The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-22
LONDON'S HOLIDAY
PLAYS WILL BE NOVEL
Chat About Drury Lane Pan.
tomime, "LittIe Hans
Andersen"

regularly on the other side or the wa
ter, it may not be amiss to give some
idea of the entertainments which are
being arranged for the enlivenment Of
Londoners during the coming holt
days. AS usual, the greater part of
them will begin operations on Boxing
Day." the day following Christmas, and
the most important of all will be the
show at Drury Lane, which this year
will have to do with the world-famous
tragedy of 'Humpty Dumpty." 1t is
now expected that Dan Leo, who broke
down from overwork awhile ago, will
be well enough by Christmas time to
sustain the part Of the fragile youth
who sat on a WALL" and the panto-
mime is to be mounted with true
Drury Lane Iavishness, which ordinar-
lily means an outlay Of 100000 before
the curtain rises for the first time. AS
soon as the run in London is finished
the production will be transferred to
New York, and afterward will visit the
principal large cities at home.
But perhaps the most novel of the
coming Christmas entertainments is
the little play which Capt Basil Hood
has written for music by Walter
Slaughter, and which has been named
Little Hans Andersen" In the piece
we shall see the great Danish writer of
fairy tales as a child and under the
tutelage of a dream-sprite called ole
Luk-Oie, through whose ministra-
tons the boy sees the events described
in THE finder Box" THE Emperor's
New Clothes" "the Swineherd," ''The
Little Mermaid" and others of his
more famous stories. The play will be
acted by the former Savoy company,
Walter Passmore, the comedian who
succeeded Grossmith in the Gilbert and
Sullivan operas, having the part Of
Ole-Luk- Ole.
"The Cherry Girl"
Seymour Hicks Christmas play,
"Bluebell in Fairyland," proved so
great a success at the Vaudeville last
winter, as well as in the United States,
if one remembers correctly, that thea
tergoers are looking forward eagerly
to his new holiday entertainment,
which is called THE Cherry Girl" and
modelled on similar lines to the piece
which was played nearly 400 times last
winter. The Garrick will have YER
sion of 1.-The Cricket on the Hearth"
as a special Christmas Offering, while
at other houses the changes will be
run on the old favorites Of pantomime
Dick Wilmington" Jack and the
Beanstalk," 1.-The Forty Thieves" and
the inevitable cinderella"
Lewis Waller revived Monsieur
Beaucaire" seen at the
Comedy theater-at the Imperial the
other night without any hitch, but
theatergoers who read the criticism of
the performance which appeared in one
of the foremost London dailies next
morning must have received shock.
For this is how the notice" began:
at was happy thought of Mr..
Lewis Waller to revive at the Imperial
theater his excellent representation OF
Monsieur Beaucaire.' This fine old
English comedy is old enough to be
still new, and it deserves to be known
to modern audiences as Familiarity as
The School for Scandal, and She
Stops to Conquer If only our mod
ern dramatists could catch that almost
lost trick of combining the comedy of
manners with a real romance and a
most exquisite grace and brilliancy of
surface, criticism would not so often
have to qualify its approval Of contem-
porary drama"
Critic Betrays Grass ignorance.
There was nothing to show that this
remarkable utterance was intended as
a joke Gests usually are carefully la
beled on this side Of the water), so
one can only suppose that this critic
actually does not know that the Tark-
ington- Sutherland play came from
America some two years ago, and thus
hardly can be described as an "old
comedy"
Alfred Capus, the Partisan dramatist,
whose new piece, "The Adversary"
will be played in the United States by
E. S. Willard, is a lucky man. Since
he burst on Paris, three years ago, with
1.-THE Two Schools" his success has
been continuous and increasing
For La Veine" was even more Of
hit than his maiden comedy. lie Beau
Jeune Homme" went ever better: LA
Chatelaine" sent it's authors stock up
above par, and 1.-THE Adversary" at
any rate, shows no falling off in Capus
ability. Partisan theatrical directors
declare that no modern French play
wright-Donnay, Sardou, Octave Mira
beau or Renri Lavedan-can command
such fees as this comparative new
conner, and they say he must at pres
ent enjoy royal income. Capus, how
ever, has earned his present success by
plenty of hard luck. He first tried his
hand at being a newspaper man, and
afterwards operated as an advertising
agent and starved as a private secre,
tary Perhaps, however, it was this
varied experience which brought him
the extraordinary knowledge of human
nature which his plays reveal. Capus
is of middle height, wears a pointed
beard and sports q monocle. He is an
energetic worker, rising generally at
In the morning, and spending most of
the following twelve hours at his desk.
II he goes on as he has begun, the
playwright is practically certain of a
seat in the French academy.
Takes Liberties With Chamberlain.
If the London stage censor did his
duty he would let up on his prohibit
tions of foreign pieces which both Eu-
rope and America haveapproved and
embark instead upon a campaign Of
roofing out things which offend good
taste in London theatrical perform
ances. Such things, for instance. as
are to be found in the new Gaietv
piece, "The Orchid" where a character
made UP to represent Mr.. Chamber
1ain-and called on the programme
Mr.. hesterton-comports himself in
fashion that is undignified, to say the
least. Needless to tell Americans. tItH
erstWhile colonial secretary is a mar
ried man, so that audiences have been
trlfe startled at his Gaiety counter
parts naive confession that he is in
the habit Of taking his pretty lady Sec
rotary out to tea. When however, the
young woman declares in song that
"She wears the newest Paris frocks-
the chief provides the dresses" the
squeamish-m minded foreigner feels-as
most folk here feel-that the doubtful
pleasantry is being carried just bit
<no far