The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-26
Che Cbealre$
Mis. Ellsler in ..Ha.el REirke.' z

Miss ElIsler h "Elasel Mirke."
 "Haxel Kirke" at the Montgomery Theatre yesterday afternoon and night came out of the past like n pleasant memory. It was good to see It.
 Effie Elisler was the pathetic hero- inc and she was just as charming as she was fifteen years ago. Tn the early all, years are only relatively important to art and to artists. Miss Elisier ls as finished and as thorough In the expression of her art as she was when Hazel Kirke' was the great popular play of the day, Somehow n the pres. the players of both periods gets the idea that players of decade or two decades ago were more sincere. more thorough in their work than our re- cent crop of stars. It may be only an idea, but that's the way 1t looks.
 Players like Miss Ellsler are those that have given this impression. They are the players that give us the most or finish and sincerity Miss Ellsler has had many years on the stage and has been long. All she has done she has done well. And of the good things she has been responsible for the play in which she first made her national reputation, and with which her name has been indissolubly connected, Is the best of her long line of achieve ments. ss.
 It is a great play after all, one of the best melodramas ever staged. If the public taste has wandered away from such plays all the less credit to the public taste 1t has been the mode of countless limitations. fact which, in itself shows well for it. Dun stan Kirke. the stern father, the un- lovers, as subsidiary characters, have turned up again and again wearing other names. It Is a finely construct ed play, this old melodrama, so finely for art. The man or woman the story doesn't reach haven't their hearts in the right place.
 Jules Murray, who is responsible for the revival and for the present tour of Miss Elisler. has done we'll by the old favorite. It is admirably staged. And he has put an able. an effective company about Miss E1lsler. There- fore, with what has gone before. the play is as fine a melodrama as one can see, and the years have left no mark on Miss Ellsfer's work.
 That star character of melodrama. Dunstan Kfrke. was left to Frank Weston. who has been of the support for many years. His. name has here tofcre been idfentffe1 with the char acter of Pittacus Green, but as good as he did Pittacus 9reene in the old days MT. Weston is doing Dunstan Kirke better. The close of the first act when Dunstan Kirke was driving of thrills through the audience.
 The Pittacus Greene of Herbert For tier was altogether good. There's a fine character actor. No other player, has been put on has done so we'll with Pittacus Greene. He was altogether humorous and buoyant.
 The Arthur Carringford of Edward Ellsler could have been improved upon. He was a good looking young man and a fair actor but he has some elocu- tionary troubles.
 Charles E. Bunneil look the part of Squire Rodney to a T. He played 1t effectively. too. But he was so gloomy that 1t was no wonder that Hazel did not love him.
 A very lively and loveable Dolly Dutton was Miss Helen Young. But the whole company was good for that matter. Such revivais are to be en-
 'The College Widow" will be at the theatre tonight.
 ssTwo old Cronies.. at BitOu
 Another success was scored last old Cronies'' was produced by the Wills Musical company. The chorus girls showed as much excellent train ing fin this production as in that Of "In Atlantic City ana Wilhf tne pFuL- cipals, MT. Wills and J. Leslie. up to the standard, the good-sized audience found not much wanting for lively entertainment.
 MT. Leslie ,equalled the cleverness he displayed Monday night in the diff ficult German role. Last night he was up against something of different cast, an Irish part, that of a musical professor, but he handled 1t with yer
 TWO old cronies" has no more CO., herency of plot than the production of Tn Atlantic City" being again an intermittent series of vaudeville acts, songs of popular character and bal lads. MT. Wills was in a freak char acter named Dun who was one of the '.cronies" and acquitted himself quite fooiishly which was what the audi ence demanded of him. He strolfed about the stage in a stuffy, Funny makeup that, with his slow and we'll modulated voice captivated the audi
 Some more of the straight buck and wing dancing of Arthur Browning helped up the success of the show last night. He did not put on any frills on his work but did strictly straight dancing in a kind of careless way, anc made an enthusiastic impression or the audience which encored him tim'
 The musical. specialties and comic settings made no little part or tht show. They came in aplenty and mos of the were heartily applauded.
 The bill will be repeated this af
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