Evening star., 1902-02-25
AMUsEMENTs.

NEW NA1IONA1s NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
the rise of the curtain on the first act Of
Captain Jinks'' the orchestra gave promise
of delightful evening of "reminiscences.
OF course the melody of the gallant men,
ber of the horse marines was constantly
in evidence through the piece. But Cham
payne Charlie" and "Shoofy" and THE Big
sunf1ower' also recalled days when the
coon song was unknown and rag time"
not yet invented. Indeed, Captain Jinks''
would have made a capital musical COM
edy. 1t Is play whose inspiration lies
chiefly in the fashion plates, and the COM
edy Is occasionally as blunt as the most
insistent appetite for farce could demand.
But it is refined and idealized by the per-
sonality OF Ethel Barrymore, a young wo-
man who might claim the affections and
applause of the theater-going public as
family heritage, but who, asking no odds.
wins them easily by her own individual
gIaces. One of Miss Barrymore's greatest
charms is her voice. It is wonderfully
musical. 1t possesses attractions beyond
those of the singer. 1t has no need to be
bounded by the limitatio of scales, but
Is melodious through an infinite variety of
gradations; and sometimes when she puts
her heart into it the auditor may easily
forget that words have interviewed at all,
so strong is the sympathy which she es-
tablishes. She has more than art. That
exquisitely delicate and intangible quality
called temperament is hers in an eminent
degree and she makes a love story OF
the simplest kind intensely interesting, for
no other reason than that she is its heroine.
The costumes which to our modern eyes
have grown absurd become things of beauty
when she wears them and rapidly succeed
ing moments of comedy and pathos blend
without jar Nothing could be less as
sertive than her art. She dominates with
out assuming to command.
The play is admirably adapted to the prom
inent introduction Of Miss Barrymore. So
far as the story is concerned it is trite and
artificial. But the embellishments are so
fittingly applied that it seems absolutely
truthful. There is no denying that people
did whistle and sing those same melodies
and wear those same absurd clothes. But
the old story of the man who made a bet
that he would win a lady's favor and got
into hot water thereby Is too old to be dis
guised even by the ample resources Of Mr..
Fitch's mental millinery shop. Mr.. Fitch
thinks in frills and furbelows. He would
never tear passion to tatters. His method
is quite the reverse. He will take a theme
that is quite threadbare, sew a button on 1t
here and aounce there and send it forth
as good as new. Some of the situations are
so intensely funny that there is danger of
their utterly overwhelming the serious in
terest of the play. The scene in which the
members of the ballet Dance quarrel anu
make up. clad partly in their street clothes
and partly in their stage costumes, is alb
surdly comic. The company is competent
to preserve the atmospheric qualities which
chiefly distinguish the piece, and as for
Miss Barrymore herself it would be indeed
a churlish and unappreciative scribe who
failed to add his bouquet to those of the
old-time New York reporters who met her,
as prima DONNA at the steamship landing.
Captain Jinks'' is one of the most delight
full entertainments of the lighter sort that
Washington has seen in many day.
COLUMBIA THEATER.-Deep down In
the Americans nature, below the surface
outcropping of love of luxury and perhaps
of display as manifested in his taste for
life in edition luXe-ma gnif1cent hotels, YES
tibuled trains 'and sich''-is a basic vein of
simplicity; of certain delight in the home
ly entities of life. He may be all of the
cynical man Of the world. but he is Reu
ben at heart. He takes a sneaking pleasure
in remembering the days of the little red
topped boots. with the brass toe-tips. Some
time in his life he has encountered the old
oaken bucket and rested it on the side of
the well curb while he buried his face in
it's crystal contents.
1t may be that this characteristic of sat
isfaction in the hOmely things is due to the
fact that the average man who has had to
work for what he has his father before
him-eXperienced some of the simples of
home life, maybe of farm life, in boyhood.
There was kindling wood to split-cant you
remember the bruised shins as the pieces
of split wood flew upward? There was wa
ter to get in, little chores innumerable be-
tween schools closing and supper time And
pervading the memory of such a past it is
likely there is some strong. sturdy charac-
ter, whose ruggedness was tempered by a
love- oh. so tender.
And so come by easy stages along this
road of speculative philosophy to the proba-
BILE solution of the wonderful success and
popularity of the "Old Homestead. For
sixteen years it has held its place in the
front rank of American comedies, and is to-
day as Justly popular and is received with
as marked expressions of delight by big
audiences as when 1t first started on it's
mission OF pleasure making
Not because of any especial dramatic in
terest is this true. There is hardly a eli
max in the play. The lines are not remark
able for briliancy force of expression.
1t must be due to the fact that it is just
a plain depicting of chapter of every day
life; of virtue, honesty and home-staying
which is accepted as a great relief from
the morbid, suggestive and often anaemic
representations of other phases of modern
life with which the stage of today abounds.
Denman Thompson is the same He was
recognized last night as he stepped on the
stage by old friends and admirers who had
him many times before and who APP
plaudsd his entry. His art does not alter
with the changing seasons, because it is not
acting with him-he lives the part. He is
Uncle Joshua in person and does not have
to simulate an Uncle Joshua Every move,
every expression, every accent is true to
life. Sparng in gesture. there is eloquence
in the crock of Uncle Joshua's elbow .pathos
in the bending of his head. comedy in the
turn of his leg. And as for his dear old
honest Yankee face, with it's sometimes
dry. half-suspcous smile, it is laughter
provoking itself.
In his present company Mr.. Thomson
does not monopolze the honors. There are
three other quaint New England charac-
ters in the play and Mr.. Thompson has cast
competent persons in those roles Cy
Prime and Seth Perkins are known on
ever stage in the land today. There have
been many representations of the two old
fellows of all grades of merit. Mr.. Charles
Garter and Mr. Charles Clark have estab-
lished new standard for these roles De-
prived of boisterousness, of buffoonery
they are now character tudies, and in this
case are successfully interpreted. Aunt Ma
tilda as portrayed by Mrs. Louisa Morse is
acceptable. The play itself has changed
somewhat and for better. There has been
an elimination of some of the most en-
phatc rusticisms but the toning down of
the crudities has detra cted nothing from
the virility of the play.
LAFAYETTE SQUARE OPERA HOUSE
-SardOu's tragedy, Fedora" was present
ed by the Bellows Stock Company at the
Lafayette Square Opera House last night
before an audience that filled, with the ex-
ception of q part of the top gallery, nearly
every seat in the house. The gathering was
enthusiastic and greeted the members of
the company heartily upon their first ap-
pearanceS. The curtain calls were numer-