The San Francisco call., 1906-05-14
YhEKEE PIAYWRIGHTS
PRESENT TWO GOOD
PLAYS IN OLD LONDON
5ucceed With 8 Pair of Shows and
Fail With an Equal
Number.
the GiIded Fool" and the "School for
Husbands" Do Not Suit English
Audiences.
little Stranger" by Michael Morton
Scores Real "5uIlseye in
British Capital.
Special Dispatch to The Call


LONDON, May $50 far, things
nave about evened themselves up in the
latest " invasion" of the theater here, by
american dramstists. In other words,
uut OF four Transatlantic pieces recent
IL produced in the metropolis, two big
successes have been scored and two some
what gloomy failures, but Of course, the
present onslaught upon the British theat-
lical "u.arket" is not yet over. On the
contrary, at least four more pieces of
American origin are on the way, namely
Charles Klein's E'The Lion and the
Mouse which Charles FrohmaD has row
Secided wiz be done at the Comedy;
The Rapparee Trooper" by the Misses
Sutherland and Dix, which Martin Har-
veY is going to put on at the Coronet;
Shore Acres with which Cyril Maude
las now definitely decided TO follow his
present revival of "The Second in Gem
rand" at the Waldorf, and Rafies''
the American made stage version of Hor-
lung's Amateur Craftsman which,
after ianumer2ble delays is TO be given
at the Duke of York s theater Just as
soon as Marie Tempest s season in All
Ga Sudden Peggy" cones to an end.
The American failures, this year, have
been - The Gilded Fool, - which lasted.
cnly a week when Nat Goodwin produced
p it at the SALISBURY, and " The School
FOR Husbands, f" the old-fashioned com
edy by Stanislaus STANCE, which not even
tie personal popularity Of the returned
irodgal, Jessie Millward, could turn in
2, q success at the Scala, the beautiful
thaater in Tottenham Court Road.
THE LITTLE STRANGER"
Meanwhile a real bull s eye has been
uade by 1.-The Little Stranger" the
farce by Michael Morton, which was pro-
lucc6 at the Criterion, a hundred nights
CT more ago. ard evidently there is a
csreer Of at least three hundred nights
lcfc1e Sweet Dorothy o the Hall, -
to new piece by Paul Kester which Julia
Nelson and Fred Terry produced at the
New .The&ter recently.
So there is little call for criticism Of
the latest effort by the ingenious author
- Sweet Nell Of Old Drury.' At the
N.e-- Theater it is acted by Julia Nelson
nj Fred Terry, the immensely popular
GO. le Who found such good luck with
Sweet Nell. " and there are four lively
ects of intrigues and elopements and
duels one cf them fought between the
hegciHe ard the bad man Of the play
and II The ether tine-worn ingredients
of rcDular - dram-mer and not a sin
lie original situation, and not a single
really witty line. But the Nelson Terry
follGvirg "simFly loves it" and so win
the American matinee-girl.
AS for Michael Morton, be also is in
clover with Beerbohm Tree making ar
rsngements to prcdUce his adaptation of
% The Ncwcomes" and another adapta-
tion accepted by Lena Ashwell, who
started recently a rev term Of manage
lreat at the Savoy
HALFWAY SUCCESS.
So. with the latest American invasion
az least a halfway success, we can wait
With tranquility to see what viii be the
reception OF ." The Lion and the Mouse"
and the other pieces Of Transatlantic
authorship which wiz be treading on one
another s heels before the present month
is ont.
Forbes Robertson, who is going on an
other lengthy tour of the United States
and beginning in Montreal
SAYS that he NAV make one new produc
ton In the course Of his travels, but he
ism 4 sure. Having put on long series
Of failures since his big hits in Nice
and Men" and "The Light that Failed
Robertson is inclined to lament the scar
city of real drsmatists" though one
.ersed in theatrical matters would prob
ably affirm that this actor manager Just
C0esn 7 manage to select good pieces very
cften.