The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-10
The Theaters of New York
Satire, Little Mary" a Feet
Several Other New Plays

IT New flayS
think Of the match as unsuitable. or that
she Will never be congenially at home in an
\ earl's mansion as she was in her grandp1s
back room, mothering those children.
=
Mary Mannering appears as a bride in
"Harriet's Honeymoon" farce newly
transferred from the German by Leo Diet
richstein. He has made five of the charac-
tiers American but has left the scenes in
Germany. There is an element of ailment
and cure in this play, too. as the place is az
about drinking mineral spring water-suck-
ing ii through glass tubes from mugs
strapped to their persons-in the hope or
washing away some Of their fat Arthur
Byron is there as a broker from Wall street
on his wedding tour and he has not left his
business cares behind. His new wife thinks
he should have nothing but her on his mind
and she loses her temper because he can't,
or won't. Thus Miss Mannering has 10 put
both ACID and sugar into her impersonation.
to be alternately loving and hateful
These capricious moods are aggravated by
the dilemma of the couple when the man
mislays his letter Of credit and Is dtstrusted
by his landlord. The broker seems to for
get that rernittances can be made by cable.
Instead of telegraphing for money he pre-
tends that his wife is a professional vocalist
and hires her out to sing at a concert.
maze of perplexities ensue all farcical and
most of them funny. but none of a grade TO
let Miss Mannering be proud Of herself
But they are clean and harmless and they
permit her 10 be vivacious One Of her
achievements is to sing silently That hap
| pens at the concert. The star actress works
| her own mouth while a concealed woman
does the singing. The best dramatic voices.
are often unadjustable to tunes. Matilda
| Heron, in her great performance I'm East
| Lynne" used TO MARBLE Then You'll Re
| member Me" patheticaly by proxy.
| A salient oddly in my Lady Molly" is
vesta Tiney with skirts on. She is a famous
1
men, as you know. and she has never before
been seen on the New York stage out OF
| trousers Really" she Is quoted to me as
| exclaiming, after coming from a scene, II
| feel quite immodest in petticoats." But It
| is only for about twenty minutes, ten at the
| new musical comedy, that she wears such
| raiment as was fashionable for an English
belle a hundred and fifty years ago. All
| the rest of the time she Is clad in one or
| another Of the fine examples OF loose coats
| and tight breeches Of an eighteenth-century
| beau Miss Tflley is the plays Lady Mol
| ~, who thinks she has lost her sweetheart
| TO another girl. She DISCUSSES herself I'm
| masculinity SO that she may watch her
| chances closely and take advantage OF them
| quickly. What she does while most OF the
| folks around her think she Is a man has
| been done many times in comedies. but viii
| never cease to be a diverting possibility in
| fiction, though never practiced successfully
| in real life by any girly kind OF girl.
| Molly fights sword duel with her lover
| q
| show Of courage. She wooes her rival and
| makes futile efforts TO hug and kiss her
| with seeming enjoyment. OF course, Miss
| Tilley is easily graceful in the clothes or
| the gTaceless sex, for she has worn them in
| great variety these many years in her music
| hall speciality. She demonstrates. too, that
| she is competent 10 act well enough in
| millinery and drapery Yet Il is when she
| sings boy ballads, one that belongs TO the
role Of Lady Molly and others from her
| own repertory, that she earns the 500
which she is said to, and doubtless does.
| receive for each weeks work.
An old acquaintance Is newly placed in
my Lady Molly" George H. Jessop
created the saucy jester. melodious singer
and audacious lover as whom the late VIII
liam ]. Seaman was the prOgenitor OF
| Chauncey Olcott and Andrew Mack. Jessop
| is an American who collaborated as a play
| wright with Brander Mathews the Column
| bia University professor or English ntera-
| ture, and Matthews man OF wealth as
well as literary distinction, found the best
| Of wives in Ada Harland, the only brunette
| in Lydia Thompson's original company or
| British blondes, as we used 10 call those
| famous burlesquerS
Jessop has lived in London Of late years
| He is the author OF My Lady Molly with
/ Sydney Jones for a tune-maker, and he has
| transferred his pet irishman from drama TO
extravaganza without the change % "A sin
| gle characteristic His name Is now Mickey
! O'Dowd and he plots rOugishly against a
| British army officer for that gentleman'S
| ultimate matrimonial good. But he has a
| girl of his own-not an Irish colleen this
| time but a smart English maiden-to sing
| TO and kiss with lips that have touched the
| blarney stone. He Is the takingest indi-
| viduaI in the piece. and Richard Carroll
| PLAYS him so imitatively In the voice and
| manner OF Andrew Mack-sO effectually,
| too-that one questions why Mack did not.
| as in the first trial cast, devote himself TO
| the character. Probably the sufficient an
| swer is that after all, not Mickey O'DOwd,
| but Lady Molly Is the leader
Two women are antagonistic In Sydney
| Grundy's Gypsy" and that OF itself is not
an oddly Again. as usual they are one
who Is orderly in her love and one who is
| not. But Grundy does what no writer OF
| less vogue could do and still find man
| ager To produce the play in which IL was
| done He exploits these heroines. contrast
| ingly sinless and sinful, as equally deserv-
| ing OF sympathy I'm their trouble over the
| man with whom both mate. II is true that.
| i'm the single afternoon trial performance,
| the innately sweet and gentle Fay Davis
| impersonated the mans paramour. while
| a sour and harsh actress was assigned TO
the role OF the circumspect wife. which was
! an unfair handicap for virtue In the race
with vice TO win an audiences favor.
In the complication devised by Grundy,
| n London lawyer takes "A girl from "A the
| atrical chorus. and would marry her, as
she is worthy OF his love. but such an act
of honor Is not consonant with his social
station. For ten years she IL wife 10 him
In all loyalty. At the end OF that decade
OF disgraceful happiness she finds out thai