Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31

A new experience was offered in Washing
ton amusements when David Belasco set
theater into the spacious eXpanse known
as Convention Hall, and, what is more re-
markable, filed the auditorium night after
night with admirng crowds. 1t is hard to
believe that the difident man who comes
out in response to curtain CALL Juggling at
his forelock and hating between reluctant,
though well-chosen, phrases, is the man
who, in the face Of every discoura cement,
demonstrated that Mrs. Leslie Carter was
not only an actress but great one; who
established himself in a theater in New
York in defiance of competition which had
crushed or absorbed all other rivalry, and
who has finally succeeded in making Con-
vention Hall answer the purposes of mod
ern play house. The merits of Mr.. Belas-
cos quarrels and the justice or injustice of
his professional enmities will hardly con-
Germ the public very deeply. Theatrical
managers are, ought to be, plain, SEN
sible folk, with no time for drawing room
poses or perfumed compliments. They
should be neither heroes in success nor
martyrs in defeat. In fact, the save US
from the trust" plea has been offered with
such business-like pathos by several pro-
ducers that its effect is duled. Mr.. James
X. Hackett was at one time wont to make
almost lachrymosely grateful speeches be-
fore the curtain of the Lafayette Theater,
hailing its managing proprietor-E. D. Stair
of Detroit, Mich.-as the actors friend and
the one beacon light in the dramatic dark
ness which had fallen over the land. When
Stair made a DEAL however which pre-
vented attractions not in harmony with the
Klaw Erlanger, Nixon & Zimmerman,
etcetera, interests from playing at the La
fayette, Mr. Hackett went dociely where
he was hidden, his eloquence stiled but his
plumage unruffed. Mr.. Hackett's proce-
dure was doubtless the prudent one,-but it
is not calculated to enlist sympathy with
other demonstra tons of the same kind
MI: Belasco's footing is a different and
common-Sense one. His previous pro-
auctions are such as to claim almost I'M
limited public confidence in what he puts
forth. He leaves nothing undone that is
In his power to secure a good play and a
fine presentation of it, and the public
crowds the auditorium, not because it loves
Belasco or hates anybody else, but be-
cause 1t knows his plays of old and likes
them.
"Adrea" has played to exceedingly large
business, and Mrs. Carter has received an
ovation at each performance. 1t Is gloomy;
but cheerful tragery is not among the
present possibilities of the drama.
X X X
For years and years Mr.. William Crane
has brought sunshine along with him by
impersonating middle-aged gentlemen with
kind hearts and ill-fitting trousers He
was like the good uncle that the young peo-
Pile learn to look forward to as the next
best visitor to Santa Claus. But 1t looks
as IL Uncle William had decided on a little
practical joke, and were having a good
chuckle at the discontinue of his friends.
In Business is Business he gives them a
shock that is as severe as it is unexpected.
He has transformed himself into an entire
ly horrid person and is producing conster-
nation among those who do not read the
papers and who go to see Crane this year
expecting to be amused. Of course 1t is
only his little pleasantly. Cheer up young
people After he has said boo" at you
and enjoyed seeing you jump, he will
doubtless reappear as the smiling and win
some Uncle William of old, and make you
Join in the laugh he has been having at
your expense.
Augustus Thomas latest play, 1.-THE
Other Girl is far away from the dramatic
work which him substantial reputa-
ton. Its humor depends chiefly on the
sporting slang which is picturesquely and
naturally introduced by Lionel Barrymore
as a prize fighter. Mr.. Thomas, In follow
ing the present furore for dramatized slang,
fails to conceal the fact that he is at heart
a playwright and his farce fairly bristles
with problems which would make an
other Sowing the Wind if Mr.. Thomas
had not been under contract to be funny
Fortunately the laughs are so constant that
few people stop long enough to observe the
incongruity.