The St. Louis Republic., 1903-02-23
THE TANNING OF HELEN"
is A SWEET LOVE STORY

! harding Davis. Is a pretty play a sweet
/ play. play of love interest abundant 1t
, is well done at the Olympic Theater by
! Henry Miller and a company of superlative-
. ly capable associates. including Miss Mill
ward, Miss ElIistoa. Mr.. Selten, Mr. Flood
and the radiant Miss Drina DeWolf. VINO
| must not be Confounded with Miss Elsie
| DeWof. The former is newer to the stage,
p, but she seems 10 possess qualities that Will
| keep her in prominence for some time II
come.
! There are many complications in Mr..
| Davis's play that il would take all Of this
| column to set LAem Iosu. but the story
! itself. in 80 far as it possesses active inter-
| est, fs extremely simple. A young American,
| one Philip Carroll. has concluded that he
| can write i play. He sets about it, goes
TO LONDON and for two years has u starving
| time of IL. Meantime, another American,
! Miss Cabot of Boston. has become a per-
! sonage in English society.
] She has, well. come into a large for
tune. Philip and Miss Cabot, who is Helen.
| have been in love with each other, but there
| has come a drifting apart that starts the
! suspended interest necessary to the story.
| There are grave reasons for supposing that
1 the girl from Boston aud certain Lord
, Woodcote are about to be married. The girl
I gave out TIE hint, fancying that it seemed
| TO be the thing TO do when she saw Signs
tlldl IOtiitu 10 marriage III
direction.
The telling of the story involves three
scenes, one in the rooms of the young play
| wright one at Lady Covers and one in the
greenrcom OF the tEeater-a scene that is
always interesting and seldom as well done
"a it is done by Mr.. Miller and his asso
ciates There is some stupid writing In the
second act, but the third is SO much better
and the interest so high that one is brought
to forget some OF the inanities that 80 be-
fore
Mr.. Miller has ample opportunity for the
display of his excellent methods as love
maker, and there is q chance, too. for some
farce that is lighter than anything ever
done here by this delightful young actor.
Don't fall into the mistake of thinking
that the tanning of Helen really happens
that's merely a name that has no apparent
relation TO the play. Helen is really very
denure person, who was tame at the begin
ming, but so sweet and SO well concslNeu
that one wonders as the play progresses
why Philip didn't push things along BIT
more briskly and marry her in the frst
act Miss Elliston plays the part so well
that one is not sure whether she or MI
Davis is deserving of credit for the pold-
ness with which it stands forth.
If this young woman does not run to rat
ness she will one of these nearby days
have the Julia Marlowe place, for she does
lONe scenes just 6S NtiA a' -'i"A
do them when she was playing the Par-
thenias and Beatrices.
Mr. Selton is badly cast as to paucity OF
his speaking lines. but even TINS cahho'
keep him out of the view, fine comedian
that he is. Miss Mllward is most excellent
as an actor-lady with big heart anu
large ambition. There are some ten OF
twelve others who do their work so Wen
that Mr.. Miller ought to be proud of them.
was YOU efer in-Cincinnati?' The
Prince of Pilsen-the bogus and the genu-
inc article-returned to the Century last
night and propounded his recurrent query
with the same genial smile ana iaushaoie
accent. 80,
The performance seemed TO go with added
zest and rhythm. Perhaps the audience
which filed the theater to the last tiers 'h
the balconies, was better primed lor INC
Jokes. At any rate. enthusiasm was tne
word from the moment the curtain went up.
Everybody who is anybody in the snow go-
his or her share or the applause aHo p'
of it.
The fact that the music smacked very
much of things have heard before uiu
not prevent the hearers from a secoiiu @ .l,,ls
inGorsing the Prince-both MS Nios itoni ,i
Heidelberg, and the brewer prince Vi ~.
cinnati-and the retinue OF Ainei
girls seashall girls, bathing girls gem
Dorothy Morton, erstwhile Mrs. Madison
Crocker. introdgced her stock OF Amer
ican girls with renewed success. FRANKIE
Friskie frisked: DolIie Dixie danced,
Priscilla Plymouth pumped about ana
lille Noyes of Illinois did not annoy. IL
seemed that Harold Crane. III MS capacity
as lieutenant OF our navy, but more espe-
cially as the lover OF Edith, from Nassar
College. sang "The Message OF the Violet
in such a manner as to make II the feature
of the first act.
Arthur Donaldson and Lillian Coleman,
aided by the chorus-which latter executed
without a hitch the original ballet fgures-
laid claim to the limelight in the last act
Pansy Penn (May PratD. in her final
pIrcuette and the extravagant curtsey
which eliminates her dance in the "Ameri-
can girls figure, had mishap. so Iuil
OF vim was her sudden senicolapse semi
bow. that, In a sitting posture, she struck
the stage floor with resounding bump
1t brought her more resounding plaudits
and a demand for an encore that would ad-
nit of no refusal. But she spared herself
another bump.
"Alphonse and Gaston." the cartoon ex-
trayaganza, opened at the Grand Opera
house. Joe Doner and Ben Grineu tmper-
senate the much abused FTenchmen. They
are on the stage most Of the time, and man
age to get goodly share of the laughs.
Their makeup iS quite as Soou III ilS way
as the grotesquely amusing Happy Hooiigan
face of Ross Snow. There are three acts,
the best of which is the last. in which all
of the complications are ingeniously ex-
plained away. The best music specialties
were Sunshine" Sunny Africa" and the
coon song, Honey, Who's Your FTiend?'
In the chorus are half score of uncommon
ly pretty girls and a few others not 50 at
tractive.
The bill at Havlin's was "A Kentucky
Feud," thriller Of life in the mountains.
Jeff Wade, an enterprising young planter,
leads one faction and Ashley Cole. a Moon
sinner the other. Their followers wage an
exciting fight for supremacy. Maurice Cos
tello appears as Wade and Francis Carrie
ton as Cole. Wade eventually triumphs and
also weds the fair wild flower of the noun
tains, Bess Buckner. Agnes Carlton, who
comes up to ones ideas of the part. is seen
in this role. The scenery shown is from
photographs taken in Kentucky last sum-
mer by James Carey. one of the authors of
the piece. The disullery scene IS declared
POEMS WORT