The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-20
In the Theaters Of New York
Himself the Master of Scenic Effects-..Chafes
Majors New Play


would not be tolerated by ladies and gen.
tlemen in real life; but in an adroit comedy,
and embodied by the breeziest of American
condolences since Ada Rehan showed them
now TO do such things captivatingly, she
captivates an audiences hearts I'm spite OF
their brains. Thus II comes about that,
when she Is caught behind the curtains of a
bachelors bed and refusing TO explain how
| she Is there innocently, Is put under taboo
| at the ensuing ball, we blame those who
quite reasonably turn their backs on her.
| OF course, we know that she got into the
predicament in an effort to prevent a duel
| and save a wife from jealous husband:
| but the people in the play have such
reason TO acquit her of wickedness, or even
| to give her the benefit OF any doubt that
| she is guilty, till the truth is made known
| in the last act. Therefore, IL Is by the
| grace of David Belasco and Henrietta Cros-
| man that We love Kitty Bellairs as readily
| as the phlegmatic Lord Verney does, and
| far more demonstratively. She encounters
| much the same sorrows that she does IN
| the book on her way TO happiness, but the
| dramatist and the actress combine TO high
| light her exploits and make brilliant pic
| lures Of them.
Why is 1t that no tune starts applause I'm
New York so quickly as "Dixie?" Our au-
| diences gravely respectful when The
| Star-spangled Banner falls on their ears;
| and at the recent opening of a new theater
| the whole aSsemblage stood up spontaneous
| ly at the first notes of the national hymn,
| nor sat down till they assured once
more that the flag still waved Ger the land
| of the free and the home of the brave. But
I for a noisy response to a jingle that means
something POLITICAL yankee Doodle isn't
half as provocative as the one which In
! spired Southerners in their fight TO take
| stars away from the same spangled BAN
| ner. Why is it? don't know. But IL Is So
| and proof of il was given on the night that
| "A Girl from Dixie" was introduced here.
| When quartet of principal performers
| sang a medley of old tunes OF the South,
with banjo, tambourine and bones accom-
| paniment it was Dixie" that was received
| with most enthusiasm And ought 10 add,
| as Irene Bentley was the star actress OF the
| play, that she clapped the bones with all
| the ease of a minstrel end man.
| Miss Bentley does not, however, impress
Broadway being a girl from Dixie. but
as one born right here In New York and
bred in comic opera She is graduate from
Chours College and proud OF her merry
: alma mater. We like to hear her sing about
| Mary from Maryland, as she does 70 an
| air that is recurrent in the new piece, and
| we are willing to let her think she is i'm
| personating Miss Calvert from that State.
/ but we know her right well as a soubrette
| darling of our own Tenderloin, from the
| top of her blended head TO the tips of her
! satined toes. She is no less sophisticated
/ as a prankish pupil in the rural school at
Tamarack than she is later as the smart
| belle in Fifth-avenue ballroom. Like the,
| advertised bargains in the department.
| have no doubt that it will be bought with
| general satisfaction in the present show.
| No rash experiments are tried with her.
| travaganzas. is concerned proprietarily and
sentimentally In this one, and he has helped
| the young woman to do every bit OF the
great deal that she is capable of doing. She
seems to me particularly attractive when
she leads a dozen pretty bridesmaids in the
| rehearsal of a wedding ceremony, which
| has the form of a minuet. She is again
| a slightly satisfaction, to my mind, in ne
| gro song and chorus OF the bogie and
bugaboo kind, with dark-to-light effects.
when the moon comes DER the hill"
| XXX
OF the three actresses who have come into
| Broadway with new plays within week.
Bertha Galland is the nearest to a novelty.
| The others, Henrietta Crosman and Irene
| Bentley, are doing the kinds Of things that
| we have seen them do before. Nor Is there
| Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hail. the
stage version of Charles Majors novel
made for Miss Galland by Paul Kester-
| Dorothy is Shakspeares Katherine, with
| a shrewish defiance of her father In the
| choice of husband and wild temper to
| be tanned; and she is a Juliet, too, with a
passionate suddenness OF love for the scion
| of a family separated from her own Dy
| a hateful feud, though when her Romeo
| is banished by royal decree neither she
nor he dies, but she goes with him into
happy exile Elizabeth Stuart and Mary
! Tudor are subsidiary characters in this
romance, which reproduces the surrender
| of the Scotch Queen TO the English Queen.
with Sir John Manners, the Earl or Rut-
land and Lord Burleigh to remind us of the
Schiller play. and a monkey-on-a-stlek
dozens OF hctions But this composition
| does not pass from comedy into tragedy.
though it does have spells OF melodrama;
| and 1t Is ingenious In its Encouragement or
| elements to make a surely successful en-
| tertainment, as well acted and beautifully
| mounted.
This decentralization was made for Julia
Marlowe and that fact is not against IL.
I can see nothing I'm its dominant role I'M
| worthy of Miss Marlowes best abilities, and
| If she had accepted IL instead OF Fools or
| Nature for this season she might not have
| had TO abandon her tour. The opportuni-
| ties for the heroine range from the frolic
OF a coquette to the fury of a vixen. and
| from the within OF caprice TO the bravery
1 of true love, with warm womaniness re-
/ deeming all her faults. IL is clear that Miss
| Galland, whose beauty is of a kind with
| Miss Marlowe's, but less disputable, has
taken the older actress as model for
method and the resemblance will be closer
| when the imitation ceases TO be holster than
| the original. To my thinking IL won't take
| the one as long as ii did the other 10 get
under popular Roadway. or possibly 10
| artistic equality. Yet who can foretel in
| the show business? There is one amusing
| certainty in the likeness and that Is In the
| thickness of the responses TO recalls
| Bertha has an interact curtain opening up
| the middle, just like Julia's, with her mono
| gram on IL in laurel wreath, and she
glides out through the slit, just as Julia
| does to bow with her neither lip between her
| teeth in smile Of grateful surprise
/ XXX
Three forceful il not high bids for favor
| in Dorothy Vernon, of Haddon Hail. are
the heroines greedy munching % a cake at
a time Of emotional distress-which makes
| the people laugh; her sword fight with the
| villain from q dim room out To a moOnlit
| balcony-which makes them gasp. and her
swap OF gowns with a maid for a purpose
| of disguise-which makes them stare. And
they stare hard enough To strain their eyes.
| too, because the shift OF clothing Is made
| in lowered light. that the process OF
| taking off and putting on bodces and skirts
is rather indistinctly illustrated by the two
women. But the eyes of the spectators are
helped out by their a little. for Dolly
| calculates TO the slenderer maid, "Oh. but
this squeexes me-, and Now the skirt"
and Hook this belt" thus indicating the
progress OF the interesting operation. When
| Dolly relights the lamp she is seen 20 DO
fully dressed and the servant Is quitting
the room In corset and petticoats with her
MISTRESS gown In her arms