Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-22
The Foreign Stage

The Foreign Stage
i LONDON. November II, 1905.
/ Edward knoblauch, the American dra-
matist who acts as literary adviser for
Lena Ashwell and who has been in con-
siderable measure responsible for her luck
in getting successful plays for the Kings
way Theater is the adapter of the Bis
son play. TO be called in English 1.-The
Captivating Florence" in which Yvette
Gullbert is to make her first appearance
on the legitimate stage in an English part.
This is the play Joseph Brooks came over
| from New York to arrange for, and it
will be produced here in January under
his management. Under the title MAR
| lage d Etoiler' it ran all last winter in
Paris with Jeanne Granier in the princi-
| pal part-that of charming comic opera
| star. with daughter of marriagable age,
who finds that for the daughters sake
she must settle down into staid mother
| ln-law, whereas she could have cut her
| daughter out If she had been disposed.
For the fascinating Yvettes English use
| the heroine will be made French wom
| an who speaks English with an accent.
There will be no songs. In fact, the Gull
bert is going to cut songs altogether
hereafter and go in solely for straight
| of the Bison play, but not of the Knob
LAUGH adaptation. If Yvette Guilbert goes
to America. however. she will probably go
in the knoblauch version
The 'hoodoo'' which hangs over Froh-
mans pretty Aldwych Theater is not yeti
lifted, and Fannie Wards brief season
with Jerome X. Jerome's new comedy.
Fanny and the Servant Problem fol-
| lows Paid in Full into an ill-timed OBJ
| livion. 1t was a more than ordinarily
good play, but it treated an old theme in
an unexpected way, which is dangerous
! thing to do.
| Henry Arthur Jones new play. Dolly
| Reforming Herself put on at the Hay
market this week, and due for production
in America later on. contains about the
| liveliest. most effective quarrel between
a husband and wife that can be found on
the stage-or in life either. That quarrel.
| as conducted by Ethel Irving and Robert
| Lorraine, and lasting some ten minutes,
| fulfills the ideal once set before me by an
| American manager, who said: Il don't
| care how bad a play is, If it has five min
utes toward the end of the third act so
ripping that it makes a bored frst-night
audience sit up and forget itself. That
| is the play I'll pay good money for. AS
| Mr. Jones gave ten minutes instead of
| five he ought to get twice the money. But
| ii is difficult to say how MUCH of the re-
| ward he ought to divide with Ethel 1rv
| ing, for it was her one big chance in the
| play. and she made the most of it, She,
the Dolly of the play. had no sense of
| the value of money. and bills are her be-
| setting sin. So when the parson preached
a powerful New Year eve sermon Mis-
tress Dolly resolved to reform. And her
| husband. who was in the habit of losing
| his temper over those bills, resolved to
| reform. too.
Dolly's cousin and marred-woman
guest at Dolly's house were carrying on a
| rather dangerous Irritation. and they. TOO.
res l-o6 N
| the play took place in Dollys drawing
room on New Year day, and by the time we
| reach midnight in the third act. all the
| good resolutions are broken. the firta-
| ton is on fiercely. and Dolly and her
! husband are having their scrap. The
cynical fourth act is an almost exact
repetition of the first act. taking place
on New Year day of the following year,
with the same people in the same sur
roundings doing the sumo old things in
| the same old way and proving the truth
of the theory of the old professor in the
play (hes the husband of the lady of
the firtation) that people are not free
moral agents. but helpless victims of the
| chance arrangement of gray matter in
their brains. But after the first five
minutes the fourth act is rather a bore,
! for you know pretty much what every
body is going TO do and say. In fact
the whole play is more exposition of
d moral theme than well-built drama
and the pit and gallery had no hesita-
| ton IN mdnHeSllnS DS DOCS tlF'il UNI
| favorable opinion of tall of it. that is,
! except that gorgeous quarrel. which
brought forth a storm of applause.
Charles Frohman's return TO London
| for d brief stay has added zest to an
| otherwise Stagnant season Since his ar
rival few days ago he has been talk
| ing in his CHEEKY. optimistic way Of his
plans, one at least of which will be
| interesting as sidelight on the perpetual
| popularity of Peter Pam in this coun-
try. Despite the fact that j. NJ Barrie $
What Every Woman Knows" is playing
| to the largest receipts in the history OF
the Duke of York Theater, it will be
| Withdrawn shortly to make way for the
| Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" 1t took
! Mr.. Frohman and J. NJ. Barrie less than
! five minutes to decide upon this when
! they once got together. for they We're
| OF exactly the same mind on the matter.
| Christmas-tme without Peter Pan"
would be almost unthinkable, and besides,
would be a serious affront to the chill
| dren of London.
Just how the cast will be made up
| it is hard to say at present, but Mr..
| Frohman. with his undeniable tact and
| faculty for having his way in every
| thing, will undoubtedly see that Pauline
| Chase and Hilda Trevelyan are found in
| their old parts OF Peter Pan and
| "Wendy'' when the attraction is revived.
| Another of Mr. Frohmans plans con-
Germs Elalinc Terriss. the wife of Sey
| mour Hicks and one of the most popular
| condolences the English stage. Mr.
! Frohman considers Miss TerrisS has
| earned the right to appear 'on her own
ms a star. instead of, as hitherto sup.
porting her husband, and will present
her as such early next year
! Meanwhile, Seymour Hicks himself who
can be depended upon to do the uucon-
ventional at all times has made novel
| proposal 10 the beauties of Great Britain.
/ Mr. Hicks theatrical company has be-
! come known as the seymour Hicks
| Matrimonial Agency" through the extra
| ordinary number of its members who
| have within the past year married into
| the peerage or into affiuence. Hicks has
| complained that too large number of
| his chorus beauties have been stolen from
him in this way. and now seeks to fill
| his depleted ranks. He has receivee
so many applications that he has turned
| understanding that it submit photographs
| of the applicants TO its readers and per-
NIT them to decide upon their compare
| tive charms. The successful maids will
| be given places in the chorus of his com
| pany at salaries varying from SIS to SO
| a week. Mr. Frohman is to 90 the same
thing in New York.
His Huge Head.
from Puck.
GLOW is it that he has been so uni
formy successful in the theatrical bust