The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-08
THE AGE-HERALD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1908

love is a situation to be found only in plays while romance Is subservtent to art. "A
 Sitting through Regeneration seep,s like a dramatic subway. The play opens underground. and closes under ground. There Is only one scene where as MT. Daly very truthfully says there are flowers growing in the windows. a little room of books and pictures and pretty woman serving tea. But even here the audience forgets the roses
 in the windows and listens to MT. Daily reciting the Lords prayer for the first
 time, on pended knee his first lesson
 in the little settlement house to where he has been literally dragged by the
 woman to whom he owes his redemp-
 tlon. When he attempts to say the
 prayer alone he transposes. and finally
 asks II It makes any difference-if only
 ne IS honest and-the East Side yer
 naeular creeping in-"on the level"
 through four acts the regeneration
 progresses, and finally is completed
 through a great sacrifice on the part
 of the man himself. who for the love
 Of the woman, and knowing himself to
 be unworthy of her. apparently returns
 to his old ways. In the closing scene
 he is arrested for complieity in a
 crime of which he is innocent. The
 woman whom he loves declares that
 she is the guilty one, but he refuses
 for her to sacrifice herself. In the un-
 derground the two say farewell as ten
 derly as the circumstances will admit,
 the lover has previously been hand
 cuffed and must soon follow his jailer
 up the narrow stair in the dim light
 that barely penetrates the scene. A play
 that ends with the heroine alone in
 gloomy, underground pit and her lover
 torn from her side and led up
 shadowy stair, may be artistic but 1t ! is depressing. And it was a great re- lief to see Mr. Daily, a few moments ], later lowing acknowledgements to brilliantly lighted stage.
 Girls of Gottenburo. Birmingham people who were in Lon : don last season will recall that tuneful i musical comedy, "The Girls of Gotten- i berg" which had a successful run and i which Americans in London at the time, pronounced the best production on the English stage It is now having it's American presentation at the Kniclxer- booker theatre and promises to have as long run on Broadway as 1t enjoyed in London.
 New York theatregoers have given a cordial welcome to the English actress ] Miss Gertie Mllar. a London favorite She is the most attractive young woman in any of the musical comedies now ] being presented. She Is charming to look upon and possesses all the delightful arts necessary in a stage performance demanding so much-that Is the power to draw audiences night after night. There are "A musical numbers and each
 one is so tuneful that the critics de- clare that they will set a new pace for
 the town and will find their way into the most exclusive ball rooms the coming season.
 Miss Millar as Mitzi has the role of an innkeeper's daughter. She is in love with Max ModdellSopf, barber and valet at the barracks of Gottenberg.
 An amusing situation Is created when the barber is induced by German prince to go to Gottenberg as the envoy ex- traordinary of the Kaiser. He makes an imposing appearance in superb mili- itary trapprgs and is received with honors. His splendid appearance in so picturesque uniform, the admiration of smartly gowned women proves too much
 for him, and Mitzi and Gottenberg, ev- erything Is forgotten.
 Mitzi follows him to Gottenberg and there, in the loveliest of gardens dis
 covers him with new flame, the daugh- ter of the burgomaster. A sergeant or
 the Hussars, Mitzi, Clementine, the new
 flame make a most ludicrous situation
 and finally the secret becomes known. No one expects very much plot to musical comedy, but the most impossi- ble plot could hold together an aggrega- 1 tion presenting such charming airs as
 "The Girls of Gottenberg."
 | Miss Mllar's "Titsy Bitsy Girl" and her MT. Schneider" are already being whistled on Broadway, and Miss Dresser, another favorite in ''The Girls of Got tenberg," is destined to hear many vari-
 atons of her q Remember You" which
 has been received rapturously on Broad
 way.
 Southerners In New York. Mrs Charles A. Calhoun and her lit tie daughter Margaret Calhoun, and her sister, Miss Emmie Barnett of Birming- ham are in New York returning from a charming stay on the Maine coast. Mrs. Mercer of Eufaula, Ala, their grand
 mother, is also in New York. They are the guests of Mrs. Martha Goode Ander-
 son, who is so well known in the south. MT. and Mrs. Culpeper Exum and Mrs. Pascal Shook are expected in New York this week and will pass several weeks of the autumn.
 Mrs Catchings and Miss Marjorie Catchings and MT. Benjamin Catchings, formerly of Birmingham, but now resi- dents of New York, are residing at the Holland House.