The times., 1899-09-03

NEW YORK. Sept. 2-The past six days
have been busy ones in professional Gotham.
and as the outcome Of boundIess activity
the theatrical season of 1899 90 is at last
open. None Of the pieces presented here
so far has been of such a nature as 10
place our critics under great mental strain.
but the work OF the reviewers has covered
deal OF space and number Of renderings.
First among the local houses to begin oper-
| ations was Waliaek's, which threw wide Its
doors on Monday night and admitted "a
Little Ray Of Sunshine" The Offering IS
farce purchased from William PenIey
abroad by Smyth g. Rice The local
scribes do not seem able 20 agree upop the
precise amount of light the Ray %~es.
but. personally, / am OF the opinion that
! in it the firm mentioned has a money
maker. The audience which witnessed ths
initial performance seemed Well pleased.
too, and, after all. 1t IS the line in front
of the box Office that makes the best IDEAS
ure with which 70 tell the success OF a
production. ~ Little Ray OF Suushins' is
certainly clean. and that is more than may
be said Of most. 1t is do2e BY very good
cast. among the members OF which are
William Elton. Wallace Ersklne, Charles
Cherry Herbert Sparkling. Adelins Stuart,
Janet Alexander and Grace Dudley. The
young woman finally named IS uneommoaly
charming and should find il worth her while
10 remain in America.
'eThe Girl From Maxim's." demure but
deceitful visitor. tripped into town on
Tuesday evening at the reiuvenated Cri-
terion Theatre and won a host OF friends
Immediately upon her arrival She came
with a rush and abandon rarely witnessed
on our stage. and although 1t had been pro-
claimed in advance that she was nice but
naughty, those gathered TO greet her
seemed pleased at her demeanor- The play
! for shoFn Of my metaphor The Girl
From Maxim's" is a play-has much to do
with cocktails, cigarettes. tntoxieasion. anu
gay old men. but considerable fun arises
from the ENHANCEMENT and enjoyable fun
il is il one be not too fastidious- Under
meath a thinly disguised exterior there !s
plenty OF suggestion in the piece, but
metropolitan folk have ceased asking even
for the disguise, and SO The Girl IS sure
to- be profitable. II not exactly a Sabbath
school entertainment, the work is. at least.
clever and engaging. In the producing
company are ". ]. Ferguson, Eugene Jep-
son. George Woodward. Alfred Klein. Jose
| phfne Hall. Gertrude Whitty. aud others
more or less known 10 fame.
AT the Manhattan Theatre tonight Willie
/ Collier is TO make his local debut as an
/ author in his Boston hit Mr.. Smooth
tinuous laughs, and in the title role Mr.
Collier is said to have abundant oppOr
I tunities for the creation of this commodity.
| Joe Patten, alias Mr. Smooth, is a pietur-
/ esque liar and fraud. He is taken into the
! family Of a banker and treated with boun-
| tiful hospitality. The capitalist sees in him
| most agreeable and satisfactory husband
/ for a maiden sister; the luck OF the bogus
/! Mr.. Smooth is running in grooves until the
! advent of the real Mr. SoOth- Then he
| humor is supposed TO come in and remain
until the final curtain The dialogue OF
the farce is ments ned as being bright and
| the situations sereamingly amusing. Mr.
Golfers friends tell me that he is certain
to capture New York with the vehicle.
On Thursday night the Fourteenth Street
| Theatre, which has been redscOTated until
it is now virtually a new house. was open
ed with J. X. TiIl.tson's "A Young Wife"
| as the attraction. The presentation is in
| four acts. and its scenes are laid IN this
| vicinity. IL tells of the murder or a
wealthy merchant By his scapegTaee boy.
who has become burglar. Suspicion falls
on the youthful spouse Of an adopted SON
| After many vicissitudes she is found 10 be
innocent and everything ends in the usual
way There are several gallery thrilling
| scenes in the work. notably one between a
detective the accused woman, and her hu5-
band. and another which tTanspires in
den of thieves The acting of the company,
which includes such people as j. H. Gil
mour Frank Losee. Selma Herman, and
Charlotte Crane, Is excellent The author Is
to be congratulated on having written
first-class melodrama containing no me-
chanicaI or sensational effects "A Young
Wife should have long and prosperous
run. If frequent curtain calls on the open
| ing night count for anything IL VIII
Andrew Mack brought The Last OF the
Robans'' to the Academy of Music yester-
evening and seemed TO score heavily. 1
did not sit through the entire performance,
! hut those portions which / saw were IN
teresting, while the crowd appeared 10 De
delighted with everything that was going
on With certain stTatas OF the social eartE
Mr.. Mack seems to be a great favOrise
On the Sth Of next month. at the Grand
Opera House. we shall see Wagenhals <
: Kemper's much-taIked-o revival Of The
Winters Tale" In a season OF big pro-
ductions this promises to be among the
l most important and conspicuous. The play
will be shown in five acts and twelve
scenes The first of these is 70 disclose
: the portice of the palace OF KLsg Lsontes
in Sicily; the second Hermione's apart
, ments, the gallery OF the god Apollo, ana
, a storm on the coast or Bohemia the
third. the court OF the Sicilian dwelling.
A special feature will be made OF ths
Bohemian sheep-shearing festival and a
peasant dance in the last act II is said
that Messrs Wagenhals C Kemper have
expended S17. 900 on this Offering
OTIS Skinner and his support begin re-
hearsing The Liars on next Monday,
| preparatory TO opening at the Columbia
Theatre in your city Henry Arthur Jones
comedy had long run last year at the
Empire and should prove TO be an ex-
ceIlent vehicle for Mr.. Skinner, whom :
consider one of the best actors in the cGun-
try Manager Buckley has engaged an un
usually competent company 10 appear witt
his star It's roster includes Nannette
Comstock. Ethel Strickland Helen StFiek-
land. Frank Sylvester, Eugene Eberle.
Clara Everett Emma Lindberg, H. R.
Davies. W. C. Andrews, and others After
completing his Washington engagement
Mr. Skinner will be seen in all the i'm
portant cities of the South.
The success achieved by Gus and Max
Rogers. under the direction of Klaw &
Erlanger, in "a Reign of Error has in
spired John J. MeNaIly to write another
play for these comedians. The piece viii
be called The Rogers Brothers ia Wall
Street" It is TO be in three acts and will
deal with the doings of two raw Ger
mans who suddenly find themselves adrift
in New York The farce will be done first
at Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre on
September Is and Is expected to run all
winter The Interpretation has been en-
trusted to Maude Raymond. Ada Lewis.
Georgia Cain, John G.. Sparks. Lee Harri-
son. Louise Cunning. and Jeanette Ba-
geard
The season OF opera in English" at the
American begins early in October. when the
Castle Square people viii be seen in several
; masterworks. among them die Meister-
| singer, "Tannhauser. and Der F!eugende
I Hollander."