Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-16

trusts in the face of damnlng evidence must
seek the umbrage OF the towering verdure
along with Shakespeare. If true, this is too
bad. Melodrama has hitherto been such an
easy way to make money! All the enterpris-
ing producer need do is to read the morning
paper. pick out a murder or train robbery
and telephone instructions to the stage car
penter to get the scenic effects ready.
When these have been composed and re-
vlsed one of the regular staff of melodrama
writers-TheodOre Kremer. Hal Ried or
Charles II. Taylor-is summoned TO the
managing editors desk and told to produce
copy. If he is a first-class melodramatist,
with good nose for news, he has the
scenario all ready. and need only readjust
the plot to suit the scenery, and supply
enough dialogue here and there to give the
stage hands time to prepare the explosion
or the railway smash-up. There must be
something in this rumor which finds circu
Iation in journals assuming TO be correct
in stage matters There is no other way
to account for the fact that Theodore
kremer has been silent concerning the
Chadwick case, the assassination in Rus
STA, the japanese war. the Nan Patterson
scandal and numerous other subjects quite
as suggestive of dramatic possibilities as
the careers Of the Biddle brothers or the
James boys. Theodore must have been
called off He is too alert to have over
looked these items. He is one of the dram
artists who sit around Park Row at 3 I'm.
waiting for the dailies to come out and fur
nish ideas for plays. And he is always
ahead in the mad race to the typewriter to
turn a news paragraph into plot. There
is no room for suspicion that Colonel
Kremer has allowed himself to become the
victim of what we newspaper persons call
public knows of him is the name on the pro-
gram. In earlier English days the play
wright was classified as a poet and required
to show his license. He must appear be-
fore his audience and if his play failed to
please he was peted with oranges. If the
piece vas very bad they tossed the author
in a blanket But the melodrama it is
exploded now knows no criticism. 1t points
to the box office its vndication, and en-
ploys a man to sit in the gallery with
club and rap the gods to order when their
ecstasies OF applause become so prolonged
as to threaten too extended performance
and consequent increase of bills for light
ing. Yet there is a stir in this languor
The Sybilline books otherwise known
managers ledgers )have been opened, and
the high priests of the show business are
not agreed as to a favorable outlook.
The question arises. what has caused this
change in theatric fashion? Who causes
all the changes in fashion? The an
swer is easy. As they say in Chicago
French, "Shershy lah fam The stage
beauty faunts her charms, and the hero
ard the villain cease their feud of CEN
turtles and fall down to worship. We have
beheld two examples of stage beauty re-
Gently. Lillian Russell and Edna May. They
are distinct, yet typical. Miss Russell
stepped imperially into leadership from the
outset, and has reigned undsputed for
more than several years. Edna May has
been a rather more gradual evolution. Like
many other historic celebrities, she is largely
an accident. One day while in the chorus
reEearsing The Belle of New York her
foot slipped and she stumbled into a prin-
cipal part. She suited it so sweetly and
prettily that she became an institution.
1t was the beginning of the chorus lady's
vogue, which matured when the 'Florodora'
sextet nodded coquettishly at the kind
s.rs who thronged the front rows. Since
then her triumphal march has been ire
slstible. she dominates the stage from GEN.
ter to circumference; she is both star and
satellite. and the comedian who once strut
ted as proudly as the monarch he was wont
to mimic is relesaJed to the position of an
accessory. Edna May has three of them,
all good ones. too dancing only London
trained comedians can dance. and Iaborlng
hard to maintain the interest. But when
the satin slipper of the star presses the
stage they fade. For no one can hold the
audiences attention if the calcium light
man and the stage manager viii otherwise.
Edna May is a conspicuous and in some
sense a representative figure Of the stage
today. She deserves discussion. l Won
der whethe- her bounteous charms of per
soa and manner being duly admitted and
gIorlfsd she Is sensitive as to her attain
ments as a real actress. An eminent fac
tor in stage affairs has said that rude and
iu-considcred criticism has sometimes
plunged some painstaking little woman into
tears. only "a brute would tempt single
lachrymose atom to scar its way down
Miss Mays radiant complexion. Rather
than this let the lnk-weu stay empty until
Hymettus has been secured for honey to
I'LL it and the pen rest supineIy until 1t can
be garianded with rose buds from Adria-
nople's choicest marts. But Miss May does
not have TO act The hope Of the show girl
who is now on the threshold Of supremacy
would be shattered if such necessity existed.
She does not even have TO speak She
perches airily on the tOpmost branch of
popularity and cOoes. She purls her dia-
losUe and drifts from one key to another
in dangerous glissando that soothe the
ear and lUIl the Intelligence. Then with a
sweeping glance she transiixes the audi
ence and seems to telepath the query Am
l not the veritable merchandise And
the audience in psychologist unison returns
its answer You are it, for sure" Edna
is not an actress. She is a hypnotist.
The professional beauty of today is on a
less secure but withal a more dignihed
footing than her historic predecessors. She
needs no royal favor to insure her Iuxuri-
Gus subsistence She makes her appeal di-
rect TO the people. She need not establish
"Sallongs nor undertake to NEEDLE in
politics like Madame Recamier. Her position
in the theater needs no regal favor like that
which made Nell Gwynne. That is not in
In Ea