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

o.
Long before the local theatres opened
on Monday night. or the newspaper criti-
cisms were printed on Tuesday morning,
the discerning saw that the weeks compe-
tition must resolve itself into a tug-of-
war. with Richard Mansfield at one end of
the rope and Henry Miller at the other.
Save for the specially combination at the
Grand. there seemed no added contestant
worth considering and the strength of a
vaudeville troupe cannot be said TO seri-
ously threaten such stars as those named.
The pull promised to be a very even affair.
On his side Mr. Mansfield had his unap-
proachable ability, his remarkable repu-
tation, and his undoubted popularity. Mr.
Miller might have boosted vehicle much
superior TO his rivals single new play and
prices that were lower. However, the
greater artist finally came out of the
struggle with flying colors, having drawn
good three-ffths of the people who went
either to himself or TO Mr.. Miller. The
National which. in pursuance of the meta
phore, may be called 1.-The Miller end
always was well filed, but not so well as
WAS the Columbia. and at lesser rates
For the rest, the aforesaid Behman Com
pany 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
at the Lafayette. The rendering of
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 1t was
when Manager Chase leased it. attracted
small audiences TO the Academy Of Music
while the Rentz-Santley aggregation did
excellently at Kernan's. The Marx Ham
bourg recital OF Tuesday. and the special
performance of THE Storm given on
Thursday, were poorly attended.
The Washington reviewers this morning
may smile and pat their backs in the
proud consciousness that they were the
first accredited critics in the country TO
praise j. l. C. Clarke's version of The
First Violin ~
Siugularly enough, there are theatre
goers-and intelligent ones-who constant
ly hold to the opinion that any play wholly
lacking in movement and purpose is a
pretty play. A succession of feverishly
unpleasant dramas and comedies has rem
dered eieanness and natural method SO
appreciate that the most wise forget the
negative quality of these virtues. At
least. obscenity 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 Vioiin.'' 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 Wedderburn's sister did not
run away with Max Won Francius. and
then let her. The adapter. however. never
went SO far as doing aught, though with
the idea of undoing it. 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 not 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
10 low comedy uses such creations as the
eccentric Miss Hailam 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 a town where the army and the
clergy and the wholesale and the retail
shopkeepers all Joined in looking down on
'Bohemians, in the presence of a multi
tude and the confusion of her primal night
at a. theatre, could nrgve refused to recog-
nize Eugen Courvoisier appeared reason
the privacy Of his apartment, and return
ing FIVE minutes later to proffer what
money the musician had expended on her
with all due respect to Mr.. Clarke-con-
stituted breach OF good manners, both
improbable and objectionable. Miss Foth-
ergiil waXed Laura jean Libbeyish when
She arranged that Eugen Courycisier
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
surdities as are these completely destroyed
the comprehensibiiity of the love story in
The First Violin The beauty and charm
of the conversations between Sigmuno and
his father were more than jeopardIzed
when stieir brunt was placed on a piping
child of tender years.
Nor was Mr.. Mansfield biameless for
many of the excuses noted in the pro-
duction. Chief among the aforesaid ex-
cesses was the indiscriminate use of the
two languages-GerJuan 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 In 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 laxity which allowed
Karl Linders. VITO knew no word of Eng
fish, to preface 'nur Elm bier to the
waiter with a Il shall order a lemonade
Tor you to Clara Schmidt. And II Mr.
Mansheid's desire for atmosphere was such
that he winked at this license. nothing
should have tempted him TO fit out Eugen
Couryoisier's room-tiine that of the
granco- Prussian WARMTH piano on the
music rack of which was plainly visible the
name OF a firm OF American manufac-
turers who began operations only In 1885,
Summed up, The First Violin could not
but have been a disappointment to think
ing persons who saw it--whether they ad-
miated the fact or not. From rather
trashy BOOK Mr.. Clarke has evolved an en-