The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1906-09-30
NEW YORK LETTER
FRANKLIN FYLEs WRITES OF THE
NEWEST PLAY.
Montgomery and Stone In ssThe Red
MILL" "My Lady's Maid" and "John
HudsOn's Wife" Among Them.

New York Sept, 2s.-The actors Of
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman
In "The Wizard of Or" were known
by their names of David Montgomery
and Frederick A. Stone. but no one who
hadn't seen them in vaudeville, where
they had come from. had any idea how
they looked when not Enthusiastically dis
guised. Their sudden popularity didn
bring the glory of having people stare
at them as they strolled In Broadway
Ie will be different henceforth, for
they are now taken out of tin and
straw, and introduced in a human con-
dition. They appear in "The Red Milr'
as rovers from New York stranded In
Holland, where Montgomery becomes
waiter who, serves mock chicken
soup, and oysters as to which. when
1t is remarked that. this is not an
oyster month";" he replies that they
ARE not this months oysters" while
Stone, although utterly ignorant of
any language except English OF the
Tenderloin kind, engages as guide
to tourists of various nationalities. and
gets into such plumbers as sending
to Jail girl who has been hurt by an
automobile instead of the guilty chauf-
feur.
"The Red Mill" of this extravaganza
isn't the notorious Houlin Rouge of
Paris, but a Dutch windmill, which Is
haunted; and so, when a girl Is shut
in it overnight to keep her from mar
rying, her grief Is aggravated by
fright However, her distress doesn't
prevent her posing in the moonlight
that falls on the structure and sing
ing a charming ballad. the tune or
which is incidental to Victor Herbert's
score. Her voice assemblies the villag
ers, who chorus an appeal for her re-
lease. But they can't sing her out The
Americans thereupon attach them
selves to the big wheel of the milb
circle up to the girl, and bring her
to the ground, in an exploit that Is
acrobatic and grotesque. yet picturo-
sque and me1odramatlc.
Henry w. Blossom wrote the libretto
with, seemingly. keen understand
ing that Montgomery and Stone arc
comic pantomimists more than speak
ing comedians, and the rescue of the
| bride at the mill is one of his many
ingenuities to reach and not exceed
the limit of their abilities.
Charles Dillingham; was the original
diseoverer of them in variety show
and as 1t is he who commissioned Bios
som and Herbert to make ''The Red
Mill" probably he has had hand III
| the work; but the program gives no
| list of rhymsters and musicians as
helpers, for Blossom and Herbert won't
accept assistance such as is usual In
1 the turning out of musical farces.
I An odd thing about the RED Mil,
and morally a good thing. too. is that
none of its success is due to superla-
tive feminine beauty. 1t fills the stage
with comely girls, in quaint Dutch
dresses and refreshingly demure Dutch
behavior, but not one of them Is a
show girl in the Broadway meaning
of the term, which has become syno
nym of viciousness. In only one ip'
stance is their lack of physical love-
illness detrimental. That is when
song describes the streets OF Ne"
York, which calls for a representation
of Fifth avenue maidens. Those VINO
personate Rialto soubrettes are funn,
i with their exaggerations, and the con
Itingent of Bowery bellies wrinkles as II
its feet IL it doesn't shine in its faces
The Whites and Thaw may go bu
once to see this show, but 1t Is Doun'
to prosper without them. And Mont
gomery and Stone are lucky fellow
to be in it, in view of the danger tina
thew might die out of popularity witt
THE Wizard of o.