Omaha daily bee., 1893-12-04
MUSE. ENTS.

'Crust of Society" ut the Fifteenth Street.
The Crust of Society," which began n
weeks engagement at the Fifteenth Street
theater last night, is not a play for prudes.
Made into English by Miss Louise Imogen
Quincy and William Seymour from Dumas
great play, lie DEM Monde" it breaches
a sermon that tnds lodgmen in the heart OF
every one who has witnessed the foibles,
the deceits, the cruel wrongs perpetrated
under the cloak of society.
Modernized nature, the civilization of the
nineteenth century, is only different in kind
from that which has existed in all ages. Its
virtues may find different channels for their
exercise, its vices be cultivated in different
fields, but they are essentially the same
thing. ''The Crust takes for it's motto, cit
was the unwritten social law that a good
man should marry none but a good woman
and from the rise of the first to to the fall Of
the last curtain the moral is clear and dis
tinct. 3e- ..5E sta. .t.at.s->t
There is no attempt to conceal the 'speck
on the peach" but on the contrary it is legit-
inlately shown how some beings rise like
stepping stones of their dead selves to domi-
mating positions in the circles of fashion.
The social problems have been handled with
consummate skill. the situations finely
wrought out as you would expect from the
brilliant Seymour of Boston Museum fame.
The contrasts between good and bad are
sharply drawn in a most impressive way,
but there is a cafe-like air about the play
that is very strong. .t.
The women, for the greater part, are ad-
venturesses of the ultra fashionable type,
the men but feeders to the inofuiuate vanity
and ambition Of these butterflies of the
night. There is one quasi hero by the name
of st. Aubyn, who, while having considera-
BILE of Il past, like the rest, is sufficiently
manly to attempt to save a friend, Captain
Randall Northcote, from the Vaccinations
OF u totally bad woman, Mrs. Eastlakc
Chapel, and as usual is involved in n series
OF complications that cause endless trouble.
But he finally succeeds in showing up the
modern Magdalen and the play ends happily.
Individually anu collectively the company
is among the very strongest seen in Omaha
for years. Miss Ieflie Tilbury, who played
Mrs. Chapel last night, is a right pretty
woman aud clever actress, who in years gone
by held a strong. place in the legitimate.
And whisper. she used to be almost as
graceful u dancer as her mother, Lydia
Thompson, for the memory of q dance in
''rhe Winters Tale rises up as Miss Til
bury'S name is recalled.
Elita Proctor Otis, once the editor of the
Saturday Review, a society journal of New
York, and always n member of Mr.. McAllis-
ter's 400 plays the risque part of Mrs. Echo
with decided dash and brilliancy, n bit
inclined to overact, but always interesting.
Lydia Thompson! Tie evening bells were
ringing when she came on the stage as Lady
Downe. How that name takes one back to
the days when we were young and when the
blonde brigade was u novelty. Gracious,
'ho AtiAo iNo btoop w III hCl
II the bucks Of '6S could see
their idol now in the role of Lady Downe
they would surely lament the days that
have gone. Pauline Markham, she of the
silver voice ~ Ada Harlanu, who married
Brander Matthews; Liza Webster, Alice
Atherton, Lena Merville and Kate Evcrleigh
were all proteges of the fair Lydia's, and
the stage has not seen their successors yet.
And the ability, the aplomb, which this lit
tie woman. who made her debut years ago as
Silver Locks IN The Three Bears" brings
to the role of Lady Downc are lessons to the
younger generation. Miss Charlotte Neil
son, a mighty pretty young woman, the only
true soul in the dollhouse of "The Crust
gives a fine portrayal of Violet Esmond.
The men are all well cast. Arthur Lewis
as st. Aubyn is an excellent actor, quiet and
finished in method. John Flood makes a lot
out of Captain Northcote, while the other
members of the company play their parts
well.
But the contrast between "The Dazzler'
and 'The Crust of Society," was too strong
for a Sunday night gallery at the Fifteenth
no dances, nc fire engines dashing
across the stage at full speed, and
the gods could not understand
the transition. The life pictured was new
TO them, the magnificent costumes worn by
the ladies were novelties of a most pro
nounced kind. They longed for IA return of q
farce comedy no matter what; they said SC
through the peanuts they munched. But the
play and the people scored a success not
withstanding these drawbacks.
Peter Daley at the Boyd,
After having played a supporting part Il
men less capable than himself for years Pete
Daley has finally struck his gait, and it,.
something Of a Nancy Hanks clip, too-as
| the hright narticular star of "a Country