The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-12-16

when the Boss Murphy declares that graft
is univerFa1, from tho clergyman who
takes fec 20 cave your soil 20 the
walter who takes ZIP TO serve your
dinner, there II a responsive round OF
applause.
~ owe duty to the people," says
Mcclellan: they made me Mayor"
The he'll they dldr' the Boss Murphy
retortrs twas 1 made you Mayor"
The parquet laughs, the gallery Wells.
and for = moment Il seems M though
the whole audience takes the bo-s's Wow
OF (which Is that the Mayor ought 10
siEn tho city railroad franchise. which
VIII make millions for the boss and n
big WRn-StTeeter, presumably Thomas =
Ryan. But when tho Mayor Mcclellan
OF the play declares that the day OF
franchise gifts 70 corporations IS 7one.
and that the day OF sQuare-deallng with
the people has como there II a tremen-
dous denomination OF approval
The Next-to-B Boss Sullivan Is popularizod
by Broadhurst, who depicts him as the
humorist he IS said to be. As the play
Is produced IN a theatre owned by Sulu-
van, the delineation. presumably, r. agree
able 70 the subject OF Il. He says that
he holds the hearts and stomachs OF his
Bowery section constituents because he
turkeys them In winter and picnics them
in summer" In this stage action. as IN
political fact, Sullivan is with Mcclellan
and against Murphy; not because he -
opposed TO graft but because he doesn't
Ike to have Murphy his political enemy.
get an enriching lot OF H.
But II you set out 20 duplicate Broad
bursts The Man OF the Hour" or Klein's
The Lion and the Mouse" don't de-
pend on graft politics. OF trust finance,
as the sole theme OF your play Broad
hurst and Klein dd not. They intro
ouced love stories not only, but brought
them 70 the front at the beginning and
kept them there to the end Broad
hurst ignores the fact that Mcclellan Is
a husband. and makes him a bachelor
with a private sweetheart, as well as
public renown, TO win or lose through
his pro0ity or duplcity IN office And
without his mimic affair OF love. his
real affair Of politics wouldn't render
him an engrossing stage hero
There is no star player in this drama
uzauon OF Tammany politics. The un-
known Frank McVickars gets into good
view because his personality fits Boss
Murphy The well known George Faw-
cett gives amusing manners 20 Next-to-
Boss sullivan. FREDERICK Perry Is an In
teresung choice for Mayor Mcclellan to
the knowers Of theatrical affairs Perry
has been for years porsonator OF
character old men from doddorinc
n
and don't suppose that one OF his audi
tors In a thousand ever thought OF the
possibility OF him as a goOd-lOoking
youngster Few even OF theatre-frequen-
tiers are aware that young actors make
the best old men. Here Perry steps
forth as a fervid. handsome lover. II is
told that a burlesQue actress being set
forth on the stage In long skirts instead
or her accustomed tights. was SO
ashamed that she had a conniption ri IN
the wings. Perry on the opening night
seemed disconnected by the lack OF false
age, and shy 10 show his own individual
". II wasn't tn the second performance
that he got his balance.
A New Religious Drama.
The company for the New York pro
duction Of The Light Eternal is made
up I'm its principals OF leading men and
leading women from stock companies Of
other cities. This religious drama was
written by Martin Y. Merle as a stu
dent OF a Roman Catholic college I'm Call
fornis. After being plously performed
10y that scholastic institution. IL was
taken up by resident company in San
Francisco, and the earthquake shook IL
off stage where It had stayed nearly
three months. Edythe Chapman was it's
Roman princess. who loved \ Christian
soldier. consigned him 10 death in the
fAfflti WllFi she learned or MS religion.
became q convert to IL. and strove in
vain TO save him from the death OF "a
martyr. Miss Chapman is "A favorite
actress along the Pacific Coast but 20
THE Light Etemals" first Atlantic
shore audience. she was a stranger, and
satisfactory surprise
1T is pleasure to see her arrive in
Broadway at last" said one far Western
er 20 another between acts.
1t Is pitiful 20 see her arrive ten years
too late" was the reply.
And so IT was; for here was an extreme
~ facile artist, who. II she were only
thirty with the face 20 make I'D for
twenty. would capture the theatrical
towns but her opportunity has been de-
layed too long. Several Of our three or
four most prosperous actresses are as
old as she, but they began with us when
they We're young.
Along with Miss Chapman comes James
Neili. "A Pacific Coast actor-nanaeer.
whose name counts for nothing here. IN
less # be 70 make folks expect the James
ONein. Of Monte Cristo" fame and
fortune. Nell plays a Roman captain.
The Christian martyr Is assigned 10 Ed
ward Mackay, n son of Frank +. Mackay
and inheritOr OF his voice. His Roman foe
in religion and love IS embodied by
Malcolm Williams. Thus four players get
a rest from stock commotion, with its
weekly change Of role, and find ease in
the peaceful calm Of religious drama.
which seems sure TO last the season
through They are a fine quartet OF
elocuuonists. and are veritable spell
binders with their long passages Of
Christian assertion and pagan contradic-
ton. For this is a declamatory play. all
soul and pious sense. and no heart in an
amorous sense. II Is a composition OF
simple dignity. and religfousIy impress
sive. resembling the recent American
plays Of early Christian persecution in
ne QUO Vadis" lot as we'll as tho older
English examples in The Sign OF tbe
Cross" class.
There IS not a novel idea in THE Light
Eternal either literary religious or even
theatric, but IL ilumines the old mate
nal In the newest manner OF stagecraft
as practiced by Henry Miller. it's pro-
Queer with a fresh and beautiful out