The Washington herald., 1907-01-06

/ Correspondence Of The Washington Head
/ New York. January 5.-Shiftings and
| changes incident 10 the mysteries OF
/ booking brought a number of new Of
/ ferings to the theaters this week There
was .'Brewster's Millions" a Th0mp-
/ son and Dundy enterprise. which began
an engagement at the New Amsterdam
with Edward Abeies in the leading part.
I 1t is a farce with a realistic yacht
| scene. and turns on the problem OF how
| a young man is TO spend million dol
/ lars a year IN order 10 make himself
eligible 10 a sevenfold larger inherit
J ance. coming 70 him from his uncle
/ The plot is based upon a story By
| George Barr MacCutcheou. The adapt
/ ers have written lively piece in which
/ Mr. AbeIcs finds a congenial vehicle for
I his talents as a light comedian.
The managers are the originators Of
Luna Park and the Hippodrome. and
/ you may easily imagine that the single
/ spectacular feature. that of the yacht.
is presented with degree of realism
that is striking.
/ These two comparatively young men
/ created a big stir in theaterIand during
their noUrishing regime. When they
built the Hippodrome, people said it
I was the acme Of enterprise. and when
/ they mysteriously abandoned It. people
/ said that il would always remain
| dead monument 10 their memory, rich
I only in storied interest. like the
| Coliseum OF Rome There people made
their mistake.
The HippOdrOme lives and is more
vastly interesting than ever. New
/ Years night my eye swept over an
audience of $500 spectators. watching
F the wonders Of Pioneer bays" and
I "Neptune's Daughter" The latter spec
taCle. by the way is the invention Of
an American. The devices By which
( the mermaids rise out Of the waters at
viii. and Neptune. I'm his golden shallop
and crew. suddenly appears from the
I depths Of the sea. are the invention Of
7 IT. J.. Bowdoiu. These spectacles eclipse
"A Society Circus which was thought
20 sound the high note in theatrical
/ ingenuity on a large scale. AS you. no
doubt know, the plUnging horses con-
sJituted the marked feature OF that
beautiful pageant. but il fades beside
the mermaids and the live bull terrier
which Marceline, the clown, fishes out Of
the water.
AL New York has been guessing how
all those beautiful mermaids can sUbsist
under the water and suddenly rise into
view. cIeaving the waves-real water you
knOw-with the grace Of Loreleys
gave it up. II IS no illusion. The tank
/ is the same into which a dozen horses
used 20 plunge At fun tilt When Mar
garet Townsend. the water siren. and her
court Of beautiful nymphs. half sub
merged in the water. say something 10
{ the assembled villagers on the shore
about following them to their palace un-
der the sea. "a half dozen rustics plunge
headhrst into the water and remain there
at least eight minutes The last scene
+ represents the court Of Neptune under the
ocean. A grand ballet is introduced here,
and the effect is gorgeous, but we are
again among the fctions Of pOsterland
and the realm Of the fairies.
A notable opening was THE Road to
/ Yesterday at the Herald Square This is
( a fancifuI comedy by Beulah N, Dix and
Evelyn q Sutherland, although one OF
/ the daily papers gravely referred 10 them
as "Messrs. Dix and Sutherland in the
course Of review of their play. Il en-
/ pIoys the device OF representing a phase
of life through the medium of a dream.
4 The expedient is as old as AUerbach's
/ "Lorle." and possibly much older. but it
! has seldom been better employed than in
I this play, which, by the nimble shift of
/ scene. suddenly translates Us from VIII
. u
/ 1909. into the Red Swan Tavern of the TO-
mantle period OF 1903. carrying with it
all the characters of the first act and re-
I iucarnating them with all their ancestral
attributes.
/ God wot whether some OF them would
care 10 trace their pedigree so far back.
/ Il is all very delightful. ingenious, and
novel. like a Messenger from Mars"
and a credit TO the new school of Ameri-
I can dramatists which is coming up and
/ adding success after success to the record
+ Of the season.
/ The play had its first try-out in Bal
I timore about "A year ago by the Percy
/ HaswelI Stock Company It had no name
/ then and was the subject of voting
/ contest for q title. II was changed 10 the
/ present happy name after the original
/ christening Minnie Dupree plays the TO
mantle little Miss who wishes she had
T lived in the stirring days Of William
/ Shakespeare and the English court.
/ On midsummer eve, when wishes are
supposed to be gratified she falls asleep.
4 after a strenuous day of sightseeing
among the museums and picture galleries.
/ and suddenly finds herself a sculleTy
maid In the Red Swan Tavern. She sees
/ all her old friends and relatives there.
/ but in an altogether altered relationship.
and we get stirring picture Of the oldeu
times. However. the realization IS barren
/ OF the romantic ideals OF her imagination.
/ and she sees enough OF the cruelty and
! arbitrary force Of that period 10 wish her
/ self back in the modern studio. Incident
ally she detects her hero, her affinity and
/ the way she is brought into his arms on
/ awakening from her dream is among the
most ingenious hits of the ingenious
drama.
This play should make an emphatic sue
I cess One of the leading roles is played
I by White Whittlesey, former leading man
of the Bellows Stock Company IN Wash
/ ington, and prominent. also. is Helen
| Ware, formerly well known in the Capt
/ tai I'm connection with a stock company
at the Columbia Another member of tho