The Indianapolis journal., 1903-09-06


stageland there was hardly possibility
that Three Little Maids" would go wrong.
1t is a musical comedy. not farce. and it
is so nicely plotted, characterized and acted
that it might stand alone IL its braces Of
song and dance were removed The three
maids are a rural clergyman's demure
daughters. who hire out to serve in a Lon
don tea room and there win lovers away
from nlcdish town bellies. This is written
coherently and performed in a Robertson
comedy manner. The maids. Maggie May,
Madge Crfchton and Della Mason, as
slightly as "show girls and very expert
singers and dancers besides.
Xxx
Who would think that anything new could
be done with the "silly-ass' type of London
lord? Yet here. in Three Little Maids" we
have audiences laughing heartily at one
OF then as though they had never seen the
fellow tefOre on the stage. Mr.. Huntley
caricatur,ss violently Mr.. Sothern did
with Dundreary forty years ago. but brings
him forward with regard for the improved
naturalism in acting, we'll as an adhesion
to the members OF modern society. Mr..
sothern's gait. with its three-step skip. was
not an imitation OF any kind OF walking
then or ever done in real life. 1t was a bold
fabrication. and nowadays we would deem
IL too absurdly impossible to be taken
in fun Mr.. Huntley's shambling stride.
with his elbows and knees in excessive ac-
tion and his head dropping unsteadily from
his swaying body. is a true-to-life study of
gentlemanly awkwardness. His lack Of flu
ency is not due to an impediment of speech,
but is wonderful achievement in drawl,
hesitaney and ultra-fashionable pronuncia-
f- fna
deal of the time. and if he were not steadily
amusing the success of the play would be
considerably less than it is. Paul Rubens.
who wrote the piece-prose, verse and mu-
sic-has provided the wit and humor, but
Mr. Huntley, in my opinion. delivers his
share of the matter in a way to raise new
standard for actors of London swells.
Two earlier new plays of the opening sea-
son are sexual farces in striking contrast.
Both present young woman pursued by
men, but one piece is clean and the other
nasty. AS they are alike in getting the
attention OF polite people in Broadway
theaters of the first grade. IL must be that
solicitude for the purity Of the drama is
not felt generally by those who pay adj
mission fees. IN matter these plays are of
the twenty-minute vaudeville sketch quail
ity and in each a man and woman from
the variety shows lead in the fun. John
c. Rice had his wife. Sally Cohen. as his
team partner, instead of Hattie Williams,
but F. NJ. Royle and Selena Fetter Royle
are still together. even they were years
ago. when they quit the legitimate stage
to which they now return. "Vvian's Pa
pas glitters along its way with gilded sin,
while the path of MY Wife's Husbands"
is as innocent as a children's playground.
Leo Ditrichstein is accused OF deriving
'-vivian's Papas' from the French, but it
gets no nearer to the gay boulevards of
the city Of pleasure than New York's Ten
derloin. And why should he have bothered
TO steal from any single play plot that
has served in several hundred since Forbid
den Fruit" seemed too wicked to discuss.
The first act prepares for what we need
no preparation. We all know that the
two sportive old men. supposed to be para
egons OF virtue. will meet compromisingly
in Vivian's fat that the innocent young
husband will appear 10 his wife as sinner
and that an excitable Frenchman will lead
the other characters a chase through
numerous doors to make a lively second act
curtain. Through this maze of complica-
tions. familiar that ii has ceased to be
mystifying. oddty is scattered here and
there. Where 'vivian's Papas'' is peculiar
among wicked farces is in flashes of real
ism. incidents almost Ibsenish i'm revolving
facts. Vivian's "papas," elderly and re-
spected citizens telephone TO the extrava-
CANT chorus girl. and. Immediately on hear
ing her voice, change theirs to tones of
cooling idiocy. and smile in sheepish lechery.
men do when they are old enough to
know better. And then, when Vivian is
revealed in her sumptuous fat. is 10 Mr.
Ditrichstein's idea of fun, or slavish faith
fulness to sordid fact. that the chorus
woman's maid is a negro. and one who
''winks" at anything and sometimes more
than winks? When helping one OF the
'papas" with his overcoat she digs him in
the ribs in playful sympathy with his CAV
intent. And so. in flashes, Mr. .Ditrichstein
treats the depravity as Norway's grim
realit might. as Russia's Gorky would
had ne studied 1t as faithfully as he has the
slnms OF Moscow
There are no two approaches to MY
Wifes Husbands" unless one divides into
opposing groups those who laugh at Mr..
Royle's farce and those who do not The
question here is whether or not one sees
fun in misunderstanding which one word
would dispel; in the appearance at inop-
perfume moments of persons who would
logically be almost anywhere else; and in
climaxes in which every one rushes some
where or ether. faints. or upsets a table in
order 10 force and proIong the applause till
the curtain has been raised several times.
Il Is hero a question of Mysteries. One
couldn't possibly laugh mildly at MY
Wifes Husbands" You are either excited
into a stale of boisterous unreasopins
laughter, or you remain cold and aloof.
After this play has had its time I'm the reg
ular theaters Mr.. Royle may do with il as
he did with his melodramatic comedy of
Captain Impudence"-boil il down for
vaudeville. One of its minutes which will be
retained in the limited twenty is that in
which Mrs. Royle feints a faint with one
eye open. Do you remember how, in 'The
Henrietta" she had a fainting fit I'm which
she expected Mr.. Cranes arms to support
her. and that being diverted to the stock
ticker. he let her sit on the floor with a
heavy thud. After awhile she lessened the
sincerity OF her acting at that point. in def
erence TO her threatened physical welfare.
The fainting wink in My Wife's Hus-