn, one of them, is
engaged to marry q charming widow
He goes to England to wind up
lawsuit which will bring him
fortune, and while slightly
overcome By wine and by mistake, or rather
through Mrs. Stockton'S scheming, enters
the room of that lady's daughter and to save
himself from disgrace marries the girl he is
supposed to have compromised. The girl
proves to be his partners fancee. He re-
turns to France with her, all the time eager
to be rid of her. The most absurd compli-
cations issue, but GlsstdUs gets release at
last when he discovers Arthur Hastings,
his partner, hugging his GtIstd0e's, wife.
Perhaps the plot amounts to more than
this, but 1t would take an analytical chem
ist to separate the material points from the
immateriaL Some of the dialogue is bright;
a few of the brightest things are borrowed,
notably the description of the country villa,
where in summer the river Is at the bottom
of the lawn and in winter the lawn is at the
bottom of the river. This jest appeared Is
years ago in one OF Henry j. Byron's
comedies.
Henry Miller plays G,tstdvs with good
deal of grace, but not much humor. He is
not at home in wild champagne comedy, and
the part does not fit him as do his many
beautiful coats and trousers. At times he
drops out of the character entirely and be-
comes q sensible human being which THE
Junior Partner" never is meant to be- Miss
Emily Bancker is altogether widow worth
winning as Henriette Bochdrd, and she is
quietly funny without losing for q moment
her refined poise. OF course her good looks
are not drawback, and her dresses are
really helpful also. Miss May Irwin
throws as much of her natural
vivacity into the character of Helen Stockton,
Q typical Englishwoman as the Frenchman
draws her; vulgar, mercenary and gross,
with mother an aged copy of the same
caricature, more vulgar, more mercenary
and matchmaker. Bisson and Care, the
authors of 1.-THE Junior Partner" may have
written it to Mr.. Frohman's order, but they
had the French public, with French tastes,
in their mind. The two Englishwomen,
mother and daughter, chasing husband for
the latter at the point of q cornet and
clarionet, would be supremely amusing to a
Partisan audience. Except where Miss
Irwin projects her own personality and gets
q laugh the two characters are generally
| stupid and offensive. The slam-bsng rough
and tumble fooling with the patient in the
dentists chair, in act L, produced more
laughter last night than anything else.
But is q man with toothache in the hands
of dentist a legitimate subject for the
comedy writer?
Before the principal piece Clyde Fitch's
clever little curtain-raiser, Frederick Le-
maitre," was c1pItally interpreted by Mr..
Miller, Miss Bancker and Mr.. Ry1ey. It
is a sketch, merely, showing how q great
actor cured foolish girl of the notion of
going on the stage. Mr.. Miller's intensity
was well-measured, and the tragic touch at
the end of the great scene very, naturally
brought down the house-because it was
true Miss Bancker concealed her natural
grace very cleverly as the gawky little mil
liner, pretty and stage-struck, and Mr..
Ryley as the devoted valet grown gray in
the actors service was really admirable. A
very large audience seemed to enjoy both
pieces. When they gave the comedians q
call after act IL, nobody was on the stage
as the curtain rose and nobody appeared It
looked very odd. There was big matinee
audience also.