The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-04
NEW PLAYS IN NEW YORK
CLYDE FITCII's PRE-EMINENCE AS
PLAYWRIGHT AND DIRECTOR.
Writes Plays and Controls Their Pro-
Observation-Disclosures at the Amer
fcan-Weber * FieIds's show.

OF play, but extends 20 the selection or
the actors and the direction of the re-
hearsaIs. is exceptionally fortunately. of
course. he has the skill with which to carry
out all the ideas ne has put into the manu-
script. Clyde Fitch is the only American
who thus controls the production of his
theatrical fiction. He is now able to stip-
ulate in his contracts that he shall be alb
solute and supreme with his plays from
the writing of the first line TO the acting
OF the last one. The consequence of that
insistence is seen here this week in Her
Own Way" Every role has been assigned
10 an exactly suitable person. No such
perfection in cast was possible under the
old system of stock companies Mr.. Fitch
must spend considerable time in watching
stage performances to discover such talent
as he needs for his forthcoming pieces.
His newest comedy at the Garrick is pre-
scented with an evenness of merit which
have never seen surpassed. With one
exception. there is not a versatile artist in
the company. Each other member has
personality and method which are never
varied appreciably, but the personalities and
the methods are precisely right for the
characters which the author has created.
And IL is clear that Mr.. Fitch dominates
every word and motion in the representa-
ton. Time was when his attendance at a
rehearsal of particular account.
and his interference with the stage
ager was not encouraged. He is a lah-de-
dab chap, with no mannerisms suggestive
OF further force than TO wear a beau's
clothes IN a fashionable drawing room
Last Monday night, when he was called
out, his evening dress included a very
short white waistcoat with the front in
two points and pair Of trousers so full
at the hips and knees that they seemed to
be shirred at the waist. Those are the ex-
tremest winter ideas OF our Fifth-avenue
tailors, and yet rarely seen in ac-
tual wear. / have been told that the first
company which he undertook to rehearse
was inclined to take him loosely, but he
'soon had it under his thumb Even the
star actors and actresses in his plays, hav-
ing been measured by him for roles, usu-
ally submit having them tried and fitted.
Maxine Elliott, the central actress in
"Her Own Way" should be glad that she
submitted herself to Mr.. Fitch. He has
put her into a character which employs all
Of her talent without straining it and ex-
'ploits her beauty with adroit effectuality.
At time she has a headache, and a
maid lets down her abundant black hair to
brush IL.
There amt a woman whose hair does
up" the admiring girl says. ''but would
shave splittin' headache day and night to
look as you do"
Many careful critics Of human beauty
believe that Miss Elliott is the best ex-
ample of it among the actresses now on
our stage. 1 think so. too. Her bright
brunette skin enables her to do without
unrivaled by any star actress save Mrs
Langtry; and her features are far more
close to Venus lines than are those of the
Jersey Lily.
There is no doubt that Her Own Way"
is the best comedy that Mr. Fitch has writ
ten: yet its plot is unoriginaI. and the good
results are due largely to the admirable
performance. Miss Elliott is loved with
equal ardor by a young millionaire miner
from the West, who with villainy Of pas
sion contrives TO impoverish her so that
she may marry him for his wealth. and by
contrastingly conscientious New York
lawyer, who goes away to fight in the
Philippines without avowing himself.
though she tries to make him understand
that he. not the other fellow is the man
OF her heart. or course her hero is re-
ported dead. and she goes into mourning
for him; but he returns alive with both
arms in sling instead of the usual one
So he can only lean up against her and let
her do the hugging.
The American Theater is at an Eighth
avenue corner, only six hundred feet from
Broadway. yet ten years ago 1t seemed far
away from the frst-class dramatic houses,
and, although a fine and costly structure
an effort TO it for plays of the top
grade bankrupted T. Henry French, its
builder There are now three two-dolIar
theaters on the block between 1t and Broad
way and eight more OF the same kind with
IN three blocks further off. These facts
show how fast and great is the growth of
the theatrical business. The American is
this week occupied by new play, shrewdly
calculated TO bring IL, commercially and
artisticany, as close to Broadway as a dol
lar and a half is to two dollars This is
done with a dramatization OF Henry NJ
Blossoms Checkers narrative. The first
piece in this house was horse-race one of
the fixed London pattern. The latest is a
different American treatment of the same
common subject. the happiness of pair of
lovers depending a certain horse win
nirg race. In many a meodrama and
musician farce during the intervening decade
the hero or the heroine has taken the place
OF a disabled or dishonest jockey in the
saddle and ridden to unexpected victory.
But in Checkers the lover has no con-
nection with the fateful horse further than
70 bet on him desperately. You who have
read Mr. Blossoms book know that the
chap nicknamed Checkers parts from his
sweetheart, carrying a token from her
one OF those octagonal fifty-dollar gold
pieces that were coined in California in the
pioneer days, and promise from her skin
flint father that he may marry her if he
comes back with five thousand dollars. He
makes no Roadway in his fortune-seeking
until, getting tip Chicago horse race
ne despairingly bets the keepsake coin at
odds of hundred to one. II he wins. as
you see he viii suddenly acquire the five
thousand required for felicitous wedlock
but If he loses-well, of course he doesn't.
The shreNdness of placing Checkers at
the American lies in its midway character
between the sensationalism of the Eighth
avenue stage and the dramatic art and lit
erature OF Broadway. Its hero is the good
hearted gamester whom the rabble dotes on
-one OF those saucy devils who arc rough
and ready in audacious repartee yet tender