The Washington herald., 1906-10-14
GOSSIP FROM NEW YORK.

ductions which came into New York with
2 blast Of tTumpets are ready 70 give up
the ghost so early in the season. Miz-
pah. which had its initial performance
IN Washington after a season in stock
in San Francisco. l hear. is to be taken
of, and win probably go on tour. This
IS the play which Is the joint work OF
Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Luscombe
Scarelle, and Is one of the few plays on q
religious subject that ought to succeed.
Mrs Wilcox did little more than write
some luscious lines for the lovers. Ahasue-
ras and Esther. but they lent dignity 10
the whole play. and lifted it out Of the
character Of melOdrama into the atmos-
phere OF poetry.
Then / hear that George NJ. Cohan's
overbOomed comedy Of bad manners,
Popularity" is a failure and to be with
drawn The critics were unanimous in
condemning this piece. and depiOre that
Tommy Ross IS again without a vehicle.
The public liked Tommy, but not the
tommyrot which Mr.. Conan provided for
him. and the piece is 10 be sent 10 the
stOFeroom soon
Another invalid in the play line which
IS TO go off the Garden Theater stage
is The Stolen Story" a play of newspa-
per life in which Jameson Lee Finney had
the leading part. The piece for some rea-
son failed to inspire any interest al
though il was we'll acted The subject
was bad The workings Of n great news
paper don't interest the public a. much
as the operation OF an incubator, and
unless your newspaper man IS drawn on
the pattern Of the oracular country edi-
tor with a bold dash OF hunaor tn his
mental makeup, he is NIL IN the public
eye.
SO much for some Of the failures. The
admirers OF Margaret Anglin and Henry
Miller will be glad 70 know that The
Great Divide" in which they opened
the season at their little Princess Thea
ter n week ago, is playing 10 standing
room only. And the cause Is not the
prurient subject. but the superb acting
OF these two artists and the exqu site
ethical tone Of the literature Of the play.
William Vaughn Moody, who wrote It.
IS a professor OF literature at the Chi
cago University. He had written sew
eTlI plays. but all in blank verse and
on heroic subjects. Then he conceived
the idea Of taking a heroic subject, like
the rape OF the Sabines-the Romans
needed women. and as you viii recall
supplied the demand by carrying them
of forclbIy from the Sablnes-and treat
Ing e In n modern way and In modern
prose according to modern ethics. / de-
cline TO accept his promise that a man
who takes possession OF q woman by
main force, or as the price OF saving her
honor from the hands OF men more
evil than himself. should ever be SYM
patheticalIy treated and Invested with the
interest Of a laurel-crowned hero But
/ was irreslstihly carried away by the
authors logic after tho first act. and
with the rest Of New York I accented
til conclusion without cOmpunctiOn.
The acting Of the two principals. how
ever, really carried the play TO success,
and there were several scenes IN which
the acting was so powerful that you
could have swallowed an Infinitely worse
play. premise, conclusion, and all. The
production Is one OF the triUmphs Of thc
season, and at the Princess. too.
The Princess Theater had the earmarks
OF a hoodoo. Nothing could succeed there.
spect Nothing could succeed al the
Bijou. The reason that nothing could
succeed at the Princess and at the BijOu
was because nobody ever went In there
to produce anything that ought TO sue
ceed, But theatrical folk said that both
these places were haunted by e hOOdOO.
and one failure after another went %
prove Il. But one day an actress who
was shut out Of every theater in New
York guaranteed the rent for "a week
fer r-rfr fNrr NJ fraor nf
BljoU. and the next morning the whole
village was ablaZe with her fame; and
that week Henrietta CrOsman in Mis-
tress NelI' was playing 10 standing room.
and her engagement was extended until
cut short by the exigency OF previous con-
tracts with other attractions. To put
another danper on the h0OdOO theory
Warheld had 10 come along and play the
greater part Of his 635 performances in
The Music Master" at the BijOu
And so with the Princess. The hoodJ0
worked its deadly magic until Margaret
Auglin faced certain failure In "Zira,
and played e every night there for six
months. Now the hoodoo IS practically
without a thcatcT wherein 20 work its
incantatlons. and Is flying about in New
York a discredited spook, like the ghost
of Mark Twains Cardiff giant-who. by
tie way Alt&ll n.y. hAA JUST At0ltALEti
the stone thing. without regard 10 the
means Of lOComouon.
The events Of the week were lillian
Russell in 'Barbara's Millions. and
Richard Carrie in The Spring Chicken. 90
Strange 70 say, the airy fairy one, who
made her reputation IS a professional
singer before she even knew how to act.
IS seen in a piece without music. IN
which she interpclates one song. while
earle. who can't sing. but is fetching as
an eccentric comedian with elongated
legs and a quizzlcal face, is going deeper
into musical comedy than ever.
Lillian Russell is as fair and beautiful
as ever. ! am assured on the authority
Of one who ought 20 know that so far
from CnaueliBg her face, you can on
close inspection discern the freckles
under the powder that covers her face.
She has made personal triumph in
''BaTbaTa's Millions" but the vehicle IS
not destined long for this life being de-
ficient both IN action and interest.
The Spring Chicken" is 4 double dis
titled adaptation from the French. first,
by George Grosmith, jr., who distilled II
into an English brew for the London
stage. where IL maintained itself for the
better part of two seasons. with special
music by Lionel MonCkton and Ivan
Caryll: and second, by Richard himself,
who made II 4 conCOCtiOn agreeable 10
the native palate by 4 liberal injection
Of his own personality. and the infusion
Of several song hits from his own YER
satiie and fecund pen. The theme is
that favOrite one Of the French far
ceurs. the adventures Of a congenial Ia
ther-in-law and his up-to-date son-in-law,
who clash on q question Of domestic gov
ernment. but strike dead level OF syn
pathetic cooperation in joint deception
of the ladies Of the household