New-York tribune., 1903-02-10
THE DRAMA.
Ntss 4meha Bingham.
PRINCESS.

There was really a full house at the Princess
Theatre last night caused by the re-entrance in
this city of Miss Amelia Bingham and her COM
pany. who celebrated their return by producing
play by Clyde Fitch. called THE Frisky Mrs
Johnson" 1t is, however, only partly an original
play. the programme announces. being adapted
from the French of Gavaut and Berr. It may
safely be presumed that to many of the characters
local habtation has been given and slang more
familiar to Mr.. Fitch than to the original authors
though the is kept in Paris and the plot re-
tans its main features. In dialogue and detail MT
Fitch is everywhere in evid"rce, which may SIM
ply be chroncled fact, and conclusions left TO
the reader. The simple sign soda Will ara"
many people into drug store.
The plot of The Frisky Mrs. Johnson Is not
complex, and long before the unravelilng comes
your nimble theatregCer is waiting at the end OIL
the story, one waits for sufferer to finish his
sentence. Mrs Frank Morley Miss Minnie Du-
pree) an American wife in Paris. because her
husband pays more attention to business than 10
her. firts with Lord BERTHE Heathcote (ferdlnalo
Gottschalk), to her widowed sisters disgust IhiS
widowed sister, played by Miss Bingham is called
"The Frisky Mrs. Johnson" and seems to be wen
named However when an unaddressed love letter
from Lord BERTHE to Mrs. Morley. whlch Is
intercepted and read by Mr.. Morley, the risky
sister steps in and claims it as her own Ihe
president of a sorority could ask no more
Of course if the letter had been addressed the
second and third acts could not have taken place,
which is a terrible thought.
In the second act Mrs. Johnson, rather than
betray her sister, refuses to marry jim Morley
CWi1ton Lackaye), a brother of her sisters nus
band whom she truly loves, allowing him to
think matters worse than they are. In the third
act confession by the real cuprit mends matters
to the satisfaction of all concerned. even, 1t may
be surmised, to Lord Berties.
Miss Bingham herself, especially in the first act.
when she was gay and slangy If not quite frisky-
an adjective hard to associate with her physical
personality-was effective and capitally suggested
the good fellow Mrs Johnson really And she
treated Jim Morley with manner she used
toward no one else, which showed her woman of
perspicacity remarkable among the household of
fools cads and nonentties in which she found her
self For Jim Morley as Mr.. Lackaye portrayed
him. was a man TO admire, as one admireS roast
beef or a windy day after a diet of opera carames
or a long performance of French farce Gott-
schaIk's part was that of ass and utterly pre-
posterous in the plot 1t could not even be made
amusing by Mr. Gottschalk What there is of
worthy drama is furnished by, Miss Bingham and
Mr. Lackaye. Fortunately, that Is considerable
during the three acts.
In this play Mr.. Fitch has again given to US a
young man of abomnable fbre-in this case an
oxford student Of nineteen. who tries to conduct
q Irritation with a married woman old enough to be
his mother and quite ready to meet him half way
The scene is pictured out the stage to the last
detail CMr Fitch is supposed to be "a master or
the minute is he not?) and is very nearly revolt
ing The average college sophomore would not at
tempt to picture such a scene in such a fasnlon.
even In a theme meant only for the eyes OF his
English instructor. And your English instructor
likes his little jest. too.