The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-18
A FARCE AND A COMEDY.
ONE TRANSFERRED FROM THE FRENCH
AND ONE FROM THE GERMAN.
Charles FrohmRn's New Company begins
at the Madison Square In con and on
Sol smith Russell In Uncle Dick"-

OnhFieh HEohmhn'n New Company HeEtnf
At the Madison Square In con and On"-
Sol Smith Russell in ''Uncle Diek"-
Amelia summsrvil1e in "Kyd's Bride.''
Nobody would undertake 10 count up the
farces In which q deceitful husband. a connd.
ing wife and an interfering mother-ln-
law have been discordant characters. II
would require research to even tell how
many times Alexander Bison. the prolific
French playwright, has associated them In
comic complications, IL Is certain that he did
1t again with remarkable ingenuity In tho
piece which. in an English translation and
under the title OF On and on" made n Mad
ison Square Theatre audience laugh last
night. Every time that Mr.. Bisson pre-
sents the familiar household trinity their
attitudes toward one another are illustrated
by freshly contrlved incidents. A new tune is
played on the. old strings. The man In the
present piece pretends to be ION and OF duty
as a conductor Of railway sleeping cars, but he
really spends his time away from home
wooinR n girl whom he means to marry
as soon as no gets a divorce from
his wife. A surprising thing about this latest
OF Bisson's works to reach New York is its
cleanliness. There, ,is not q wicked word or
motion In 1t. Moreover, 1t is much the funniest
in the series thus far. The wit Is bright, sharp.
and well-nigh incessant. The ~conceits arc odd.
original. and ludicrous. Two OF these would of
themselves be quito enough to make o success
for the piece. One is a girl with an deliberately
rokuish and seductive wink. which leads man
after man TO kiss her. but when they do 1t she
screams for help. pretends that the misbe-
havior of her eye is IN involuntary
muscular affection, and calls on her father
to deal with the assailant. He is merely q tricky
wine agent. and he compels each victim OF
the bunco game to buy his wares. The other
Bison novelty is the use Of q phonograph as
the voice OF q supposed spirit which speaks. to
the CONSERVATION OF several OF the characters.
The, fraudulent wink has nothing whatever
VI %hi SS w may 'e easily fisoFE have and been IS an in sDlSSae
%SI$S Rs S ) pR,r 4 nj RPlSs .Sn. t=S5oFSS SshaSd il NJ. VIII 4
to fool his spiritualistie mother-in-iaw Later
1t is turned back on him 80 cleverly that It
the third act merrler than those that have gone
before-a rare and difficult achievement in a
The company which performed "On and on"
present q succession OF farces at the Madison
known in New York for serio-comio acting,
Il TIE IN men 1o to that which L,G4ia 8 graceful I II some
proficient cast for last night. and delivered the
fun to the audience so dsxter9qsly that every
Maggie Holloway Fisher the mother-in-
isFy MADE HRH the new @Sf twists 81 and spe turns Sw that ef the
abundance, Of facotious matter, Fritz Williams
duplicity OF the husband in a way to reunite
him to The wife and az the same time win
Florence. There were parts Tor. Samuel
R 5sSs. R Rgs9n pSS sSbss; rs May Ani SsllRRs 6fSs..
n n%3edr" qe siSss I%H may ir rs%GH5Et the the t eiri
spirited and very harmonious. II material in
language and situations as good as that In
q1 9n asa this Hs sco GaP Gs w RTIIH Seeeme en- a s HEe I'M
stitution. But a second play will not be needed
very soon.
The play which exhibits the talents Of one
actor seems to be the most difficult to write
nowadays. 1t is no longer sufficient to show
the actors methods. The play in which he ap-
pears must be able to stand of itself. So the
play wright that fits the actor seems to have q
double task to accomplish. Martha Morton has
shown especial aptitude among other women
dramatists in suiting the plays to the actors
and giving the works independent merit at the
same time. "A Bachelors Romance" had
other merits than the display OF Sol Smith Rus
sells peculiar humor. 1t was an interesting
work in other particulars. III Uncle Dick
acted last night at the Montauk Theatre.
which Miss Morton adapted from a German
original for the same actor. she has not been
fortunate in finding opportunities for him..
although. in the development OF the part he
plays. all attempt at sequence and logic in the
story has been sacrificed. The German original
shows plainly through the American setting.
Tho piece Is saturated with sentimentality and
idealism. In one episode, the rights and suffer-
inRs OF the laboring classes as opposed to
capital form the subject OF a, conversation
fhnf GaAmn n HkRIV tn fnnnh n haAnaF nnfA in
the trend Of the story. But that hickered out.
and the piece settled down to, farce. and senti-
Mr.. Russell was a man Of simple lie and
emotions. who returned to his old home. after
msk Ii1S Z IN iT PeSce a 13GGaa' his Is eR3O friends 5ns se'1 But ut
he found them. ambitious. pretentious and
artificial. dissatisfied with what they had
His Wealth made Il possible for him to
seem to crafty their wishes. But with power
came evident. and they were confronted to
Be happy. Mt; Russell had the oppCrt16ity e
few. notes Of his gamut; But it was not easy
plicity and righteousness arc the qualities the
public prefer TO see him depict. Nor was It
There " Was iaSghter last nIRht
when i was plainly not intended.
Whether Mr.. Russell bad appeared to adyan-
Of character. By the end OF the third
act 1t had seized the methods of lively farce in
order to pull itself through to the end. It was
q pS@oli tRSt Wns SsI5 tog sgSSssSsi o. S Of
single theme or interest,". Results came
quickly before causes had been more than
suggested. All was theatrical and artificial.
Miss, Morton's ingenuity. which rarely fails
her. had devised two or three entertaining in
cidents in her own fashion. But Uncle Dick"
as a whole did not do much toward divertinG
the friendly audience In the theatre.
Florence Rockwell. Fanny Pitt, William Der;
nard. Alfred Hudson. William Barnum. Lionel
~Barrymore-a miniature Of his father In speech
and actlon.Lila Conyere, and Ethel Winthrop
Miss MortoD's ideas we'll enough
to give them their full value. But they were
not very effective ideas.
Amelia Summerville. in her debut In vaude-
vile at Proctor's Theatre yesterday. was a
reformer OF husbands. In the thirty minutes
filed by the new farce In which she appeared she
accomplished one reformation. This husband
was Myron Lefiingwell. who had written the
piece. First there was an inning for himself and
the wife. May Wheeler. In which he was made