The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-26
PLAYGOERS HIT AT SHAW
SAD NIGHT FOR GEORGE BER-
NARD AT THEIR MEETING.

Miss Bourne. VINO Has q Part In One OF His
Plays. Speaks Up for Him. but the Rest
OF the Takers Cam See Him Charles
Henry Meltxer Calls Him q Clown.
The small ballroom Of the Hotel Aston was
filed to the spiling over point with the
American Playgoers and Mr.. John De Witt
Warner, who presided, last night to listen
to a musical programme and to speakers
that put it all over George Bernard Shaw.
Almost everybody allowed hat George
Bernard was no good.
The only m that really had a good word
for the Irish dramatist was Miss Adeline
Bourne. Miss Bourne plays the part Of
Cleopatra's maid in Cesar and Cleopatra
Miss Amelia Bingham, the president OF
the ~Playgoers, was unable to be present
last night so the society at the last moment
got hold Of John De Witt Warner to preside.
Mr.. Warner is said 10 also speak at more
gatherings OF different kinds than any other
prominent man in New York, and his prao-
tice was evident last night in the delightful
manner in which he acquitted himself Of q
trying job. Close to Mr.. Warner sat Edwin
r. Greville Of the Pleiades Club, who poses
for sculptors whenever they have q statue
OF Shakespeare TO design.
Others on the platform, many Of whom
spoke, were the Rev. John Talbot Smith,
Mrs. A. M. Palmer, Mrs. James Madison
Bass, Mrs. Fernandez, William NJ. Schnit-
ger, Inc John D.. Barry, who has written
two plays, The Congressman and The
Preacher both Of which have been pro-
duced in the Empire Theatre this season by
the pupils of the Sargent School Of Acting.
Miss Mary Carson Kidd sang the Shadow
Song to piano accompaniment, and Miss
June Reid played a fiddle selection before
the discussion OF Shaw's shortcomings
began. Then Miss Bourne arose after
being introduced by Mr.. Warner and read a
paper in which she told Of the great success
of Mr.. Forbes Robertson's production of
Caesar and Cleopatra, +" I in which, as has been
said, Miss Bourne appears. Miss Bourne
said she had got it straight from George
Bernard himself that he had cut out n
act because when that act was produced
during the trial heats the audience had
laughed so hard il had never recovered.
Mr.. Barry said that Shaw doesn't call
the piece a play. He is too clever for that, '
commented Mr.. Barry. Instead he calls
it a history, knowing that the reviewers
wouldn't n enough about history to
dare to speak authoritatively about it,"
The speaker asserted positively that the
playwright had little regard for technique,
but that "he seems 10 have had some funda-
mental ideas to start with"
Mr.. Barry expressed possible doubts Of
Mr.. Shaw's ability to hold an audience with
out actors of extraordinary ability. When
ever the speaker drew attention to the
dramatist's wit the audience laughed APP
ENTArtnthUOlU sGmGaF md I1annafrn"
Is like one of the old Weber 4 Fields bur-
lesques, but done with extraordinary art"
Mr.. Barry has hopes that some day Mr..
Shaw will turn out a great play, never
theless.
Nine. Bovy was the next speaker, and che
said she liked the play very much, although
il didn't show the Caesar, she said, she had
learned to know in her youth. Still. she
said, she enjoyed the play. She thought
the scenery especially lovely.
Press Agent Meltzer of the Metropolitan
Opera House said Shaw is a clown. He
thought, however, that he is a good clown.
The best part of the play under discussion,
said the press agent. was that IL took Mr..
Shaw's mind of unpleasant subjects" that
he had been meddling with previously.
The Rev. John Talbot Smith said Shaw
was a blatant atheist.
He is the greatest literary scamp in the
whole English world of letters" continued
Father Smith. HE gets GU of trouble by
raising a laugh because he hasn't the ability
to surmount the heights he sees before him.
He is as shallow as a mud puddle and not
much cleaner, but he has wit. Still, l
admired his Cesar, because | for one am
tired of the world full of dramatic gentle
men We see who get up in the morning
and go back to bed again at night in blank
verse. Even poets don't ask the waiter
for tea and toast in lyrics"
John De Witt Warner then rose to refute
some of the aspersions cast on the char
acter of Cleopatra during the evening.
Cleopatra said Mr.. Warner, with some
heat, was one of the most prominent ladies
that ever lived. AS a character of
history
Pardon the interruption" said Father
Smith, but she didn't have any character"
Nevertheless for a long time Mr.. Warner
endeavored to show that many persons are
constantly maligning a great and good
woman. The speaker then went back
into Cleo's girdlhoOd and later took upsthe
history Of her family. From this he worked
up through more modern history and
proved conclusively that compared to
Cleopatra a number of other headliners in
the school books we're shines.
MThe audience was then called upon for
opinions, but after many appeals no one
accepted the invitation except one tall man
with a beard, who remarked merely that he
didn't think IL was gallant TO talk of any
woman, no matter how long dead, behind
her back. Mr.. Warner then announced
that there would be no Official decision
rendered.