Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-04

is not vet open. 1t lags 1t splutters
with faint scintillations of promise
and then goes out. The managers
are blaming the playgoers and the
playgoers blaming the managers
The fault is easily located. The re-
sponsibility for every other misfortune or
depression is laid at the door of the trusts
Why not follow the fashion? The trusts are
responsible for bad business in the thea
tiers. They have concentrated popular at
tention on themselves in such a degree that
the public is more interested in the pollti-
cal activities they inspire, friendly or an
tagonistic. than 1t is in the woes of the
heroine the Vaccinations of the villain or
the gyrations of the chorus. IT Is undeni-
able that the plays have not been very
good But even had they been good, the
burning questions which loom Up before
each election have completely overShadow-
ed the usual curiosity as to whether the
lover and the girl will be united in the last
act.
So long as the much-quoted line IAN the
worlds a stage" holds good the theaters
must expect more or less opposition from
performers who not listed in Klaw &
Changers offices The two great stars at
present-stars more lavish with their three
sheets and press matter than the most
dacious theatrical plunger dare be-are
Hearst and Hughes. These are no tran
silent mummers railing at one another in
mimic scorn Here is versatility. Every
device than can move human emotion has
been employed from the vulgar comedy of
the slap stick to grafton after the fashion
OF Marc Antony. Week after week have
the scenes unfolded in plot and counter
plot, and the public has breathlessly
awaited the denouement. 1t is too much
to hope that the articles of the playhouse
can, In the face of such opposition, compel
their customary thrill. After election it
may all be different. And, besides, the
shows may be better.
~
And. after all. the drama is a little like
the oyster or the persimmon. The appetite
for it is not really keen until after frost
has set in.
x
But this is optimism" says the man
who drifts into your workroom, tits back
In the most comfortable chair available
and crosses his ankles on the window SILL
This Is the man who loves to while away
an idle moment by wise discourse. 1t
amuses him to observe the futile flutter-
ings by which your fragile Ideas seek to
escape from his superintendent mass OF
wisdom. why be optimistic? Optimism
means stagnation. drowsy content" There
Is no present answer. But as the door
closes behind him, and his heel-taps echo
down the corridor with the slow and ryth-
mic stride of ponderous Importance, the
query returns: why be optimistic?"
*
IN 10 oil 81
b more interesting than pessimism because
Of the difficulties It presents. The shows
that have passed thus far, have made
gloomy view of things natural one whose |
contrOversiOn requires some ingenuity |
Why declaim against the cut and dried |
sapless and perfunctory gleanings that are |
wadded together and offered as plays? |
Why reiterate the perfectly obvious? There |
is no Use of calling attention to the Charles |
D. Blaney streak that gets into Raymond |
Hitchcocks play Immediately after the |
hero starts out to hunt for buried treas
ure; there is use of wailing because Mr. |
Hitchcock's drolleries are so frequently |
smothered by a triteness of plot that in
so competent writer Richard Harding
Davis seems inexcusable. The play has a
lot of genuine humor in 1t, and genuine
humor Is so scarce that 1t Is well to be
L.
into cold analysis of creation like
''Mamselle Sanie" The public did not
place enough faith with it to have much
cause for complaint. and the management,
having had 1t out for some weeks, must
by this time realize the painful truth. 1t
Is time to speak gently; not to reprove; a
time TO pass little Katy Barry's descent
from the grotesquely chic to the common
placely coarse with silent regret. There is
nothing to be gained by lamenting that
Hilda Spong's part in John Hudson's
Wife" is not strong enough to sustain the
pretentiOns of a star Let US rather turn
to the one sparkling spot of legitimate art
in the entire field of observation; the per-
Torrance of William Hawtry in John
Hudson's Wife" Almost as Objectionable
a scamp as "Eccles" in Caste" this
actor Hawtry gives it vital human touch
that throws it into striking relief The
role. though contemplate. becomes fasci-
mating because of the artistry concentrate
ed upon IT, But, like his bbrother Charles
this Hawtry must be content with admira-
ton in lieu Of the more tangible rewards
If Charles Hawtry had to struggle to i'm
press the merits OF "A Message from
Mars" on n reluctant public, William Haw-
try should not be surprised to find but
scanty exploitation.
Things of this sort might be dwelt upon
nj length. but there is nothing to be at
tanned. II Is no tine for scath'ng amin
adversiOn. When plaudits are plentiful
and every one is happy. 1t may be we'll
enough to lift the mattock OF harsh con-
lemnation and weed out the superAuov.j
growth. But this should be only for the
ime of balmy luxuriance. Now every