Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-17

MUSIC

week. There is no possible reason to doubt
the future prosperity Of Mrs Sarah Cowell
LIE Moyne's venture. THE Greatest Thing
in the world is very direct in its appeal to
that most desirable of ali classes of patron
age, the conservative public. There are
some obtrusive touches Of femininity in it
which may invite satirical allusion en- pas
SAINT; but it has a firm bedrock of honest
sentiment and originality which disarms
the caviller. The ladies concerned in the
production have been quite ruthless in their
elimination Of the male. His relentless
RELOCATION to obscurity in a production of
SO much Importance might be regarded by
people who see omens everywhere as a
matter of some significance in these times
of feminine debates. The women of the
play are, without exception, ideal character
creations; but the males connected with
the plot amount to about as much as a
handful of oats in the Chicago board Of
trade. Even the ladys deceased husband
was bad lot, who left taste for drink
as a part Of his otherwise generous legacy
to his sons. 1t looks a little like dscrim-
nation. Mr.. Jewett and Mr.. De Belleville
are good actors, but the surprise of the
piece was Robert Edeson, who so agreeably
disappointed former detractors by enabling
them to take it all back and admit that he
can act finely if he gets the proper chance
He now steps to the perilous heights Of
matinee favoritism, from which a man
usually goes on to still loftier successes or
else takes an abrupt tumble into mediocre
ty. Mrs. LIE Moyne made a distinctly IA
vorable impression by her Self-control and
her womanliness. The coquette and the
outcast will always fascinate as stage ere
atoms. but, after all. it is the old story of
home that rings true and lives most sweet
ly in the memory.
mill he riL Sfs no.
tween this weeks attractions and those
which Immediately follow. The stately
tread of Mrs. LIE Moyne will give way to
the airy PAGES of the coryphees in the Man
in the Moon The MINISTRIES at the New
National will be displaced by play from
the German, with E. H. Sothern and Miss
Harmed as its chief opponents; the high
flown heroics of melodrama will be hushed
amid the gambolings of Three Little
Lambs at the Lafayette, and farce comedy
will be superseded by what might, since it
deals SO closely with current events, be
styled topical melodrama at the Acad-
envy. The New Grand will interrupt its
usual program of vaudeville, and make way
for the ladies In convention assembled.
Miss Katherine Grey, who had the most
important feminine role in THE Greatest
Thing in the World" next to Mrs. LIE
Moynes. has had some notable experiences
since she was a stock company favorite in
this city. Her engagement with Richard
Mansfield, while it afforded artistic OPP
portunities. proved a very trying eXpe-
rience, and, it is asserted, came very near
wrecking her health. Even under the gen.
tle matronly tutelage of Mrs. LIE Moyne,
Miss Grey looked as If Mr.. Mansfield still
had her little scared.
THE reports which have hitherto been
published about my difficulties with Mr.
Mansfield" said Miss Grey. have been en-
tirely irresponsible and untrue, excepting in
so far as they stated that 1 have entered
suit against him because of indignities to
which / was subjected. The stories that
my grievances lay in the fact that he
'glared at me and squeezed me on the
stage are fictions. My suit was brought be-
cause of humiliations which l suffered as
an actress and as a woman: but my lawyer
advised me not to arm the enemy by stating
publicly the precise incidents which led to
my leaving Mr.. Mansfield. and L have not
done So
Mr.. Mansfield is popularity believed to be
sarcastic and rather irritable"
Mr. Mansfield is irritable said Miss
Grey, relentlessly; but l should not say he
is sarcastic To be sarcastic. 1 think, re-
quires certain amount of wit. 1 do not
think Mr.. Mansfield has the wit to be sar-
castle. He may have thought he was sar-
castle when he said to one of the members
OF his company at a rehearsal, OF course,
you are not gentleman. But l hope you
Will remember that the part you are play
ing REQUIRES that you should seem to be
one That was not sarcastic" continued
Miss Grey, as she adjusted the dark glasses
which she wears when off the stage THAT
was merely brutal. / am told that Mr.
Mansfield says he has been very kind to me
In providing comforts in travelling. These
comforts were essential to my remaining
with MIN, and were merely incidents of our
business relationship. They were not phil
anthroplc or courteous attentions in any
sense. L am unable to understand the man.
After behaving toward me in the most in
considerable manner Imaginable he would
beg me on his knees not to leave him
Miss Grey did not explain whether she in
tended this remark as an absolute state
ment OF ract or merely figure of speech.
She says that her present engagement af-
fords very agreeable contrast to her ex-
periences with Mr.. Manifold, and that her
successes have not caused her to forget
her season as a member of the stock COM
pany here. Indeed, she is so polite as to
express hope that she may play here
again under similar conditions. The differ
enceS between Miss Grey and Mr. MansfieId
are wide and evidently beyond reconcilia-
ton. But the star and the leading lady
seem to be agreed on one point, namely,
.nat Questions or glaring or squeezing do
Mr.. Mansfield has so far declined to ex-
press himself In connection with the matter.
r. A. Barnet. author of THE Three Lit
tie Lambs" is an example of how theatre
cal success may arise from small begin
nings. He was a member of a Boston
amateur dramatic society and was respon-
sible for an entertainment in Simple ST.
mon." which proved fairly successful This
encouraged him to make another attempt
in '1432," which was produced by the Bos-
ton Cadets. and afterward professionally by
Edward E. Rice. with what success every
theatergoer knows. Then followed Excel
sior Junior" Jack and the Beanstalk. I"
Prince Pro Tenn" and Three Little
Lambs" all of which were first produced
by the cadets and afterward successfully
by professional players. Not a bad record
for writer who starts as an amateur and
finishes successfully as an author for the
professional stage.
Adele Ritchie, who enjoys almost stellar
prominence in Three Little Lambs" has
worked her way from a chorus girl in "Ju-
piter." In which play Digby Bell was the
star, to be prima donna for THE Algerian"
The Wizard of the Nile" and "The Man
DARN, produced by Chas. E. Evans at the
Herald Square Theater, New York and in
THE Runaway Girl" Marian Lonefellow.
niece OF the celebrated poet, is a member
of the cast.
Gerhart Hauptman, the author of 1.-The
Sunken Bell" was married at twenty-five.
Before this he had wandered through En-