The times., 1899-10-22

the DdSher GI The one while Broadway 0D-
era Company that under these conditions
/ me three Dragons was sold. while
/ Flcrehce Liagfeld does not hesitate to aver
that he demanded all of Mr.. Smiths at
tenilon when he ordered 'Papa's Wife"
| IN the hrst instance. the plan was pregnant
| OF results; in the second. il appears to have
had none. "Cyrano de BergeIac" and Pa
pa VIE were turned out together, the
one under an assumed name and the other
over the Well-known COgnOmen of Harry
b. Smith. Both are lamentable failures.
even the charming music of that primally
mentioned and the elaborate dressing of
each being insufficient for their salvation.
In Papa S Wife" the writer has striven
10 conceal his dullness with vulgarity-
VuIgarity so pronounced that, even when
carefully pruned during it's To-
cal engagement, the piece was
nauseating. The details of the
plot were so filthy that this paper care
fully refrained from giving them on Tues
day morning There were not a hundred
speeches in the entire farce that could have
Deen published in a daily with the impu-
nlty with which they were delivered from
Jne stage. But determination to achieve
/ drtiness might have been forgiven Mr..
Smith if "Papa's Wife" had contained any
/ thing else. 1t did not There was not ex-
plotted a solitary idea that had not been
y
which is an adaptation from the French,
has been fumigated frequently and intro
duced as the theme for numberless come
dies. A few bright lines partially re-
deemed portions of the production, but
/ such lines were far apart Aside from the
I magnlhcent manner in which Papa S
/ Wife was staged, and the undoubted clev-
/ erness of Charles Bigelow, who was given
/ TO do precisely what he had done in The
French Maid" nothing more dull and in
tensely stupid has been heard here in many
! moons. Reginald de Koven's music as
has been remarked, was of the variety of
the Thus to Her He Said" songs though
wholly without the lightness of such bal
1 lads. Altogether. "Papa's Wife" proved a
very poor sort of affair 1t may succeed
! in New York on its demerits-it did not
succeed locally on its merits.
The Times is willing to admit that
without any desire to deceive theatregoers,
the tone Of its criticism of "Cyrano de
/ Bergerac" was entirely too favorable
/ "Cyrano," however, had the virtue of con-
/ taining several of the most charming
melodies ever sung in this city. Victor
! Herbert has fairly outdone himself on it's
/ score and no one could have asked for
moro delightful music. The libretto was
only superior to that of Harry Morris
| "Cyrano de RubbeTneck" which was ex-
/ tensively reviewed in these columns when
it was seen at Kernans. Nothing more
puerile and dreary than Francis Wilson's
new opera could be imagined. If the star
was doleful while "Cyrano" was being
done as serious work he was tragic last
week, when it was shown in the guise of a
comic one.
The audiences at the Columbia laughed.
This was the most humiliating feature of
the whole affair. It is bad enough to
know that Harry b. Smith is sufficiently
stupid TO pen such lines as those of "Cy-
rano' without knowing that persons stu
pid enough to laugh at them can be found
There was not a single witty speech in
the entire Iibretto. Some of them were
what the English call far-fetched. Others
we're not, having been fetched from only
as far as the nearest successful comedy
Still more were merely dull Here are a
few of the phrases that actually drew ap-
plause.
Montauery, the actor, on his knees to- an
actress, whined, You have no heart,"
Cyrano replied: No but I have club"
page, dragging in the question by the
scron Of its neck. asked, Shall We dance
on polished floors ?"
Quoth Cyrano: Not only on polished
floors but on the bald heads of all the
authors friends" (Hysteria)
Cyrano stumbling over his own name
Bergerac." (Roars One might have ex-
pected brays)
But these examples were picked at ran
dom and there were many worse. verse
OF a humorous song related the fact that
she thought herself chic although she was
no chicken" and the house was doubled
up with merriment. Mr.. Wilson caught
himself in the act of saying hell" and
said ''hades." There was moro doubling
up. Yet this little knack of narrowly
avoiding profanity has been Variety
Comedian WatsOn's stock-in-trade for
years, and only last Monday Manager Chase
threatened to fine Arthur Dunn just $50 for
attempting the jest on the stage of the
Grand. There were other thefts from the
concert halls that were more apparent The
star was applauded for telling Mont1uery
that he had as much poetry and passion
as a pound of putty The speech was on
par with the familiar gag" of the bur
lesQue shows" wherein one gentleman in
forms another that he looks like pretzel
or sings as might a glass OF water. And
when Mr. Wilson could not win commenda-
tion in English he relapsed into German,
which assuredly was very witty and clever
OF him.
Mr.. Smith $ lyrics. once so catchy and
jingling. in "Cyrano de Bergerac." were
comparable to nothing but the street songs. /
The variety Of their rhymes was the va
riety Of thU@s attached to the words hon
ey' and lady in negro ditties. When a
line of one Of Mr.. Smiths verses ended
with fight" no discernment was required
for the auditor to decide that plight" was
coming. So too. were mated strife and
life, blue" and true and curl" and
girl" Once Mr.. Wilson was alluded to as
an elf" simply because the poet wished
to make use of self" afterward. And
when Mr. Smith attempted to convince that
right down" and might gown" could be
fitted to single notes and that love" and
prove" sounded alike one made up his
mind that the author had become near
sighted and mistaken his Webster for a
rhyming dictionary.
Both "Cyrano de BergeraC" and 'Papa's
Wife" briefly, were evident results of the
same mental alteration that caused Mr.
Hoyt to see humOT in the idea Of a man
getting On his knees and barking like a
dog. Washingtonians did not expect "A
Deg in the Manger;" they were not wholly |
unpreptred fer these latest paretlc pro-
ducts FJt, nevertheless, the audiences
that had laughed at Robin Hood and |
"The Sarenade," and The Fortune Tell /
err could not help regretting that Mr..
Smith had nothing good to offer this time. |
The cleveTest Of his lines read last |
week was that in which he attributed the |
Iibretto CT "Cyrano de Bergerac" to STU |
art Reed"
Speaking Of paresis and "Papa's Wife" |
reminds one that Leander Richardson. the
gentleman Who recently delivered himself |