The times., 1901-04-21
THE PASSING SHOW.

lnE hOOlNU puOW
The next week or two will witness the
close of the regular theatrical year at the
! different places of amusement in this
city. Already the final attractions are
| announced by some of the houses, while
next Saturday night the members of the
| Bellows stock company at the Lafayette,
will say farewell to local audiences The
Theatrical Syndicate has found it an ut
ter impossibility TO supply enough pro-
ductions to keep Washington's theatres
open until the latter part of May, which
| throughout the country usually marks the
| end of the season. The management of
! the Columbia processes ignorance of any
| bookings after the present week, and there
| is every probabil that the house will
| be closed until the first Offering of the
| musical comedy organization that VIII
/ tenant the theatre during the months of
! May and June. Manager Rapley is rather
more fortunate, for he viii have the
/ Weber & Fields company for three nights,
while the performances of The Merchant
! of Venice by n. c. Goodwin will pro-
vide an excellent Offering for one night
during the latter part of next month, and
he will have, in addition, the Charles
Frohman revival of Diplomacy with
many well-known players in the cast.
Manager Berger's stock company will
strive for some time for the patronage of
those who care for stock productions,
while vaudeville will be continued for an
indefinite period at the Grand. The bur
lesque houses will both close much earlier
than in former seasons, the present at
traction at the Bijou being the last at
that house for several weeks, when the
which will be presented at Manager Wege-
farth's Buffalo Court Street Theatre dur
ing the summer will be brought to this
city for seven nights The Academys last
offering of the year will be a big revival
of Ten Nights in a Barroom' about the
middle of May.
The year has not been a particularly
prosperous one for the travelling COM
panies, although locally it has been re-
markably profitable period. II is no eX-
aggeration TO state that each of the seven
theatres of this city made money, while
as a rule the entertainments were the
very best procurable. Washington has
had everything that New York has en-
joyed with the exception of grand opera,
Julie Marlowe, THE Climbers Low
ers' Lane" and Blanche Bates
Under Two Flags, and we would
undoubtedly have had this last
named piece If the production had been
allow Of Miss Bates being presented in
any other city. The better class of per-
formances have been rewarded with eX-
ceilent patronage. although In the case OF
the Bernhardt- -Coquelin engagement many
persons were prevented from enjoying the
art of these two players by the prohibitlve
prices demanded by the visiting manage
ment.
In retrospective glance over the prom
ises made at the beginning of the year,
il is worthy of note that many ambitious
players who were hopeful of being ac-
cepted as stars have failed in their com
mendable efforts. Grace George, whose
first performances in Her Majesty We're
made in this city, proved herself 10 be
very capable ingenue who failed in the
stronger scenes Of the J. !. G. Clarke
dramatization Of that very interesting
story. Miss Georges reception in New
York, after a moderately successful
month in several of the more important
of the week stands, was not encouraging
enough to warrant her husband and
manager, William A. Brady, in continu-
ing her in the piece. Mr.. Brady, how
ever, has faith in Miss Georges abilities,
and announces that he has secured three
new plays for her use for next season,
may prove worthy of her undeniable tai
ents. Gertrude Coghlan, who endeaVored
to remain at the head of her own com
pany in dramatiZatiOn of Vanity Fair,
experienced a season of legal and finan
cial difficulties and her tour was brought
to an end about the middle Of the season,
while John Keilard. an excellent actor,
had a similar experience in a piece en-
played throughout the New England
States and then laid on the shelf, al
though only temporarily so Mr.. Kellard
declared at the time Marie Burroughs
starring venture came TO a termination
in this city. Her play, a stage version
of Gilbert Parkers The Battle of the
Strong, was unsuited to her style of
work and personality, and, too, the pub
lie had evidenced a waning interest in
dramatiZed books by the time Miss Bur-
roughs' effort was launched Maclyn Ar
first tried THE Sprightly Romance of
Marsac' in Washington, and almost i'm
mediately took il to New York where the
critical blight sent il 10 an early grave,
Notwithstanding the assertion of Mr.. Ar
buckles management that the close of the
engagement was only due to the fact that
suitable time could not be secured in other
metropolitan theatres, and that the piece
would be again taken out in a few weeks
That was some months ago. and Marsac
still rests. CreSton Clarke, known locally
as very good exponent of classic roles,
became ambitious during the early part
of the season and secured THE Only
Way, which he presented throughout the
South with anything but successful re-
suits. Tim Murphy, a local actor, also
tried his hand at appearing in part made
familiar by another actor, and in "A
Bachelors s Romance made an Indifferent
success and is determined to try only
One Of the surprises of the season has
been the very decided success of Mary
Mannering in a very bad dramatization of
that widely-read novel Janice Meredith -
Miss Mannering'S local appearance was
but a repetition of the phenomenal bust
ness done In other cities and her New
York engagement one of the most
prosperous Of any Of the prominent stars
Henrietta CroSman. after several seasons
in stock work in Pittsburg Denver, and
several other cities, secured a play by
George Hazleton based on the life of Nell
GWyn and entitled Mistress Nell" 1t was
first presented in some of the smaller
towns III Pennsylvania and made a great
success but IL remained for New York to
pass final judgment upon the play and
the press OF the metropolis was for once
unanimous III declaring both actress and
play the great success Of the season. Miss
Crosman's management, unfortunately for
local playgoers, had business misunder-
standings with the theatrical syndicate
and on this account she was compelled TO
keep Mrs. F'iSke company in the theatres
that are not under the control of the SYN
dicate, and as Washington has no theatre
that plays combinations antagonistic TO
the -Erlanger-Erohman ct al. com
bine, Miss Crosman and Mistress Nell"
were kept out of the Capital City
After Blanche Bates six weeks with the
Lafayette Square Stock Company. during
which time she made a host of additional
local friends by her superb work this
most capable actress went to New York
and early in January was presented un-
der the management of David BelascO and
Charles Frohman in dramatic version
of Ouida's Under Two Flags" in which
she made most pronounced success and
has been one OF the best paying stars in
Gotham. AS soon as Louis Nethersole
the brother and manager of Olga Neither
unable to continue In Clyde Fitehs
'Sapho" he looked about for another