The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-06


noted resorts that make background
for the night side of life in the cele-
brated Tenderloin district of New York.
Old haunts vice such aston Gould's,
Billy McGlory's and The Aliens will
be scenically reproduced. Gould, Nc
Glory, Allen, George Apo, the green
goods man, and the old Harry Hill will
be in the company. 1t is said that one
of the recently-deposed police captains
will also strut before the footlights in
the piece. The tour is to begin, ac-
cOrding to present arrangements, in
Philadelphia in about month"
Nym Crinkle thinks the present ten
dency of the playwright is toward Gym.
icism and sermons rather than creative
work. "rhe American people are
more deadly in earnest with life than
any other people on earth," he says.
"They are not sitting in the parquet of
existence to sneer at the abiding veri-
ties or to clap their hands at the pass
ing hollowness. When they are tired
they will laugh at the absurdities or
cheer the jovialities, but the moment
you begin to jibe the essentials upon
which they have built their homes
they yawn. The cOld-blooded nihiIism
of such wit as Oscar Wilde's is as for
eign to the American temperament
and character as elephantiasis is for
eign in its glandular system. Every
man and woman in America. who is
willing and able to work expects to
have home if he or she hasn't got one
already. When, therefore, sneering
cynic of Fleet street, who never lives
outside of shop house, or a boulevar-
dier of Paris, who defines virtue to be
cocotte who is faithful for six weeks,
undertakes to sprinkle an American
audience with his glittering views
of life, the American audience
is sensible of being bored by an
undue amount of impudence and con.
ceit, and cannot for its life see why it
should pay Sl.50 for literary gin fizz
that can be picked up for nothing in
any Bohemian resort. The amount of
this sort of thing is sufficient to war;
rant the suspicion that the smart fel-
lows are all trying to outdo each other
in brilliant and reckless bitterness. A
play was once an occurrence. The eff
fort now is to make it conversation
and a conversation with strychnine in
it. There is something deeply inter-
esting in this cynical attitude Of the
current drama, because it is undoubt-
edly the reflection of n critical and not
of a creative epoch. 1t is bringing to
the front the clever, not the procrea-
tive man. The best of the English
dramas that are now snapped up do
not reverberate the best aspirations,
the deepest sorrows, the fercest wrongs
or the perennial gladness of the En-
glish people. Neither its faith nor its
failures, its stress nor its triumphs
come leaping into evidence on the
boards. Only lis fpllies. Its everyday
heroes who die working and hoping
have no efficient chronicler. Instead,
we get its wantons, its adventuresses,
its court fools and its smart imbeciles." )"
And the clever Mr.. Crinkle brings
proof that the great mass of people
don't like them.
This is how William Winter greets
Tim Murphy's new stellar aspirations:
1.-THE name of Tim Murphy is more
suitable for tin whistle than to fill
the resounding trump of fame, and SC
is Henry Guy CarletOn's play of Lem
Kettle, which he has fashioned for the
guilellss Tim. 1t must remain mys.
terry why this amiable person named
Murphy, chiefly known on the stage in
a part of small Importance in a farce OF
small importance, "A Texas Steer,
should ever have imagined that he had
sufficient equipment of talent or power
or charm to succeed as star. THE
Old Homestead is not poetical. Shore
Acres remains close to the sea level
Neither play scars, but both give faith
full pictures of New England farm life
which have gained extensive popular
ity. But Lem Kettle in com
parison with either The Ole
Homestead or Shore Acres, has tho
barren and murky air of the woodsheC
rather than the fragrant breeze of tn,
meadow. 1t is u simple play for ;
simple star, but both are too simple
Tim Murphy smacks of old Sol Smitl
Russell. There is marked resemblance
in aspect, manner, movement an(
speech, but Mr., Murphy's acting is by
no means equal to that of Mr.. Russell
in true quaintness aud drollery. Tht
best that can be said of him as q star il
that he is mild and inoflensive. II,
does not gleam. He rarely wrinkles
His light is pale, like that Of the waterN
moon, and, moreover, it sadly lack'
area"
The same authority says of Cranes
new venture: "rhe player of Falstaf
in 'The Merry Wives has much eas
ier task than he who attempts the par
of the histories. Mr.. Crane realize,
capitally the jovial temper and th,
rich, oily humor of the character, ant
he showed that he had studied and ex
cellently mastered the details of tn,
knights nature, tastes, habits, behav
ior and appearance. He was free an,
broad in his expression without beini
at any time vulgar, and he indicated
Falstaff's self Indulgence and overfet
appetite without any approach t
c0arseness. 1t was altogether a studi
Gus and appreciative embodiment,
careful idea to carry out the poets in
tention, and an entertaining portrait
ure of an interesting and fascinatin
personality. Mr.. Crane has, moreover
had the good taste not to make tn
play mere opportunity for the exhi
bition of star. There are some Ion
scenes, and pleasing scenes, too, II
which he does not appear at all.
One of the bookings of Manage
Laine, of the rockingham, which wi
attract great interest is two-night
engagement of theMarie Tavary Gran
Opera company, with 1870 voices strong
1t will appear here after the holidays
This company, in Pittsburg, the othe
day, gave Leoncavallo's tragic two-aC
opera, II Pagliacci," with Tavary
Guile, Mertens, Warren aud Schuste
in the leading parts. The new wor