The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-06

cessor Of Viola Allen as president OF the
Twelfth Night Club, the membership OF
which is restricted to actresses unsmirched
by scandal. She is known for the same can
dor and vim which she imparts TO her mimic
women. Thus she appears In Whats the
Matter with Susan?" as an old maid who.
after some misconceptions and misunder-
standings. answers the titles query by
sweetening the little that is acid In her dis
position, and saving the rest OF her life
from the vinegar of celibacy by putting
into it the honey of wedlock. The part is a
true and hearty creation. comic. sentimental
and racily American.
Not all the words / have used for Alice
Fischer and her Susan can be applied to the
play in which they are seen. The pro-
gramme is in error when IL SAYS that Susan
lives on the banks of the Hudson. instead OF
the Rhine or the Danube. While she il
american, her home, her family and her
neighbors are German. The name of Leo
Ditrichstein, printed with equal falsity as
that of the sole and only author. gives Teu-
tonic reason why the other characters and
their doings are from nearer Berlin or VII
emma than New York. Like most or all Of the
Ditrichstein farces. this one is a free trans
have seen his similar work, clever but un-
original, in Are You a Mason?' and "Al
on Account of Eliza" and il so you know
that. with an actors keen sense Of char
acter and situation, he lacks the knack OF
Americanizing the matter which he handles
Susan is virago. That's what's the matter
with her, and the ailment reaches its worst
stage just before the effectual remedy is adj
ministered. The cure is a kiss. and an army
lieutenant is the unwilling physician who
applies it to the unwilling patient. She be-
lieves that she hates and despises him. and
to vent her spleen she invites him to a din
i,er. where she makes things hot for him
with pepper in his food and in her own Ian
guage. But he is a good-natured chap, the
wine makes him jovial and he suddenly
kisses the attractive termagant She resents
his alcoholic ardor furiously. but her con-
vulsions of anger prove to be the crisis in
her malady of old-maidism, from which
she passes into happy recovery a loving
bride-elect.
Marie Tempest gives two object lessons
in 1.-The Marriage of Kitty to women who
wish to be mOdish. At the start of the new
play Kitty is a visitor to the law office OF
her godfather. She wants him to tell her
how to earn a living, as the death OF her
father has left her in poverty. She is femi-
ninety whimsical and objects to one after
another of the employments which he pro-
poses. At length she remarks that he has
overlooked the vocation which strikes her
as congenial. that of matrimony. Stimuli
taneously there calls on the lawyer for adj
vice young Sir Reggie. heir TO a big for
tune-with the If that before the probate OF
the will he marries a woman who is not a
Peruvian nor a widow. That proviso 10
meant to bar a Nine. Semiano, adven-
turess, who is betrothed to him. The lawyer
scratches the hair over his puzzled brain
and fetches out a trick TO defeat the tes-
tator and prosper both his clients. Reggie
shall wed Kitty. legally. but not connubial-
ly. and thereby qualify himself TO get the
estate; after which the unreal wedlock shall
be terminated by divorce. leaving him free
to marry the Peruvian widow with an as
sured income for life. But Mime. semiano
is distrustful. and Kittys device TO disarm
her jealousy is 20 show herself only as an
unattractively styleiess creature. which she
is not Here the first instruction in modish-
ness is impaired practically. The process
of making a smart woman out OF dowdy IL
reversed I'm the exhibit. just as you have
seen the bathers in a moving picture show
spring from the water back TO the diving
platform. Kitty draws her hair smoothly