The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-13
THE new YORK THEATERS
REAPPEARANCE OF MRS. LANGTRr
AN UNExCITING EVENT.
Attempt to Revive an Old Boucfcsult
ers and Willie Collier.

Correspondence OF the indianapolis Journal
NEW YORK, Sept. n.-"what has hap
pened?' said woman to the heroine OF
Mrs. behring's Divorce on Monday even
ing. you look like Lady Macbeth
81 feel like her." replied Mrs. Lanstry.
and the audience was inclined to laugh.
You see. it a gathering of typical
Broadway first-nighters, the wise guys"
and nine out OF ten remembered when the
Jersey Lily played Lady Macbeth in all
seriousness, and whom she may have felt
like but certainly didn't look il. The point
of the Macbeth reference may be lost on
other than first night, but people who keep
up with the times will hardly fail to see
woman's last word in an ensuing slap at
the Earl Of Rosslyn. 1t would seem that
her triumph in that quarrel last season
left no need for dramatization of the con-
| troversy. Indeed, no critic OF plays has
been so finally answered as was Lord
RossIyn when writing under the name OF
| "Junius," he denounced Mrs. Langtry's
comedy of ''The Crossways'' as being an
impossible representation of the British
aristocracy. The Lily's sole and smiling
reply WIS that if it impossible the earl
was himself to blame, as she had founded
her plot on an incident acted in true life by
| him. AS Mrs Deering she defends her fall
ure in gambling. her great losses at Monte
Carlo by telling her husband she would
have come out all right if she had had
mpre capital you know she says, Il
was playing the Rosslyn system"
There may have been a few in the hrse
audience at the new comedy who tried to
forget that it was Mrs. Lily Langtry tpast
tense Lily LIE Breton, present tense MRS.
| Hugo De Battle. future tense Lady DE
Bathe), and believe the author when he said
that she was Mrs. Jane Deering disclosing
her matrimonial state in her extremely
smart little drawing room in London. But
| the man who writes for Mrs. Langtry must
| accept the situation that. though gaining
almost the most beautiful interpreter on
| the stage. all illusion is sacrificed unless ne
| subtly turns the tables, did Mr. Grumpy
| in 1.-THE Degenerates." and say that the
part is Mrs. Langtry herself, in which case
| she is convincing.
| 1t is worth dropping the ever-engrossing
subject of the Langtry personality to con-
| slider Percy Fendalrs play. 1t showed a
| divorced woman who wore mourning. re-
fused the proposals of desirable suitors. and.
| in deporting herself as a widow. believed
1
matter of fact. she was following the sor-
| rowing dictates of heart that still loved
| her erring and cast-off husband She meets
! this husband and passes from emotions of
| love- hate and jealousy, amusement. re-
greet and coquetry in sudden. well-defined
| and reasonable fits and starts. He IL to
marry again. and has come for Char
| acter" They are interrupted by a wealthy
| woman who is to be the second Mrs. Deer
ing She jots down in a note book such
! points about their mutual husband as the
first Mrs. d. will give her. So enraged Is
Mrs. Deering that she accepts the most
frivolous invitations regarded before as in
suits to a widows grief. and eventually re-
marries Mr.. Deering.
| XXX
Mrs Langtry's reasons for using this play
are an odd and clever plot. generally witty
and sometimes brilliant dialogue, distinct
and original character drawing. and, above
ALL a central part admirably fitted 10 her
self, if any role may be said 10 particularly
suit an art unsubtle and unvarying. and
which, after all, amounts to little more than
the power TO project a fascinating and
much-discussed personality across the foot
lights. In the last act she changes street
| gown for ball dress in view of the audi
ence, talking rapid French the while to the
filters. A man hidden behind a screen. the
gay old husband with bill for lingerie not
intended for his wife, pad out an act that
! is none too strong. There is nothing sensa-
| tional i'm the disrobing incident, which is
matter-of-fact exchange from one gown TO
| another. with no indecorous disclosure OF
the Langtry person.
Paris has its Coincide Franchise to ba
held up 10 the world as a model by those
numerous literary folk who think the stage
should guide in the correct use of language.
A French word newly born. a foreign
authoritatively adopted into the French
language. is given to France Endorsed by
the highest masters of speech. by being
pointedly used in new drama at the house
of Moliere Well. we have George AIDE and
Lily Langtry. In a few nights we shall
hear in AIDES Peggy from Paris" the new
est thing in the American language for the
Americans. But those Of Us who crave an
| Epson finish 10 our racy conversation await
the coming of the Mr. Jersey of the
British turf When she came in '"The De-
generates" she quite revolutionized our
smart conversation. assuring us that the
| princes set affected authorizations. pre-
ferring comfy" to the comfortable" Of
1
| moral. pre- bouncing IL simply immy. In
Mrs. behring's Divorce" Mrs. Langtry
| varies the speech but little. merely empha-
| sizing the bad form of using g's at the
end of words But the really smart English
actors have omitted g's for some years
So have some others
Memories of that arrant humbug and
dramatic genius. Dion Boucicault. are re-
vived with "Arrah-ns-Pogue." which An
drew Mack has brought forward this week.
1t is so long since Boucicault was I'm his
prime at the top OF the ladder that the
younger generation recalls him as an old
man clinging helplessy 20 the lower rung.
What a bold plagiarist he was And with
what skill he increased the value OF the
stolen matter for stage purposesl OF
course. his stageoraft was of a kind which.
as observed in "Arrah-na-Pogue." is now
old-fashioned in some respects. but his wa s
! OF getting matter across tho footlghts are
| not obsolete. and none OF our playwrights
! excels him in continuance and formulation
OF telling situations. ] haven't a doubt
that. If he were alive to-day. and young
as he felt up 10 his final birthday. ne would
amend Slis methods and equal n NOT Guido.