The sun., 1902-03-11
ON THE STAGE LAST NIGHT.
FILA UHEELER WILCOx'S "HER
FIRST DITORCE CASE"
No Other New Play Than Tnat short One
In All New York on Monday In M'd'
Season - some shirts and neproduc-
tions In the weeks Theatrical SHOWS

Season. some shirts and Neproouc-
lion. In the Weeks Theatrical shows.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox made her debut
q. n drsmatist at Tony Pastors theatre
Yesterday afternoon. A few months ago
An invited audience saw what she couio
do In that branch OF literature, but yes'er-
DAVIS view was the first one open 10 ,he
public. And the public was pleased' Her
First Divorce Case was not the sort OF
thing that one might expect from the
noc,ess Of passion None Of the personality
d,scernable I'm most Of her prose as well
az poetic writing was seen IN this httle
ulav I. might have been written by any
ono OF ten persons who are known as sue
cassf,,l vaudeville sketch writer's. or
hundred whose proficiency In that field 10
hidden by nuppressing their names. Her
Eiret Divorce Case had its scene In the
law Office OF Humm 4 Howl. man en-
tered and explained the plot In the awkward
manner usual TO vaudeville sketches ms
vife had found love letters In his pocket
and was coming to consult Humm Howl
about a divorce. The missives really
belonged To his business partner. whose
name of Smith resemhlcd his own OF Smart
In the feminine handwriting. The bus-
hand declared that he loved his wife ana
hated the idea Of separation from her'
Tben he hid behind n screen while she came
an and explained her side of the plot. She
half trusted her husband, even with this
svidanop. which, according TO farce regu-
lations. was damning. So IL was sure that,
whan the time limit Of thirty minutes Tor
A vaudeville play had elapsed the reunion
would be simple. That relieved every
ones mind and made everything pleasant;
One OF the lawyers entered and settled
the caso. -, ,,.-,
Howl was a woman who had been divorced
three times, and had thereupon become
A LAWYER, 30 as to save expenses III any
further domestic disagreements. Mrs.
Wilcox Ia said TO have written the par LOT
her friend Matte Keene,' who played with
much dash. exhibiting a personality that
was cross between May Irwin and John
atone Bennett. She treated the whole
matter as a joke. and brought the two
clients together by flirting with the nus
band. thu. convincing the wife OF her deep
affection for her spouse. This situation
made the following Fourteenth street
epigram possible: Jealousy is the tabasco
sauce of love, but il should be used in moder-
alton The lawyer had no sooner parted
with that gem OF epigrammatic wit, gay
wag that she was, than the WE was over,
come with tears. To cheer her the heroine
recited Laugh and the worl ID laughs with
YOU, weep and you weep alone and the
people laughed at II as a faoetious reference
TO the woman's lonely place on the stage,
quite apart from the others. The merriment
was due, also, to the good humor that Mrs.
wilcox's bright composition had put its
first audience into.
The lack OF new plays on the New. York
stage last night did not mean that we are
at the end OF production for the season.
This spring will be above the average Of
recent years in the disclosure of dramatic
material, and American authors will pro-
vide most Of It. Next week Richard Hard
ing Davis and Augustus Thomas's Soldiers
of Fortune" will take the place Of The
Way OF the World" at the Savoy, Edward
r. Kidder's -Sky Farm that Of "A Message
itom Mars at the Garrick and Martha
Morton's The Diplomat that Of 'On the
Quiet at the Madison Square; and week
later Anson Ponds Life" will follow Maid
Marian at the Garden. Not only are those
four forthcoming pieces Of native make
but so are the four which they are to sue
ceed thus making a good exhibit OF do
mestic output in theatrical fiction. The
other works by our own playwrights in use
last night were David Belasco's Du Barry"
at the Criterion. Paul Potter's versions Of
.Sotre Dame at Daly's and Under Two
Flags" at the Academy of Music, Clyde
Fitch's THE Climbers at the Biiou and
.The Girl and the Judge" at the Lyceum,
X. A. Barnets Miss Simplicity" at the
Casino, Stanislaus Stange and Julian Ed
wardss Dolly Varden' at the Herald
Square, r. Melville Bakers Foxy Grandpa
fields "The Hall Of Fame" at the New York
Harriet Fords version Of a Gentleman
OF France at Wallack's, Edgar Smiths
-Hoity-Toity" at Weber 4 Fields's and
John j. McNally's rewriting Of 1The Sleep
ing Beauty and the Beast at the Broadway.
All the plays brought back to us by tourist
companies yesterday were American, both
In authorship and subject. Denman Thomp-
son was at the Harlem Opera House with
-The Old Homestead originated by him
as sketch in vaudeville and expanded
into full-length drama with the help of
George Ryer Z. NJ. Holland was at the
Grand Opera House with "Eben Holden"
made by Edward Z. Rose from Irving
Bacheler's novel. Across the Pacific
was at the Star, The King OF the Opium
Hooligan- at the Metropolis David D,
Lloyd's 'The Woman Hater' was the re-
production for the week by Corse Payton's
stock company at his Brooklyn house,
and Charles H. Hoyt's A Milk White Flag
was brought forward at the Columbia.
made in America They were Grant Stew
arts Mistakes viii Happen at the Harlem
and Charles Coghlans THE Royal Box"
at the Fifth Avenue.
The Creenwals at the American stick
closely TO the native product. hut last night
they turned to "Reaping the Whirwind,"
melodrama from London, and very for
cibly sustained its many excitements.
Altogether-foreign plays that held over
were -The Toreador at the Knickerhc cter,
The Twin Sister at the Empire. As You
Like II" at the Republic and "The Chris
tian' at the Murray Hill.
The 0beramniergau passion play was
reproduced In moving pictures and music
at tho Eden Musee yesterday. Prince
Henry OF Prussia was new wax figure
among the many on view.
The Actors Fund will benefit by re-
markable vaudeville shows on Thursday
afternoon at Hurtig 4 Seamon's and the
Harlem Opera House.
Vaudeville held its own at the Proctor
houses yesterday in spite Of the full-lensth
plays given at all but the Twentv-third
Street, where Tom Nawn and company,
Carroll johnson, Charley Case and the
Brothers Damn were in the continuous
BILL Clarice Vance and the Caron- Her