The times., 1899-11-26

the demands or NletfOpClHeS whose dlej ana
mode of life have much TO do with their
| preferences. has called the gaze of critics
| to disagreeable- lines and incidents rather
than to agreeable Wit and brilliance. But
until within the last two years, many
comedies in which there was a generous
| quantity Of spice went by practically
| without comment This was true in the
| case of lie DomiRos Roses" which was
known here as pink Dominos," OF
| Bebe, which American adapters cap
| toned Betsy" of Hotel Libre ct
| Change. which Charles Frohman dubbed
The Gay Parisians." and with several
mOTe- among them by the way. the piece
! which was done unsuccessfully in New
| York under the title of The Other Man"
! With each Of the number named the Paiais
| Royal ohensiveuess was forgotten in the
| ingenuity of such dramatic craftsmen as
! HeEnequin, Feydeau. Delacour Carre and
| their contemporaries.
When one comes to the fine point of the
| thing, there IS little in the worst OF French
! farces that. of itself could be cOnsiderCd
! objectionable. The stock in trade of the
! Partisan purveyor is harmless. He were
weak man who could be influenced by hear
/ ing some evidently unhappy actor trying
| TO extract humor from the headache sup
| posedly occasioned by a night at that
! really ly-funereal. but for the purpose of the
! author devilishly gay function, the French
| bali She were an impressionable woman
who would blush at seeing some heavy,
! middle-aged girl" smoking everlasting
/ cigarettes and drinking charged sugar and
water. Flying feet, displays of hosiery,
exhibitions of lingerie, sentences OF double
| meaning all are seen and heard in produc
! tions at which the most sensitive do not
complain. OF themselves they are neither
aifronting aor obnoxious; they are merely
| tiresome.
But, to get back to the beginning. plays
of the Mile Fiji" and THE Girl From
| MaXim's" order make one wish to "ha.f
close his mental eyes" simply because
these things are dragged in so persistently
and obviously. The farces are hectic and
! strained and unnatural. The watcher sees
| stories distorted and deformed in order
that such puerile impropreties might
cause lad to giggle or a septarian to
laugh may be thrust before him or her.
| Dramatists and managers judge the intel
| ligenGe Of their auditors by so low a stand
ard that they count-and perhaps right
fully-upon the delight generated by
speech that would go unobserved in book
form were it not italicized, underlined,
and quoted. It is this fact that is offensive
more than the incidents for which the
youth in the gallery and the senile habitant
Of the first row look increasingly. 1t is
humiliating to feel that one is expected to
accept stockings and stockings as subst-
tutes for wit and ingenuity.
| Recently there have been very few frOthy
productions that possibly could have
succeeded without their supposed rasu-
/ ness. '"The Girl From Maxim's which
was not stupid, but only incongruous and
lacking in continuity would have been the
most stale, fiat, and Improbable" of plays
if robbed of its yulgarities. The Girl
From Maxim's" really was vulgar instead
of being either suggestive or piquant. Take
the 'audaci0us'' scenes from The Turtle"
and The Rounders. Z" and, evidently from
Make Way for the Ladies' and one has
nothing left. f'Ini Paradise" though bor-
sey, and mile Fif' would not be less
amusing if stripped of every iota OF their
broadness. And it is this fact-both of
these facts-that makes an evening at an
Importation of the sort anything Dut a
pleasant evening
One does not draw back" from q Lu-
miere machine because its pictures are IN
interesting. One does not half close his
mental eyes at a French farce for fear OF
being shocked. He merely knows before
the curtain has been lifted that all the ir-
relevant and ainsignifcant suggestion dis
coverabIe via be brought forward for his
inspection, He can tell in advance the
hackneyed, tfsne-worn manner in which his
| alltHllOn VIII Dc cdtfeu 10 SSHtcuCeS OF
double meaning. men of double lives, and
other things of the kind He understands
that author and manager have decided that
he is more capable of apprecating hosiery
than humor; uncleanliness than eleverness.
What wonder that he lets fall the lids?''
It is in this that the offence lies.
Within the year Washington has had
When London Sleeps at the Academy,
IN Paradise" at the Columbia, and The
Girl From Maxins" at the National Posi-
4 lively, vaudeville, the once-suspected, is
coming to be the single undoubtful form
of entertainment and the Grand soon will
be the only local theatre to which q lady
may go without making enquiries
All through the week the amusing comedy
of giving out Charles Frohmans ideas of
his own play was kept up. One got The
Girl From Maxim's' contains more ingeni-
Gus and laughable situations than any
farce 1 have ever produced" on the bill
boards with the programmes, and in the
newspaper advertising. Upon reading the
Baltimore dailies those interested might
have discovered that Mr.. Frohman has a
similarly high opinion Of THE Only Way ="
while the New York journals printing an
noUHcements regarding Make Way for the
Ladies" exploit still another NapoeOnic
statement: Bright smart. up to date. A
success'-Ch Charles Frohman." The theat-
rical magnate at least is consistent in his
frank admiration Of his productions.
But how ridiculously asnine is this
whole affair-how egotistieaI, No one can
have the faintest doubt that if Mr.. Froh
man had not thought THE Girl From
MaXim's" and THE Only Way clever
he would not have bought them. Nor does
anyone care jot for his views on the sub
ject. now that the two have been bought.
Even were there likely to be less bias in
his statements, the syndicate director has
never been accepted rs a critic. much less
as a critic of his own ventures There is
no manufacturer of patent medicines in
this country who would have the impu-
dence to sign his testimonials with his
name 1t has remained for Charles Froh
man to set a pace in conceit and imperti-
nence.
A well-knOwn dramatic author who was
| In Washington recently, confded to the
writer the information that all of the paper
used for Henry Miller calls that stars We
hicIe Charles Frohmans Version of The
Only Way " If this is true the pace afore-
mentioned hardly will be attained by any
of the New Workers. rivals The Only
| Way is a dramatization of "a Tale of
Two Cities" and it was made by London
clergyman, the Rev. Freeman Wills, Be
fore it's production slight alterations were
completed by Martin Harvey. Any fur
ther changing must have been unauthOr-
lied; certainly cannot have been of suff
cient Importance to provide defence for
Mr.. FrohmaR's supposed claim. The dra-
matte author, who saw the play both at
4 l..