Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-17

cations of I'm the Bishops Car
III riage" is going to have his hands
full. The play was not designed
for any such purpose. 1t isquite evident tnat
the glamour which our old friend Raftles
threw over polite peculation had touched
the mind OF Miss Nicholson before the plot
Of her sprightly romance luxuriated into
print.
The task of idealizing the character of
thief is a delicate one. Few writer's succeed
in doing II a second time. Hornung, who
evolved the Raffles idea, found but little en-
couragement for the encore he attempted to
take with his Stingaree Stories, although
this same Stingaree was more of man and
a hero than Raffles himself. But he lived
AWAY out in the Australian bush, dust COW
cred and roughly clad. The only hint of the
drawing room which he kept about him,
outside OF an habitually polite manner OF
address, was a monocle. And monocle IS
not a sufficient mark of polish to content
the casual reader of fiction or the playgoer
who frankly declares that he goes to the
theater solely to be amused.
And this playgOer, by the way Is entitled
to a great deal of respect. The person VINO
saws he wants to get into his evening
clothes after hearty dinner and travel down
town in order to be solidly instructed is
There is not much use in hoping to gain
success for a play whose hero is not &C
ceptable to the ladies. Hence 1t is that
Rafies long remained popular figure IN
circles of refinement, while Stingaree was
left in the solitudes of Australia.
c. NJ s. McClelland was prompt in per-
ceiving the possibility of putting Rallies
into pettcoats. In that particular profess
sion any disguise is permissible. His Leah
Kleschna presents much the same figure on
the stage that Nance Olden does. In the
plots of both plays the same difficulty as
serts itself and is in both instances mef-
fectuaIIy met The heart interest which
managers so positively demand can be sup
piled only by making the cultured gentle
man of the story fall in love with the pretty
and vivacious criminal whom he Quixoti-
caIly undertakes to reform. The idea is not
a pleasant one. The ordinary play which
deals with a woman who has had a past
contents itself with wringing tears of SYM
pathy for the hopelesSness of her position.
The suggestion to be gathered from roles OF
the Kleschna-O lden type is that the woman
who has had a past may live happily ever
after provided she combines with her moral
obliuuities a pert talent for craftsmanship.
Yet piece of this sort Is breezy relief
from the epigrammatc superticiality of the
problem play. Its intent is wholesome, even
though its logic may not be sound. The av-
erage modern comedy invites cynical inter-
est by pointing out that people who are re-
garded by society as examples of propriety
are sadly susceptible to various forms OF
human weakness Nance Olden is evidently
intended to remind us that characters which
are regarded as quite abandoned may have
good in them II circumstances will but per-
nit its development. The doctrine is I'M
uuestionably correct in its morality, but 1t
is likely to become obscure even to the de-
gree of effacement when handled with the
dashing sprightliness of the modern ro-
mancer. An oldfashioned novelist would
not have dared TO draw such a character.
The best that Dickens could do for Nancy
Sykes was an end of pathos and self-sacri-
fee so complete as to atone for all her
faults whether they were due to circum-
stances or natural inclination. Truly, we
grow more charitable as the years pass.
"Forty-fi five Minutes from Broadway did
not demonstrate that the public must have
musical comedy or langush. The only min
utes in it that were found quite satisfactory
were those occupied by the work of Fay
Templeton and Victor Moore. Fay Temple
ton enjoys a popularity which survives any
degree of deficiency in the play engaging
her services. One disadvantage that this
production had to face was the fact that its
best points were quite familiar before ii ar
rived. George NJ. Cohan's song hits had
been whistled and street pianoed into trite
familiarity Miss Templeton is one of the
people OF the stage whom performers them
selves love to applaud. She is an artist
Is a professional criticism of her that is
almost universal. Her capabilities for
rious work are confidently asserted on all
hands Some effort made to give her
serious work in this performance. But trav-
esty and emotionalism do not successfully
combine.
In The Tourists" Richard Golden reap
peared in Washington. He has not been
seen since the production of The Bad Sa-
maritan," in which he made very good
here. and Immediately after made very bad
in New York Mr.. Golden has had some
very distinguished comedy successes during
his career, but there many playgoers
who will never learn to thoroughly like his
performances.
Last week in Baltimore William Faver-
sham confronted an ordeal which represents
one of the severest trials an actor has to
face. A noisy theater party interrupted the
play to such degree that the star yielded
to an impulse which must be frequent with
conscientious players. and stepped out of
the character long enough to make an ap-
peal for courteous attention. Some criti-
cism has been offered as 10 the propriety
OF his course. There are limits to human
patience, and the knowledge that such
public rebuke is possible may have desir-
able effect on incOnsiderate auditors, even
though the actor who delivers them is some
thing of a martyr. No less player than
Z. S. Willard. during Washington en-
gagement a number of years ago. abruptly
interrupted his impersonation of David Gar
rick 10 step down to the footlights and say,
Unless the audience is quite the perform
ance cannot go on" IL like a thun-
derbolt. But the portion of the audience
TO whom the reproof particularly applied
was quiet for the remainder of the evening.
The completeness with which he returned
TO the character few seconds Mter redI-
I'll, Of he. Il