The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-26
DRAMA FOR THE MULTITUDE.
NOT THE ROAD TO RUIN" IN
WHICH MRS. DREW ACTED,
hut the One In which Pugllist Terry Nc.
Govern and Ills Brother Slug Each
Grant stewards mistakes
VIII Happen" Brought Into New York.

Drew used TO be popular, that Terry slcboN-
ern, the featherweight champion prize
fighter, figures In at the New Star this
week. The scrapper hasn't fallen to comedy
OF the level that made the grandmother
Of the American stage stand on a chair.
cry -Ratsl" and gather her skirts about
her waist. No. indeed! Terry brings a
play with an avowalo Of great moral purpose.
Just what Is that moral Is indefinite, al
though it might be. Don't frequent a
Tenderloin joint hat is about to be pinched
unless you rave the police fixed" or 1t might
lie. Avoid the hurry-up wagon unless
YOU are a good jumper and know how to
give tho cops the slip" The start OF The
Road 10 Ruin" starts in a quiet rural cot
tage, but IL gets 70 the Tenderlion in the
second scene. & drop curtain painted with
a fairly good picture Of T~wenty-ninth street
near Broadway. Here a country girl is
searching for her lover to rescue him from
the temptations OF the town. He comes
in with a woman and what Is delicately
referred 70 as a package. Giving the
good girl a throw-down. he takes the woman
into a dance hall. where the next scene
is disclosed. Two women tear each
others hair In a fight. The virtuous maid
arrives just IA the police make "A raid. but
she escapes by the aid OF a ave Warfield
jew, the good comedy fellow who does
every thing that the hero should do. The
second act shows a badger game and the
third two views OF Forty-second street
at night, one with the hero and heroine
bound TO the track on the underground
road. Their rescue is effected without
reason or thrilling incident. 4 last act In
the Tombs Is too preposterous for even
Ingenious audiences: The final episode
is the death Of the chief villains in quick
sands.
This melodrama is by Theodore Kramer.
who has written such thrilling plays as
The Fatal Wedding and AN Actors
Romance 1t lacks the excitement OF
Usually sue pieces have IA scene of
realism well enough written and presented
TO make a big ado. The Road TO Ruin"
lacks both OF these elements.
Terry McGovern's appearance IL draw
ing very large audiences to the Star. He
doesn't act a role. In one Of the Tender
loin scenes he comes in and speaks a few
nervous words about his bout with Sulli-
van. After the play, ending with a double
death In the quicksands, the curtain rises
doorsteps, and Terry and his brother fight
four rounds. And good hard %scrapping il
Ia. On at least one night Hughey Meow
ern's nose bled profusely, much TO the de-
llRntO OF the bpeCLapOIs. Inc more the DlOOQ
streamed forth the more delighted the
packed spectators were. No theatre In
New York held as large an audience as that
enormous house, crowded as IL was by
people who enjoyed the women fights and
badger games while waiting to see two
men pummel each other.
Some OF the plays that die IN their out
of-town trial before reaching New York
are not worthless. A fair example Of the
sort Of thing that falls just a bit short and
hat circumstances mitig ate against is
Mistakes Will Happen which is being
acted for the first time in this city at Proc
tors Ftfty-eighth street theatre. Grant
Stewart, an unusually clever character
actor In Daniel Frohman's stock COMPANY
at Days wrote II two OF three years ago,
and Charles Dickson used IL during a sea-
son. 1t amused the people who saw II,
hut Possessed no quality sufficiently novel
or strong TO attract the public in large
enough numbers. A more conventional
play would lie hard to conceive. The
old characters. the old first act OF making
wicked engagements. the second act OF
sureptitiOusly keeping them and beng
noisily discovered, and the third act of
explanations are all here. The slight
variation of making no one really naughty,
but all apparently So, gives a new twist
10 the tangle. but az the same time removes
even the slight suspense of intrigue by
starting with an explanation OF what, as
every one knows, can set the matter right
in two words at any time.
Mr.. Stewards fiction concerns an actor
and an actress who are discharged from
the ompan Of which they are the leaders
because they have married each other.
Thereupon they try to find a dupe to supply
NnnnaU 70 nEAHIHDa Ina EIn ~ uNnN hAu Ia. 7
the star part. The wife starts a mild little
filtration with an elderly man, supposedly
50 good that he misunderstands the girls
reference to him as a likely angel" She
thinks he will capitalize her. His wife
Is secretly anxious 10 he an amateur actress;
so her clandestine meetings withthe actor
dramatist, to learn how to play in his piece,
appear to be secretly sentimental. The
second act takes both couples TO a stable, |
where they hide in blankets, a brougham
and a hayloft, when. as a matter Of fact,
there IL nothing 10 conceal. Two servants,
the pair Of low comedy lovers usual in
these plays, also get mixed up in the general
chase; IL all means nothing but makes
pursued dropping through trapdoors from
the hayloit and running In one side of the
carriage and out the other. That is n
klnd OF action hat one laughs at from
excitement. rather than JOY. 1t is acted
10y the Proctor company In a fitting spirit
OF iour-door farce gayety. with much ami
nation and general noise when a climax
rs reached. That the audiences laugh
az II Is the test. INC Mr.. Stewards farce
seems to please people who go to Proctor's.
The Tooth anniversary OF Victor Hugo's
birth will be concentrated at Days
Theatre tonight by the production of Paul
NJ Potter's dramatization of his novel Of
-Notre Dame de Paris. Howard Gould,
who has been a star in the small cities for
several seasons in The Prisoner Of Zenda"
and a Colonial GIRL will play the part
that Robert Lorraine gave up at the last
minute.
Before sailing for London Charles Froh-
man made a contract with Augustus
Thomas TO produce one play by him a
OF Arizona should supply the drama
and should select the cast and stage Il.
h hrst one will be on the order Of ION
the Quiet
Richard Mansfield and Otis Skinner
viii become rivals next season by acting
the same part, Iran the Terrible. Mr.
Mansfield will use a dramatization Of a