The sun., 1902-09-07
VARIOUS DRAMATIC SUBJECTS
VALUE IN DEVICES THAT ARE
morn TRANCE AND GOOD.



at the Empire Depiorc the
Rogers Success AT the Knickerbocker: :
II the strange thing in n new play il
also good II will get more attention than
ten equally good things that are old Thus
the Italian organgrinder in The Mumnv
and the Humming Bird is more talked
about than my lord my lady and nv ady's
lover combined, and young Lionel Barry
more instead Of John Drew is the topic OF
discussion in the comedy at the Empire
Theatre. Mr.. Drew is nicely fitted by the
roe of the scientist who noglects his wife
and thereby almost loses her He has never
done bettcr acting in his colloquial vein,
nor has he ever satisfied audiences more
completely. Yet Mr.. BARRYMORE, com
paratively novice on the stage, slouches
into the play, and. though he cannot he
said to carry of any Of the stars honors.
he surely gets away with larger load Of
his own.
The two actors figure together in a scene
that Is original with the author. Mr. Hender-
son, and greatly TO his credit Mr. Drew
Is an English nobleman, left alone at home,
his wife having gone out to dinner with a
libertne. He orders some soup and chop,
served on table in his library. He casu-
ally looks out Of a window into a snowstorm,
pities an Italian who is grinding an organ
in the cold. and has him brought in to be
warmed Mr.. Barrymore IL that guest
"a hulking, handsome fellow-a counterfeit
Italian, so like the genuine thing that he
might readily pass unquestioned in Null
berry street by daylight. The actor need
not be praised for efecting the likeness
without apparent paint, or anything but
suitable clothes to change his looks. His
own usual appearance suits the purpose of
the assumption. But at the end Of minute
or so, during which the observer may have
made up his mind in that way. Mr.. Barry
more begins to be skilfu in his delineation
Of an Italian of the lower class He does
not know English, and the few words OF
his native language that he Uses are pro-
nounced like the peasant that he is The
gait and the postures cannot be other than
careful studies from originals. No longer
does the critic doubt that this il he work
Of an artist
One wonders, while the scene goes on,
whether Mr.. Drew can be genuinely glad
that his nephew il getting the better Of IL
II yes. then he il a. good an uncle as he is a
comedian. and that is praise indeed. Never
has he done heater acting than when, a.
a wealthy lord in a charitable mood, he
tells the vagabond by dumb show Ia
warm himself before the CRATE, drink a
glass Of brandy and share the soup and
chops. During the meal he contrives
by the Use of signs and tokens. helped out
by here and there a word sufficiently similar
in Italian and English to be comprehended
by both men, to learn that the Italian has
come to London 10 find and kill the seducer
Of his wife-that the scoundre sought for
IL the self-same fascinator who is now
operating in this household Mr.. Drew
passes from the jocularity of this dialogue
| through the momentous phases and to its
intense climax with easy facility and full
| effect Under any ordinary circumstances
he would he dominant with such good
material to deal with
But the circumstances are not ordinary
Mr.. Henderson has created novel character
in the pantomimic and EXPLANATORY Italian
and Mr.. Frohmsn has been shrewd in tho
choice Of an interpreter. Mr., Barrymor,
, was bound to look right, fairly clever acting
| would carry the meaning of the episode
and there was the chance that young Barry.
more would make noteworthy achieve
ment. That chance has won prize for
| the astute manager There is not a touch
| Of the common dago of the stage in this
| Italian hone Of the grimaces or shrugs
none of the grotesqne eNaggerations
| The fellow is more delighted than aston
ished by his good-luck meal. His initiative
use OF a napkin. his obedlent discrimination
| between knife and n fork his kinder
| garten pupil manner OF wide-eyed wonder
| are naturalistic in the extreme Then
comes the change from smiles to scowls
and thence TO a frenzy Of hate, As he makes
| IL known that his mission Is vendetta
and discovers. a. his host does, that the
| libertine is frequenter of this house
| Mr.. Barrymore should not let his head bs
| turned or swolled. But he deserves the
praise that he is getting
Do YOU feel resentful because Max and
Gus Rogers a pair Of Dutch dialect anc
| dialogue fellows, were put last week or
the stage of as fashionable theatre a,
| there is in Broadway, in a play that hac
been well nigh a year in preparation anc
that was produced with all the aids that
| Klaw 4 Erlapger's ample resources offered
DO YOU look upon all this as deplorablt
exaltation Of two comic mumners from
| the vaudeville shows? Well. let us see
| Why should prosperity be begrudged tc
| the Rogerses? They began as sentimental
ballad singers when hardly more thar
| boys They soon found out that audi
| ences like 70 laugh. So they told joke'
between songs. These inferludes be
! came dialogues in broken English will
| the speakers made up rs Germans
| At length they were engaged TO intro
duce their specially in n big Broadway
extravaganza. The play was failure
excepting the ten minutes Of II occupied
| by the Rogers brothers with some songs
parodies and jokes. They were the stars
| Of that show. If not in the bills. and n,
mana gers saw further possibilities in them
| Hence their costly and careful exploita
| tion. All this is told to answer the cry
| that they don't deserve their good fortune
| If what they do is so easy, why don't other
do it? Vaudeville Is full Of imitation Roger
| teams. but not one Of them approaches tn,
originals within comparing distance.
Some captiOlls persons blame the people
| who crowd the Knickerbocker to see "The
Rogers Brothers in Harvard The objec
| tion Ia that folks who wear costly clothes
| paw 81 per seat and are OF a generally in
| telligent aspect ought to put folly show
| under taboo and give countcnance to good
stage literature only. THE Sun does moi
| .pke that view of the subject Decent