New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-19
LONDON NOTES.
4 Clothes Making PLay-Another
Tree IN Full BIOom-lArt Sales

London. June S.
Clothes are excluded from fiction Of the day.
rhe heroine is allowed TO talk from the first IN
he last chapter. but the author is condemned
With fire irony as Old fashioned if the dressing
Of MS coll be limited az. even the wedding
day. THIS was not Margaret Ogilvy's !dea OF
making the woman Of fiction interesting. when
I come upon & woman in a book" Mr. Barrie
reports her saying. the first thing I want
70 know abQnt her IS whether she was good
looking, and the second, how she was put or"
The publishers who attempt TO reform the lit
erary style Of amateur Eovelsts usually begin
BIZ writing Speed" az the top OF every other
mage OF manuscript and invariably end with the
soleran injunction: NO costumes; no millinery:
let II be assumed that all the people in the story
are clothed properly and in their right mind"
they do not think the reader cares 10 know. in
Mr. Barrie's phrase. how she was put on"
The theatre manager takes the opposite view
snd allows the actresses as many changes of
costume as possible during the play. He knows
that the clothes VIII be described in detail by a
sneciaI reporter after the critic has written
SYNOPSIS of the piece and settled the question
whether Il IS or is not convincing: and he has
experience his side when he asserts that the
costumes often draw women into the stalls.
erer when the drama has neither novelty nor
merit Some Of the actresses have the reputa-
ton Of being the best dressed women in Lon
don and Of setting the styles when they appear
in society plays. II does not matter whether
Miss Mary Moore be provided with a poor or
an effective part on Sir Charles WyndhaIn's
stage. She VIII wear a series OF new gowns.
and smart society enjoys seeing how she is
put on.
What is known as the costume play" with
mt plot or incident but with no end OF clothes,
in TypnGCy Managers lose
whenever they stage play OF this sort. Tor four
acts Of solid clothes are not regarded
sdequate substitute for bright dialogue and stir
ring action. Mrs. Alfred LytteltOn has written,
not costume play, but a clothes making traS;
and while Warp and Woof' cannot be consd-
cred drama since il is q series Of loosely drawn
scenes without form or stagecract il is IN
.eresting and novel experiment II brings those
WIN wear the clothes into touch with those who
make them. It combines the low comedy OF
smart society with the tragedy Of the workroom
and the attic. Il is e better honily than play;
ana unless x continues TO receive the patronage
Of the Guchesses and countesses. who went out
10 the Camden Theatre in their motor cars and
electric broughams to see the first performance,
Il VIII share the fate OF dull sermons. There is
little OF everything IN il. for the jargon of high
society is satirized there is comedy byplay
among the patrons and workers Of a fashionable
aressmaker's shop; there is charac ter study for
Mrs Patrick Campbell; there is low toned
picture OF the manners OF the day, and there is
the pathos OF poverty as a sharp contrast for
the frivolity and aimlessness OF wealth With
al these elements, il lacks Cramatlc movement
and consistency, and is soberly didactic in its
teaching. Mrs. LyttletOn evidently has the seri-
Gus purpose OF reminding the ladies OF BeIgra-
via and 81. James's that Ihey ought TO think OF
the poor girls who live in garrets and are forced
70 work fifteen or sixteen hours IN making
clothes for them Whether the moral is sent over
the footIights IS another thing. Probably those
Who see the play viii settle back in their stalls
with the comfortable feeling that thousands OF
working girls are employed IN making dresses
for rich women and that they would starve If all
the gowns were ordered in Paris. Possibly
there viii be searching OF hearts over the ssrt
time allowed for making bali dresses for special
occasions; but when there IS a factories law on
the statute books women Of fashion are not
likely TO concern themselves with the question
OF overtime" Their responsibility ends Wen
the dressmakers' bills are paid, and they lose
sight OF il in the warp and woof' OF wealth
ana poverty.
Mrs. Lyttelton raises the curtain upon the
showroOus OF Madame Stefanie. who uses the
plain English OF stepney when she Is scolding
and bullying the filters and sewing women, and
an affected French accent when she receives
her smart patrons Lady Jennie Bsrkstone
gives an order at the last moment for q costly
costume for the most brilliant fancy dress ball
OF the season, and the resources OF the entire
working force are drawn upon TO finish it in
time. Her hippaHt talk irritates Captain Har-
wood and strengthens Miss Ponsonby's hold
upon his affections, but she is supported by
society Journalist, Percy Wilson. who knows
al about chinons and models and understands
what the smartest people mean when they
talk about brick DUST and dentists He is
also OF familiar terms with the handsomest
working girls and coarsely volunteers TO set up
one OF them, Theodosia Hemning in shop Of
her own. The girl who receives this cOmpro-
nlsing offer is overworked and anxious. for
pale invalid sister is dependent upon her earn
4ags When the curtain rises for the second
act the sewing women are toiling long
after hours on the dresses for the ball, and
when an Official inspector surprises them Theo-
COSTA tells the truth about the overpressure and
Is discharged by the angry Madame stefanie.
VINO is bent upon having the clothes finished on
Tine. whatever safeguards Parliament may
nave set up for the protection Of toilers with
Inc needle. In the closing act Theodosia de-
MYERS Lady Jennie Barkstone's costume barely
N tine for the ball, and when she has rebuked
society for its heartlessness finds herself out
oI work and without a home for her sister
Phoebe. The man milliner. Percy Wilson, re-
news his degrading offers and gives her flO, but
she is saved from disgrace by the death Of her
sister. Mrs. Campbell is a pathetic figure as the
working girl struggling TO keep her sister alive
and herself unspotted by temptation. and she
mas several stirring moments, especially when
she breaks out in revolt against her employer
and lashes with scornful tongue the great