Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-21
BARNUM BACK
AT BELASCO
POPULAR ACTOR RETURNS IN A
THOMAS COMEDY
PRESENTS "THE EDUCATION OF
MR.. PIPP"
Play 1t Iet is Rather a Conventional
Affair." but Actor Gives Highly
Humorous Interpretation
If Character Role
Bt sIDLE LAWRENCE

"IIE AUGUSTUS Thomas play at the
Belasco this week should properly
- be calld THE Education of Mrs
Pip2." Astor Pipp himself he needs no
instruction He's a pretty decent sort
of a miilSnaire all through the play
and whel the final curtain falls it is
his wife Tho is compelled to revise her
views of life and admit herself ire
mendouey bamboozled, while Pipp sees
the fruilon of his fondest hopes; his
daughtes in the arms of the men they
love ah his wife, cured of her fool
ishness begging to be taken home to
Pittsbug. where the millionaires
come rom" It's a liberal education
Mrs. Epp receives too. and it is thor
oughly well learned.
The comedy probably never would
have ittained to any great degree Of
success had it not been for the adver-
tisin; it received as an attempt to
drantize the famous Gibson Girl.
1t isby no means worthy of its author
whohas to his credit several 0ff the
finet of American plays, including this
seabns biggest success in New York,
"TB Witching Hour"
Barnum Cordially Received
bcally the presentation is interest
I'M chiefly because it serves to rein
trAuce George Barnum to Belasco
adiences. Last night Mr.. Barnum
ws accorded a most ilattering recep
tin. He made his first appearance
ubn the stage sne.o minutes after the
fist act was under way and the act
sopped right there Barnum bowed
ad bowed again. but the audience re-
fsed to let him off. Finally he stepped
the center of the stage and said:
81 am not alone here. My conferes
ave something to say as well as my
elf"
Then he bowed once more, and the
house satisfied for the time. permitted
the comedy to proceed. As a matter
of fact, however, the play was sec
ondary consideration throughout the
evening 1t was Barnum the audience
had come to see and Barnum's work
was the only thing that much mat
tered.
A Conventional Comedy
1.-THE Education of Mr.. Pipp" is en-
tirely conventional both in theme and
treatment. Its story is the familiar
one of a new rich woman who is be-
fooled from first to last by a ras-
cally member of the French nobility.
This woman is boss in her own house.
She dominates the entire family, in
GLIDING her husband, but she is tricked
at every turn and in the end admits
herself at fault.
The comedy provides Mr.. Barnum with
opportunities for one of those eccentric
comedy characterizations in which he
is at his best, and his portraiture of
Pipp. the henpecked, is a finely humor-
Gus bit of work. 1t is in multiplicity
of little things that the Barnum art
is here manifested; in the comical air
of resignation as he mounts the stairs
of his New York home to do her bid
ding; his eagerness to aid the love-
making of the pseudo Fitzgerald; and
his quiet anticipatory enjoyment of the
inevitable denouement.
Has Many Good Lines
There are good lines in the comedy
not brilliant in the Shaw or Pinero
fashion-but lines good for laugh any
where. Many of them fall to Pipp and
Mr.. Barnum delivers them In way to
emphasize the points made. He eX-
claims that when he was at work he
pever was sick, but now, he adds, Il
have all the symptoms of all the adver-
tisements of all the mineral waters"
Again, describing his experiences in at
tempting to tell funny stories to
party of Englishmen he remarks plaint-
lively: 81 left more good American
Jokes with those FELLOWSHIP cold stor-
age. anu III the lHllu at 4lO oOAHSS
upon United States congressman,
newly arrived in Paris, and says;
Come over here and sit down. I've
got lots of things to tell you. Do you
know, l met barkeeper from Coney
Island here the other day." That
speech in itself is a volume of home
isickIess
Mis- Eleanor Carey is Mrs. Pipp and
she h,ndles the role with nice appre-
ciatiot of its possibilities. The charac-
ter isthat of a somewhat vulgar-per-
haps snorant is a better word-woman,
muchgiven to a curious, Mrs. Mala-
prop hbit of speech when she attempts
Friend. The point of much of this is
lost o American audiences, but enough
remais ineligible to make her uncer-
taint,in the use of commonly under
stoodTrench words and phrases highly
amusg. And her mlspronunciat1ons
are hnny enough in themselves, II
therelad been nothing else, to excite
our ribilities.
Stone as Gibson Man
Lew S. Stone appears as a typical
Gibso man, and he looks the part to
perfedon. He is an Englishman, for
the pposes of the play, but Gibson
man Notwithstanding.
The was some uncertainty of lines
eVidehd on occasion last night, but as
a Wh{ the Belasco company appeared
to mixed advantage. Harry Glazier,
Willia Yerance, Richard Vivian, Miss
Kathine Emmett and Miss Florence
Smyt are all we'll cast. and accept
HEALTH REPORT