The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1906-01-26

dramatic chances are about the biggest OF
1ezards. The assurance In this case mas
Ibeen endorsed by the amazing popular
land critical success that Mrs. Letting
wells Boots has enjoyed. trining though
the pieCr Itself may be as stage docu-
,ment Possibly the fact at one point 1t
ledvertises certain school OF medicine
has contributed something TO its interest.
Though we are quite We'll used TO having
a certain brand OF champagne repeatedly
advertised in the up-to-date sophisticated
,school of medicine However only your
super -critlc will make any bones about n
little matter like that so long as the play
lmakes you happy.
And even for a Frohmau-T Thomas pro-
ductlon Mrs. Leffingwelis Boots is re-
lnarkable as a demonstration OF consum-
mate staging and performance. We have
had some particularly fine examples along
this line this season. but nothing 10 sur
pass the Boots, this example being es-
pecially effective because OF the absence OF
a star part I'm the composition or play and
cast AS an aggregation of all-around
stock talent of the highest rank there has
been no organization or players In town
this season that could surpass the east
of Mrs Leffingwelfs Boots" Mr. Her
man, Miss Busiey, Mr.. Courtenay Miss
Hammond. Miss Laure. Mr. Serrano. Miss
Meyer. Mr.. Burbeck and the rest such
a company as this takes you hack To the
old Lyceum, the Madison Square and the
boston Museum DAYS and refutes the
argument that stage talent of general
ell-around excellence has been quite
squeezed out OF existence by the rather
lover-done star system.
And talk about atmosphere" In the
6rst act. Mrs. Bonner is preparing for a
dinner party of ten quite beyond the or
h6inary resources of her modest domestic
establishment She proposes 10 indulge
them In champagne terrapin and birds
out of season. She has engaged a ready
made butler to help out. Her anxiety for
the success OF her table and the service rs
tremendous. You enjoy the fun OF it
and you sympathize with her in her con-
Germ for the elaborate details. A blizzard
Is on outside-the worst since Roscoe
Conkling was killed. The result is that
the bulk Of the guests who are 30 be thus
extra lavishly honored are unable to make
the house, the maid gets her ears frozen.
1he ice cream doesn't arrive until after
midnight and an uninvited guest whose
Qresence Is calculated 90 make an awk-
ward complication lands in unexpected
~. SO far as the success of the dinner
party is concerned, the blizzard plausibly
Resolves it into dire disaster and as plaus-
shly develops the complications that con-
stitute the theme OF the Boots"
: The boots OF Mrs. Lerngwell X ap-
pears were found one morning on the
q
hotel IN Bar Harbor some time before the
action Of the play opens. They had Gre
Rted an estrangement between Corbin and
his fiancee, and a corresponding suspicion
on the part OF Mr.. Leffingwer As a mat
ter OF fact they were placed on the hro
escape by a scapegrace brother ofCorbin's
Bancee. who thereby sought To blackmail
Nr Leffingwell-all which Is disclosed
during the play And Corbin. dropping
4r 4f he !. 80 h. ffa~hN a..
dinner party seeking handy telephone.
fnds there his fancee and later Mrs LET
fngwell arrives through the blizzard while
1dr Leffingwell Is unable 20 reach the
house And there you arel
when Jessie Bugley. as Nora the maid.
bursts into the dining room with iutol-
Grant declamatloS against that hired
man." the ready-made butler who has
been especially engaged 20 figure 20 the
glory OF the dinner tho fun OF Mrs Lof-
nngwells Boots" begins. and from that
point II doesn't let Up only enough %
catch your breath. The audience has been
moved 20 vagrant chuckes over Mrs Bon
ner's concern fOr the dinner details over
pr. Rumsey's embarrassing deafness
Then Miss BUsley lands In. herself little
blizzard OF fun always, then the butler
has his turn morose and sullcu I'm his dig
nifty. doloroUsly punctilious as 10 the part
he IS 10 perform IN the forthcoming func-
don. Then young Corbin arrives in
rough weather clothes ami you can mag
ine there will be doings when his cg-
sranged fiancee encounters him Then
Mr. Leffingweu comes. only 90 depart "a
dress for the party and ight his way back
ngain through the growing blizzard And
when. coupled with the announcement
that the brother OF Corbins fancco is al
the door. n was stated that he is crack
ed In his head a trine.' the audience last
vvening burst into uncOntrolabl9 laugh.
Ter et the suHgesuon of stu another char
peter eccentricity 20 arrive upon the seen,
ful complication of some sort 90 add an.
other element OF hiarity 20 "a scene thai
was rapidly and thickiy piling up laugh
creating situations. II proved. however
that the arrival ~ tho brother strikes the