Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-24

VIM. .'onley's landlord is a good bit of
character work which, however, does not
Surpass some other things he has done. 1t
is quite an agreeable sensation to the audi
tor to see home folks acting OUT on the
stage. and in the company of such accom-
plished players Miss Bates, Mr.. Sullivan
Mr.. Ormonde and the rest. Miss Bates has
commanding personality. She proce eds TO
her work with the air of one who knows
just what she is about. and the spectator
far from crirt-iSng. is inclined to get on
his knees anC bump his head orient fash
ion, on the floor IT. mute submission to her
compelling charms. She is to do an lbsen
play soon. That there Will be a great deal
of interest in it goes without saying. The
town is full of Bates and Sullivan worship
ers. Even those who when Heinrich H.
sen Is mentioned want t., know who this
man Henry Gibson" is, will go to see it
simply because they appear in it. To the
people who enjoy occasional excursion
into the intellectual drama (and that there
are many such the steadily increasing tes-
timony at the literary plays OF the John
Blair course abundantly testifieGD the per-
Torrance will unquestionably be treat.
1t is good idea for Miss Bates 70 do an
Ibsen play. She has never condescended
to sensationalism of any sort in personal
advertising. But artistically she has Il past
that is horrid. To think of a woman of her
abilities having appeared in the shocking
scene in that mournful comedy, Naughty
Anthony awakens a shudder. Miss Bates
Is to return to the direction of David Be
lasco. May he be more considerable. THE
Great Ruby is not much better in its OPP
pcrtunities for acting than Naughty An
thony." 1t is a direly sensational play. and
the best thing in it is the balloon. And
1t Is hard to manage. A hole Is cut
in the stage into which the burglar
iI-chef has 70 drop. If the balloon uoee
not hang straight over the opening he is
liza bic 10 hit one of the sides and be bounced
about until he becomes the mass of man
sled remains of which the dialogue dis
courses so srueSomely. Mr.. Ormonde, who
occupies the basket, occasionally has TO
beg, plead and threaten in order to get the
player to make the drop and complete the
scene so that the curtain can go down. l.
is narrated that when Augustin DAILY was
staging The Great Ruby he sat at re-
hearsals and laughed at the preposterous-
ness of it all. He was then putting on
anything that promised money, in order to
sustain his exchequer. 1t must have been
cold. hard, pathetic laugh.
After next week the Lafayette Square
Stock Company will move for one week
only from the Lafayette to the Academy of
Music. As has already been explained, the
Lafayette was rented nearly a year ago
for the convention Of the National Women's
Christian Temperance Union, for the week
OF December 3. Mr.. Berger first tried to
arrange for the company to play THE
Great Ruby in Baltimore, but he could not
obtain the time. Then he planned to take
tn. company on brief tour of Virginia one
night stands. but that too proved impracti-
cable. The Academy Of Music Just at this
juncture changed management and policy
and he was enabled to contract for the
week of December 3 at that house The
play to be given that week Will be Madame
Sans-Gene," the drama by Victorien Sar-
dou. which Kathryn Kidder originally
played in this country in 1895. Blanche
Bates has been specially engaged to re-
main another week and play the title role.
Washington theaters had their first, and
| it is to be hoped their last, experience of
the season with the foot ball enthusiasts
last Saturday evening. That day d game
had been played IN this city and In the
| evening parties Of so-calied "rooters," evil
| IDENTIFY with more lungs than sense of pro-
priety, attended the performances at the
| playhouses. gathering in greatest force at
| the National and the Columbia. AT the
! former Daniel Frohman's stock company
was playing Wheels Within Wheels" by
the author Of Lord and Lady Algy." R.
| c. Carton. The comedy is another tersely
| told and intensely anus, ing story of certain
| phases in England's high life. 1t was I'M
| questionably the best of the companys pro-
auctions in Washington. and had it been
| the bill for the entire week the impression
! left by the organization would have been
more pleasing. Returning to the incidents
| of last Saturday evening, however. the eff
| fectiveness of the play was lost by inter-
! ruptions in the shape of immense roars in
| Comanche-tongued laudation of their educa-
tonal Institutions. In justice to the college
| boys 1t must be said they had not ma Nj
| Tested their presence in any unusual ma l.
ner prior to the time two of the actresses
one the leading woman. very indScreetly
| appeared with streamers of the college col
| ors flowing from their gowns.
| The boys at the National had been losers.
| 1T appeared. and had been soIemnly quiet.
| The sight of their own colors revived them
very quickly. however. and they were soon
| aaking up for lost time In this instance
| the annoyance suffered by the regular
! the alter patrons was almost entirely due to
| culpability on the part Of the people on the
! stage. hardly expected in such well-or-
| ganized company. At the Columbia Theat-
| err where THE Star and Carter was run
| ming. the footballists were more boIsterous.
| The F strees playhouse had been selected as
! the rallying place for the winning students.
| Long before the first act had begun the
| college boys made 1t felt their presence was
| ever near. The chorus girls were targets
| for flags and flowers, the leading women
| in the cast contributing their share to the
| general disorder In the house by wearing
| the college colors and farming the fires
| flag was tossed upon the stage in the first
| act A very wise little chorus lady picked
up the college emblem and tossed 1t to one
| side. 1t was what she should have done
but her action met with a cyclone of Kisses
This demonstration Of disapproysl from the
| boys. melted a rival chorus girl to a deed
Of Hand me your kind applause" heroism.
She took up the nag and with much eclat
presented 1t to the prima donna These In
| cidents started the boys" going and the
tumuit became 50 riotous soon that Mr.. Nc
| Kee. proprietor OF the production, was
| forced TO come to the stage and appeal to
them, as fellow college men. to discontinue
| their interruptions; to restrain their en-
| thusiasm for between acts. The effect SO
| far as the performance was concerned was
| salutary, but during the periods the cur
| tain was down. the foot bah yell-providers
! made Rome howl. Washington desires very
| little Of this sort Of thing at the theater
| and company managers should most GER
| tainly prohibit the wearing OF colors that
| are likely to incfte such disturbances.
1t has long been the custom In this coun-
| try by universities and seminaries to re-
/ quest leading actors to address the Students