The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-04-30
So take you a warning, we pray,
Conform to the styles OF the day;
A young lady should wesr
Indulge in an ankle display.
OF course. In a drawing -

OF course, In drawing
| These sedate lines from THE Girl From
| Paris" should be carefully read and
| thought over by the feminine contingent
| of the Frawley Company. Not that the
organization in question has eyinced the
slightest leaning toward immodesty, for
it has collectively and individually be-
have itself in a most estimable manner,
But Mr.. Frawley brought to Washington
under his guidance q combination Of peo-
pie for histrionic purposes and they have
proved able; he gathered number of
| what he took TO be pretty women and
his taste has been endorsed. and he
thought SO little Of any other qualification
that the ankles of his employees viii not
bear inspection. Gentle, backward Mr..
Frawley probably never dreamed that any
| other than mental understanding was re-
quired in a resident organization. Never
| theless, the first piece put on at the Co.
lumbia introduced Mary Van Buren, in alb
| breviated skirts and the second thrust
| Georgia Welle5 into the same costume.
Corinne Parker was next relegated to at
tire that was sufficient II not ample. Mrs.
F. NJ. Bates was given an acrobatic quick
step, and then, just for luck, last week
| in "Lost-Twenty- -four Hours the role
OF an adventures with hankerins for
| French balls was bestowed upon Selene
| Johnson.
During this period it may be said to Mr..
| Frawley's credit that he was working his
| players into condition and paying little at
tention to form. Some 90 per cent of the
patrons of the Columbia were probably
endorsing the artistic manner in which the
troupe was giving series OF comedies,
| dramas, and farces. But after period the
| inevitable youth of the first row turned up
| and was not pleased. He declared that the
ankles of the women in the Frawley COM
pany were shapely in the extreme, but that
the extremes were too great. He said
he said that Miss Welles and Miss Parker
leaned toward thinness by the side OF
which the average fish story sank into in
significance, while their colleagues were
possessed of proportions more classic than
| pleasing Since critics and managers are
not supposed to be experts on anatomy
this plant was little thought Of. and the
| chairs nearest the stage were permitted to
| be deserted
And then the matter was brought to Of
| fetal attention suddenly. William Gillette
had not foreseen when he wrote All the
Comforts of Home" that the farce would
ever come to be used for stock purposes.
and he consequently provided an episode
in which a member of the cast appeared in
tights. 1t is said that when Mr.. Frawley
reached this he was Mortified. 1t is de-
clared that he and Joseph Luckett and
William Dwyer and Fred Williams and
Treasurer Stein and Assistant Treasurer
Fowler called a rehearsal and awaited re-
suits. No opinions were given. but after
the performance Mr.. Dryer remarked that
Mr. Gillette was inconsiderate. Then some
one was especially engaged for the leading
role in 'All the Comforts of Home" And
Treasurer Stein wanted to raise prices in
the first five rows of the theatre.
All of which might haze been used as
t,.t "a. TEE y,
sequently it serves as a mingled criticism
and warning. The women Of the Frawley
company are all clever and can act. but it
would not be a bad idea for Mr.. Frawley
to engage someone who couldn't to wear
the short skirts for his organization.
A full half of the excellence OF 1.-THE
Fortune Teller" as a comic production is
not due to Harry b. Smith, but to the peo-
pie whom Frank Perley engaged for the
purpose OF amusing his patrons. 1t would
be very difficult matter to find anywhere
more competent trio of comedians than
Richard Golden, Joseph Herbert, and Jo-
seph Cawthorn. Between them they give
life to a number of situations that would
be candidates for burial without them, and
to lines that are neither clever nor youth
full But when Mr.. Golden dances about
the stage with facile feet and hopeless
expression when Mr.. Herbert looks heav-
onward with the glance of genius. and
when Mr.. Cawthorn gets tangled up in
series OF trilled RS that would drive Rich |
ard Mansfield mad with jealousy, an au
dience couldn't help laughing, il it had |
Just finished laying away to rest Its col |
lectiye grandmother. 1t would be difficult |
to conceive how many OF the incidents OF |
1.-THE Fortune Teller would be tolerabe |
without these three. The dialogue in |
which the gypsy, Boris, attempts to make |
the composer. Count DEMONSTRATION |
one cannot help suspecting to be bur- |
lesque on Reginald de Koven-enthuse |
over his Joke might fall very fiat without !
the artistic building up to which it is |
treated, while the episode at the powder |
cask would be plain horseplay but for the |
same pair of entertainers Altogether, |
when one considers the libretto of the |
work he feels more than tempted to lay |
much of the credit for its success to the |
people employed in interpreting it-eyen II |
the play is 1.-The thing
Frequent trips to the vaudeville houses |
are convincing of the fact that there should |