The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-17

ingenious scheme Of nonsense. But the
writing Is in dialogues like the sidewalk
conversations of vaudeville and no skill OF
a playwright is evinced in the arrangement
OF material
One OF the showmens wiles Of publicity
IS 10 get a falsehood into the newspapers
so that it may be denied That makes one
advertising shot hit the public twice. Il
was given out that in The Superstitions
cf Sue" there would be a caricature OF
Clyde Fitch. the playwright. and a bur
lesque Of HIS aesthetic mode Of luxurious
living. That was denied positively after il
had gone the rounds OF publication Wal
ter Perkins. the comedian of the cast. is a
physical contrast TO Fitch and couldn't
suggest his individuality II he were TO try
SO hard. The character in the farce
Is artist, and his studio contains things
pertaining TO his profession. but there is
no suggestion Of Fiteh's sumptuous house
with it original architecture and decoTa-
tons end its profustion Of art objects col
lected at great pains and cost Fitch IS
an aesthetic paramount ia a small and Sc
lecte6 circle of kindred souls. Although
ne doesn't pose in public places and is too
industrious to mix much In the several
grades Of society. which his plays have pic
tured. his reputation as a sybarite is con-
siderable here in New York. his own ruth
, less staging of others idiosyncrasies has
made him fair game for fun hunters and l
suppose that the Armstrong farce might
have lived Ionger-in this city, at Ieast-if
IL had held him up 70 ridicule expertly.
Dowie. the Zionite, is the only person
burlesqued in this piece and he isn't NAL
treated personally. His representative is
very ugly woman who. like him. asserts
that never since helpless childhood have
her lips been kissed. She is girdled with a
sash of Zion and she enters Jim's studio
as a miss IL her
dares trust herself with young man like
that. She replies that she would stab him
TO death on the spot with a dagger she car
RES IL he were to so much as try to kiss
her. This happens at a time when Jim de-
sires 20 die. Here a way to suicide not OF
his own actual doing seems to offer itself
fortuitously. He seizes her in his arms,
presses his mouth to hers with big, long
smack and then awaits death by her re-
sentful blade. But she doesn draw the
weapon. She doesn't revolt from the kiss.
She wants another and strives TO get II.
He endeavors 10 loosen her but she hangs
on The struggle goes all around the room,
knocking over chairs and breaking vases.
No assault on the heroine of a melodrama
by Iustful villain ever more desper-
ate and the reversal of the sexes renders
1t laughabe with its woman Dowieite as
the ardent aggressor and the young mar
rounder as the victim.
An impersonation of Edna Wallace Hop
per by herself is all that justifes THE
March of Time" as a topic here, as the
comedietta was described in this CORE
spoadence when recently introduced at the
annual matinee of the actors fund and is
now no more than a half-hour in vaude-
vile. Probably you first saw Mrs. Hopper
when she was De Wolf Hopper's soubrette
in Wang and incidentally his wife The
adverb is not disrespectful Hopper was
an habitual marryer and Mrs. Hopper got
hof lrpcy
trast of nearly two feet in their heights
made them look like an i'll matched pair
though he was handsome and she pretty
You may have seen her next the young
widow in "F1orodora." She didn't origi-
nate the sextet of show girls, but she did
perpetrate them. The extravaganza did
not get into immediate favor here and its
discouraged importers were at the point of
retiring il. But Mrs. Hopper believed that
the six sportive beauties We're cards that
would win IL kept in the game. She
bought share In the venture with money.
said to have been 5000, which served to
maintain the sextet till they sang. strolled
and nirted their way into notoriety They
made the play and the play made them.
judge that Mrs Hopper is business lit
tie woman
The new role played by Mrs. Hooper is
that of actress pursued by men, They
give anything she will take from bouquet
to an automobile. from midnight supper
10 cruise on a yacht; but they get, accord
Ing 10 her positive assertion, nothing ex-
cept her smiling presence in return If
you were New Yorker and kept your
eyes ana ears wide open theaterward, you
WOULD understand why | say that Mrs.
sage. She eats and drinks at Delmonico's
Sherrys. Martins and the Waldorf Astoria
enc sits In boxes at the opera when not
acting. Her equipage is one of the sights
= Central Park at the fashionable driving
.aour; with its small horses. small carriage,
small coaenman and small footman in con-
sonance with her small self At all times
and places she is dressed in the latest and
costliest modes. And il is TO women par
tlcularly that she is an object of interest
They think she is so cute and cunnin'
In the present comedetta she sings and
dances congenially and chatters gayly of
pet, out whom she permits 10 get no closer
tnan reaching distance of their gifts IL is
as, cLev rro ana dlverting performance. quite
ASIDE from any extrinsic considerations
Both ends of this letter shall be sedate.
no matter how frivolous the middle Of II is
as II Is going TO have an account Of Yeats.s
Inc Hour Glass for a taipieee That is
rehgious play. and we had n single per
torrance at n matinee 1t contains n wise
man, profound scholar, who coavinoes his
whole village that Christianity IS deIu-
sion, and a fool VINO has no learning but
Is stanch in faith that Christ is Saxior
An angel comes to tell the wise man thar
ne Will die at the end of an hour and that
ne WEI go 10 hell unless. before the sand of
an nourglasS runs out, he finds true be-
lever within the community The fool
happens 10 come along barely in time TO
save the wise mans imperled and terror
ize1 soul The writing is simple STRAIGHT
ana sincere plea for the power of Chris
tianity over both mind and matter II has
some dramatic force, too, and two rare old
survivors of the Boothian era John Nslopa
and William Owen. spoke its dialogue with
al the dignity of clergymen in a pulpit
FRANKLIN FYiES