The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-07
DRAMATIC OBSERVATIONS.
,yr GERMAN FARCE IRON WHICH
n,LY TOOK "NUMBER VINE"

-,,, The Hunor OF It was Berorc Its Trans
,s,,or Into Observation-Disclosures who Fig
~. .musingIy In 1.-The salt Of tho
y.r,b--Notc- Of Players aud PlnS virgins.
rAo rroduction OF Hans Huckebcin" at tho
,.rin, Place Theatre last night made 1t clear
-. rcodily this latest work OF those unwearicd
IS,,,borotors, Kabclburg and Blumenthal,
Nv.nla have mado such a sensation in Germany.
..,sd here In English as Number Nine tho
Si.,h had Int slight success. But last night the
s.ii.ncc was kept in continual laughter. In any
-, thu farce is slight and conventional. It's
all NJ the tricks that these enowned manufac
,r,or, of farces have often used before. Only tho
nochonical novelty OF the cinomatograph serves
n vary the customary complication OF tho
,,,riouc. hut there Is such doft handling OF the
FAMILIAR matter. such unfiagging action In the
development, and, above all, such bright wit in
,ho dialogue that the old.timc formula has pro-
1ucrd a piece which has almost the freshness
anil shirt OF novelty. The scenes arc almost In
y.riably supplied with snappy. humorous lines
that. we're the situations less amusing, there
rould DO ample entertainment for tho
~,pectator. But the merit OF Hans
Hpckebcin" " comes chiefly from its spark
ling talk. II is that especial quality which
has added to this play the merit that none OF
the Kadelburg.B lumenthal pieces have recently
possesscd. In the English version little or moth
Ing Of this excellence remained, and IL is 80
Enthusiastically German that maybe 1t could
NOT have been rendered into any other language.
The farce was. OF course. admirably played.
Herr Conricd' ) actors can get the right tempo
for farce. Tncy do not drag through 1t nor fall
over themselves in the brcathless effort to APP
near lively. They are spirited. animated, and
not unnecessarily exaggerated. bernhard Vor-
-.l. t.na nNNnntinnnIv nrtiltin na IN
smorous Russian. and proved that he 10 n
character actor, not n hero. Anna BragR
took her share in tho play with no especial seri'
Gustav Won Seyifertitz, Wilhelmine Schlueter--
best Of old women in this country to-day-Ed-
mund Hanno and Gusti Forst, were the capable
actors in "A rarely artistic and mcritorious per.
Torrance. They made the European vogue OF
"Sumber Nine" easy enough to understand.
Indiana country folk must be gifted with
native wit, indeed, If they talk as well as the
characters do in 1.-The Salt of the Earth" When
Joseph Arthur tries to put homely fun into the
speeches Of these people he hits the mark with
nearly uncrring regularity. There is scarcely
q line in the play intended TO be humorous that
does not prove laughablc. Mr.. Arthur has
bias in favor Of that form of spoken fun which
comes from the method Of AIRS. Mdiaprop. He
had an Irish widow in THE Cherry Pickers"
who made much Of tho plays fun out of her
mice arrangement of cpitaphs." But there is
spontaneity enough about Mr.. Arthur's jokes
in this direction to make them effective
In nearly every case. His arrangement Of tho
local scenes of Indiana life introduce this
humor aGrceably enough, and If 1.-The Salt Of
the Earth were all comedy, there would be
scarcely a discordant note. But there are Sc
riOus scenes, and there the trouble begins. The
scene of the play Is Vevay, a small town pre-
sumably settled by the descendants Of Swiss
immigrants. The mention of that name ac-
c~entuates the anomaly of two characters in the
play. An adventures is apparently a part
OF this rural life. Tho other is n villain with
another name than the.one to which he custom
arily answers. These two incongruities talk
about the good old days" which have always
filled some part of the previous lives of the
villain and the woman with q past. The in
consistency of this in a rural Indiana town
Is pointed by the fact that the word 'Vevay" is
mentioned, and IL gives to the play exactly the
has not seen the lady standing alone, with
only her past and the villain, hcarkening to tho
music us II begins to. play softly {; then turning
"thc old days at Etretat," or Nice, or Nevay. or
tome other European resort When the name
OF Neyay crceps into that conversation between
the wife and her old lover one sees "A long pro.
cessiOn of adventurcsscs and their partners file
LII memory across the scene.
with Its exciting talk about the ruin of the
hero's political reputation, alternates, as the
drama does throughout, in layers Of fun and
seriousness. 1t is the uncertainty of Just what
the characters feel that sometimes sets the
audiences TO wondering. An example Of Mr..
Arthurs boldness in this direction Is the wife,
VINO speaks humorous lines and is yet in reality
q rather serious factor, SO far us her actions go.
She puts her husband INTO a lunatic asylum,
put she Jokes incessantly, not, perhaps, with the
PURPOSE, but with the effect of amusing the
audience. There are many figures in the play
that areas indefinite i%n,thcir Significance. 1t Is
a test OF the authors skill that they are usually
able to make, their impression clearly, When
they do not do this it IL because there are too
many responsibilities on their shoulders. The
end of the third act offers one instance of this
when Tom, after having become n candidate
ior the state Senate two years after leaving
ihe plough, volunteers, with the hope of free
aMms himself from suspicion, to run a foOtrace.
ihere are some overworked villains, too, and
.heir plotting seems uncommonly vicious, but
they have their moments of humor, and for
that reason are readily forgiven. Every char
tcter In Mr.. Arthur's play that has a comic line
10 speak adds to the amusement, for the
kind.
An offer has been made by A. N. Palmer to
lease the Murray Hill Theatre from the Goelet
estate. This will not surprise persons who
nave been acquainted with Mr.. Palmcr's in
tentions. Last summer he and Richard Mans
neiu seriously discussed the advisability Of a
house to be Mr.. Mansfeld's professional home
-. - "oo Sae via bhO
mn lay too Tar off the beaten track of travel.
evidently Mr.. Mansfield has changed his mind
ABOUT that. and IL Mr.. Palmer comes to any
agreement with tho Goclets as to the rental,
that theatre will be taken. Mr.. Mansfield would
play there for four months every year, and DUR
ing the rest Of the time it would be occupied by
others' A fact that appealed to Mr.. Mansfield
was the comparatively low rental, which might
permit his giving Shakespearean produce
uons there for long runs and permit a con-
SIDERABLE number OF the seats to be sold at what
arc known as popular prices. "At some time
Ut another" Mr.. Mansfield said about a year
sRo 10 a manager with whom he was then me-
Soualins for a theatre, II wish to get into some
,aFse theatre where at cheap prices ! can play
w mat great public which finds Broadway too
SnpohsIvc. 1t Is true of Mansield'3 engage
,,hhohts AT tho Broadway theatres that they i'll
nc galleries better than those OF any other of
Wy travelling stars excepting Henry Irving.
me pay in which Julia Marlowe will be seen
sNai week as, the woman who, through her as
Equation nno with Napoleon, raised In Poland tho
snpo thht the country might take its place
among he. independent European powers, is
n r aGaplAtion of u German work called ''Ihe
w nan fruasian.", 1t is by Rudolph STRAIT. il
ThSss successfully acted last winter In berlin.
fore. "''" y" nSufou ~ pays De-
ssIhe last not of 'npha ronoua,o,,p oo,,