The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-04

lSAznE
Long before the local theatres opened
on Monday night or the newspaper crit
cisms were printed on Tuesday morning
the discerning saw that the weeks compe
titi0n must resolve itself into a tug-of
war. with Richard Mansfield at one end O
the rope and Henry Miller at the other
Save for the specially combination at III,
Grand there seemed no added contestant
worth considering. and the strength OF q
vaudeville troupe cannot be said TO seri-
ously threaten such stars as those named
The pull promised to be very even affair
On his side Mr. Mansfield had his unap-
proachable ability. his remarkable repu-
tation, and his undoubted popularity. Nj
Miller might have boosted a vehicle mucf
superior to his rivals single new play and
prices that we're lower However, the
greater artist finally came out Of the
struggle with flying colors. having drawn
good three-fft of the people who went
either 10 himself or 10 Mr. Miller The
National. which in pursuance Of the meta
phore. may be called the Miller end
WAS the Columbia. and at lesser rates.
For the rest, the aforesaid Behman Com
pang worked havoc with the records of
Manager Chase's place of entertainment
frequently bringing into simultaneous use
the standing room only" signs kept in
The Hobbies OF all three floors. The per-
Torrance given as usual was meritorious.
The Strakosch organization started badly
al the Lafayette. The rendering OF
Faust" was not up TO the mark, nor we're
the houses gathered The Queen of
Chinatown. produced by a member Of the
firm the absolute worthlessness Of whose
shows did much toward putting the
Grand into the disrepute in which IL was
when Manager Chase leased it, attracted
small audiences TO the Academy Of Music
while the Rentz-Santley aggregation did
eKeellently at Kernan's The Marx Ham
bourg recital OF Tuesday and the special
performance OF The Storm" given on
Thursday, we're poorly attended.
The Washington reviewers this morning
may smile and pat their backs in tho
proud consciousness that they were the
first accredited critics IN the country to
praise J J. c. Clarke's version Of The
First Violin"
Siugularly enough, there are theatre
gOers-and intelligent ones-whO constant
by hold to the opinion that any play wholly
lacking in movement and purpose is a
pretty" play. A succession Of feyerishly
unpleasant dramas and comedies has rem
dered eleanness and natural method so
apPreciable that the most wise forget the
negative quality of these virtues At
least. oDscenity and suggestiveness com
mand attention. When both are taken
from a piece each must be replaced with
something equally Observation-Disclosures
ing. since even crime is interesting. Mr.
Clarke's The First Violin" as was The
First Violin" OF Jessie Fothergill. proved
a triumph Of inactivity. Miss Fothergill
devoted twenty pages OF her book to tell
ing why May Nedderburn's sister did not
run away with Max Won Francois. and
then let her. The adapter, however, never
went SO far as doing aught, though with
the idea Of undoing il. The First Violin
was merely a series Of sentimental
speeches. ribald caricstures and graceful
poses, bathed in the light Of a calcium.
OF these component parts the carica-
lures were no, least disagreeable. With
out Mr.. Mansfield. the railway station
scene Of the Offering might have been sup
posed TO belong to a Davis and Keogh
thriller" There the spectator saw put
TO low comedy uses such creations as the
eccentric Miss Hallam. the faithful Mer-
rick, the true hearted Clara Steinman, and
the simple Karl Linders. though the two
last-named did not become absolutely
puerile until the act following The mo-
tives of the novel. too. were sadly tangled
and distorted. That May Wedderburn,
reared in town where THE army and the
clergy and the wholesale and the retail
sh0pkeeners all Joined in looking down on
-Bohemians in the presence OF a multi
tude and the confusion Of her primal night
al a theatre. could have refused to recog-
nize Eugen Courvoisier appeared reason
able. Ignoring his outstTetched hand in
the privacy Of his apartment aud return
ing FIVE minutes later to proffer what
money the musician had expended on her
with all due respect to Mr.. Clsrke-con-
siituted a breach Of good manners. both
improbable and objectionable Miss Foth-
ergiil waxed Laura-Jean-L ibbeyish when
she arranged that Eugen Courvoisier
should meet May Wedderburn on the ice
and later pull her from under it: Mr..
Clarke became ludicrOus when he had Anna
Sartorius announce that the girl had
skated to her death and permitted every
one else TO stand calmly aside while her
acquaintance skated after her Such alb
gurdities as are these completely destroyed
the comprehensibility Of the love story in
The First Violin" The beauty and charm
OF the conversations between Sigmund and
his father were more than ieopardized
when their hrunt was placed on a piping
child OF tender years.
Nor was Mr. Mansfield blameless for
many Of the excuses noted in the pro-
dGction Chief among the aforesaid ex-
oesses was the indiscriminate use Of the
iWo nguages-German and English Il
is bad enough that a farceur who is sup
posed TO be speaking French. should trans
late his sir" and allow the remainder Of
his lines 10 be voiced Ia his own way. That
men who are German. and women who
are English should employ both tongues
IN their chatter is comical. There can be
no excuse for the laKity which allowed
Kari Linders. who knew no word OF Eng
fish, 10 preface a "nur Elm bier" TO the
walter with a 4 shall order a lemonade
for you" to Clara Schmidt And. n Mr.
Mansneld's desire for atmosphere WAS such
that he winked AZ this license. nothing
should have tempted him 10 ft out Eugen
Courvcisier's r0om-time that Of the
Franco Prussian WARMTH a piano on the
music rack OF which was plainly visible the
name OF a firm OF American manufac-
turers who began operations only In 1855
Summed up, The First Violin" could not
but have been a disappointment 10 think
ing persons who saw it-Whether they ad-
mi,ted The fact OF not From a rather
trashy bOox Mr.. Clarke has evolved an en-