The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-02
THEATRICAL ADJUSTMENTS.
REpRoDUC1IoN or "SECRET SER
YICEU AT THE EMPIRE.

,- Tho sea.nn "SACret Service was performed
\, its author, William Gillette. and substan.
,tolly the same company that made the note
wor,hy visit to London with him. 1t was nat.
,rnl enough that Charles Frohman felt proud
=, ina first successful expectation Of American
,o,o,s In an American play. and that. upon their
,.,urn he placed them on exhibition at his
p-oatvay house. A largo audience was pres
,rt and IL was a good.looking one. although the
Sis,inctly fashionable GLOWING Of the Empire
h,d not vet coue back to town. Mr.. Gillette
as rourdly applauded upon his first entrance,
"a vere some Of his stage companions, and at the
and Of tho third act he responded to calls Tor a
,peech. He spoke of English hospitality and
American kindness quito impartially and said
nothing that is worth quoting for either wisdom
= toolishness. What he did do that requires
,sporting was to play the hero OF his drama
much better than he had been able to In tho
erst New York performance. At that time he
had acted stolidly and ineXpressively. He was
now more animate In the passages OF personal
peril, although maintaining the spy's character
istic OF GOODNESS In great emergencies. while in
his love scenes with the heroine he was suffi-
GENTLY fervid and tender. As to "Socret
Service there was no change In the
NAV itself or the general manner OF playing
Il Hardly a more adroitly theatric mclodrama
Ia, ever been written, and none has been moro
,udiciously performed. There are many impos-
abilities in the episodes. but they are SO clev.
erly arranged by the author and so naturally
repre- sented by the actors that only a hyper
critical auditor bothcrs himself about the
faults, and people in general are engrossed
AND thrilled by the merits. Last nights
sssemblage was made up to. a consider
able extent of strangers, and the situations
which had been conirivcd for thrilling pur-
poses had fully their intended effect upon those
10 whom they were new ana unenpeSteu, inc
Blanche Walsh is less femininely charminE than
Amy Bushy. but more dramatic. Harry Wood.
poiisned. Hope Booth is n marvellously close
likeness to odette Tyler in speech and manner:
Ii Is altogether a fine performance, and worthy
of its place on the Empire stage.
This is the final week of the Klaw & Err
LANCER company in One Round Of Pleasure"
at the Knickerbocker and Of the Bostonians in
Robin Hood at Manhattan Beach, where the
Sousa music and the Pain fireworks are also
drawing to q close. The concerts Of he Metro
politan Orchestra are maintained at the Madi-
son Square Garden. The continuances include
Mature" at the Academy Of Music, Never
Again at Hoyt's, THE Girl from Paris at the
Herald Square, THE Circus Girl" at Days,
very Little Faust" at the Olympia, THE Pri.
vateer'' at the Star, "a Bachelors Baby at the
Murray Hill, THE Good Mr.. Best" ut the Gar
rick, and The Whirl Of the Town" at the Ca
sino. Play news this weei are what Hap
pened TO Jones" at the Manhattan. and Shall
We Forgive Herr" at the Fourteenth Street.
The visitors at the week stands are "A Black
Sheep" with nearly the original cast. at the
Grand Opera House: Mr.. Bancroft with his illu.
sions at the Harlem Opera House. "The span
Of Life at the Third Avenue; 1Nsw York Day
Sport at the Columbus.
The Fifth Avenue viii be ~reopensd on Sat;
on he e Ensuing s's Monday S the Iyeeu H0% RiiR Be-
gin the season. with Edward Ii. .Sothern in
Change FoDa X .! A11syt Tr sPS NE NE Rtisb,, with Roland
Indoor continuous programmes and roof
shSws make up the current supply Of vsgds,
lesque. THE Glad Hand there will be one
Broadway music hall in use: The o. only floating
Golden, May Mooney. and barney Reynolds.
9ympia, the former retaining, Hodges and
t HsrsS Gs0t t ana Pss onora and and w 4lsI,sa and
Wafer t being HI leaders SALT at the sih latter. A"'
C Morris i a :eonsPieuous figure in con-
ttnuous Vaudeville, and the Union Square The
ment than that given this week at keith's.
Ben Harvey, Hayes and Lytton. and Albertus
P Pas 1@s'l iisas t the ,Gmf NJ VI McA AtseyA, and May May.
and the Olympia quartet among many others.
cit is the ingratitude of the public" said the
Trick Staircase after the first act Of The
Good Mr.. Best had been played, which lis
really the most trying part Of this business. You
are mighty soon forgotten. There was Mrs.
Yeamans, who was applauded on the first night
until tears came into her eyes. and I could feel
myself blushing with modification. l was in
the business when Annie Yeamans was a child.
! made my debut with Dan Bryant, and did
black-face work with him for years. Then a
lot Of people started to initiate me, and there
was scarcely a show that hadn't its slippery.
day act. Then / came back here and was fat
tered by Ned Harrigan in 'Waddy Googan.'
Talk Of your old Harrigan favorites, If 1
haven't done good work in that company I
would like to know who has. Yet 1 didn't
get a call on the first night, while Mrs. Yeamans
couldn't speak for five minutes. 1t was dread
fully mortifying."
II the trick staircase was really an old friend
who had not been seen for some time. there was
which is entirely new. This is the use of the
einematograph in the last act. The extent TO
that at some time, in It's more perfected form.
per,ant part IN the development Of plays in
garded. The incidents in which they figure In
The Good Mr.. Best show how readily they
could be used. In the last act one OF tho char
ecters. enters the room and expresses curiosity
es to his wife's whereabouts at that moment.
He extinguishes the electric light, presumably
by accident. and as soon as the stage is dark q
moving picture of his wife and her room Is
shown. Subsequently. several other characters
appear, and every one turns of the light and
Sees the scenes in which they are especially in
terestcd. The actors in the play are the same
that figure in the cinematograph views, and In
this way tho moving picture ID made almost as
Impressive as the actual sight Of the individuals.
They are good animated pictures. They lack
the colors OF tho original subjects, but in other
respects they are as strikingly true to life AS the
BEST OF thes1 animated scenes could ba.
IL Will be seen that some scenes hitherto
represented by human beings might be made
much moro effective with photography. Vi
slons, for instance, and especially those In which
quick action 10 required. could be represented
with greater yersimilitude. Only speech Is
lacking. The pantomimic indication OF tho
,snse is lacking. The Developments. of this
process may make the reproduction Of color
possible, and that would add a beauty which they
now lack. Any ono who saw tho Empire State
express on the biograph knows what u thrill
Ing scene that was. 1t would have been none
the less exciting If IT had come at the end OF the
tourth act In q melodrama and the villains
bones had been crushed under tho wheels. The
sharges Of cavalry as they have been exhibited
y these machines would make thrilling Incl.
cents In a play to which they were appropri-
ave. At present the necessity OF making the
res, or the stage totally dark is an objection,