The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-26
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Theater-goers crowded English's both
matinee and night yesterday to witness the
production of The Turtle which paused
in this city for one day during its accelerat-
ed race across the continent. They had
gained from the undressed advance notices
some idea of the nature of the play and
came OF curiosity rather than from any
deep-se desire to study dramatic art.
That not art the audience was after
was 4 = evinced after the brilliant but
conventional first act. The all-town round
ers came out for a stroll in the lobby, wear
ing faces of great detection.
One said: "Well, wot you think?"
Another: And that's what they call
warm, is it?"
A third: Lets go take something a little
heating"
The trouble was Sadie Martinez had not
yet shown any inclination to heat up the at
mosphere on the stage with anything warm
er than a kiss or two for her preferred lover,
whom she expected TO wed now that she had
obtained a divorce. 1t was pretty enough.
moving with a brisk jog that showed The
Turtle might have speed; nothing more.
The second act was different. Sadie Marti-
not, finding her lover had decided to marry
a good little m from the country,
SnuSRleu up 10 n6f all 100 IdIIllildT lawyer
and had him secure an annulment of her
divorce. Then with her mother, the ex-
p~ressive Mrs. Mckee Rankin, she returned
TO her husbands apartments ana declded
to give him a surprise by crawling into MS
bed as of old. The beautifully set apart
ments were enough in themselves to Sug-
gest a very interesting opportunity, and this
was heightened by the discovery that the
husband had just been, married to the
demure country girl himself and would
bring her home for the place formerly oc-
cupied by Miss Martinez. The conduct OF
the servant girl 5ordered on the real
persiStently clever that she did not seem
to violate propriety. The undressing act, 1t
is true, would have been cut out by orders
of the chief of police had it occurred in a
straight burlesque house, yet there was
nothing In it to shock the prurient ones.
spectator expects to get when witnessing a
scene of the kind around which the play
IS built was barred by Miss Martinots evil
dent posing. and willfully graceful move
ments, which plainly showed her to be dis
robing for the audience instead of for the
night. She removed all her hnery In the
shape of costly lingerie and exhibited the
same to the delight of the admiring women
in the audience, but the disrobing act was
indeed delicately refined, even If appalllngly
natural.
When the husband returned ne found one
wife nicely tucked away in his bed and ma
other overcome by a convenient drug left
in a bottle of brandy and asleep on a couch,
neither having discovered the presence CT
the other. w. j. Ferguson, the husband, TO
prevent the house being pulled by the police,
also drank some of the 'doctored" liquor
and fell asleep, half undressed, in a chair:
The curtain fell, while the orchestra played
"Oh, What a Difference In the Morning"
Those who came out TO stretch their legs
after this act wore smiles. That is more
like the real thing, one young man was
heard to remark. while an older one, with
traces Of badness, replied: You should be
at home in bed, Sonny"
The last act was given up mostly to ex-
Treating the different actors from their
compromising situations, and while the
events were often h~ilariously funny, the
French tone was well maintained to the
close, married men and single, partly
dressed, running about hunting for their
clothing and finding them in different
women'S rooms.
Some of those who went to English's last
night to turn the Turtle on its pack
were the gentlemen who go to the Empire
to have nastiness hurled at them in gobs,
and they couldn't appreciate the dainty,
exquisite way in which the French disguise
its ~naughtiness. The French. it is said, can
serve up the very cobblestones of the street
as a broth, and this skill just as easily con-
verts other things into Turtle" consofnme.
Miss Martinot's disrobing act was dainty
enough, and what was said about her pri-
waite boudoir lingerie was not really wicked,
although her husband might have to cut out
a few lines and some of his stage business
If the play ever drifts down to New Har-
mony, Inc. However out at Tombstone.
A. T., the management Will have to put up
a wire screen around the proscenium to per-
init the second act to reach It's proper de-
nOuement. At any rate, those who love art
for arts sake have seen more things re-
vealed than were displayed for the edifica-
ton of yesterdays audience. In New York,
whore they have no Nicholson law, there
were a number of features to the show
which were omitted here.
All told. '.The Turtle was probably no.
where near as warm" as the great portion
of the audience expected, or as they had
hoped to see. 1t was not what they did
see that is so bad I'm The Turtle" as what
they wanted to see. That accounted for the
large attendance. and is the best argument
in itself for the production Of French plays
on the American stage. The success Of The
Turtle has already been followed in New
York by Fiji" said to be a farce that can
give 9TH Turtle" a half mile start in a
mile race and then win in a walk. At the
same time this does not pretend to be an
appreciative, nor even a fair notice of The
Turtle performance. II is rather a report
from the standpoint Of the hippant Amer
lean who refuses to take a pretentious thing
seriously.