The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-07
RUNAWAYSAT THEATRE.
1rprrrERENr COMEDY BUT IN
 SPLENDID SETTING.
Arthur Dunn, the Great Little Com edian was Unable to Make
 the Performance a Notable


 fsThe Runaways," with Arthur Duna and sS GOO worth of clothes features. Me- serted at the Montgomery IheatIe ys- terday realized all the promises the aa- vance man had made as to Dunn ana 1he dresses. s., Ddnn was, naturally. complacently ana unctuously funny. The dresses all the women in the audience declared were RSt one comedian, and such little one. and a fortune invested in clothes, does not make a great musical comeuy. Ine music must be catchy and the comedy aways' fell short of delighttng the audi. ence as did 'sThe Belle of New fork and "FIorodora." in the old days when musical comedy as we know 1t was young and before its material had oecOme hacS- ls if was. 'aThe Runaways" gave two large audiences a moderate amount ol enjoyment. There was no conunuoas @ .'o ing's entertainment, interrupted oy burst of enthusiastic applause. The audiences took their pleasure sedately ana conven- tionally. Rurkhard and Raymond Hubbeil. Tfe two principal ideas in The hunaWays are more familiar to the thea1re-going public than are the names or the author. The first act with it's race course. shows a great resemblance to the fwst act oL .Cneckers." And the second act, witn its scenes laid on the unique lsland oi Table q Hote. isn't 1t very like sne isiand of '.Florodora The authors are not 70 be criticized because their music IS siml- lar to that of other musical comeuies which have passed and gone peiore. Ihey have done no more than other makers or musical comedy. Music upon which the public has set its seal of approvai, ap- pears to belong in fee simple to any am- bilious musical comedy builder. The unpardonable offence of "The Run aways," if there is any. is the lack of brightness of it's lines. If the dialogue had been clever and entertaining, The .Runaways" would have left a far more pleasant memory. It has passed into ! proverb that a pun is the lowest order ot wit, and that being true, dialogue based upon and supported by that order of wit is to say the least faulty.
 The piece was magnihciently staged. 2 The two stage settings were costly, taste ful and beautiful. The first view of the Island of Table dHote reused the audi ence to spontaneous applause.
 The costumes were nothing short Of magnificent. The dresses were creations. dreams and all that sort of thing, Ger tafnly the veracious press agent did not exaggerate much when he featured the dresses of the six widows as costing 1000 apiece. The management of the lights, too. were fine, firefiy effect and some- thing new being especially beautiful.
 The characters included fakir. comic general, a naval officer, a bookmaker, a princess, a comic opera queen, two women
 
 Jockeys were probably run in because there was so much horse play CThls joke is bad It sounds just like some of the lines in The Runaways'O.
 But Arthur Dunn was not disappointing If he had been on the stage all the time nobody would have cared whether the dialogue was bright or the music catchy. He would have filled completely the cup of the audiences enjoyment.
 When Dunn comes on the stage to do business. he does not. as some comedians 4If ofv fhaA me: I'm going to do something funny Dunn draws fun and laughs out of any old act as sleight-of-hand performers used to draw rabbits. handkerchiefs and He. is excruciatingly funny in spite of himself, as though he realized his mis- fortune of comedy and was very much He was decidedly the feature of the per- formance. His parodies and his kissing song set the audience to demanding en- core after encore.
 Joseph Carey. as General Hardtack was guilty of some very clever funny busi- ness. His conception of the role was odd, but he found places for some very good The best of the feminine performers was unqnestionably Miss Helen Lord. Her two songs were the best that came from the women of the cast.
 Miss Mabel Carrier. a beautiful young woman, was praisewor'hy and meritO- efous as Dorothy.
 The chorus was fine to look upon The women who made 1t were one and all pretty and shapely. They were evidently selected for their attractiveness and not for their musical gifts.
 The dancing was altogether better than the singing. In fact. the company was made up of singularly graceful lot of people. One of the hits was made by 1No lively and active girls. the Misses DArville. who did sensational dance.
 The Theatre was full at both perform &fices.