The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-12-07
AFFAIRS OF THE THEATRE.
WILLIAM M. CRANES FTRsT TIME IN
"rHE MEAD OF THE FAMTLr."

Nllt1m IL. NTuut > lahhIb VIZ NONhu ~
Million was retrieved. at tho knickerbocker
Theatre last night. by a success equally posi-.
tive with The Head, OF .he Family" Never
since Mr.. Crane first led a company Of his own
has he secured 60 congenial a role in so good a
MA A better role he may have had. aud n
bettsr play, but not both In q happy com
b~i,aticn. His character this time Is \ staid old
home body OF college professor. who knows
nothing Of actual life outside his own house,
and who leaves the affairs OF that house TO his
vifc's management. She has made a
more too happy match for one Of their
daughters. she bunEles badly In her
Efforts to get a desirable husband for a sec
opd. and she gives \ bad bringing up to n
Younger third. Her mismanagement lasts
s stiTsT IL ST a t t6TeS t. scandal, But az that
point the professor asserts his authority
and undoes all the I'll that has been done;
Hes Ia the fact that It provides things which
he can do well aud none that he can't. He il
always expert In depicting eccentric traits as
developed BY comic predicaments. Here he Is a
man who. though he Inns never made n railway
irtP, travels i far and wide in ant ss SssS. BY y
S g. e as Ssi thcS aMaS he %,s we're bound Tor Manila: but
Ss %tssffb BY se ss, tamil family and ag Gsfp n m nS%s Il e this IS
hiosyncrasy by the author and by the
Istor Il Is in a vein Ct hu% ,e't which nSh
4 provoked a great deal OF laughter last night.
This comedian is utterly unable to express the
pered With a play which gave him that
impossible Job: But he has first
59i'' that the new BART has plenty. In
a scene where he defends his daughter against
her husbands false accusation Of faithlessness
rises 10 a serious situation finely, and carries
the purely dramatic climax Of the second act
strongly.
The original OF The Head OF the Family" IL
Adolph L'ArronGe's drama. "Haseman's Toch-
ter" familiar in Germany these twenty years.
The English version has been made By Clyde
Fitch and Leo Dietriehstein. They have made
but slight changes in the story. or in
the form OF telling it. The characters. with
their motives. emotions and actions. are sub
s~tantially the same as before. But everything
has been transferred to New York city: and.
while the German feeling is discernible
in the professor, there is no other sign
S Sf s sSnsp ' are New 9orf SsSt't through
manner OF the talk. with its recourse, to slang.
yet never coarse or tnapt, Is that WHICH Pre-.
yails now n our fashionable society. In that
msEts o., sS Mr.. FFFFtt sh'ss ~ efs fMie ets aHd the the
Flame" The language is easy, %colloauial. and
New York pervades the work That quality is
bound to make. the play attractive at a theatre
WITH the GLOWING Lndb the hulrkeTDOckbT bh-
Joys. and with the kind of people with whom
Nj, Cranes popularity rests here and else
where.
inconsequential respects was the hurry Of the
preparation evident. The two drawing rooms
shown were richly and tastefully furnished;
The seven ladies' in them wore, beautiful
gowns gracefully. They and their hus-
bands and lovers had the d%eportment of persons
types were. In the main. sharply deline-
ated. A pert little mink was played
ss% FepsrFnay v ~ i Slad Hy.ob %a HssGin rse a d gni a
attpg matron. for Kate Lester. a %vengefull
S ride ,os i9 Pe9 9ItT Ha, osiyer' T fed wp na f~ ieafGus
wicked wooer By, Frederick Truesdell. atiPpltnE
young husband by Walter Hale. and a club con-
vivialist by William Boag. It may have been
that the company was keyed. up TO a nervous
certain that the performance was exception
ally spirited and effective.
Marshall P. Wilder was a nervous beginner
In vaudeville. He was greeted cordially at
P~roctor's. however. and was soon at ease. The
average audience ut a continuous theatre Is
quite as discriminate as tho se -that listen to
lyceum entertainers. and he need not have
feared that his shots would fly over his hear
ers' heads. But his companions Of the plat
form had told him that he would be lost sight
rounds. Then some variety show iokers pre-
dicted failure for him; They charged him
\! Hs ap 70 11E his diRfr ,slefsu public abI.. after fan r aaG as'E & 4
bit. So it was a badly shaken veteran who
made his vaudeville debut; Blu Rr9phets Ct
- fort was along lines that specialists have kept
to constantly, He mimicked such irritating
and sSJn curious II q s ySrietg Of fs shores rs a Sever Several f types
OF seasick folk were initiated. He gave a bur
lesIus OF opera and some ventriloquism with
out the usual accompaniments AID elabora-
tons. Mr.. Wilder's quaint personality domi-
nailed these comicaltties so thoroughly, that.
an saTirety new side was Eert outWard H n
Jokes and stories were far brighter than the
average OF the monoloGist. and nearly all were
new, Several excursions into pathos were i'll
advised, The Microscopes in the continuous
houses have shown him in a seriea of charac-
tIs,'sae faeiaI contortions; THIS same mobil-
~ oil MS features was one OF bis winning
points at Proetors.
The usual change of opera at the American
Is not made this week. The novelty Of la
Boheme' in English, and the care taken in its
production. have earned a fortnight's time for
II The half price stock company at the Muir
ray Hill has no competitor lust now and is do
Ing well with The Three Guardsmen." Maude
Adams and The Little Minister are exceed
aux; The other frst;grade Brooklyn theatre.
.ne Columbia. has Way Down East" for the
sane DOUBLED engagement De Wolf Hopper
sau me GhArlatan" are current in the Har-
.e theatrical market affords. The siRn Of
The Cross" Is an uncommonly Important visi-
Sr at the Grand opera House. The other
Rsys az The week standa are The Lost Para
gus. az tho Third Avenue, Two Wanderers
y we Peoples, Lost In Siberia" at the 70
IuMous. and A SprtnG Chicken at the Star.
souvenirs have Just marked the fftieth per-
prnanee OF On and on" at the Madison
SQUARE, the seventy-afth Of Hotel Topsy Tur-
~ me Herald Square, and the seventy afth
81 Ire Village Postmaster at the Fourteenth
9treet; The list OF hold over includes The
aasata: with John Drew. at the Empire; T b
sahnfhisran. With Viola Allen. at the Garden:
Ihe Jolly husketeef," with Jefferson DsAn-
gels. az the Broadway Kate Kip" with May
Wwu5Seiil' az the Garrick: 'Trelawny OF the
mels,. with the stock Germany, at the Lyce-
WWmi As You Like It." with Julia Arthur. at
msuaeks; The Merchant OF Venice" with
qua hehan: e Daly's; Sporting Life At the
teademy Of Music. The Turtle" at the Man.
hHn.tah' I'm Weissen Roess'T at the Irving
lace, me Runaway Girl" at the Fifth Ave
Agr ana 4 Dangerous Maid" at the Casino.
me Jrcsr or EIks will give its annual chart
H,,rn tettalnment Tomorrow afternoon at the
suta Avenue. The volunteers include we'll
snusn artists OF the dramatic and vaudeville
sass.xs, There is no danger that the fasco Of
~ recent Actors Fund matinee will be re-
senended on.
Tbs Ambulance Fund Ia n charity that