Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-14


so far out OF line with the custo-
mary forms of musical entertain
ment as to be very striking. The
new piece, THE Girl and the Governor,
proved TO be a tuneful comedietta of a
kind that has become glcefully familiar;
one that appeals as a species without much
reference to distinct specimens. 1t salts
fies so long as, in addition to the catchy
music. the stage is enlivened by girls who
are bright and interesting, and the with
cisms are not too old. To require that all
the witticisms shall be bright and interest
ing, and all the girls not too old, would
perhaps be beyond reason. THE Girl and
the Governor meets the requirements of
comic opera. A popular comedian who can
always be depended on for a dance to cleo
trify a tagging situation. pretty melodies.
people who know how to sing them and all
the scenery the stage will hold-what more
would you have? Successful musical en-
tertanments have been studied so thor
oughly that they are created accord
Ing to formula. and any departure from the
accepted recipe would be a needless risk.
All the way to New York is long jour-
ney merely to see play-all the way to
New York past a monotony of factory
towns and patent-medicine-p painted barns
with a grand finale of noises and smells at
the Odd street landing. 1t is no wonder
that foreigners complain of the dullness of
American scenery. Think of it! Nothing
between the capital and the metropolis ex-
cept Baltimore, Philadelphia and Jersey
City!
THE Stolen Story was the object of this
particular pilgrimage. 1t is one of the
plays that Washington will never have
chance to see unless some other firm
takes it up. Yet despite the handi-
caps it suffers in cast and stage manage
ment. it is a play well worth seeing. 1t is
a dramatization of one of the few stories
of newspaper life that have really amount
ed to anything The stage derives a large
element of its patronage from tie fascina-
ton people feel in seeing their habitual,
and. TO them, commonplace, environment
depicted in the colors of romance. Your
national guardsman loves the military
play; your Irish-American citizen loves the
drama that pictures the pathos hilarity
of the old sod, and the factory girl enjoys
the portrayal of the heroines of her own
work-a-day world. When "Sam'l of Posen'
was of the record-breaking successes
it derived much of its patronage from the
very commercial travellers it caricatured.
So why should not newspaper worker be
curious concerning a play which attempts
to throw glamor over his own particular
style of shop?
If there is any place where gIamor would
seem scarcest it is in the factory that pro-
duces the newspaper; that mere telescope
through which each individual reader views
the world; the monograph which repro
duces the distant noise some one else has
been making. There have been stage re-
porters in abundance, but they are almost
invariably of the cheap detective variety.
liable at any minute to exclaim ''Ha, har'
and defer the capture of the villain for |
the sheer satisfaction of bothering him
with information that ''Silas Sloat IS on his
trail" !
New York critics said that the newspaper |
atmosphere in The Stolen Story was well
reproduced. This was not conclusive but
1t was a corroboration of the press agents |
assurance to the same effect The press
agents testimony though prejudiced was
the more reliable, because he is obliged to
actually get inside a newspaper office once
in a while instead of sending his copy
down by messenger boy.
x
The play is by one of the hitherto I'M
known. who are coming to the front so
numerously. 1t is by Jesse Lynch Will
Jams, and it's original form was a magazine
story. AS a magazine story 1t was obliged
to have dash of current politics in it.
The production was made by Henry w.
Savage, and If you want to be sure of see
To- Of
days hurry up. Too oft they gisten as
the morning dew The old-fashioned man
ager. whose original faith in a play was
sustained by pride: who sat in grim deter
mination through weeks of 'papered''
houses until the public either came to his
relief or left him to perish in snow
storm of passes-he has disappeared. It's
a case now of keep the bargain counter 60
ing-if the public isn't buying soap and
cologne. try EN- with clocks and suspenders.
THE Stolen Story" although much praised
and by no means disregarded in the box office
at Chicago and Boston, was taken from the
stage last night. 1t bumped almost as
sharply when 1t reached New York as did
that other entertaining show, The Bad
Samaritan" They do say that soon as
Richard Golden got to New York he broke
loose from the stage manager and took lib
critics with the principal part in the Samar-
itan which would have been fatal any
where But hush! This may only be more
idle gossip.
The closing week of the engagement was
more less in the nature of an inquest.
There was no doubt about the fate of the
piece; the only question was whether it
had succumbed 10 natural causes or was
a victim of a managers Spartan determna-
tiOn to coddle no weaklngs One thing the
play demonstrates-the possibilities of
newspaper office the locale of drama
The play most interesting when con-
veying a simple picture of the little world
OF type and printers ink which has to
hustle so busily to keep up with the big
world in its daily revolution. 1t may be as
sumcd that in this part of the production
the influence of the author has dominated
The work is weakened by a palpable strug-
gle for Theatre effect The story of a star
man on big newspaper, who falls in love
with a magnate's daughter and who. for
her sake, digs up bit of news that saves
him from political discredit, provides rather